Wolfy's pictorial tribute to a Superstar Part 1: Wayne Rainey!

Well, as a few of you know, i am a huge road racing fan, and have many hero's from the track, past & present.

So i thought i would start a series of pictorial threads, to honour some of these hero's with photo's....i will post a new thread on the Friday before each Moto GP round this year...

Please feel free to add any great photo's of each rider i highlight, that you may have on file, or find on the net....as well as interesting links that may be of relevance to the rider in question...

Let's get things kicked off, with a pictorial tribute to one of my favourite American riders....the Awesomely smooth, precise, and calculating, Wayne Rainey!

Wayne Rainey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wayne Rainey - Ten years after the crash

Wayne Rainey - Motorcycle Hall of Fame

The Official MotoGP Website

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OryWSB5GUBQ]YouTube - 500 1992 montmelô wayne rainey vs mick doohan[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz2eUzmqEkQ&feature=related]YouTube - 500cc 1991 Assen Final Lap[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B6NV4n_MLw]YouTube - Suzuka 1989.....Wayne Rainey & Kevin Schwantz do battle[/ame]

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:thumbup:

a few more pics....

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:thumbup:

more....

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Would love to see a few more images & different video, if anyone has any...

:thumbup:

Thanks so much Jamie :thumbup:

This man is one of the all-time greats.

One of my heros.

So sad when he had his accident, which, everytime I see it, I keep thinking 'it was nothing, he'll get straight up'. I've seen much worse looking accidents where the riders hop straight up.

NEVER take bike riding for granted. It is dangerous and should be treated with respect at all times.

Wayen Rainey - he's an inspiration to us all

Cheers Wolfy:thumbup:

Great man, great rider. True champion.

Still remember watching that race, just like Kazza thinking nothing of the fall & saying 'He'll be fine for the next race'.

Was a beautiful sight seeing Wayne go flat knackers on that beautiful Marlboro Yamaha.

Thanks for sharing this Wolfman. Rainey was a great racer. His attitude & racing style was to be admired. When he was racing there was a very lively Aussie Vs Yank mentality in our house. Rainey was one of those guys that I just couldn't bring myself to dislike.
I found this the other day & it has nothing to do with Rainey. Its Randy Mamola & Eddie Lawson dicing in the 2nd part of a rain interrupted race. Randy has no chance of winning but he doesn't ever give up.
As I said its not Wayne Rainey but its a bloody impressive piece of racing. :thumbup:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX8Ri7SvwF4"]YouTube- 500cc 1987 Assen Final Lap[/ame]

Dunno said:

Thanks for sharing this Wolfman. Rainey was a great racer. His attitude & racing style was to be admired. When he was racing there was a very lively Aussie Vs Yank mentality in our house. Rainey was one of those guys that I just couldn't bring myself to dislike.
I found this the other day & it has nothing to do with Rainey. Its Randy Mamola & Eddie Lawson dicing in the 2nd part of a rain interrupted race. Randy has no chance of winning but he doesn't ever give up.
As I said its not Wayne Rainey but its a bloody impressive piece of racing. :thumbup:

YouTube- 500cc 1987 Assen Final Lap

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As a lot of the racing from this "golden era" was....impressive! From about 1983 till about the time Mighty Mick won the first of his 5 World Championships, GP's were just amazing.

:rockon:

Wolfman said:

As a lot of the racing from this "golden era" was....impressive! From about 1983 till about the time Mighty Mick won the first of his 5 World Championships, GP's were just amazing.

:rockon:

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You got that right mate. GPs were fantastic. Funnily enough it was a time when the Americans were winning that us Aussies hold in such high regard. The end of King Kenny's reign & the beginning of something new. Some say Rossi has nothing left to do but to win the MotoGP again & try to beat Ago's record.
Ago won a heap of 350 races along with his 500cc races.
Fast Freddie was the last to win the double in 85 (250&500cc). Its highly unlikely but I would love to see riders current riders compete in more than one class.
If Rossi were to do both Moto2 & MotoGP it would cement him as the greatest ever.

We can only hope.
Thanks again for a fantastic thread :thumbup:

Dunno said:

You got that right mate. GPs were fantastic. Funnily enough it was a time when the Americans were winning that us Aussies hold in such high regard. The end of King Kenny's reign & the beginning of something new. Some say Rossi has nothing left to do but to win the MotoGP again & try to beat Ago's record.
Ago won a heap of 350 races along with his 500cc races.
Fast Freddie was the last to win the double in 85 (250&500cc). Its highly unlikely but I would love to see riders current riders compete in more than one class.
If Rossi were to do both Moto2 & MotoGP it would cement him as the greatest ever.

