TOP 10 BIKE RACERS IN THE WORLD
1.VALENTINO ROSSI
1.VALENTINO ROSSI
When the miraculous eyes of a new born child falls on T. V,
while lying in his mothers arms and if he see's Moto GP and his eyes fall on
bike no. 46. The child sets a target for himself, to be a world champion one
day and his inspiration is 'THE DOCTOR' Valentino Rossi. And that is what
Valentino Rossi is made up of, a down to earth attitude engulfed and protected
by humility, indomitable will, talent and power and positive infectious
inspiration.
'THE DOCTOR' Valentino Rossi is undoubtedly the 'THE LAST OUT LAW OF MOTO GP. '
'THE DOCTOR' Valentino Rossi is undoubtedly the 'THE LAST OUT LAW OF MOTO GP. '
Valentino rossi the doctor... He is a champion who defines the
talent, spirit, power, humility and the dominance what a real moto gp rider
posses. He is truly 'THE DOCTOR. '
Honestly, I don't know where to start! The man is simply a
maverick of the world sport and doesn't get the credit he deserves for making
MotoGP the sport it is today. Never have I once heard Vale bad mouth his bike
or lose faith with the team, he just gets on with the job at hand and makes his
fans proud. The consistency he has to ride at the top for 20 years is
remarkable and the racing ability/craft he has will never been seen again
because if there is someone you want in a last lap battle to pull it off it is
Valentino Rossi! I salute you Valentino for all the great memories you have
given me and the millions of fans around the world. The 9 times world champion.
The greatest of all time. The Doctor. Valentino Rossi
"The legend "
In 1994 Rossi raced in the Italian
125 GP Championship with a prototype called Sandroni, using a Rotax engine. The
bike was built by Guido Mancini, a former rider and mechanic who had worked, in
the past, with Loris Capirossi. A documentary about Mancini, called
"Mancini, the Motorcycle Wizard" (Il Mago Mancini), was released in
2016 by director Jeffrey Zani and explains the birth of the motorcycle and the
relationship between Rossi and the mechanic.
In 1995 Rossi switched to Aprilia and
won the Italian 125 GP Championship. He was third in the European Championship.
2. Casey Stoner
His ability to surpass the current complexity of electric
systems of a current moto gp bike says it all, Nakamoto (HRC Vic president)
says Casey is able to match anti - spin software targets with only 20% system
active, so his throttle control, weight shift techniques & overall feel for
the motorcycle dynamics is second to non, I suppose his Ducati results back up
these comments as his ability to adapt to the bike dynamics.
Stoner is the best rider of all time. His ability to win with
any bike is unmatched. Stoner can better control and win with a lesser quality
bike, where as Rossi had to have the perfect and best bike in the world in
order to win his races. Stoner can push any bike past its limits and has a
natural ability to adapt to a bike that is simply unrivaled. Stoner often went
against the grain, he beat the "best of all time" consistently and
won with a harder to control and lesser quality bike to boot. Had he remained
with Honda it's no doubt he would be winning races easily for years to come.
At the test held immediately
following the Valencia round, Stoner was once again fastest while testing the
new 2010 version of the Desmosedici. However, Rossi was fastest in five of the
six pre-season tests. Stoner qualified on pole for the season opener in Qatar,
and was leading the race when he crashed out, later acknowledging that this was
his own mistake] He
also crashed out of round 3 at Le Mans, this time attributing the crash to
the front of the bike unloading when not running at maximum pace. His
first podium of the year came at Assen, despite struggling with arm
pumplate in the race.
It was not until the thirteenth race
of the season, the inaugural Aragon Grand Prix, that Stoner achieved his
first victory. His victory in Aragon started a run of three victories in
four races, as he also won the delayed Japanese Grand Prix, and won
for the fourth consecutive year at Phillip Island. He eventually
finished fourth in the riders' championship once again. With Rossi having fallen
out of favour with Yamaha following Lorenzo's championship-winning season and
Honda no longer willing to play second-fiddle to another Japanese manufacturer,
an intense game of musical-chairs ensued in the MotoGP paddock that saw several
of the top riders switch teams, Stoner among them. For 2011, Stoner
joined Honda Racing Corporation after four years at Ducati
Corse, where he was replaced by Valentino Rossi.
