Innholdsfortegnelse for January - February 2026 i Classic Racer

I took the first-ever shot of Mike racing back in 1957 and knew him better than most. He just liked to be one of the boys and was never really happy amongst the car racing types. I took him to Daytona, possibly during his ‘retirement’ in the mid-1970s, and it seemed no one knew who he was in America which suited Mike just fine. I will never forget this. We were wandering around the paddock and a lad aged about seven or eight came up to us and asked him for his autograph. We were unsure if he actually knew who Mike was and Mike was a bit awkward about it and went as red as a beetroot; he was actually flustered! Anyway, Mike said something along the lines of:…

With Toprak Razgatlioglu’s departure to MotoGP after retaining his World Superbike title in 2025, Ducati is likely to reassert its dominance of WSB in 2026 with its new, improved V4 R, with Marco Bulega already a clear step above all his rivals as the only rider able to challenge Toprak for victory this past season. This follows Ducati’s double-up of title wins for Alvaro Bautista in 2022-2023 on the desmo V4 after the Italian factory went a full decade without any championship success. Now they have to do it again after two years spent playing second fiddle to BMW. We’ve been here before, for back in 2003, the desmo dudes were smarting from Honda wresting the coveted World title back from them, courtesy of Colin Edwards and the SP-02 V-twin…

SIDECAR LEGENDS! Over the 55-plus years that I was a circuit commentator, I count myself honoured to have met many wonderful people: none more so than one of Scotland’s finest, John Robert Taylor, or as he was better known, ‘Jock’ Taylor. Jock was great fun to know. He possessed a wonderful cheery personality, was forever smiling, and despite the incredible success that was to come his way, never showed conceit, remaining unshakeably, ‘one of the boys’ His successes include being three times the Scottish Champion, twice British Champion, four times Isle of Man TT winner, along with setting a sidecar lap record at over 108mph which would stand for the next seven years. In 1980, ‘The Flying Scotsman’ was partnered by his equally talented sidekick, former Swedish 125 Solo Champion,…

We’ve marvelled at many legends over the decades: Ago, Hailwood, Roberts, Rainey, Rossi, Marquez – but for many, Frederick Burdette Spencer was the most naturally gifted of them all. ‘Fast Freddie’ from the Louisiana Bible Belt was from a family of racers. At just 10 years of age, Freddie was a state title holder in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi and his home state. He turned pro at 16 with a decade of race experience already and was signed up by the Honda factory aged just 18. Ever the faithful Honda man early in his career, he suffered the ignominy of the oval-pistoned NR500 and even flat-tracked a bike derived from the CX500, but it was on Honda’s NS500 triple that finally he took Honda’s first 500cc title in 1983, battling…

I took the opportunity to run the Reve Racing Team with their main rider John Reynolds, who I’d known for quite a while for the 1995 season in World Superbikes. As he’d won the 1992 British Superbike title on a Kawasaki, when the request was made from us at Reve Racing for some factory support, not surprisingly it got the thumbs up from Japan. We were off to World Superbike and David Jefferies was brought in as our second rider. I wouldn’t have particularly gone for David at the time, as he was a novice really. But I wasn’t the team owner, Ben Atkins was, and it was a paid ride. My view, and my son’s now that he’s running our team, is different. We’ve only ever had two riders…

By the time Neil Hodgson returned to the World Superbike Championship full-time again in 2001, he was more than ready for the fight! His first stint from 1996 to 1998 hadn’t been as successful as he’d hoped and, after losing confidence, he returned to the UK and fought an epic battle with Chris Walker to win the 2000 British Superbike Championship. His confidence restored, Hodgson and his title-winning GSE Racing team moved up to WSB in 2001 as a second-tier Ducati team. Why was he ready this time? Well, as a wild card, Hodgson had destroyed the WSB field at Donington and Brands Hatch in 2000, both times in the second race of the day… So he knew this time that he could beat the world’s best WSB riders. “And…

…like son. Yvon DuHamel’s boy Miguel was a stalwart of stateside racing who became a multiple American champion. He would take the 1995 AMA Superbike title (the first Canadian to do so) on a bike many felt was troubled and recalcitrant at best: Honda’s V4 RC45. While the Michelin-shod Castrol Hondas seemed to have issues in World Superbikes, Miguel and the Dunlopshod ‘Smokin’ Joe’s/Camel Honda RC45 cleaned up with six victories and the title. Miguel was already a veteran by then. He started racing professionally in 1988 and took his first of 32 AMA wins in 1990, becoming the ‘Rookie of the Year. He’d win the first of five Daytona 200s in 1991, making him equally the most successful Daytona 200 winner with Scott ‘Mr. Daytona’ Russell. He would also…

Send your classic racing news to: editor@classicracer.co.uk Joey’s bikes auctioned Joey Dunlop’s iconic race-winning Hondas achieved a combined total of £224,250 at the Bonhams Autumn Stafford Sale. The auction – held in tandem with the Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show – achieved a remarkable sell-through rate of 98 per cent across 207 lots, with strong demand across all genres and areas of collecting. Competitive bidding was seen throughout, culminating in an overall total of £2,637,585. Of course, the Joey bikes were the highlight for many. The bikes were his 1988 Isle of Man TT-winning Honda RC30 and his 1999 Ulster Grand Prix-winning Honda RC45. Long cherished by the Dunlop family and displayed in Joey’s Bar, Ballymoney, these historic machines marked the final chapter of Joey’s extraordinary career. The bikes drew intense…

Randy Mamola – all-time legend, the clown prince of motorcycle racing and he’s talking to Classic Racer, at some length. I use the phrase ‘at some length’ because in what was billed as a 30-minute (maybe) chat, I’m looking at the WhatsApp data, and it was two hours 38 minutes long. And not a dull moment was had by me, at least. “Being born in 1959, I grew up watching the Ed Sullivan show,” says Randy, after I’d asked him what he wanted to be, before bike racing came long. “Everyone who was anyone was on that show: The Beatles were on there in 1962 or something and when they were on, I fell in love with music and I wanted to be a ‘Ringo Starr’. It wasn’t just The…

Okay, so Darley Moor isn’t our favourite track to be honest, but after such a good meeting last time out, number 42 Adam Carson was raring to go. We hadn’t changed a thing on the bikes since Donington, just cleaned and checked them over. Back to riding just the 600 and TZR250, our main aim this weekend was to finish all the races and hopefully pick up some good results if possible. None of us had high expectations. We arrived Friday afternoon and set up the awning, joining forces with Dan Kift and Mark Ess to put together a big awning of Yamahas. These two guys have been racing in the Superbike 750 class on their OW-01s, so it was a pleasure to share an awning and a common love…