| Author | Message | ||
     12r |
Who gets your vote as the best 500/MGP rider ? IMO it's Rainey simply because of the guys he beat in the early 90s. Doohan has won more stuff but he raced for longer. Rossi is the most successful in % terms. | ||
| Outrider |
Rainey | ||
| Ingemar |
A cliche I know, but Sheene remains the real hero. Next in line is Wayne Gardner. I thought he always stood out because of his smooth and consistent riding style. Liquid-like. He made it look so easy. He was world champion in 1987. His MGP career wasn't really spectacular but I can't think of anyone else who has more endurance races on his name. | ||
| BadS1 |
Can't compare different era's | ||
| Davegess |
hailwood | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
Personally, I will always revere the immortal Geoff Duke, the impeccable stylist, and true gentleman. | ||
| 12r |
Hmm...Ingemar, are we talking about the same Wayne Gardner ? Undefeated world high-side champion ? Wayne 'bring-me-another-bike-this-one's-broken' Gardner ? Tough as nails sure and great to watch but I never thought of him as smooth... | ||
| X1tx |
Lawson is no slouch either. Rossi dominates because he has the talent. Almost like he can win at will. And Rossi is facing decent (though not consistently effective) talent. Edwards (2X WSBK Champion), Biaggi (4X 250 Champion), Bayliss (WSBK Champion), Melandri (125 Champ), and others that can run strong races from time to time. I do wish someone in addition to Gibbers would get up and race with him though. MotoGP is now getting to be about as boring as during the Doohan era. Almost as bad as AMA Superbike this season. Though not quite as boring as when the AMA 250 GP class was dominated by Rich Oliver.  | ||
| Slaughter |
I know it's not a direct answer - but my vote goes to Hailwood - Mike the Bike - even though he wasn't known for the 500's, in my book he was representative of what was right about racing for the pure sport of it. He had "For the love of the sport" painted on his fairing for the season he was racing without sponsorship... how cool is that? | ||
| Ingemar |
Uh .... Wayne ... Gardner ....Rainey .....? Damn. Awrait, that was 16 years ago man, almost half a lifetime ago for me. Lousy excuse I know but after reading up on some stuff I think I may have mixed the 2 Waynes up ... It was Rainey who crashed and ended his career, not Gardner. LOL - there goes my supposed knowledge of the MGP. Thanks man!  And so the expert speaketh, Rainey it is! HA!  | ||
| 12r |
Ingemar: LOL  X1tx: I too wish the other guys would race Rossi...they seem to crumble everytime he gets near. Did you know Gibbers was in the same team as Doohan 98-99 ? Doohan beat him consistently. | ||
| Trojan |
Rossi gets my vote simply because he is winning with machinery that is technically inferior to the opposition. At Le Mans he was around 8kph down on top speed to the Hondas, and still managed not only to win but set a lap record on the very last lap! He has also dominated every class he has ridden in from 125 right up to Moto GP. | ||
| X1tx |
Gibbers used to race against KRJR in the Spanish Ducados 250 series as well. He's a bit like Creville. Fast, but lacks the 'mental toughness' to beat the competition. | ||
| 12r |
I agree with the 'mind games' thing...Rossi seems to have elevated it to an art form. Witness his cheery handshake on Sunday - the only hatchet that's gonna be buried will be in Gibernau's back LOL. Doohan was pretty good at mentally crushing the opposition. Get Honda to build a slower-but-easier-to-ride big-bang NSR, wait until everybody else starts to get the hang of it and then switch back to the original 'screamer' and waste them all. | ||
| Bcordb3 |
Rainy gets my vote, if he hadn't been hurt he would have amassed a record that would be difficult to beat. Besides his dad built an engine for my Bultaco short tracker back in the day. | ||
| X1tx |
Rainey and Lawson were both pretty good at the 'mind games' as well. Lawson was pretty cold and merciless. Rainey gave no quarter either, but he could put on that blonde smiling 'nice guy' image long enough to get you to drop your guard, then he'd kill you. | ||
| Buelluk |
King Kenny, although Hailwood comes a close second. | ||
| Choptop |
Giacomo Agostino makes them all look bush league. | ||
| Spen |
Lea Gourlay......... www.leagourlayracing.com   | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
Gotta go with Kenny Lawson. One thing you have to concider from the past era's, not eveyone was interested in racing MotoGP, it wasn't as elite and the all around yardstick that it is used for today. Like Lawson for instance, between the way the AMA was set up at the time, he ran Roadrace, Flat Track and some Endurance. Sometimes all in the same weekend. With MotoGP you run one division, not like whats going on today in the AMA ranks. You can go out and run as many classes in a day as you feel capable. Is Rossi only good on the high end MotoGP bikes or can he rip it up on a Superstock bike just as easily? Can he transition from race division to race division and do well or is he the type where he focuses so hard on one type of bike that to throw him on a machine that has half the power he just can't cut it the same? Just things to ponder when you try and pick the best. | ||
| Davegess |
Dick Mann, won or was competitve at everything, short track dirt, mile dirt, road races, enduros, desert races, motocross, hill climbs, 6 day trials, street races etc. If it had two wheels he could beat you on it on any course you wanted to lay out. I dont' think there has ever been anyone better. | ||
| Buelluk |
Agostini, although a very skilled rider won a lot of his championships in classes where there was little or no competition to the MV. BTW who is Kenny Lawson..a hybrid of two great riders?? | ||
| 12r |
Wycked: good point. It would be great to see Rossi and the other guys in non-MGP races. I saw Roberts, Spencer and Mamola race in between GPs and it was great to see them cut loose. | ||
| Rocketman |
There's another consideration too. Pure road racers. Then you have to look to the Irish road racing scene and the TT. Carl Fogarty Joey Dunlop Steve Hislop Foggie's TT lap record stood for nearly ten years whilst he went on to win four WSB titles. Joey quiet simply conquered even winning two TT's a month before his death aged 45. Hizzy won 11 TT's, 2 BSB titles amongst many other national titles, but had no interest what so ever in racing on the world circuit. He famously beat Rossi's fastest GP lap of Donnington set on Honda's then new V5, Hizzy riding wild card in the WSB round that same year on of all things a 996 Ducati - beat a GP lap time - amazing. Foggy rated him as the worlds greatest racer too. Not bad coming from someone who only ever rates himself! Rocket |
