Top Rider

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DirtyD86 @ Dec 10 2007, 08:08 PM) [snapback]103989[/snapback]<div class='quotemain'>
i dont understand those of you that put schwantz ahead of rainey on your list... he beat him 3 years in a row and would have won it in 93 had he not had the accident that left him with paralysis



Why put Schwantz ahead of Rainey? Because this is usually how it was in the race until Schwantz would crash on that pig Suzuki.

Dirty, do me a favor, check out how many victories Schwantz had compared to who ever won the title the years he rode, then average that over their careers. I think you will find that Schwantz had more victories than the other champs. Sure, Schwantz only had one championship, but he was always runner up for a reason--you may want to take a look at what he rode. I think you will notice that several times he had more or equal victories in the season than the person who won the championship those years. In other words, he sometimes won more races that the person who won the title. Now do me a second favor, look at how many Yamahas and Hondas won titles compared to Suzuki. Oh, and take a look at how many years before and after 1993 did another Suzuki win a championship. I think you will find that if you were on a Honda/Yamaha and were a real good rider, you were almost guaranteed a title during the years Schwantz rode, and guess who is the only guy to win with that piece of .... Suzuki? Yup, you guessed it, Kevin Schwantz. Now doesn't that make his illustrious and legendary career a bit more amazing?

You see Schwantz rode on the very edge and risked life and limp to carry his .... Suzuki to compete with the Honda and Yamaha riders of his time, and beat them many times. To do this one could see the extra effort it took to compete against better machines, and that little bit extra was thrilling and amazing to the spectator. So when the question is asked, who you think the best rider was during those years, and if you were privileged to have seen the racing of that time, than easily one would think of the guy who was on the edge every race. That person is Kevin Schwantz. As far as the question being asked, my opinion is Schwantz is the greatest I've ever seen, but it’s really difficult to separate him from his greatest rival Wayne Rainey. Really it could be a toss up, Rainey was as exciting as Schwantz.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Racejumkie @ Dec 20 2007, 08:24 AM) [snapback]104883[/snapback]<div class='quotemain'>
Why put Schwantz ahead of Rainey? Because this is usually how it was in the race until Schwantz would crash on that pig Suzuki.

As an australian my absolute hero from that era was doohan, but if I put patriotism aside I think it is fairly impossible to separate doohan, lawson and rainey. I always loved watching schwantz (see my avatar list of favourite riders), but did not quite rate him with the other three; I now accept that a good case can be made for doing so, in particular that his number of GP wins is right up with the greats despite the equipment factor you mention.

I'm gonna say Rossi and Hailwood. Why? because they proved themselves on whatever they rode, big, small, 2 stroke or diesel. Hailwood also won the TT fer gawdsakes!

I'm not discounting any of the late 80's early 90's "gods" at all, but these two have track records that impress the hell out of me.

Doohan was a machine, an unbelievable rider, as was Rainey. Schwantz was devastatingly fast, but quick to hit the gravel too. I,m not going into the "Suzuki was ....." debate, coz the Yamaha was pretty ..... too at that time, and it's been done to death.

Roberts Snr was the father of modern racing and has to be applauded for that too.

It's a hard call, but I'm gonna stick with the 2 guys at the top.

Pete

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(basspete @ Dec 20 2007, 11:01 AM) [snapback]104891[/snapback]<div class='quotemain'>
I'm gonna say Rossi and Hailwood. Why? because they proved themselves on whatever they rode, big, small, 2 stroke or diesel. Hailwood also won the TT fer gawdsakes!

I'm not discounting any of the late 80's early 90's "gods" at all, but these two have track records that impress the hell out of me.

Doohan was a machine, an unbelievable rider, as was Rainey. Schwantz was devastatingly fast, but quick to hit the gravel too. I,m not going into the "Suzuki was ....." debate, coz the Yamaha was pretty ..... too at that time, and it's been done to death.

Roberts Snr was the father of modern racing and has to be applauded for that too.

It's a hard call, but I'm gonna stick with the 2 guys at the top.

Pete

I wouldn't argue with you at all. I said in my post "from that era" to specifically exclude rossi , and I can't comment on hailwood, agostini, sheene, roberts et al as they were from the time before I was interested in bike racing and before there were GP races or telecasts in australia.

Hailwood was one crazy guy and Agostini, my dad has fond memories of them coming to the Isle of Man TT... something unheard of nowadays with these riders on big insurance policies.

They had balls, they put their lives on the line because they loved racing period.

I have to mention Joey Dunlop too he was a real talent even tho he never went track racing.