From the Isle of Man to the Sepang GP, relive some of the most iconic rivalries in MotoGP. There’s drama, threats, oil and booze, lots of it. Know your history, read the blog, MotoGP: A fight for the throne.

1. H u m an s have a natural tendency to compete. Most of our actions are driven
by the drive to be at the top. And in a situation where another person can be a
hurdle or even an obstacle in your path, competition is bound to happen. And
when this person has a skill set that matches yours, that competition is fierce.
No matter what level of skill you have, your ultimate drive is from the fact that
you want to move u p and away from this other person.
This might be dangerous at times since rationality is thrown out of the
window in such scenarios. However, when this competition is bound by rules
and is part of a sport, it makes for a real fun watching experience. People live
vicariously through such fierce battles.
MotoGP has witnessed its fair share of intense battles throughout its 67-year
history. These battles have been for that extra point which would decide the
championship to ones that don’t have a lot of significance to the points but
it’s just two people trying to prove themselves that they are faster. Now with
that being said, let’s relive some of the most iconic racing duels that have
mad e MotoGP what it is today.

2. KennyRoberts VSBarrySheene
An American and a Brit battling it out at the British GrandPrix, Silverstone,
could it get any better?
British GP: Silverstone, 1979
1970 saw a lot of regulation changes in the motorsport racing world in favor of
the drivers. A nd this particular GrandPrix, Silverstone 1979 was also
broadcasted on tv, which was a rare event back then. B u t thank go d it did
because now we can relive the iconic battle between the two all-time greats.
With Kenny breaking Barry's winning streak of 1976 and 1977 by taking the
1978 championship, the competition amongst the m was fierce. Kenny was all
set to take up the 1979 title too and Barry had no chance at it. This didn’t
me an Barry went easy in this race, as they say, a guy with nothing to lose is
m u c h more dangerous.
The fact that it was B arry's h o me circuit and that he hadn’t m a n a ge d to
secure a win there for the past two years also added to the pressure.
Race week wasn’t off to a great start for Barry, qualifying 5th and not being
able to push through corners as fast on his Yamaha as the Suzuki Kenny rode
on.
This only got on his nerves and caused h im a serious amount of frustration.
An d one way to deal with frustration?
Booze.
And booze they did, B arry accompanied by a few friends went down for
drinks to try and calm down.
O n the other hand, Kenny knew very well that Barry was not go nna go down
without a fight, it being the h o me circuit and all. Kenny had his own set of
problems when an oil cap busted and thus had to go back to the pit during
the sighting lap. He had to make do with oily gloves.
Most of the race had Wil Hartog, the Dutch man in the lead with Kenny and
Barry close behind. The three had a fantastic ga m e of cat and mouse with
each shifting positions like a gear happy junkie.

3. Towards the 27th lap, Kenny m an a ge d to push through to 1st and Barry to
2nd leaving Wil in 3rd. After diving inside on a right corner Barry m an age d to
move to 1st and this excited the h o me crowd, so m u c h so that Barry decided
to do this,
The Wave, Or is it?
Yes Barry Sheene, after overtaking Kenny Roberts decided to turn around and
wave at the American.
Although it is debatable if he just waved or if he flipped the bird to say, “ This
is m y town F**k off! ”. Whatever he did, he probably did me an the same.
Americans have a thing about being asked to F**k off. They don’t take it all too
well and thus when the duo ca me across the tail-ender, Kenny capitalized on
Barry’s mistake whe n he tried an outside line to pass a tail-ender. This caused
Barry to lose a lot of distance. This was the final nail in the coffin after which
Barry never could ma n a ge to overtake, with only half a lap left. Kenny finished
just 1meter ahead of Barry.
Now that was one hell of a race. Barry was both angry and excited that he
cam e so close. This win helped Kenny secure his second championship and
would further go and win the next year too.