3.MARC MARQUEZ
Márquez started the 2013 season with
a podium finish in Qatar. He qualified sixth and eventually finished third
behind Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi. At the second round of the
championship at the new Circuit of the Americas in Texas,
Márquez beat his teammate Dani Pedrosa and became the first winner at the new
track. In doing this Márquez became the youngest ever MotoGP race winner
at 20 years, 63 days, beating Freddie Spencer's 30-year-old
record.
Márquez slipped during the third free
practice session without getting injured or damaging his bike and eventually
qualified third fastest at Jerez. Márquez finished the race in second
position behind teammate Dani Pedrosa. At Le Mans, Márquez took the
second pole of his short MotoGP career, 0.03 seconds ahead of Lorenzo. Márquez
suffered a bad start to the race and spent many laps in the lower half of the
top 10 however by mid-race he began to find his rhythm and progressed forward.
Márquez overtook Andrea Dovizioso with only two laps to go in the
race to claim his fourth podium finish in as many races, tying Max
Biaggi's record from 1998. Márquez endured a tough weekend
at Mugello. After crashing his Repsol Honda on Friday morning Márquez
crashed again on Friday afternoon, he had a third crash on Saturday morning
practice but recovered to qualify on the second row for the race. He suffered
his 4th crash of the weekend with only 3 laps to go in the race; his first
non-finish since joining the premier class.
At Catalonia, Márquez finished
the race in 3rd place. At Assen, Márquez suffered a huge highside in
morning practice causing small fractures of his little finger on his right hand
and also his left big toe.He finished the race in 3rd
place.At Sachsenring, following injuries to main rivals Pedrosa and
Lorenzo, Márquez took his 3rd MotoGP pole position. After an average start he
worked his way to the front to lead by the end of lap five and was never again
headed despite a strong late race charge from Cal Crutchlow to win by 1.5
seconds.At Laguna Seca, Márquez replicated the overtake that Rossi made on
Casey Stoner at the same corner in 2008 to pass Rossi. He won his third race of
the year to extend his championship lead to 16 points over Dani Pedrosa.
At Indianapolis, Márquez grabbed
pole position by 0.5 seconds from Jorge Lorenzo. In the race Márquez made an
average get away and dropped behind Lorenzo and Pedrosa. On lap 12 Márquez made
a pass on Lorenzo for the lead, Lorenzo and Pedrosa were able to keep pace with
Márquez for a few laps but towards the latter stages the gap opened out and
Márquez took his 4th win of the year by just over 3 seconds.At Brno, the
race saw an intense battle between Márquez and Lorenzo. Lorenzo made a great
start off the line and led the race at the first corner. The pair proceeded to
swap places on various occasions, with the final pass coming at Turn 3 with
just under four laps to go; Márquez became the first rider to win four
consecutive races since Valentino Rossi in 2008.
4.MICHAEL DOOHAN
He made his Grand Prix debut for Honda
on a 500 cc two-stroke motorcycle in 1989. Late in the 1990 season Doohan
claimed his first victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix on his way to third in
the championship. In 1991, he was paired with Wayne Gardner on a Honda RVF750
superbike and won the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race. Doohan competed
successfully throughout the early 1990s and appeared to be on his way to
winning his first world championship when he was seriously injured in a
practice crash before the 1992 Dutch TT. He suffered permanent and serious
damage to his right leg due to medical complications and, at one stage, faced
amputation of the leg. At the time, Doohan was 65 points in the lead of the
championship, but could not compete for eight weeks after the crash. After an
arduous recovery, Doohan returned to racing for the final two races but could
not prevent Yamaha rider Wayne Rainey from winning his third consecutive title
(by four points from Doohan). In 1993 he struggled with the healing of his leg
and the ability to race the Honda at elite level, stating later that in that
year it was all he could do to just keep his ride at Honda. It was also during
this time he switched to a left thumb-operated rear brake, as his right foot is
no longer able to perform this function.
