AS LAVERDA CELEBRATES ITS 75TH anniversary this year, we look at the company that has always used racing to prove the breed, from endurance 1970s racing to this, the most powerful twin-cylinder from Breganze, Italy. Except it was actually created in Australia…
Back in 2001, Ken Watson defeated the overbored four-cylinder J-bikes, Triumph triples, Ducati desmo V-twins and assorted two-strokes to win the Australian Post-Classic Championship title on the parallel-twin Laverda 915 SFC that was massaged into race-winning condition by the bike’s owner, Chris Cutler, and ex-GP Sidecar racer Pete Campbell.
This machine was one of the two drum-braked 750 SFC models imported into Australia of the 549 examples Laverda built from 1971-76, out of the 19,000 twin-cylinder 650/750cc bikes manufactured. Bearing chassis no.11085, this was sold by Sydney dealer Jim Eade in November 1972 to up-and-coming NSW racer Vic Vassella, who wanted something faster and more exotic than the Norton Commando he’d begun racing on. Vassella got it for trade price, on condition that he raced it and put the Jim Eade name on the fairing, but considering it cost him $2700 at a time when the list price for a Honda CB750 was just $1670, it still must have required quite some conviction for him to actually sign the cheque.
Vic had already ridden a less potent Laverda 750SF in Australia’s first-ever Formula 750 race, so he had an idea what to expect. When a couple of weeks after purchasing the SFC he finished second to a Suzuki TR500 GP racer in an Unlimited race on his first outing, this augured well. He campaigned the Laverda for the next three seasons in Production, F750 and Unlimited class racing, with consistent top-three finishes and the occasional win.
