Best Speed Racers – Part 1
We know you're passionate about motorcycles, and we really enjoyed sharing with you the ones that brought a thousand smiles to our faces when we saw them in magazines. But we also want to bring you the session with riders who, riding those beasts, gave us uncontrollable emotions. Those riders who gave it their all in the final laps to get to the front, and those who have achieved great things in the world of speed motorcycling.
Valentino Rossi
Valentino Rossi (Urbino, Italy; February 16, 1979) is an Italian motorcycle racing racer. He has won nine world titles in four categories: 125cc (1997), 250cc (1999), 500cc (2001) and is a six-time MotoGP champion (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009). He has competed in the top category with the three major motorcycle racing teams of his time: Honda, Yamaha and Ducati, and was an official Yamaha rider from 2013 to 2020. From 2021, he will ride for Petronas Yamaha SRT.
He is currently the rider with the most podiums (235) in the history of the World Motorcycle Championship, and has also achieved the highest number of victories (89), podiums (199) and fastest laps (76) in MotoGP.
Giacomo Agostini
Giacomeo d'Agostini (Brescia, Italy, June 16, 1942) or better known as Giacomo Agostini is the motorcycle racing driver with the most titles won in the World Motorcycle Championship. He won 15 titles and 122 victories in this competition, including 8 titles and 68 victories in the top category, 500cc, and the rest in 350cc.1 d'Agostini obtained most of his achievements for the Italian brand MV Agusta.
Angel Nieto
Ángel Nieto Roldán was a Spanish motorcycle racer and 13-time world speed champion. In terms of absolute number of titles, he has the best record among Spanish motorcyclists and the second highest in the world after the Italian Giacomo Agostini. He won 6 world titles in lower categories, such as the 50cc (1969, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1976 and 1977) and 7 in the 125cc (1971, 1972, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1984), victories he achieved with five different motorcycle brands (Derbi, Kreidler, Bultaco, Minarelli and Garelli). In addition, he achieved 4 world championship runner-up positions, 23 Spanish championships and 5 Spanish championship runner-up positions. His trophy cabinet also includes 90 victories in motorcycle Grand Prix racing, 139 podium finishes, and 128 victories in Spanish championships.
Nieto paved the way for the great generation of riders who came after him, both within and outside his family. He was the father of former motorcycle racers Ángel Nieto Jr. (1976) and Pablo Nieto (1980), and the uncle of Fonsi Nieto (1978). Riders such as Pons, Aspar, Herreros, Crivillé, Pedrosa Lorenzo, Márquez, and company followed in the footsteps of the 'Maestro' to make Spain one of the two great powers in world motorcycling, alongside Italy.
Mike Hailwood
Hailwood won nine motorcycle World Championships between 1961 and 1967. He also won 76 Grands Prix and 14 Isle of Man TT races. He won his first four championships riding an MV Agusta. In 1966, he signed for Honda. Honda had the most powerful engine in the world at the time, but they were also notoriously difficult to ride due to the fragility of their chassis. Hailwood's outstanding riding ability overcame these disadvantages and allowed him to continue winning world titles until 1967. Honda ceased racing at the top level in 1968, but they kept Hailwood on the team as a backstop should he return. Hailwood never competed in a full season in the World Championship again.
He participated in 50 Formula One Grands Prix, making his debut on July 20, 1963. He achieved two podium finishes and scored a total of 29 world championship points. In F1, he is better known for saving the life of driver Clay Regazzoni than for his victories. In 1973, during the South African GP, Hailwood stopped his car to rescue Regazzoni from his burning car after an accident, an act for which he was awarded the George Medal that same year (along with David Purley for a similar, albeit futile, gesture in trying to rescue Roger Williamson). He retired from F1 after being injured in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.
In 1978, after an 11-year hiatus, he made a legendary comeback to motorcycle racing at the age of 38. He competed in the Isle of Man TT, not only being competitive but eventually winning the Formula TT class on a Ducati 900SS, a race whose victory earned him a TT world title, defeating the favorite Phil Read, who was riding a Honda. The following year he returned to the Formula TT, again on a Ducati, but with less luck than before when his battery failed. Despite everything, he finished fifth. However, he won another race, this time riding a Suzuki, and won the 500cc Senior TT class. It was his fourteenth and final victory on the Isle of Man.
