It's the eternal question; would great racers of the past beat the current champions?
US GP fans will get the chance to see three generations of racing heroes duking it out at Laguna, when Rossi faces up to the challenge of Yamaha’s past three World Champions, Kenny Roberts, Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey. They foursome have 17 World Championships to their name.
It will be on four wheels, on 250cc go-karts, and could be quite fierce. Rossi is a past national go-kart champion and Lawson a leading light in US Superkart racing, while Rainey has dabbled, after the crippling crash that ended his bike racing career. Only Kenny Roberts has no karting experience.
“This is the only way I could get on the race-track with those guys,” said Rainey. “I’m glad they have agreed.”
Rossi said: “I still practice quite a lot. I think I can be competitive. I like the chance to race against the old heroes – but I will go more slow than them. I have to think about the grand prix.”
The quartet will use 250 Yamaha-powered superkarts, on one of which Lawson has set a lap time two seconds slower than a MotoGP time, for the demo race, on Thursday afternoon of the GP weekend.