In 1994 however, he won his first 500
cc World Championship. Thereafter, until 1998, he dominated the class, winning
five consecutive 500 cc World Championships. In 1997, his most successful year,
Doohan won 12 out of 15 races, finished second in another two, and crashed out
of the final race of the season at his home GP while leading by more than six
seconds. In June 1996 Doohan was inducted as a Member of the Order of Australia
for his contribution to the sport of motor racing.[citation needed]
Despite up to eight rivals on
non-factory HRC Honda motorcycles Doohan's margin of superiority over them was
such that in many races Doohan would build a comfortable lead and then ride
well within his limits to cruise to victory. Although pure riding skill clearly
played a large part in his success, the ability of his chief race engineer,
Jeremy Burgess, to perfect the suspension and geometry of a racing motorcycle
may have given him an advantage over his rivals. Between 1994 and 1998 the bike
was said not to have had many changes, with Honda engineers reportedly becoming
frustrated at Doohan's reluctance to try innovations such as electronic
shifting (it was only when Rossi came to Honda in 1999 that Honda engineers had
their head with Rossi willing to try more innovations).
One notable trait of Doohan's
post-crash riding style was the use of a thumb-operated rear brake developed
during 1993. This was operated by a "nudge" bar similar to a personal
water craft throttle, but mounted on the left handlebar. In 1999 Doohan had
another accident, this time in a very wet qualifying session for the Spanish
Grand Prix. He again broke his leg in several places and subsequently announced
his retirement. Jeremy Burgess, Doohan's chief engineer for his entire career,
later became Valentino Rossi's chief engineer. After Doohan retired he went to
work as a roving adviser to Honda's Grand Prix race effort. At the conclusion
of the 2004 season, Doohan and Honda parted company.[citation needed]
In June 2011, Doohan made an appearance
at the Isle of Man TT. Doohan completed a parade lap, and was most enamored by
the thrill and spectacle of the Snaefell Mountain Course. He then went on to
pay tribute to his former Honda racing team-mate, Joey Dunlop.
5. Giacomo Agostini
Was dominant on the best machines for many years then just to
prove it was all about the rider switched to the 2 stroke Yamaha and won again!
Just watch him at the Isle of Man if you remain unconvinced.
The greatest ever. I think it is
pretty clear. This obsession with only the newer riders/drivers being the best
ever is media hype and loving statistics. Jim Clark won just two world
championships before his death yet how can you with a straight face compare him
to Hakkinen, Alonso, Hamilton, et. al. ? Stirling Moss won none, but was he a greater
driver than these recent champions? Perhaps. Tony Brooks an F1 driver of the
50s is a good friend of my father's and I asked him to rate today's drivers vs.
yesterday's. He felt there was no need, but he did grin and say "in
yesterday's cars today's drivers would not be able to cope with the demands
placed on them". Ago is best ever.
although
it is difficult to assess seeing both eras I go Agostini rossi's hero but given
the bikes ridden today it is always going to be open to debate
The all time best premier class rider. He won 122/224 races or
54.5%. He raced at the IOM TT circuit when it was part of the world
championship something modern riders in MotoGP would never even imagine doing.
The fact he's currently No.5 on this list is an indication of people's lack of historical perspective.
Currently at number 1 is, unsurprisingly, VR, a brilliant rider but with 114/342 or 33.3% win rate, and who has raced for 22 years compared to Agostini's 15 year career
The fact he's currently No.5 on this list is an indication of people's lack of historical perspective.
Currently at number 1 is, unsurprisingly, VR, a brilliant rider but with 114/342 or 33.3% win rate, and who has raced for 22 years compared to Agostini's 15 year career
.
6.Jorge Lorenzo
Lorenzo started the 2015 season by
taking fourth-place finishes at Losail and Austin, before
adding a fifth-place finish in Argentina. Lorenzo then took four
successive victories – for the first time in his career –
at Jerez,Le Mans,Mugello,and Barcelona. These results moved him
into second in the riders' championship standings, a point behind team-mate
Rossi. Lorenzo then finished third at Assen, losing ground to Rossi in the
standings, after he won the race. He finished in second place
at Indianapolis, before adding his fifth victory of the season at Brno.He
finished fourth place at Silverstone in wet conditions, before
crashing out at Misano.
