Who's Your Favorite Racer?

Well who is it, or has it been?

Mine are:

1. Joey Dunlop
2. Nicky Hayden


BZ

 

Of all time, it is Ricky Johnson. You can tell what era I grew racing MX.

 

1.) Freddie Spencer
2.) Noriyuki Haga
3.) Ricky Carmichael

 

The Hayden bro's.

 

Yuar man

SR.Wiliam Joseph Dunlop MBE OBE

 

Racer X

(he was secretly Speed's older brother)

 

I think the person you're talking about is Danny Storbeck. He will always be known as the person who ended RJ's career. I also remember RJ as the greatest because he went out on top.

 

Very nice choice, often overlooked due to his non-media and fan friendly personality, but he was always at the sharp end of the field. I believe he runs a motorcycle racing oriented magazine business now.

 

I don't really have one "favorite" racer.

But I always cheer for the guy who comes from 12th place on the grid and charges forward to win the race.

Or has to pit for a brief mechanical, rejoins dead-last, and battles back to 3rd.


I'm an underdog kinda guy.

 

Fav racer

My favorite has to be Miguel Duhamel in WSBK
and Nicky Hayden in MotoGp

 

Eddie Lawson. 4 time Grand Prix World Champion. I remember Kenny Roberts, once saying that anyone who could win a World Championship on that 1989 NSR500 could race for him anytime. The smoothest of the smooth, too.
I remember when Eddie came out of retirement to ride for Yamaha and win the Daytona 200, and the cover of Roadracing World read: "NEVER bet against Eddie Lawson."

Other faves:
Valentino Rossi
Nicky
Akira Yanagawa
Eboz
Chris Vermeulen

Genuinely great, completely unpretentious guys (whom I've met since becoming a motorsports photographer, and sometimes writer for 'Soup):

Ben Bostrom
Eric Bostrom
Jake Zemke
Jamie Hacking
Kevin Schwantz
Neil Hodgson
Aaron Gobert
Chris Vermeulen
Troy Corser

Also have to say the Hayden Brothers are amongst the most polite, courteous, and unpretentious "kids" you could hope to meet. Shows what a great upbringing by terrific parents can do....

 

In MX I agree with Ricky Johnson.... I grew up watching him and he's part of the reason I became a fan of Honda motorcycles. I had to have that CR so I could be like RJ. I think some of the best roadracing I have watched was the season Colin Edwards won his last championchip against Bayliss and that Ducati 998..... I still have the season on tape and still watch it from time to time.... remember VCRs!!! I know its more recent but those two put on one hell of a show!!

 

Agreed, that last race with Colin and Troy at Imola was amongst the very best racing I have ever seen, anywhere, anytime! I was screaming at the television during those two climactic races! Unbelievable.

 

Many different folks from many different levels, some I like from the surface as I really don't know em, case in point. I like what he has done and how he's gone about it, seems to be a good kid too is Casey Stoner. Then there's those I respect as I know em, Jason Pridmore for one. Nicky he's okay in my book. Can say for a fact, Rossi is not one I care about.

 

All the Ozzie riders I've met are very laid back, very approachable and unpretentious guys. Casey Stoner, Aaron and Alex Gobert, Troy Corser, Troy Bayliss. Bayliss gave me one of his used knee skids once as a souvenir. I still have it. I've also met Bayliss' wife Kim, and Stoner's (at the time) fiance, and they're great, too. I met Chris Vermeulen when I was in his pit at World Supers in '04, and Chris saw me taking photos of his bike. He walked right up and asked if there were any questions he could answer. Chris told me he had never been to Laguna previously, but he had ridden track on Thursday on his scooter! He then went out and set pole, and won BOTH World Superbike races! Another note of interest is that while the European riders complain about Laguna (the Corkscrew really throws them for a loop), the Ozzies just frickin' love the place. I think it reminds them of Bathurst or something.

The only Ozzie that is not particularly friendly is Mladin, but I know his crew chief, Peter Doyle, pretty well, and Peter's a super nice guy, too. But Mat is appearing to have mellowed a bit now that he has become a father.

Thanks for reminding me about Jason Pridmore. I've known Jason for 18 years, and he is a helluva good guy.

 

You know I've heard quite a few people say this about Mat. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I've been talking to Mat at the racetrack ever since he was riding a Ducati for Erraldo Ferracci and he's always pretty cool to me. Last year at the open test at Infineon he invited me into the Suzuki hospitality area, fed me some lunch, and talked with me for about an hour concerning what he thought his chances were, and why, for the 2007 season. He did this while suffering from a pretty nasty cold too. I'm just a fan, but he seems to recognize me every time I see him and he always says hello and asks how I'm doing. I'm sorry he's not that way to everyone because it's hard to convince people that he really is a great guy.

 

My impression of Mat is that he's just very, very focussed on the task at hand. I remember that GP riders used to dislike Eddie Lawson because they thought he was unfriendly and aloof, but I think like Mat, he was just incredibly focussed. Lawson is now very good friends with two riders that used to really dislike him, Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz.

 

As far as racing and riding goes I'm surprised not to see Mick Doohan mentioned here?
He was the "master of going faster"
Then I'd have to mention Valentino, Troy Bayliss and Stoner..... yes a bit of an Aussie bias there.