MICHELIN - The American Connection
MICHELIN - The American Connection
American riders have played a huge part in the success of Michelin in motorcyclings premier-class World Championship. Six legends from the USA have won a total of ten 500cc/MotoGP crowns with Michelin tyres over the past quarter of a century.
Michelins American roll of honour:
Freddie Spencer (Honda-Michelin), 1983/1985 Eddie Lawson (Yamaha-Michelin), 1986/1988, (Honda-Michelin) 1989 Wayne Rainey (Yamaha-Michelin), 1990 & 1992 Kevin Schwantz (Suzuki-Michelin), 1993 Kenny Roberts Junior (Suzuki-Michelin), 2000 Nicky Hayden (Honda-Michelin), 2006
The first member of Michelins American winners was Fast Freddie Spencer, who won the 1983 500 title aboard Hondas first two-stroke GP bike, the NS500 triple, then followed that with his 1985 success aboard the companys NSR500 V4. And the man from Louisiana has played his part in the success of the nations latest World Champion, Nicky Hayden. Hayden regularly visits Spencers High Performance Riding School facility to keep in track trim and get advice from the former world champion.
Hayden says: Normally I always go down to Freddies facility to ride during the winter and sometimes I ride there during the summer break too. I always talk to Freddie every few months because he does understand the riding side of things. This year Hayden has been fine-tuning his riding style to suit the new breed of 800cc MotoGP bikes, which require higher cornering speeds: Ive changed my riding a little bit, Im not out of line so much getting into the corners and fighting the bike.
From a tyre standpoint, the radial was the biggest improvement in my career, says Spencer who used Michelins for all his 20 500 victories, as well as his seven 250 successes. As a rider you look for grip, you look for feedback and you look for endurance, and the radial improved all those areas, and it definitely had an impact on other areas of motorcycle design. The first thing I noticed with the radial rear was how much more grip and stability I had in high-speed corners, and I could pick up the throttle earlier, which was something I'd always worked on.
The Americans were the first riders to bring sideways action to the World Championships, utilising the skills theyd learned on US dirt track ovals to devastating effect in GP racing. Wayne Rainey was arguably the most spectacularly sideways rider in 500 history.
Californian Kenny Roberts Junior won the 500 title in 2000, becoming the first son of a former champ to win motorcyclings greatest prize. KRJRs dad King Kenny Roberts had won the 500 title in 1978, 1979 and 1980.
Roberts Junior has used Michelin tyres throughout most of his premier-class career, and with
This year at Laguna Seca Hayden goes for a hat-trick of US GP victories aboard his Michelin-equipped Repsol Honda RC212V.
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