What Russian doesn't like driving fast? All men, starting from an early age, dream first of a bicycle, then a moped and ultimately a car with which he will conquer the roads of the whole world. But the first love, and for most car enthusiasts the only one, remains for life. We are, of course, talking about motorcycles, with which almost every adult man begins his journey into the world of technology. We will learn about the lucky ones who manage to combine their love for speed, drive and motorcycles throughout their lives.
People who have left their mark on motorsports for all times and whom tens of millions of young men from all over the globe dream of being like. The most famous motorcycle racers in the history of the sport, information about their careers, achievements and results shown in sports arenas and tracks around the world. This list may look different for everyone. Our leaders are before you.
Giacomo Agostini (Italy)
Not only a wonderful motorcycle racer, but also one of the few people in the world who participates in Formula 1 racing, he was invited to take part in an exhibition race at the helm of a Williams team formula car. Over the course of his 17-year career, he achieved outstanding results in motorcycle racing. Agostini's titles speak for themselves: 311 victories in all competitions in which the “Divine Ago” took part. An unsurpassed record for the most Grand Prix wins for 38 years, the great Italian won in 122 starts.
It is impossible to count the number of different titles and prizes throughout Ago’s long career. National trophies stand out, of which there are 18 in Giacomo’s collection, and 15 world championships won by the strongest motorcycle racer in the history of the sport. The Italian finished his performances in 1977 on a track in England.
Tourist Trophy
Tourist Trophy races are a real Mecca for all riders who don't care about the rules. The competition has been held since 1907 on the Isle of Man, located in the Irish Sea, where there are practically no speed limits outside the cities - which is why fast driving enthusiasts from all over the world come here. Throughout the year, the Isle of Man leads a calm, quiet and measured life, but for two weeks in the summer it becomes the arena for the most extreme and spectacular motorcycle racing. There is no track as such in the generally accepted sense: riders race past residential buildings, along a regular road, along which public transport travels the rest of the time. The asphalt surface is also not perfect, but it meets international standards, although there are some patches here and there. But the difficulty of the route lies not even in the quality of the asphalt, but in stone tunnels, bridges, blind sharp turns, which are not easy to enter even at an average speed, let alone 200 km/h - and they don’t drive the Tourist Trophy any slower.
There are also no special barriers, so if a rider loses control at a speed of 300 km/h, he simply flies off the road to the side of the road, and then it’s up to his luck (and usually few are lucky). Because of this, the races have the reputation of being one of the deadliest: since 1907, more than 250 people have died here, with the most tragic being 1970, which claimed the lives of 6 participants at once. According to racers, it takes at least three years to properly learn a 60-kilometer course, and the same amount of time to mentally prepare for a race at the limit of your capabilities. But those who have participated in these races at least once strive to return here again and again: for example, William Joey Dunlop won the Tourist Trophy 26 times, and the speed record belongs to Michael Dunlop, who completed the course in 16 minutes 53 in 2016 seconds (average - 215 km/h).
Valentino Rossi (Italy)
The symbol of modern motorsport, the Italian with the sonorous nickname “Doctor” has been shining on the racing horizon for 19 years. During his long career, Rossi won 111 victories and scored more than 5,000 championship points, which is two thousand points more than his closest pursuer. Holder of a huge number of impressive records and titles. The nine-time king of the racing tracks is a world champion, the first motorcycle racer who was able to win in all currently available super class levels. And now, at a fairly advanced age for a racer, he has not lost his thirst for fight and victories, continuing his unique career.
Finish line
This decision turned out to be wrong. Moreover, this became clear already in 1973, which the now former champion finished in a distant 18th place. The situation practically did not improve either in 1974, when he became 10th, or a year later, which ended for him in 9th place in the final table. Seeing this, Suzuki did not renew the contract, and the athlete left for the new factory team of the now defunct Austrian manufacturer Puch. As expected, this did not solve the problem, and Joel Robert finished his last World Championship in 18th position.
After finishing his career as a professional racer, he worked as a manager, including for his native team, which, under his leadership, won victories at the Motocross of Nations in 1997-1998.
Michael Duane (Australia)
The Australian is one of the brightest athletes in motorcycle racing of the late 20th century. Over the course of 10 years in big-time sports, he became a five-time winner of the world championships. During his career he won 54 victories and finished in the top three 95 times. His career began and ended at the Japanese Grand Prix, only between these starts ten years of struggle, racing, defeats and victories passed, both in life and sports.
Top 10 best motorcycle racers in the world
High speed, roar of the engine and no obstacles: only the wind ahead. A motorcycle gives you an incomparable feeling of freedom and flight. Some young men fall so in love with this feeling that they decide to link their fate with bikes forever. And they become legends for decades.