Lorenzo achieved his sixth win of the
season – and the sixtieth of his career – at the Aragon Grand
Prix; coupled with Rossi's third place, he cut the deficit in the championship
to Rossi, to 14 points. The pair's results were enough for
the team to clinch their respective title, their first
since 2010. In Japan, Rossi extended the championship lead to
eighteen with a second-place finish to Dani Pedrosa in drying
conditions. Lorenzo had started on pole but faded to third with tyre
issues. In Australia, Lorenzo was passed for the lead on the final
lap by Márquez; however, with Rossi down in fourth, Lorenzo cut the
championship lead to eleven. Lorenzo further cut the lead to seven, after
a second-place finish in Malaysia; Rossi finished third after a collision
with Márquez, whom he accused of working for Lorenzo, in which he accrued three
penalty points – enough to enforce a start from the back of the grid for
the final race in Valencia. Rossi made it up to fourth in the race,
but Lorenzo won the race and took the championship – his fifth world title
overall – by five points.
7. Wayne Rainey
Letting go isn’t something that Wayne Rainey does well. “I will
never accept how things ended,” he says, “but I have adjusted to what I missed,
and that is the hardest part. There was a time I missed racing pretty hard, but
I missed life in general.”
Twenty years ago, Rainey’s life changed
forever. The 32-year-old Californian was leading the Italian Grand Prix at the
Misano Circuit, possibly en route to a fourth consecutive 500cc Grand Prix
world title, when he crashed his factory Yamaha YZR500
at more than 120 mph.
Rainey spends 15 minutes describing
that fateful 15 seconds. “In the first moment, I thought, ‘Damn, I’ve lost the
world championship,’ ” he says. “In that particular corner, on that particular
lap, on that particular day, I was at maximum bank angle and trying to get the
bike back on line to start accelerating. When you’re off throttle, all the
weight is on the front tire, and I was in the danger zone of losing the front.”
When Rainey opened the gas, the rear
tire stepped out and he fell, sliding into the deeply furrowed gravel trap at
the edge of the racetrack. “People say there is a right way to crash, and that
is B.S.,” he says. “The thought I had when I was flipping through the air was,
‘Don’t try to stand up.’ I was just in a ball.
Two weeks earlier, Rainey had crashed
while practicing for the British Grand Prix at Donington Park. He hit his head,
fractured vertebrae, and lost two fingernails. Worried he wouldn’t be allowed
to race, Rainey didn’t disclose the most severe injuries. “I was competing for
the world championship,” he says. “If I didn’t race, everything I had raced for
that year would have been gone.”
Rainey started the British GP and,
despite being injured, exploited his unique ability to get an early lead.
“Everyone thought I went pretty good on cold tires,” he says, “so I thought if
I could gear my bike to start in second gear, it would give me one less shift
going into the first turn.” Rainey led early and eventually finished second to
his teammate, Luca Cadalora.
“I would not have raced in my first
couple of years,” he says. “As a rookie, you don’t want to risk hurting
yourself or others. But that is what the championship meant to me. I was
willing to risk those types of decisions to get a result.”
8.Kevin Schwantz
Kevin Schwantz, né le 19 juin 1964 à Houston,
est un pilote de vitesse moto américain.
Comme beaucoup de jeunes américains, il commence par le
motocross. Devenu l'un des meilleurs régionaux du Texas, il décide de quitter
cette discipline en 1983 après un sérieux accident. Il poursuit sa carrière en
Superbike aux États-Unis. C'est dans cette discipline qu'il
rencontre Wayne Rainey qui va devenir son grand rival pour les années
suivantes. Cette rivalité commence lors du championnat national 1987,
finalement remporté par son adversaire. Il participe à son premier GP500 en
1986 en tant que pilote invité. Il fait quelques apparitions en 1987 dans la
même catégorie.
Il rejoint l'Europe pour le
championnat du monde en 1988. Première saison complète en 500 cm³
chez Suzuki, il remporte son premier grand prix lors de la course
inaugurale de la saison au Japon. Son rival Wayne Rainey rejoint lui
le team de l'ancien champion du monde Kenny Roberts chez Yamaha.