We can only hope.
Thanks again for a fantastic thread :thumbup:

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There is no way in the World, you would see any of today's stars riding in more than one class in a day...at World Championship level at least...cause they dont have to...their "living" as such, is well catered for.

In the old days, they used to race in multiple classes out of a neccesity to earn enough cash to "survive"!!!!

It was only when Barry Sheene came along, and did something about riders getting paid decent money, by threatening a boycott, that things changed....

remember, there used to be a 50cc, 80cc, 125cc, 1250cc, 350cc, and 500cc World Championship....all racing on the same day...

How cool would that of been....

:thumbup:

Totally agree Jamie.

My point is would a rider do it for the love of motorcycles? Not for the money?

We both know the answer but I wish it was the other way. Would make a great spectacle :thumbup:

People can say what they like about Freddie but he will go down in the history books to achieve a feat never to be repeated.

Thanks for putting a pic of Valentino up there

Kazza said:

Thanks for putting a pic of Valentino up there

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Dont worry, there will be more....will be doing 18 of these threads throughout the GP season, and one of them has to be Mr Rossi....

:thumbup:

Dunno said:

Totally agree Jamie.

My point is would a rider do it for the love of motorcycles? Not for the money?

We both know the answer but I wish it was the other way. Would make a great spectacle :thumbup:

People can say what they like about Freddie but he will go down in the history books to achieve a feat never to be repeated.

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Fast Freddie Spencer...will haver to do one of these on him! Freddie was riding NSR's when they were evil, untamed beasts, with crazy a$$, light switch powerbands, tyres that struggled to cope with all that hp, and reasonably primitive suspension, as compared to today's electronic wizardry...

:rockon:

Ahhh, Admins can't be given rep. Thanks Jamie, very good thread.

Wolfman said:

Dont worry, there will be more....will be doing 18 of these threads throughout the GP season, and one of them has to be Mr Rossi....

:thumbup:

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He may have only won one Gp (but what a way to win it), but surely a certain SBK champion from Taree has to make an appearance?

Disco said:

He may have only won one Gp (but what a way to win it), but surely a certain SBK champion from Taree has to make an appearance?

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Well, seeing as i am doing the threads, i reckon Mr Bayliss, most just have to get a Guensey! As he is just about my favourite rider ever, apart from Mighty Mick Doohan... :bow:

I reckon there are a few other non GP Champions that should get a Guensey as well...

You lot will just have to wait and see, maybe i should do a one before each World SBK round as well...and focus on non GP champions in those threads, and get the Bayliss's, the Fogerty's, The Polens, etc, etc, represented!

And then there's the Champions of the Isle of Man TT race's...Joey Dunlop, and co...

:thumbup:

Don't forget Eddie Lawson. Love that guy.

Randy Mamola, Barry Sheene (still miss him ), Hailwood, Agostini, Kato, Schwantz.

Then you have 250/125 great riders - Waldmann, Ui, Cadalora, Sarron

God, the list is endless (even Biaggi in 250 was great...)

Can't wait for more of these threads

Kazza said:

Don't forget Eddie Lawson. Love that guy.

Randy Mamola, Barry Sheene (still miss him ), Hailwood, Agostini, Kato, Schwantz.

Then you have 250/125 great riders - Waldmann, Ui, Cadalora, Sarron

God, the list is endless (even Biaggi in 250 was great...)

Can't wait for more of these threads

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Biaggi, wasnt just great in the 250's, he completely dominated the class for 4 years straight! at the time, his profile was as big as Rossi's! this quickly changed, once Biaggi began to struggle in the premier class...and started whinging....lots!

still, for a while there, it did make great "theatre", the to & fro between Rossi & Biaggi! It even got to the point where there was a bit of slap and tickle involved! LOL!

:thumbup:

Wolfman said:

Biaggi, wasnt just great in the 250's, he completely dominated the class for 4 years straight! at the time, his profile was as big as Rossi's! this quickly changed, once Biaggi began to struggle in the premier class...and started whinging....lots!

still, for a while there, it did make great "theatre", the to & fro between Rossi & Biaggi! It even got to the point where there was a bit of slap and tickle involved! LOL!

:thumbup:

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Yeah - fisty cuffs on the way to the podium , though Biaggi claimed it was an "insect bite" on his cheek, same size as Valentinos fist LOL

Kazza said:

Yeah - fisty cuffs on the way to the podium , though Biaggi claimed it was an "insect bite" on his cheek, same size as Valentinos fist LOL

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I dont reckon i would be to frightened by a Valentino Rossi "love tap"!