1Giacomo Agostini
He competed for 17 years. During this time, he accumulated 311 victories in competitions at various levels. Of these, 122 were “gold” at the Grand Prix. This record remains unsurpassed to this day. He also has 15 victories at the world championships in road racing. In addition to the motorcycle racer, Giacomo Agostini acted as a pilot in Formula 1 races.
2Valentino Rossi
Another famous Italian. Over the years of performances, the athlete won the world championships 9 times. Took first places in all super class competitions. Thanks to his skill, he earned the honorary nickname “Doctor.” Currently he competes for the Yamaha team, consistently finishes well, although he is at an advanced age for a racer. Russia has over 100 victories to his name.
3Michael Hailwood
An athlete who successfully competed in car and motorcycle racing. He became the world champion in motorcycle road racing 9 times, competed as a pilot in Formula 1 and one of the toughest races - the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Unfortunately, he died at the age of 41. Although, perhaps, he could still win more than one victory on a bike or car.
4Michael Duane
This representative of Australia became one of the brightest and most memorable motorcycle racing events of the last century.
Over 10 years of performances, Duen managed to win 54 victories. He began and ended his career at the Japanese Grand Prix. 5 Eddie Lawson
Lawson always followed the principle: only victory.
And he won everywhere he performed. However, due to his short career, he did not have time to fully reveal his talent. Therefore, the result is somewhat more modest than that of their predecessors: 4 gold medals at the world championships. 6Angel Nieto
The Spaniard began his professional career at the age of 17. He performed for 22 years. During this time, he managed to become a 13-time world champion, and in total he managed to win 90 victories. Long-term successful performances made Angel a real legend of the sport.
7John Surtees
The Briton is the only rider who managed to become a winner in both the world motorcycle racing championships and the Formula 1 Grand Prix. On a bike he conquered championships 7 times, while driving a car he won gold 1 time.
8Stefan Everts
Motorcycle racing is a family hobby for the Everts. Stefan's father was also a professional motorcycle racer, but his son managed to get out of his shadow and surpass him in all respects. Stefan was one of the youngest world champions - he first lifted the gold cup at 19 years old. He repeated this success 9 more times over a 20-year career. Now Stefan’s son is growing up, it is possible that the boy will continue to glorify the Everts family in the sports field.
9Marc Marquez
One of the current legends of motorsports. At 26 years old, the Spaniard has already become a 7-time world champion and is confidently moving towards further victories. If we take into account that riders end their careers at the age of about 40, then there is a high probability that he will “pull” the great Ago from first place, surpass the Italian in all respects and become the greatest motorcycle racer of all time.
10Jorge Lorenzo
A Spaniard who, at the age of 32, managed to win 5 gold medals at the world championships. Lorenzo rides for the Honda team. His career is in full swing, perhaps we will see him on the podium more than once.
Mike Hailwood (Great Britain) (1940-1981)
The legendary Englishman Hailwood burst into the elite of the national championship, and with it the world motorcycle racing, in just one year. He was a racing driver, winning nine motorcycle racing titles. In his career, he was the first to cross the finish line 76 times, and in total he was on the podium 112 times. But this seemed not enough to him, and Mike set off to conquer the vast expanses of motorsport and immediately into the top league of these competitions, Formula 1. The Briton did not get lost in motorsport and took part in 50 formula Grand Prix. A champion by nature, Hailwood could have achieved much more, both in sports and in life, if not for the accident that ended his life at forty-one.
Dakar Rally
The Dakar Rally has long been known as the Paris-Dakar Rally and has even become synonymous with long-term endurance competitions. This marathon, uniting two continents and several countries, includes 15 stages, lasts approximately 3 weeks, and the route passes through difficult areas in terms of climate and landscape. Previously, the Dakar Rally was associated primarily with the race of massive trucks, but today any racer in a car, motorcycle or ATV can test their strength. Trucks, of course, have a head start in this race: they have power, stability, dimensions, and the driver is protected by the cab. Cutting through the desert or off-road on a motorcycle is far from as easy as driving an impressive Kamaz, for example.
Constant temperature changes - it’s impossible to be hot during the day, cold at night, sand that flies into your eyes and gets stuck in the parts of the motorcycle, dunes in which it’s very easy to get stuck or, having lost control, fly off the road. And it’s not at all difficult to lose your way in the endless, absolutely identical expanses of the desert. The statistics are quite eloquent: since 1979, when the first competition took place, 28 participants have died, 19 of whom were motorcyclists. In total, the Dakar rally claimed the lives of 70 people, while 42 of them were not even participants - spectators, journalists, crew at transit points and children who, it is not clear how they ended up on the route.
source: https://www.mhealth.ru/life/knowledge/samyje_smertonosnyje_motogonki_mira_ot_dakara_do_bonnevila/#ixzz564PRuEpd
Eddie Lawson (USA)
Lawson's career was not very long, but very fruitful with all kinds of victories and trophies. Eddie is the winner of four championship titles in motorcycle racing, winner of thirty-one Grand Prix stages. The American ended his racing career too early at the age of 34; if he had continued his performances, he undoubtedly could have won more than one trophy for his personal museum. His credo not only in sports, but also in life: only victory, second place is not for him.
