Who is your favorite rider and why? :)

MotoGP Forum

Help Support MotoGP Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Gaz said:
And here I was thinking he was the first to use a drag pipe as a crack pipe.

Damn it, learn something new every day








Although I could watch the Muzzy Kawasaki at PI footage any day :D
Click to expand...

I just recently chucked out my vid tape of that...
 
I always remember Gobert riding as a replacement rider as a one off in BSB with an actual mohawk on his crash hat.
 
Gaz said:
And here I was thinking he was the first to use a drag pipe as a crack pipe.

Damn it, learn something new every day








Although I could watch the Muzzy Kawasaki at PI footage any day :D
Click to expand...

Gaz, I think you like Australia so much that you are basically a rasist.
 
Keshav said:
A bigoted Rasta? BTW Nazi should always be spelled with a capital "N".
Click to expand...
Well, to be fair, the word "Nazi" was actually "spelled" correctly, however as you pointed out it does require an uppercase "N". Though you got me wondering, I'm not so sure the use of a shorthand acronym is a grammatically appropriate way to start a sentence, perhaps it is in modern usage. Notwithstanding, I believe the use of quotation marks may have been in order when pointing out the mistake above; for example, you should have pointed out "Nazi" (which was actually spelled correctly) should have carried an uppercase "N" given it is a proper noun. Though to be frank, I may have to czech with Arrabi, who I consider a master of the English language.
 
Last edited:
Have to make a mention of Wayne Gardner. Ok not my favourite rider now but back in the day, he was the first gp rider I followed, and I guess was the guy who brought 500cc coverage to my country.Yet he's a bit of a prick, like mick. Ah those were the days. Actually a little known bit of gossip, the young mick Doohan was apparently a bit of a party animal. And he was said to be a squatter in an abandoned house on the Gold Coast since he was often unemployed, surfing and spending what little cash he had on booze. There is a phrase I remember associated with Mick, being laid back but intense. Contractadictory yes but that seams to be his personality, away from the sport he's said to be a top bloke to hang out and party with, but to his rivals he was a prick.

I just watched a rerun of Brno 1996 the famous tow truck race. Looks like Criville actually was in the lead for longer than Mick, and throughout the race looked faster. He won by 1cm and mick was pissed. Off.

Another name from that race, Jean michel bayle. Who's he? Well imagine if in 2004 instead of just going to Yamaha Rossi would have said I'm off to ride motocross. And then was even half decent. Bale had won euro mx, then went to usa mx and won that. Caught the eye of Kenny Snr, and then at the top of his mx game went off to try 500cc and was damn fast considering, he was sitting there right behind Doohan for a while. Remarkable talent.
 
Last edited:
I'm also going to throw David Jefferies in there too, I know the affable giant only did a handful of 500cc rides on probably the worst bike on the grid but what a bloke that fella was. A rarity in that he was an actual biker as well, not just a racer who didn't ride on the road or even have a road license like todays riders.

If you haven't read his biography, give it a go, I nearly pissed myself laughing at some of his antics. Especially when he was doing donuts in a modified lorry and had to swerve to miss Casey Stoners motorhome and ended up taking out an electrical box plunging the place into darkness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr3lkryqGBY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_6sibHHYrk
 
Last edited:
birdman said:
Have to make a mention of Wayne Gardner. Ok not my favourite rider now but back in the day, he was the first gp rider I followed, and I guess was the guy who brought 500cc coverage to my country.Yet he's a bit of a prick, like mick. Ah those were the days. Actually a little known bit of gossip, the young mick Doohan was apparently a bit of a party animal. And he was said to be a squatter in an abandoned house on the Gold Coast since he was often unemployed, surfing and spending what little cash he had on booze. There is a phrase I remember associated with Mick, being laid back but intense. Contractadictory yes but that seams to be his personality, away from the sport he's said to be a top bloke to hang out and party with, but to his rivals he was a prick.

I just watched a rerun of Brno 1996 the famous tow truck race. Looks like Criville actually was in the lead for longer than Mick, and throughout the race looked faster. He won by 1cm and mick was pissed. Off.

Another name from that race, Jean michel bayle. Who's he? Well imagine if in 2004 instead of just going to Yamaha Rossi would have said I'm off to ride motocross. And then was even half decent. Bale had won euro mx, then went to usa mx and won that. Caught the eye of Kenny Snr, and then at the top of his mx game went off to try 500cc and was damn fast considering, he was sitting there right behind Doohan for a while. Remarkable talent.
Click to expand...

Excellent post - great recollections.

