August, time for holidays and hobbies…. here is Mike1964's personal ranking of the best riders in the 500 class.... have your say in the Forum….

August, time for holidays and pastimes.

Since there aren't any competitions, I'll try to give you my personal ranking of the
best riders in the 500 class in the period in which engines dominated
two-stroke.

(PS: I have not included any active pilots)

-1) EDDIE LAWSON. I had to think for a long time whether to give him the award
or to Rainey; In the end the old Eddie prevails because he won more
and, above all, with different motorbikes (Yamaha, Honda, Cagiva) demonstrating furthermore
test driver skills absolutely out of the norm. An absolute giant of
motorcycling, not much remembered because he was guilty of being a
introverted.

-2) WAYNE RAINEY. Second, but only slightly, very little. Perhaps he was also a pilot
more gifted than Lawson, and was able to win even in seasons where he was
the technical inferiority of his bike is clear. The driving of him always above
to the problems, however, in the end it was fatal. He won three world championships
epic; as many as Roberts and one less than Lawson.

-3) KENNY ROBERTS sr. The first of the line of Americans who landed to conquer
the world championship. He won his debut year and the following two; an absolute myth.

-4) FREDDIE SPENCER. She ran for a few years, but left an indelible mark.
He inaugurated a new driving style. In practice and in the race he was relentless;
but he demanded unique motorcycles; the NSR with which he won the 1985 world championship came
built in only six examples; the 250 of the same year, even four.
He won two world championships in the premier class.

-5) BARRY SHEENE. The new man after Agostini. He won two world championships with them
Suzuki four cylinders in the square, also collecting countless and epic ones
fractures.

-6) KEWIN SCHWANTZ. The crazy Texan. His fame is still very high today
alive, also because he was one of the last of his guard
to leave and why… people love reckless people like him. For Kewin
races were won or lost, there were no placings. He threw
away races already won because he continued to push like a madman
even if there was no longer anyone able to reach him. Plus Suzuki
it was the least performing 500 of the lot. He still managed to win a world championship.

-7) MIK DOHOAN. He is the one who has won the most (five titles)
but too many times he lost direct comparison with those of his era who
they are ahead of him in my ranking. Yes, he had her problems, but all of them
they had; also when he lost a world championship he had already won because of the well-known
accident that threatened to cause him to lose his leg, Honda had prepared
a bike that was exaggeratedly more powerful than all the other 500s.

-8) WAYNE GARDNER. The Australian Lion. He was the complete opposite of Lawson; Gardner
he made the bike do incredible things, he was always fighting with it. A champion
but probably not a great test driver; Eddie, if the bike wasn't running like
he said, he tried to make it evolve, he didn't fight with it. In the end the tactics
Eddie paid more, but the good Wayne managed a championship
anyway to win it...

-9) MARCO LUCCHINELLI and FRANCO UNCINI. A nice ex-fair for these two Italians
who were able to stem, at least temporarily, the Anglo-Saxon avalanche, taking advantage
also about the excellent Suzuki moment. Honestly, though, the others were
globally stronger, in fact ours were never able to repeat themselves again.
Marco stopped when he saw how Spencer was driving.

10) RANDY MAMOLA. He didn't even win a championship, I know, but the old man
Randy beat all the great champions of his era: Sheene, Roberts, Lawson...
but always in the wrong year! He finished second overall four times,
but seeing him run was a spectacle. The eternal boy.

Out of the rankings I put GIACOMO AGOSTINI. He's a driver from another era
but, at the end of his career, he was able to beat Kenny on two strokes
Roberts, Barry Sheene and several others. He won his first world championship with Yamaha
500 2T, putting behind all the young and old lions, when in the amnience
and in the newspapers they told him that he was crazy to switch to Q2. Probably
he truly is the greatest driver of all time.

Do you agree with the top ten or not?
Discuss it in our forum!