New opponent, new achievements
Since 1969, the rivalry between the two champions came to an abrupt end. Hollman began to lose ground and finished 6th (and a year later he retired altogether), and instead of him for first place Robert fought with another Belgian - Suzuki factory team athlete Sylvain Geboers, the older brother of Eric Geboers, whom we also already talked about. This year the competition ended in Robert's favor and turned out to be very significant for his future career. But more on that later, but for now it’s worth noting the crossman’s overall productivity and success in 1969.
In addition to the next title of World Champion, he also became one of the participants (together in Geboers) of the Belgian team, which this year won the famous Motocross of Nations (it was held in the 500cc class), as well as in a separate competition for 250 cc motorcycles - Trophée des Nations. In the latter, the victory was the first for Belgium.
In 1970, Joel Robert was lured away by Suzuki, which at that time was seeking to strengthen its position in European sports. Thus, he became a teammate of his new rival, Sylvain Geboers. However, this did not hinder their rivalry in the individual competition. Moreover, the crossman repeated his “trick” that same year, beating Geboers by the same 2 points and leaving him with silver. However, then the rivals rallied again to bring their homeland another victory in the Motocross/Trophy of Nations. In addition, this season Robert became a participant in another interesting competition - Trans-AMA - an international championship, first organized in 1970 by the American Motorcycle Association with the goal of pitting the strongest American crossmen against the best riders from Europe. The current champion performed well in it, but the victory still went to the Englishman Dave Nicoll.
In the following seasons, Joel continued to win the World Championship, and did so truly brilliantly. In 1971 he won 8 out of 12 Grand Prix, and in 1972 - the first 6 out of 8, literally leaving his opponents no chance of winning. Also at 72, after a short break, he again helped the Belgian team take home awards from the international Motocross and the Trophy of Nations. However, this season was remembered not only for victories, but also for one failure - he received a knee injury, and instead of having surgery and going on a short vacation, he decided to continue fighting for victory.
Angel Nieto (Spain)
The Spaniard spent 22 long years on the race tracks of the world; his career began at the dawn of motorcycle racing in 1964, when the future legend of the sport was only 17 years old. During his career, Angel managed to win 12 championship titles, score 90 victories and reach the podium 139 times. He has 1,782 points earned throughout his glorious career. The last time Nieto got behind the wheel of a racing motorcycle was on a track in Germany in 1986. Having completed active performances at the age of 39.
Stefan Everts (Belgium)
A follower of his father, also motorcycle racer Harry Everts. Stefan surpassed the achievements of his dad by becoming a ten-time winner of the world motocross championships. He first became a champion at the young age of nineteen, and only won the world crown 10 times and won 101 races . The Belgian ended his glorious career at the age of thirty-four, after which he did not abandon his life’s passion for motorsports. He was directly involved in the creation of a new racing motorcycle. He is preparing a little son - the new champion of the Everts family, the successor of the family business and perhaps the superstar of future motocross competitions.
Marc Marquez (Spain)
A new trend in motorcycle racing is represented by a young and early Spaniard. It is he who replaces the old champions and idols for motorcycle racing fans. Despite the fact that Marquez is only twenty-two years old, he can already boast of four world champion titles and this is only at the beginning of his path to the top of the sport. It's hard to imagine how many titles he can win during his career if he continues to collect trophies at this rate. Mark scored 44 victories in 113 races in which he took part. In total, during his career he earned 1,717 points and finished on the podium 68 times. The name Marc Márquez is already ringing loudly on the race tracks. Maybe in the future he will become the greatest athlete who has ever sat behind the wheel of an iron horse.
***
The end of today's story, unfortunately, is sad. The fact is that, despite his impressive achievements, Joel Robert was a crossman of the “old school” - he did not follow his form and did not care about a healthy lifestyle. At that time, an individual and comprehensive approach to training simply did not exist. All this ultimately resulted in many diseases: lung problems, a series of strokes and diabetes, which in 2022 led to the amputation of one leg. And the ill-fated COVID-19 put an end to the biography of one of the most titled athletes in the world. At the very beginning of 2021, he was hospitalized with suspected coronavirus and died of a heart attack on January 13 at the age of 77.
