Maurice Cann

Record type: Motorsport Biographies

Biography: Junior - A.J.S
Lightweight - Guzzi

Age 40, Maurice Cann has had a long experience of the island course. After winning both Junior and Senior Manx Grand Prix races in 1937, Maurice, a Leicester engineer, turned professional and rode in the ’38 T.T. He finished fourth in the Lightweight on an Excelsior. In 1947 he was placed second in the Lightweight T.T. and he went onto to win the 250 class in the Ulster Grand Prix. The next year brought him two great successes – he won the Lightweight T.T. by the substantial margin of 10 minutes and he won the same class of the “Ulster” for the second time running. He started the ’49 season well by winning at Ansty and Blandford, but at Eppynt after winning the Lightweight there too, he crashed, and his injuries put him out of the T.T.

He showed no sign of his crash when he came to the “Ulster” however, and for the third year in succession he was first home in the Lightweight race. He finished the season with a win at Silverstone.

In 1950 Ambrosini pipped him on the last lap of the Lightweight T.T., but Maurice turned the tables on him in the ……… yes, the “Ulster” again, in which he was first once more in the 250 class. But it was Ambrosini who topped the 250 c.c. World Championship list with Cann second.

A spill on the first day of practice kept Maurice out of the T.T. in 1951, and made news in the “Ulster” Lightweight again, by just Not Winning It. His four year wonderful run was brought to an end by 14.4 seconds, the time by which Ruffo beat him into second place.

Hobby: small bore shooting. He has been short range champion of Great Britain.
(TT Special, 9 June 1952, p.8.)

Mounts: Junior – Guzzi
Lightweight – Guzzi

Aged 39, an engineer, of Leicester, Maurice Cann has had a long experience of the T.T. course. After winning both Junior and Senior Manx Grand Prix races in 1937, he turned professional and rode in the Junior and Lightweight T.T.s of 1938, finishing fourth in the latter on an Excelsior. In 1947, he was placed second in the Lightweight T.T., and later won the 250 class of the Ulster Grand Prix. In the 1948 Lightweight T.T., after running second to Manliff Barrington, the previous year’s winner, for the first two laps, he came into the lead on the third lap and eventually won from Roland Pike by the substantial margin of ten minutes, at a speed of 75.175 m.p.h. Two months later, he won the 250 class of the Ulster Grand Prix for the second time in succession.

He started off last season well by winning the Lightweight class of races at Ansty and Blandford in April, but at Eppynt on May 14th, having won the Lightweight race, crashed in a later event and received injuries which put him out of the T.T. He was well enough to ride by the end of the month, however, when he won again at Ansty. Had several other short-circuit successes, and then came the “Ulster,” which he won for the third time in succession, at 80.08 m.p.h., finishing off the season by winning the Silverstone 100-Mile Race in October. He won the “Daily Express” Handicap Trophy at the A.-C.U. meeting at Blandford last April.

Hobby: Small-bore rifle shooting – he was short-range champion of Great Britain in 1946.
(TT Special, 5 June 1950, p.18.)

Mounts: Junior – Norton
Lightweight – Guzzi

Age 36, an engineer, living in Leicester.

After winning both Junior and Senior M.G.P races in 1937, Maurice Cann “turned professional” and rode in the Junior Lightweight T.T. races in 1938, finishing fourth in the latter on an Excelsior. In the same year he won the Hutchinson 100, also on an Excelsior. In 1939 he rode a Norton in the Junior T.T., finishing 7th, and a Guzzi in the Senior, finishing 9th. Last year again Guzzi mounted, he won the Grand Prix du Zoute.

Both his machines are privately entered.
(TT Special, 9 June 1947, pp.10-11.)

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