At the Assen Centennial Classic 1998, events were decided on regularity of lap times. Italy’s nine-times world champion Carlo Ubbiali, then aged 68, was a clear winner in his class.

In 1988, Swan Breweries showcased leading Australian sports people in television advertisements, with the catchline: “they said you’d never make it”.
In a first for Australian motorcycling, reigning world 500 champion Wayne Gardner was featured. It …

Eddie Lawson’s 1983 signing direct from American Superbikes to the Yamaha 500 Grand Prix team brought howls from the European press, but the decision was soon vindicated.

Talk about unlikely combinations. Two 22-years-old Australia bike mechanics, working in Milan with a Swiss frame maker, turn a Honda CB450 roadster into a competitive racer.

Marco Simoncelli’s death at the Malaysian Grand Prix has rocked the sport. He was a MotoGP star on a rise and an incredible personality – in a paddock where rider actions and quotes are often …

Giacomo Agostini has no hesitation naming his favourite bike: the MV-Agusta 500 tre cilindri.
It was created in 1966 when he became MV’s lead rider and won seven successive premier-class crowns.

Barry Sheene’s Suzuki 500 holds the record for the fastest motorcycle GP race ever.
On July 3, 1977 Sheene averaged 217.37 km/h to win the Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps, compared with fastest MotoGP race averages …

“Meteoric”. That was Gary Hocking’s international motorcycle career. Aged 20, he first ventured onto the Continent in mid-1958 and within a month finished third in the West German 500 GP.
Shocked by the death of Australia’s …

You’d have thought it was no contest – a small Italian factory’s two-valve single against a 16-valve four. But with one round remaining in the 1963 world  250 championship, Tarquinio Provini and his Moto Morini …

What a difference a year makes! Franco Uncini should be remembered for his classy victory in the 1982 world 500 championship. Competing in the perhaps biggest field of works bikes in 500 GP racing to …

Back-to-back AMA Grand National Champion, Daytona 200 winner, US road-racing champion, battered in crashes and duded out of a ‘world’ title. Gary Nixon, from Anadarko, Oklahoma, has seen it all – the epitome of the …

Kel Carruthers’ winning ride on a Benelli four to secure the 1969 world 250 championship on the treacherous streets of Opatija (in the old Yugoslavia) was the most dramatic title-clincher of Australia’s ten successful world …

For a rookie GP season, Alberto “Johnny” Cecotto’s impact in 1975 takes some beating. As a 19-year-old riding a second-tier Yamaha with a year-old factory engine, he won four 350 GPs and dethroned Giacomo Agostini …

Phil Read was the Prince of Speed and might also be called the Prince of Longevity – winning his first world championship event (the 350 TT) at the Isle of Man in 1961 and his …

He was the hero Spanish racing needed, this tough little guy from Zamora. But Angel Nieto would go on to win 90 Grands Prix in the 50, 80 and 125 classes between 1969 and 1985. …

Kork Ballington had a dilemma at the end of 1979 – stay with Kawasaki to develop a new 500 racer or sign with Suzuki?

What made Mike Hailwood stand apart — precise lines on the fast public road circuits of his day? Tick. But he was just as comfortable on artificial circuits.
Bravery? Tick. He rode the fearsome Honda 500-4 …

Hugh Anderson is close to the blueprint for a 1960s champion – resourceful, modest and brave.
Signed by Suzuki just as the company hit its straps as a builder of fast engines, he helped turn that …

Luigi Taveri was the antithesis of today’s teenaged tear-away 125 GP racers – technically savvy, immaculately presented and cool headed.
An Italian-Swiss, born near Zurich in 1929, Taveri won the first of his three world 125 …

What do Max Deubel and Mike Hailwood have in common? From 1961 to ’65 both men won four successive world GP championships — Deubel in sidecars with Emil Hoerner, Hailwood in 500 GP. They were …