1. Mick Doohan
Where: Sao Paolo, Brazilian 500ccGP
Where: 1992
What: Honda NSR500
Why so hard?: Mick fights appalling pain and fatigue to protect lead
In late June 1992 Mick Doohan fell at the Assen GP and suffered a savage lower right leg break - spiral fractures of the tibia and fibula. After botched early treatment, amputation was on the cards. It was horrendous.
After rescue and relocation, a radical op performed by Doctor Claudio Costa’s Clinica Mobile saved his legs from being sawn off and speeded up his recovery. Seven weeks after his crash, as weak as a kitten and with his leg withered and useless, Doohan came back to defend what was left of his once imperious 57-point Championship lead at the hideously dangerous Interlagos circuit.
His treatment had included radical surgery, sewing both his legs together and transplanting muscle tissue from his torso to his calves, to help get the dying muscles become oxygenated by the living tissue.
Mick, until that stage an unbeatable prospect, knew he was in trouble in Brazil and was a physical wreck. “I’d lost six kilos, and had been pretty lean to start with; I was run down, beat up and on some pretty strong pills,” says Mick with typical ‘no worries’ understatement.
He eventually finished 12th, but in 1992 that meant no points and all that grit and risk had been for nothing. He finished the Championship in second place, losing out to Wayne Rainey by just four points. “That was my toughest race ever, but I was happy that I had finished,” he says. “I got back to the pits and Costa and another doctor were crying. It was all pretty emotional.” But the legend that was Mick Doohan had been born. The infamous Gold & Goose photo of him in appalling pain, with his stick-thin leg clearly on display and Dr Costa offering comfort, shows the true grit of the man. And that’s why Doohan’s Sao Paolo effort is unquestionably our hardest race of all time.