4. This race continues to be one of the most exciting races in MotoGP even after
4 0 years and countless races.
Major Titles
Steve Hislop VS Carl Fogarty
Isle Of Man Senior TT: Isle of Man, 1992
The Isle of Man TT. One of the most dangerous events in the world. Like
seriously. Just watching this is disconcerting. You need balls of titanium to
participate in this. Two people with such said balls of titanium, were two
British folks, Steve Hislop, a Scott, and Carl Fogarty, an Englishman.
Now if that isn’t a setup for great drama, I don’t know what is.
Their battle at the 1992 Isle of Man TT continues to be one of the greatest
rivalries as of today. After almost 2 hours of racing, the duo could not be
separated by more than 10 seconds. That’s some commitment.
As equally matched as they were on the track, Steve and Carl were quite the
opposite personalities. Carl, unabashedly vocal about his skills, and a seriously
skilled racer never really mad e friends on the race track but he was pretty
vocal about his respect and admiration for Steve.

5. Steve on the other hand, silent, soft-spoken but an absolute monster on the
track. The respect was mutual in this case.
Just a year ago, both had competed as teammates for Honda at the 1991 TT,
with Steve taking the win. While Steve was d u mp e d from Honda for another
rider, things looked better when Yamaha promised a contract. However, this
deal fell through and Yamaha went ahead and hired another rider.
Guess who?
Carl freaking Fogarty. Ouch. Now that ought to burn.
Carl Fogarty on the Yamaha, Isle of Man 1992
Now enter the sidekick who’ll save the day, Norton. With Steve a free agent,
they jumped on the chance to have a multiple TT winner on their motorcycle.
Now with their new bikes, Steve on the Norton and Carl with his Yamaha, the
race was bound to be an exciting one.
The day of the 1992 TT was blessed with clear skies. Steven starting at 19
battled his way through traffic to move past Carl who started at number 4.
With the Nortons brilliant speed, Steve m ad e it to the lead with a healthy
7.4-second lead.

6. Steve Hislop hitting the right lines, Isle of Man 1992
The contrast in the racing style could be easily witnessed. With Steve opting
for a more elegant follow the line approach versus Carl who more handled his
motorcycle like an enraged hungry bull.
However, a pit stop error (we’re looking at you Mercedes) by Steve gave Carl
the much-needed opportunity to close down the lead to a close one second.
With both the motorcycles beat and bruised, the last lap proved why both the
racers were considered to be one of the greats. Eventually, the Norton proved
to be more resilient crossing the finish line 4.4 seconds ahead.
B o t h drivers acknowledged that this was one of the toughest races they’ve
been in.
Steve goes ahead to win the next two TTson the Norton, whereas Carl makes
history by winning 4 consecutive superbike championships.
Considering how dangerous the TT was, especially 3 decades ago, this duel,
even to this day is nothing less than bonkers.

7. Major Titles
Way ne Rainey V S Kevin Schwantz.
Schwantz(34) a n d Rainey(1) workin it

8. Not all duels have to necessarily create a rivalry. That’s exactly how the
competition was amongst these two Americans. What started in the
superbike series in 1987 lasted for about 6 years. Longer than what most
relationships last these days.
The duo first met in the 1987 Superbike Championship, where Wayne came
out top but only after an intense racing season. This went on well for the rest
of the year and when Wayne went ahead to join Yamaha for the 500cc class,
and Kevin joined the competition, Suzuki.
From 1990-1992 Wayne won three consecutive 500cc World Championships,
with Mick Doohan and Kevin close behind.
Italian G P : Circuito Internazionale Santa Monica, 1993
However, 1993 saw one of the most exciting seasons of racing. Wainey was on
track to win a fourth title when he entered the 12th race of the season at
Italian G P with an 11point lead over Kevin.
However, this was not meant to be.
Wayne Rainey suffered a career-ending crash when he slid into Gravel Pit and
injured his spine. This left h im paralyzed from the waist below. Even though
Kevin did not m a n a ge to win the race he got the much-needed lead and
eventually went on to win the 1993 World Championship.
Now that’s a tragic ending to an amazing 6-year rivalry.
Wayne never quit though, nothing could keep h im away from MotoGP, he
came back as a manager for Yamaha.
Kevin, being the romantic he is, raced for another 2 years, 2 seasons full of
injuries and he realized that racing was not fun anymore, ever since he lost
Wayne. That’s why he quit after the 1995 season.
Even to this day, Wayne and Kevin continue to be good friends.

