MBA, 1978, 250 GP

MBA 250 GP, 1978, Italy

The 250 GP was initially born under the Morbidelli brand and debuted at the 1976BelgiumGP where Paolo Pileri conquered second place behind Walter Villa on his Aermacchi-Harley Davidson.
The following year, the company won both the 125cc and the 250cc world title, the latter with Mario Lega, called to replace Pileri who was injured.
The industrial capacity of Morbidelli could no longer keep the project alive though and one year later, thanks to the cooperation with Benelli Armi (that was already working in this field as frame supplier for Benelli motorcycling company), the brand on the tank changed into MBA (Morbidelli Benelli Armi, later Moto Benelli Armi).
MBA was born to make replicas of the victorious GP Morbidellis for private drivers, but after the departure of Giancarlo Morbidelli, MBA became an indipendent maker, but later closed in 1990. The model displayed at the museum is equipped with a titanium frame specially built by specialist Niko Becher.

Curiosity:
The Morbidelli 250 GP came third at the 1979 250cc GP World Championship, winning 3 out of 11 GPs. The rider behind the handlebars was Gaetano Rossi, Valentino Rossi's dad.