Les années suivantes, la catégorie reine connait l'une des périodes les plus
riches de son histoire. La concurrence et le talent des Wayne
Gardner, Michael Doohan, Eddie Lawson, Randy Mamola, Wayne
Rainey et Kevin Schwantz offrent des courses disputées.
Schwantz doit toutefois compenser le
manque de puissance de sa Suzuki vis-à-vis des Yamaha et Honda de ses
concurrents par un pilotage extrême qui le conduit souvent à la chute, mais lui
apporte une grande popularité pour ses dépassements.
Il atteint finalement le sommet de sa
carrière en 1993 en remportant le titre 500 cm³,
avec au passage quatre victoires.
L'accumulation des blessures passées
et l'accident qui laisse son rival Wayne Rainey paralysé lors du grand prix
d'Italie le conduisent à mettre un terme à sa carrière avant le début de la
saison 1995. Il termine ainsi sa carrière en grand prix sur 25 victoires. Il
connaît le rare honneur de voir son numéro fétiche, le 34, retiré par
la Fédération internationale de motocyclisme.
Il fera ensuite une carrière en sport
automobile, en NASCAR et en championnat de voitures de tourisme,
avant de courir au Bol d'Or 2004 sur Suzuki avec deux journalistes de Moto
Revue et L’Intégral, Thierry Traccan et David Dumain.
Il fait son retour dans le paddock en
2007 pour conseiller le team Suzuki MotoGP.
Idole de Valentino Rossi, il est
l'une des légendes vivantes de la course moto.
9.Dani Pedrosa
It was in 1996 when the 10-year-old
Pedrosa entered the Spanish Minibike Championship. He began on karting
circuits all over Spain, always joined by his parents and with the bike in the
car trunk. Dani finished his first race in sixth position due to a problem with
his bike’s exhaust pipe, but the second race brought his first podium finish.
He enjoyed the experience and, after finishing second overall in his first
season, decided to enter the same championship the following year.
Unfortunately, a few days before
the 1997 season, Dani caught chickenpox and wasn’t even able to put on the
helmet. At year’s end he finished eight points behind the leader in the third
position overall.
Although Dani managed to take the
title in 1998, he still considered racing a mere hobby. The Aprilia 50 Cup and
the Open RACC were popular promotional series at the time, and Pedrosa
considered giving one of them a try. However, due to the lack of means and
support—and despite his good results—Dani decided to leave motorbikes aside and
to change over to mountain bikes. When he was just about to get his
bicycle-racing licence, his family heard from a friend that the Movistar Activa
Cup, a promotional series with competition bikes, was being organised. A step up
from minibikes to racing bikes would be huge for young Dani, but in early 1999
the Pedrosa family decided to send an entry form to take part in the try-outs,
which would be held at the Jarama circuit in Madrid. The weekend before the
trials, Dani learned to ride a bike with a gearbox in an industrial area nearby
his home, riding a borrowed bike. The try-outs would be his first time on a
circuit, and understandably, he was nervous; the bike was so tall that his feet
couldn’t reach the ground. Nonetheless, the 13-year-old made the cut to take
part in the Movistar Activa Cup that year, and he went on to finish in a
meritorious eighth position. Of the 25 riders taking part that year, only three
were selected to become part of a team run by Alberto Puig, who saw Dani’s huge
potential and included him along with with Joan Olivé and Raul Jara.
In 2000, Dani took part in the
Spanish Championship with the Movistar Junior Team. He finished four of the six
races and took four poles, finishing fourth overall behind Olivé, Jara and Toni
Elias. This prompted Puig to have Dani take part in the 125cc Motorcycle World
Championship. Pedrosa, then 14, couldn’t believe it; his dream was coming true.
In the first race, held at Suzuka, the Spaniard was among the last riders on the
grid, as he had never seen such a competitive class. He still remembers feeling
scared in the first corner, something that never happened again. Even though
2001 was a learning year for Dani, he managed to take two podiums finishes—a
third place in Valencia and another in Motegi. He started several races among
the leading riders, and despite his lack of experience, he raced alongside
well-known riders such as Elias, Manuel Poggiali and Youichi Ui. He finished
eighth overall in the final standings.
Pedrosa’s third-overall position in
the 2002 World Championship, in which he had been a title candidate along with
Poggiali and Arnaud Vincent, was the evidence of his tremendous potential. This
fact was confirmed by the nine podium finishes and six pole positions he took
that year, as well as by his three victories, in Assen, Motegi and Valencia.
Although he had to settle for the third place, Dani was considered the most
spectacular and combative rider in the class.
Coming of Age
Pedrosa faced his third year in the
125cc World Championship with serenity and determination, as well as the aim of
clinching the title. During the season, he showed the maturity of a veteran
rider—not an 18-year-old—and he earned a reputation for being one of the most
talented young riders in the sport. He became 125cc World Champion in Malaysia,
with two GPs left on the calendar, after collecting five victories and six
podium finishes. Only one week later, misfortune hit the young rider, who
suffered a huge accident during a practice session at the Australian GP,
breaking both ankles.
In 2004, following a difficult recovery period and under the
protection of mentor and right-hand-man Alberto Puig, the young rider decided
to make the jump to the 250cc class. From the beginning, Dani considered it a
season of learning and adapting to the class, with no real ambition of fighting
for the title. That said, he surprised everybody right from the first tests of
the season, as hard work and dedication from the rider and his entire team soon
bore fruit. He tasted victory in the first race in South Africa after a
spectacular fight with Randy De Puniet, and he took over the championship lead
after the Brazilian Grand Prix, keeping it until the end of the season. In Australia,
Pedrosa became youngest 250cc World Champion in history, in his rookie season
in the class, at the age of 19. In addition to the seven victories, it was his
incredible consistency throughout the year that gave him the title. The only
races in which he didn’t finish on the podium were Jerez (where he crashed in
heavy rain), Estoril and Phillip Island (where he finished.
10.Mike Hailwood
During his car racing career,
Hailwood never achieved the same level of success that he found on motorcycles,
but achieved respectable results in Formula One and World Sports
Cars.
Hailwood participated in 50 Formula
One Grands Prix, starting with an early phase between 1963–1965, debuting in
the British Grand Prix on 20 July 1963, achieving two podium finishes
in 1964 and scoring a total of 29 championship points. He was in
contention for a victory at his first Formula One race in 6 years,
the 1971 Italian Grand Prix. He and 3 other drivers finished 1-2-3-4 over
two-tenths of a second, Hailwood finishing fourth.
He won the 1972 Formula
Two European title and earned a podium finish at the 1969 24 Hours of
Le Mans.Hailwood ran three full seasons in the European Shellsport F5000 series
1969-71 and was 2nd in the 1972 Tasman F5000 series in which he drove a 5000
engined TS8 F1 chassis.
Hailwood was recognised for his
bravery when in the 1973 South African Grand Prix he went to
pull Clay Regazzoni from his burning car after the two collided on
the second lap of the race. Hailwood's driving suit caught fire, but after
being extinguished by a fire marshal he returned to help rescue Regazzoni, an
act for which he was awarded the George Medal, the 2nd highest gallantry
award that a British civilian can be awarded.
In 1974 he drove a
works Yardley sponsored McLaren M23 and impressed,
sometimes outpacing team leader Emerson Fittipaldi. He left Formula One
after being injured badly at the 1974 German Grand Prix at
the Nürburgring and retired to New Zealand.
He was the subject of This Is
Your Life in 1976 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.
On 3 June 1978, after an 11-year
hiatus from mainstream motorcycling, Hailwood performed a now-legendary
comeback at the Isle of Man TT in the Formula I race, a class based
on large-capacity road machines. Few observers believed the 38-year-old
would be competitive after such a long absence. Riding
a Ducati 900SS provided by Manchester (UK) dealership Sports
Motorcycles, he was not only competitive, but managed a hugely popular win.
He raced the following year at the
Isle of Man TT before retiring for good at the age of 39. In that final Isle of
Man appearance, Hailwood rode a two-stroke Suzuki RG 500 to
victory in the He then opted to use that same 500cc bike in the Unlimited
Classic and diced for the lead with Alex George (1100cc Honda) for
all 6 laps in yet another TT epic. A minute or two apart on the road, they were
rarely a few seconds apart on time each lap, Hailwood losing by just 2 seconds.