9. Major Titles
Valentino Rossi V S Marc Marquez
Rossi, The doctor, number 46 and 7 time G P champion, and the young g u n
on the block, Marquez have had their fair share of face-offs. It makes sense

10. though, you’ve got an established racer, considered one of the best u p
against the rookie who won his first two championships back to back.
Argentina G P : Termas D e Rio, 2015
Marquez got off to a brilliant start and was almost 4 seconds at the top.
However, in lap number 22, Rossi caught up to h im and forced Marquez to
brake heavily on a turn after which Rossi cam e out first, Marquez, however,
tried to push back in but ran into the NO.46 rear tire causing h im to skid and
slide. Marquez made a quick jab towards the bike but was well too late and
had to retire. Rossi went on to secure a win and Marquez ended up with no
points.
In situations like this, it’s easy to throw name s around and blame people, but
once you look close into the events leading up to the crash you can almost tell
that Marquez was at fault thus jeopardizing himself and his position.
Du tc h TT: 2015, Assen
With Rossi gaining his first pole in almost a year, he got off to a great start
maintaining the lead throughout the race. However towards the end,
Marquez got up real close to the doctor, with just two more turns to go, Rossi
went in a little too wide thus allowing Marquez to slip in, but not enough
since Rossi ca me back in the neck to neck, thus colliding and sending
Rossiover the gravel, however, Rossi being Rossi m a n a ge d to just pull
throughout of the gravel to cross the finish line just ahead of Marquez thus
winning another intense duel. Marquez had to settle for a hard-fought 2nd.

11. Rossi(46) getspushedonto the gravel,Dutch TT 2015
Malaysian GP: Sepang, 2015
2015 turned out to be a real eventful year for the duo with th e m once again
clashing at the Malaysian GP. This was probably the worst of the worst when
the rivalry became apparent and both drivers were not afraid of showing
their intent.
With both drivers moving in and out of the third position, things got heated
in the 7th lap, whe n Rossi, on an inside line deliberately slowed to push
Marquez wider, with h im even turning back to look at Marquez, this caused
Rossi to lose balance and thus collide with Marquez. Rossi’s knees clashed
into Marquez’s helmet thus sending Marquez to spin and fall. Marquez
remounted but had to retire from the race after heading to the pitstop.

12. “And that’s what you get kid!”, Malaysian GP, 2015
Rossi finished 3rd but was awarded a penalty. The drivers also had a heated
exchange post-race with both receiving a lot of criticism from fellow drivers
and the MotoGP world. Lorenzo, Rossi’s partner at Yamaha also criticized his
behavior.
However, Rossi’s fans were not having any of it with the m booing Marquez
and Lorenzo and went as far as ma kin g threats against the m both thus
forcing t h e m to hire security.
However, towards the end of the season, both drivers seemed to make up and
this did seem the case for a couple of years until…
Argentina G P : Termas D e Rio, 2018
With already a penalty awarded to himself, and having to start from the
pitstop, he pushed through on his entry back in and tried squeezing on the
inside even though there was no room, causing the doctor to crash and thus
retire. Marquez received a further 30s penalty and ended up finishing 18 just
ahead of Rossi.

13. Rossi(46) goes down
Rossi called out Marquez for this even going as far as to say that Marquez
was destroying the sport.
Major Milestones

14. Conclusion
Giacomo Agostini (1) a n d Mike Hailwood (63), another fierce rivalry, Italy, 1969
With Moto G P 2021 right around the corner and improved machines and
drivers, rivalries, just as fierce or more, are probably brewing somewhere.