Randy Mamola

Randy Mamola
Randy Mamola
Nationality	American
Motorcycle racing career statistics Grand Prix motorcycle racing Active years 1979 - 1992 First race 1979 250cc Venezuelan Grand Prix Last race 1992 500cc South African Grand Prix First win 1980 500cc Belgian Grand Prix Last win 1987 500cc San Marino Grand Prix Team(s) Suzuki, Yamaha, Honda, Cagiva Championships 0 Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 151 13 57 5 11 1050

Randy Mamola born (1959-11-10) November 10, 1959 in San Jose, California, USA is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He is considered to be one of the most talented riders never to have won a world championship.

Career

Randy Mamola in Barcelona (2006)

Mamola piloting the Doubleseater Ducati at Barcelona

Mamola's first 500cc motorcycle Grand Prix race was in Sweden in 1979, riding a Yamaha. His first victory in the 500cc class was at Belgium in 1980. He went on to win a total of 13 Grands Prix, and finished second in the championship four times: in 1980, 1981, 1984 and 1987.^[1] During his Grand Prix career he rode for Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda and Cagiva.

Mamola was also well known for being a real crowd pleaser. For example, at the Dutch TT he crashed his bike during warm-up, only to return to the pits to get his spare bike, wheelying and showing off to the crowd during the main race. Another memorable moment occurred at the 1986 French GP while trailing race leader Eddie Lawson, who was too far ahead to catch: Mamola had built up a healthy lead over third place rider, Christian Sarron, and decided to pull an endo on the run-off area at the beginning of the pit straight before rejoining the race. The stunt went unnoticed by track marshals who were mere feet away but it was captured on film by photographer Don Morley. The following weekend, Morely presented Mamola with the photograph, who was thrilled it was caught on film, but Yamaha team manager, Kenny Roberts, was not. Roberts fired Mamola on the spot but eventually relented and reinstated him.^[2] After leaving the Roberts team, Mamola signed with Cagiva to help them develop their GP500 race bike. He stayed with the Italian team for three years, but lack of funds hampered the teams success. After sitting out the 1991 season, he returned in 1992 for one last year on a privately supported Yamaha. He has maintained his crowd pleasing manner, often wearing humorous wigs on camera during interviews with riders. He was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2000.

After retiring from racing Mamola did pit lane commentary work with British Eurosport before losing this role in 2009. He is also a mentor for Bradley Smith.^[3]

Charity work

Mamola began raising money for Save the Children in 1986. On visits to Africa, he noticed that motorcycles being used to transport medical supplies to remote areas were breaking down and being abandoned due to poor training and maintenance. In 1996, he became one of the founders of Riders for Health, a charity which provides motorcycles and training to projects which give the population of rural Africa health and medical support. His fund-raising activities include giving passenger rides on a two-seater Ducati MotoGP bike.^[1]

Grand Prix career statistics ^[4]

Points system from 1969 to 1987:

Points system from 1988 to 1992:

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Randy Mamola.

• History of Riders for Health
• Randy Mamola at the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame