Best Rider Ever: Hailwood? Ago? Rossi?...

[Frank Z.]

nah... how about Redman?! Great story. Enjoy.

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/739/18732/Motorcycle-Article/STM--Greatest-Motorcycle-Racing-Achievement.aspx

[storm 64]

What a great story. Definitely the golden area in motorcycle racing. (Thanks for posting)

[wymple]

King Kenny for my vote.

[GS1150Pilot]

John Surtees from my corner.

[ozman]

great story thanks

ozman

[Wester Cooley]

They don't call him The King for nothing!!!

He won on road courses, miles, half miles, TT's, and short tracks.

And he did it without all them electronic gizmos that are on today's bikes.

REAL MEN RODE 500cc GRAND PRIX!!!!!

[storm 64]

King Kenny for my vote.

Kenny Roberts, sears point 1978. Cycle magazine had a great account of the race. Roberts had to start at the back of the grid. Said he had to get by as many riders as he could before the front runners pulled to far away. He was passing riders in corners were nobody passed nobody three at a time. Sliding both tires riding like a mad man... He won the race. I still have the magazine. It's the one with the pretty girl with the RD400 on the cover.

[Wester Cooley]

Kenny Roberts, sears point 1978. Cycle magazine had a great account of the race. Roberts had to start at the back of the grid. Said he had to get by as many riders as he could before the front runners pulled to far away. He was passing riders in corners were nobody passed nobody three at a time. Sliding both tires riding like a mad man... He won the race. I still have the magazine. It's the one with the pretty girl with the RD400 on the cover.

Wasn't that 1977?? Best seven or eight laps of road racing ever seen in the U.S.

Didn't he drill Gary Nixon for the lead through the esses?? Like you said, NOBODY passed anybody there, but The King did!!!

Between those first few laps at Sear Point, and his ride at the "75 Indy Mile on the Tz750 were among some of the best rides ever from The King!!!!

[hampshirehog]

Joey Dunlop for me.

[storm 64]

Wasn't that 1977?? Best seven or eight laps of road racing ever seen in the U.S.

Didn't he drill Gary Nixon for the lead through the esses?? Like you said, NOBODY passed anybody there, but The King did!!!

Between those first few laps at Sear Point, and his ride at the "75 Indy Mile on the Tz750 were among some of the best rides ever from The King!!!!

Yes, Wester you are right. When I get home I'm digging that magazine out.
What about Motocross? Hannah gets my vote!

[Charlie G]

Joey Dunlop for me.

Yes , he's got my vote!

[trevor]

Joey Dunlop for me.

No doubt about it for either...Joey all the way. Not even close really.

[eddie21]

Maybe it's because I've been watching all of the diving antics in the World Cup, but it made me think of toughness when it came to this thread. I remembered this story about Eddie Lawson and how toughness, both mentally and physically, can be a such a huge asset!

"Lawson raced the only Grand Prix spec 500 Kawasaki ever produced, the KR500 in the Formula One race at Laguna, a day after his Superbike win. The bike, although technically advanced, was never really competitive with the OW61 Yamaha of Roberts or Mamola's Suzuki RG500, the chassis too long and the engine underpowered; Fast Eddie had to ride like a psychopath to keep them in sight. Outside of Laguna's old turn two, the Kawasaki shredded a front tire and spit him off. Eddie collided with a bank of earth, snapping his seventh vertebrae in two and shoving a piece of vertebrae into his spinal cord, momentarily paralyzing him. As I was laying there and thought, 'Well, now you did it'.
And then a few moments later the swelling went away and my movement came back. For about a month after that I could move my head down and my feet would just vibrate, like electrical shocks.
Local medical personnel did not find the broken vertebra in x-rays and told Lawson to go home, reasoning he was only badly beat up. Eddie went home, carried both his bags of luggage into his mom's house and collapsed. After a day or so of intense pain and a burning sensation from between his shoulder blades, Lawson's mother took him to a specialist.
After many X-rays, the doctor rushed into the examining room, Dont move! Don't turn your head, don't get up. Don't even sneeze! He'd found the splintered vertebrae and fitted Eddie with a chrome halo to wear as not to disrupt the mending. He also ordered him not to race for the remains of 1982, he could become permanently paralyzed if he crashed again. Eddie Lawson, your season and perhaps your racing career is over. Lawson snorted in response and glared at the Doctor.
After some thought, Lawson agreed to sit out the next two rounds. After all, he had a comfortable lead in the championship, all was not lost. Pocono, the next round of the series was in a month, Sears Point a month after that. Lawson, it was thought, would assuredly miss both of those round, maybe more. This was just the break Mike Baldwin and Honda needed. With Lawson out, a strong showing by Baldwin could turn the tides. The responsibility to hold Baldwin of fell on the shoulders of Wayne Rainey. Baldwin, an old hand at racing by this time, found himself surprised at how Rainey came on in Lawson's absence. Rainey dogged him, showing traits he would become well known for later in his GP career. He'd grab onto Baldwin's draft and wouldn't let go. Every time he made a slight mistake or turned his head back, Baldwin would see that green Kawasaki of Rainey. Coming onto the start and finish at Pocono for the last time Rainey suffered a transmission failure and cruised to the flag in second place. He hadn't help Lawson's lead but Rainey had certainly proven himself as a opponent.
Lawson was still a question mark for the remainder of the season - in all eyes but his own as usual. Funkhouser noticed Lawson spectating the Carlsbad USGP motocross race; it was not an pleasant scene. The contraption that they had attached to Lawson's head and neck looked more like a medieval torture instrument than anything to aid in his healing. Funkhouser remembers, "I saw him from a distance and I thought, Oh God, we're finished, the championship is over. I went over to talk to him and he was his same old confident self. He nonchalantly said, yeah, don't worry, I'll be back. We'll win this championship. That's my strongest memory of Eddie that year, him standing there with a apparatus on his head, not even able to move his head, announcing that we were still going to win the championship!"


Really though, if you have someone in mind as your #1 guy... you are right!

[NoH2Oh]

Best Rider Ever: Hailwood? Ago? Rossi?...

As a non-racer (unless you count on the back roads with my pal on his Honda 750 Super Sport ) I have no idea what it takes on and off the track to be the best. One thing I am certain of though is the best is not racing today. Sorry, but I have much more awe and respect for those that raced before the computer(s) and GPS controlled race bikes of today.

Oh and the best? Mike Hailwood. C'mon people, he WON a TT race after 11 years out of the sport.

[madjack57754]

Thought the world of Mike "the bike", but Yvon Duhamel was the most talented rider I ever saw. Got to team with him in the Winnepeg/St.Paul 500 snowmobile race in the 70's riding a FoxTrac of all things...