Eight World Superbike Championships in a decade marked Ducati’s 888 and 916 production racers as ‘simply the best’ but it wasn’t always plain sailing for the Bologna bullets.
Giacomo Agostini – a legend and all-time most successful rider in Grand Prix history. Eight 500cc championships and seven 350cc championships: perhaps his astonishing record will never be surpassed?
In July 1987, Honda finally announced what many had heard already – that they had a new homologation machine for the forthcoming World Superbike Championship that would begin the following year, 1988.
Racing is clearly a matter of timing: it’s how the pecking order is worked out. But it also has a direct effect on whether a machine will be a success or not. The stars often need to align… They didn’t for the gorgeous Foggy Petronas FP1.
Many recall Frederick Burdette Spencer’s amazing double title win in 1985, when he took both the 500cc and 250cc titles for Honda on their NSR250 and NSR500 two-stroke machines but his first title was no less dramatic.