I video recorded a fly on the wall TV documentary from back then chronicling diggers 1987 championship year and it was recently repeated just the other year over here on Motors TV so I recorded it again over two decades later and burnt it to a disc. I'll send you a copy if you're interested. Those images from the '91 Japanese GP - after crashing in the wet on that ...... NSR, defiantly hammering his clip ons straight and ripping off the damaged fairing then the charge through the field before crashing again breaking his leg on the exposed armco. Returned and won the last race of the season before retiring. A bit like Bayliss's farewell wild card on the Duc at Valencia...a massive up yours.

Regarding Bayle - fully agree. Remarkable talent.
 
Two others I always enjoyed watching as well and did really try to keep an eye on results were

Christian Sarron - a bit enigmatic but when on, was very much on in an era when the competition was extremely tough

And Simon Crafar. Bloody sensational guy, great sportsman and in some ways a bit like McCoy. Has talent but was never full recognised. Plus, who can forget the Assen qualifying when MD beat Crafars time in sensational circumstances, and the way Crafar handled it. Plus as a Kiwi he is an honorary Aussie. :)
 
Mike Hailwood
Still the Greatest.

Giacomo Agostini
The first Superstar.

Renzo Pasolini
Beat Ago-MV many times on a Benelli.

Jarno Saarinen
The first Alien. Could have become greater than Mike...

Kenny Roberts
The second Alien.

Barry Sheene
Brave and fast, second Superstar

Freddie Spencer
The third Alien.

Luca Cadalora
Pure talent, 3 times WC without training.

Kevin Schwantz
Genius -- only lacked the consistency

Mick Doohan
The Warrior

Valentino Rossi
Spectacular and smart, the third Superstar

Casey Stoner
The fourth Alien

Marc Marquez
The fifth Alien

......
 
Last edited:
Decent list. I agree Mike Hailwood is the greatest of all time. I think you forgot Wayne Rainey. Disagree with Marquez being the fourth alien. Put Marquez on a satellite bike how many races does he win let alone championships? Something that should be apparent to you regarding the riders on your list is that they all were able to ride around problems EXCEPT one glaring name, Marquez. In my opinion I don't believe Marc belongs on the list of all time greats. He is however on a list of riders on all time greatest machines. Tweak his bike ever so slightly and he chucks it down the road. How big of a difference in your estimation is the bike he is riding now to the bike he crashed 3 times with this year? It was then and it is still now the best bike on the grid.
 
Last edited:
Jumkie said:
Decent list. I agree Mike Hailwood is the greatest of all time. I think you forgot Wayne Rainey. Disagree with Marquez being the fourth alien. Put Marquez on a satellite bike how many races does he win let alone championships? Something that should be apparent to you regarding the riders on your list is that they all were able to ride around problems EXCEPT one glaring name, Marquez. In my opinion I don't believe Marc belongs on the list of all time greats. He is however on a list of riders on all time greatest machines. Tweak his bike ever so slightly and he chucks it down the road. How big of a difference in your estimation is the bike he is riding now to the bike he crashed 3 times with this year? It was then and it is still now the best bike on the grid.
Click to expand...

"Something that should be apparent to you regarding the riders on your list is that they all were able to ride around problems EXCEPT one glaring name"

Hate to say it, but that's not necessarily true of Sheene.

"How big of a difference in your estimation is the bike he is riding now to the bike he crashed 3 times with this year?"

Well, a different chassis is a fairly significant change and I would bet your left testicle on the fact that they completely revised the mapping before the deadline on changes to electronics. As Colin recently opined, you're only as fast as your head allows and given the emphasis upon performance psychology, change a master cylinder cover or switch a valve cap and it could slash three tenths off these guys lap times. Which leads quite nicely to...

"Tweak his bike ever so slightly and he chucks it down the road."

Easy for us to say from the comfort of a recliner when all you have to juggle is a beer in one hand and the remote in the other. "ever so slightly" - How do you know? It has gone down in racing legend that on occasions Lawson used to intentionally lose the front in order to enter a corner quicker but because he was 'Steady Eddie' no one noticed. Imagine a rider like Schwantz trying it and you have Marquez. I've never, in forty years of watching this sport seen a rider employ such a high risk riding style. As much as it is a strength, it is his achilles heel and often a liability for those he races with.

"It was then and it is still now the best bike on the grid."
No it wasn't. In terms of what? Given your comprehensive and appreciable understanding of the dynamics of this sport and the associated variables involved you should know better than to employ such simplistic absolutes.

Incidentally, I hope you're prioritising our trip to Upton Park today. Biggest bogey ground in our history. Cemented into guidestones, the very lore of this sport that we never win there. If ever the time was ripe.
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

K
Who are currently your 3 favorite Moto GP riders and why ?
2
Replies
31
Views
4K
L8Braker
L8Braker
xx CURVE xx
MotoGP race report, Donington
Replies
1
Views
1K
an4rew
A

Recent Discussions

Recent Discussions

Back
Top