Most memorable near wins

[Yoong Montoya]

You ever had that experience of watching a race, seeing your favourite have the win in the bag only to see the dark side of luck strike them and have you swearing like it was your own rider out there?

My choices would be:

Hislop at Knockill 2002 - Rammed out of the race by Rutter at the last corner on the final lap

Edwards at Kyalami 2001 - 5 or so laps to and his engine fails

Roberts at Shanghai 2005 - Looked to score Suzuki's first 4 stroke win and then his engine fails

Tamada at Mugello 2004 - Looked to have his maiden win in the bag until tyre failure struck

[EGG]

Gardner at Suzuka in 1992, was coming 2nd, fell off in the wet, got back on, got up to 5th, fell off again

Cadalora at Suzuka in ~1993/4 bike broke down on the last lap.

I was 10 in 1992, so these memories could be a little off...

[Rich R]

jeremy mcwilliams at a wet british gp in 2000, involved in that great 3 way fight with roberts and rossi on his aprillia, eventually coming 3rd, but for a while it looked like he could win it.

[Hazza]

Edwards @ Qatar last year.
Jacque @ China.
I'd say Martin @ Phillip Island last year, but i'm happier that "Mr Squiggle" won.
Speaking of McCoy, it looked like he might of been able to win in 2002 @ Phillip Island but the tyre delaminated, so he pitted and just for the fans went out on new tyres and set a new fastest lap.
Same thing with Bayliss @ the Island a year later...
Darryl Beattie in '93 @ Suzuka, fundamentaly: Rainey takes a dive inside Schwantz, Beattie dives inside Rainey, Beattie runs wide, Rainey Doubles back on him, and Schwantz dives through on the final chicane bumping him back to 3rd...
Beattie @ Anytime Mick beat him in 95.
Hislop @ Donning WSC 2002?

[bestfit]

Gardner 1988 French GP
Brilliant race long 4 way battle between Gardner, Lawson, Sarron and Schwantz (may have been Rainey??). After numerous lead changes Gardner finally makes a break with about 4 laps to go only to lose his engine on the last lap. The footage of Gardner punching his tank and leaving a huge dent are priceless.

[Bleu]

Jacque/Barros at Sachsenring 2002.
It was going to be first win of the season for two-stroke machine. Jacque and Barros were few seconds ahead of Rossi. Barros tried to overtake Jacque and they crashed, leaving win for Rossi. 2-strokes didn't win any races that year.

Gibernau at Estoril 2002
Wet race and Gibernau (riding for Suzuki still) was leading. Rossi was catching him before Gibernau crashed out few laps to go.

Matsudo at Estoril 2002
About the same situation was at 250 race. Nieto was catching Matsudo who crashed out with 5 laps to go. Luckily Sebastian Porto won next race so one win for Yamaha that year.

[racer69]

Nakano, losing on the final straight to Jacque in 2000 at Phillip Island.

Doohan or Criville, both crashing out at Eastern Creek on the last lap of the last race in 1996.

[gomick]

just reading all of the above brought back some memories - the gardner won in 88 at paul ricard i do remember....

[William Dale Jr]

Originally Posted by bestfit

Gardner 1988 French GP
Brilliant race long 4 way battle between Gardner, Lawson, Sarron and Schwantz (may have been Rainey??). After numerous lead changes Gardner finally makes a break with about 4 laps to go only to lose his engine on the last lap. The footage of Gardner punching his tank and leaving a huge dent are priceless.

That race was a blinder. Sarron wanted to win in front of his home crowd. Gardner had to win to keep his title hopes alive. Lawson had to beat Gardner to tighten his hold on the championship and overcome a shoulder injury suffered in a practice accident at the previous round in Rijeka. Schwantz was having his first race back after hurting his knee. The battle between the four raged for the entire race and was only decided on the last lap. As an added interest for Aussies, Malcolm Campbell made his 500cc WC debut on the second Elf Honda at this race.


Whilst not through mechanical failure, Randy Mamola came within a whisker of winning the 1992 Hungarian GP. Eddie Lawson swept through with a couple of laps to go, turning a possible final victory for Mamola into the first win for Cagiva.

[gomick]

if my memory serves me correct - randy was on a budwieser yamaha & the track was damp

[Bleu]

Today we got a new one in this category...

In 125cc Kallio fell in the last corner and collected Faubel as a result.

[Oaksnaf]

Originally Posted by Bleu

Today we got a new one in this category...

In 125cc Kallio fell in the last corner and collected Faubel as a result.

And the eventual winner was 4th coming into the last corner....

But both Kallio and Faubel were lucky to escape any serious injuries.

[Gerben24]

Chili in Assen 1998 (I think) race 2 (I was there). He was in a fierce battle with Fogarty (who else at Assen?) during the last lap when he low sided himself while braking to hard for the last GT-chicane. During the Foggy's press conference Chili walks in wearing his bathrope and tries to smack Foggy in the face .

[djb]

have only seen a few of these races, but popping in here just reinforces how bike racing is so often just so far ahead of F1 for close battles without the bs chopping etc that has come to be acceptable for the last 10-15 years.

Not having cable is not much of a regret, in terms of limiting the amount of tv watched by my family, but not being able to have really any access to MotoGP is a real regret.