Related Research Articles
Wayne Wesley Rainey is an American former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, he won the 500cc World Championship three times and the Daytona 200 once. He was characterized by his smooth, calculating riding style, and for his intense rivalry with compatriot Kevin Schwantz, between 1987 and 1993.
Kevin Schwantz is an American former professional motorcycle road racer. He was the world champion of the 1993 FIM Road Racing World Championship.
Wayne Michael Gardner is an Australian former professional Grand Prix motorcycle and touring car racer. His most notable achievement was winning the 1987 500 cc Motorcycle World Championship, becoming the first Australian to win motorcycling's premier class. His success on the world motorcycle road racing circuit earned him the nickname The Wollongong Whiz. Both of Gardner's sons, Remy and Luca, are motorcycle racers.
Eddie Lawson is an American former four-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion. His record of not crashing and consistently finishing in the points earned him the nickname "Steady Eddie".
Frederick Burdette Spencer, sometimes known by the nickname Fast Freddie, is an American former world champion motorcycle racer. Spencer is regarded as one of the greatest motorcycle racers of the early 1980s.
Carlos Checa Carrera is a Spanish former professional motorcycle road racer and winner of the 2011 Superbike World Championship. After racing in 500 cc and MotoGP for over a decade, mostly on Honda and Yamaha machinery with and without full manufacturer support, he moved to the Superbike World Championship on a Honda for 2008. He has two Grand Prix victories. He has a younger brother, David Checa, also a motorcycle racer who competed in the Superbike World Championship for 2008.
Pat Hennen is an American former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He is notable for being the first American to win a 500 cc World Championship race, the 1976 500cc Finnish Grand Prix. Competing as a non-factory rider, he finished third overall in the GP World Championship standings that season, only 2 points behind runner-up Tepi Länsivuori and fellow Suzuki factory rider Barry Sheene.
Wester Steven Cooley,, better known as Wes, was an American former motorcycle road racer in the AMA Superbike class. He won the 1979 and 1980 AMA Superbike Championships on a Yoshimura Suzuki GS1000s.
Miguel Duhamel is a Canadian former professional motorcycle racer. He is the son of Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame member Yvon Duhamel. He is tied with Toni Elias for the fourth-winningest rider in the AMA Superbike series with 32 wins. Duhamel was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2016.
Akira Ryō is a Japanese former professional motorcycle road racer and development rider. He was All-Japan Superbike champion in 2001. He was also runner-up in 1996 and third in 1999, part of a long run of top-10 series finishes. He finished 3rd in the Suzuka 8 Hours race in 1997, teamed with Shinja Takeishi. He and Keiichi Kitagawa came 2nd there in 2000. As of 2006 he is a factory test rider for Suzuki.
Ben Spies, is an American former professional motorcycle road racer. He was sometimes nicknamed "Elbows" due to his riding style, in which his elbows protruded outward. Spies won the AMA Superbike Championship for Yoshimura Suzuki in 2006, and successfully defended it in 2007 and 2008.
Joshua Kurt "Josh" Hayes is a professional motorcycle roadracer who started his road racing career at age 19 and made a quick ascension up through the ranks where he won his first three WERA titles in 1994 and numerous others in the following four years. He turned pro in 1996 and also raced in MotoGP. Riding Suzuki GSX-R motorcycles, Hayes won the 1999 750 SuperSport race at Daytona and finished third in the Formula Extreme class for the season. He won the 2003 AMA 750 SuperStock Championship riding an Attack Suzuki GSX-R750, the 2006 and the 2007 AMA Formula Xtreme Championships on an Erion Honda CBR600RR, and four AMA Superbike Championships on a Yamaha YZF-R1.
Doug Polen is an American former professional motorcycle road racer. Polen was a dominant national and world champion road racer in the late 1980s and early 1990s, culminating with his Superbike world championships in 1991 and 1992. He raced successfully in AMA Superbike, Japanese Superbike Championship, Superbike World Championship and endurance racing. Polen was inducted to the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2011.
Raymond Scott Russell, a.k.a.Mr. Daytona, is an American former professional motorcycle and sports car racer. He is a former World Superbike and AMA Superbike Champion, has won the Daytona 200 a record five times, and won the Suzuka 8 Hours in 1993. Russell is the all-time leader in 750 cc AMA Supersport wins. In 2005, he was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
John Douglas Chandler is an American former professional motorcycle racer. He earned a reputation as one of the most versatile racers of the 1980s and 1990s. Chandler is one of only four riders in AMA racing history to win the AMA Grand Slam, representing national wins at a mile, half-mile, short track, TT and road race. He was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2006.
Yvon Duhamel was a French Canadian professional motorcycle and snowmobile racer. A six-time winner of the White Trophy, the highest award in Canadian motorcycle racing, he was one of the most accomplished motorcycle racers in Canadian motorsports history. Duhamel was a versatile rider competing in numerous motorcycle racing disciplines including; trials, motocross, ice racing, drag racing, flat track racing and most prominently in road racing as a member of the Kawasaki factory racing team. His motorcycle racing career spanned the transition from the 60 horsepower four-stroke motorcycles of the 1960s, to the 100 horsepower two-stroke motorcycles of the 1970s. Even when Duhamel's motorcycle had a top speed advantage, he never slowed to conserve his machine, which led to spectacular crashes or mechanical failures as often as it led to race victories. Duhamel's reputation as a tenacious competitor with an aggressive riding style earned him the respect of other racers and made him popular with racing fans.
Graeme Crosby is a former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer from New Zealand. A versatile rider, Crosby was equally capable on either four stroke Superbike racers or two stroke Grand Prix racers. He is the only person to have won the Daytona 200, the Imola 200, the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race, and the Isle of Man TT.
Kevin Magee is an Australian former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer who raced in 36 grands prix during his career, winning the 1988 Spanish Grand Prix. He is currently a television commentator for Fox Sports Australia.
Rob Muzzy is an American owner of Muzzy's Performance Products, a specialty engineering company that designs, manufactures and sells high performance parts for motorcycles. He is also a successful motorcycle racing team owner, winning national and international championships in motorcycle road racing and drag racing. His contributions to motorcycle racing resulted in his induction into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
Mike Baldwin is an American former professional motorcycle road racer. He was a top contender in AMA Superbike racing during the 1980s who also competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Baldwin was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2001.
References
- ↑ "1984 Suzuka 8 Hours results at Moto Racing Japan". Archived from the original on 2016-03-15. Retrieved 2009-10-12.
- ↑ AMA Superbike Champions
- ↑ Fred Merkel career World Superbike statistics at worldsbk.com Archived 2009-04-10 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Motorcycle Hall of Fame
- ↑ Fred Merkel at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America