Champion with Inferior Machinary

I thought it might be interesting to discuss premier class world championships that were won using what you percieve as inferior machinary.

I was thinking about it firstly in the context of the last two years and then further into the past, and came to the conclusion that it is almost impossible for a rider to win the world title without the best package underneath them. Obviously there are some cases that are unlear to me, such as the possibility that the Ducati was in fact the best package in 2006, but some i find more clear. I'd love to know what people think........

Mine are:

1989 - Miracle
1992 - You know what happened
2004 - The only miracle even close to Eddie Lawsons

It seems to me that without serious incidents, it takes some god-like rididng to win a championship on an inferior bike, but perhaps some of you think it happens more often and the success may lead us to believe that bikes are better than they are.

(RJ take a deep breath, i know you will mention 93, lets keep it clean )

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tom @ Sep 8 2007, 07:22 PM) [snapback]89753[/snapback]<div class='quotemain'>
I thought it might be interesting to discuss premier class world championships that were won using what you percieve as inferior machinary.

I was thinking about it firstly in the context of the last two years and then further into the past, and came to the conclusion that it is almost impossible for a rider to win the world title without the best package underneath them. Obviously there are some cases that are unlear to me, such as the possibility that the Ducati was in fact the best package in 2006, but some i find more clear. I'd love to know what people think........

Mine are:

1989 - Miracle
1992 - You know what happened
2004 - The only miracle even close to Eddie Lawsons

It seems to me that without serious incidents, it takes some god-like rididng to win a championship on an inferior bike, but perhaps some of you think it happens more often and the success may lead us to believe that bikes are better than they are.

(RJ take a deep breath, i know you will mention 93, lets keep it clean )


Tom, for my mind you've covered the major players already...

Lawson's '89 effort on that absolute PIG of an NSR500 has to just about take the cake... he just about had to bust a cap into the thing, to get it to do even remotely what he wanted!

'92 obviously was an even balance of Doohan's misfortune and Rainey's abilities... OK, Mick might've been having a blinder of a season for the first 7 races but as they say... to finish first, first you have to finish!

'04 I honestly believed that Sete was going to win. He had performed well the previous season, was on the best machinery & who knew what to expect from the Yamaha garage. Full credit to Vale for proving both myself & plenty of other people wrong.

My personal ranking of these three seasons efforts would be:

1989

2004

1992

Schwantz in '93 & Kenny Jnr in 2000 rate as honourable mentions though!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(muzzy57 @ Sep 8 2007, 12:49 PM) [snapback]89772[/snapback]<div class='quotemain'>

My personal ranking of these three seasons efforts would be:

1989

2004

1992



I totally agree with your order. I also think that the 2000 championship should maybe have been Biaggi's but its a tough one to call.

Here are mine.

1. 1993 Kevin Schwantz. He won on a Suzuki. Enough said. But I'll add anyway. Schwantz was consistently the best and fastest rider of his era and had more wins than the titles earners of his contemporaries, one of which was when Rainey won one with four wins to Schwantz six wins. His crashes had more to do with the .... bike, absolute .... of a bike he was on than his smartness to finish the races. Tomand I have had a lengthy debate on the subject, and though he may have thought it had to do with Schwantz not being "smart" I took the side that it indicated that his bike was a beast to handle and would buck you off in the most minuscule of lapses in focus. So to win on that horrible machine, was truly a fantastic feat. Ask yourself, how many years had it been before and after 93, that a Suzuki had earned a title, and with whom? Answer: more than 10 years and by a Roberts no less, before 93, there were two Italians that took Suzuki to a title, which had only previously been achieved by the great Berry Sheene! Now think about this for a moment. Yet during this time, a Honda or a Yamaha had earned titles back and forth, interchangeably. Now lets look at Schwantz competition, arguably the greatest generation of champions in all the history of MotoGP!

2. 2000 Roberts Jr. On a Suzuki. Enough said. But I'll add anyway. One only needs to look at the grid and notice that he was up against the best of his generation. Notice how many multiple winners there was this year. Not to mention that a rookie, considered approaching the peak of his greatness (which came the following 2 years) was also on the grid. Think about the strength of the Hondas and Yamahas of this year and ask yourself, did the Suzuki really stand a chance? No. But it took an extraordinary rider to out last the competition of multiple winners in this year to win with races left on the calendar.

3. Formulating…

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Racejumkie @ Sep 8 2007, 07:33 PM) [snapback]89812[/snapback]<div class='quotemain'>
Here are mine.

1. 1993 Kevin Schwantz. He won on a Suzuki. Enough said. But I'll add anyway. Schwantz was consistently the best and fastest rider of his era and had more wins than the titles earners of his contemporaries, one of which was when Rainey won one with four wins to Schwantz six wins. His crashes had more to do with the .... bike, absolute .... of a bike he was on than his smartness to finish the races. Tomand I have had a lengthy debate on the subject, and though he may have thought it had to do with Schwantz not being "smart" I took the side that it indicated that his bike was a beast to handle and would buck you off in the most minuscule of lapses in focus. So to win on that horrible machine, was truly a fantastic feat. Ask yourself, how many years had it been before and after 93, that a Suzuki had earned a title, and with whom? Answer: more than 10 years and by a Roberts no less, before 93, there were two Italians that took Suzuki to a title, which had only previously been achieved by the great Berry Sheene! Now think about this for a moment. Yet during this time, a Honda or a Yamaha had earned titles back and forth, interchangeably. Now lets look at Schwantz competition, arguably the greatest generation of champions in all the history of MotoGP!

2. 2000 Roberts Jr. On a Suzuki. Enough said. But I'll add anyway. One only needs to look at the grid and notice that he was up against the best of his generation. Notice how many multiple winners there was this year. Not to mention that a rookie, considered approaching the peak of his greatness (which came the following 2 years) was also on the grid. Think about the strength of the Hondas and Yamahas of this year and ask yourself, did the Suzuki really stand a chance? No. But it took an extraordinary rider to out last the competition of multiple winners in this year to win with races left on the calendar.

3. Formulating…

come on jumkie, you no you want to say it ok i will do it for you cos thats what mates do.
2006.
nicky hayden won on the inferior rc211v. it was inferior because it had a crap clutch and pedrobot got all the good bits while they bolted on all the test crap onto nickys bike. but despite all this he went on to win.