copied them thinking it was the only way to be competitive. Ironically, Yamaha eventually won the World championship that year, but even Wayne Rainey would agree that was more down to Mick Doohan mangling his leg at Assen than the Yamaha being

followed by 26 grand’s worth of somersaulting Tesi.SPORTS DAYWayne Rainey won his third consecutive 500cc world title for Yamaha, but the year’s most heroic effort was by Mick Doohan. Eight weeks after mangling his leg at Assen, the Aussie hard man returned

a prospective MotoGP racer right now and Rossi, Stoner and Pedrosa all decided to retire tomorrow, would you automatically chose to ride the factory Honda any more? In the days of Doohan, Rainey and Schwantz, you would have rushed into that Honda

Roberts Senior World Championship contenders, even the greats like Rainey, Lawson, Schwantz, Gardner, Doohan and (whisper it) Rossi, a lot longer than a single 500 race to leapfrog onto motorcycle racing's highest podium step. No home-town advantage

this is just another American oddball sport, check out the list of stateside riders who started out on the dirt before storming GPs and superbikes. It includes four-time 500GP champ Eddie Lawson, three times 500GP champ Wayne Rainey, GP demigod Randy Mamola

colours to boot. In 1985 there was nothing sexier.And if it looked good in the showroom, it positively set the racetracks alight. Some of us will remember Kevin Schwantz's Transatlantic racer,used to batter the hell out of Wayne Rainey's VFR750. The more

riders who have finished on the podium in the premier-class more times than Stoner are: Rossi, Doohan, Agosti­ni, Lawson, Rainey and Biaggi.29 – Casey Stoner’s pole position at Indianapolis was the 29th in the MotoGP class. This is the same number of pole

more times than Stoner in the premier-class; Valentino Rossi, Mick Doohan, Giacomo Agostini, Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey.32 – The win for Casey Stoner in Australia was his 32nd victory in the MotoGP class. This is one more premier-class victory than

the crash that broke Wayne Rainey's spine. Without the pressure of Rainey chasing him every foot of the way, Kevin Schwantz started losing interest, and retired shortly afterwards.Like his hero Schwantz, Valentino Rossi is another rider who prefers

it could be between Lawson, Rainey, Schwantz and Doohan because I saw them all racing. But then some people will say Agostini, Hailwood or Surtees, although I don't know because I didn't ever see them race. This will always be a difficult question