Carl Fogarty, Neil Hodgson, Randy Mamola and Kevin Schwantz's shoe!
Carl Fogarty aka Foggy in the days before he was crowned I'm a Celebrity 's King of The Jungle 2014, appearing here in what must be one of the greatest motorcycling "panels" to ever appear on a stage. Maybe not quite the greatest because the previous year's event had Giacomo Agostini and Kenny Roberts on it - to name just two of the panellists.
I could have done with a wide angle lens here as I couldn't fit Kevin in too, sadly.
Foggy, of course, won Four World Superbike Championships, Neil won one and Randy is often referred to as the greatest Grand Prix - now Moto GP - rider never to win a world championship.
I've met them all over the years several times - for a long time one of my most popular Flickr photos was Neil hugging my wife in a lingerie shop! Don't ask....
One of my favourite biking seasons was 1990 when we went to watch Foggy at Daytona when he led the race for a while. I spoke to him a few months later and he was really surprised that we had gone there to watch him - he was genuinely modest. This was a while before the WSB years when he became an absolute legend but in the times I've seen him since he hasn't changed much. I was talking to Jamie Whitham last year and had our photo taken and Foggy was standing in the background.
Later in 1990 we went to the Dutch TT at Assen which is probably my favourite "live" Grand Prix ever - I will never forget watching Kevin Schwantz and Randy Mamola in that race. Schwantz's machine control was awesome. Randy pulled in because of some problem with the bike and came back out and more or less spent the rest of the race (he was way out of contention by that stage) wheeling around the circuit. It was a baking hot day and the whole weekend was something that you just couldn't make up. Those were the days ;-)
Carl Fogarty, Neil Hodgson, Randy Mamola and Kevin Schwantz's shoe!
Carl Fogarty aka Foggy in the days before he was crowned I'm a Celebrity 's King of The Jungle 2014, appearing here in what must be one of the greatest motorcycling "panels" to ever appear on a stage. Maybe not quite the greatest because the previous year's event had Giacomo Agostini and Kenny Roberts on it - to name just two of the panellists.
I could have done with a wide angle lens here as I couldn't fit Kevin in too, sadly.
Foggy, of course, won Four World Superbike Championships, Neil won one and Randy is often referred to as the greatest Grand Prix - now Moto GP - rider never to win a world championship.
I've met them all over the years several times - for a long time one of my most popular Flickr photos was Neil hugging my wife in a lingerie shop! Don't ask....
One of my favourite biking seasons was 1990 when we went to watch Foggy at Daytona when he led the race for a while. I spoke to him a few months later and he was really surprised that we had gone there to watch him - he was genuinely modest. This was a while before the WSB years when he became an absolute legend but in the times I've seen him since he hasn't changed much. I was talking to Jamie Whitham last year and had our photo taken and Foggy was standing in the background.
Later in 1990 we went to the Dutch TT at Assen which is probably my favourite "live" Grand Prix ever - I will never forget watching Kevin Schwantz and Randy Mamola in that race. Schwantz's machine control was awesome. Randy pulled in because of some problem with the bike and came back out and more or less spent the rest of the race (he was way out of contention by that stage) wheeling around the circuit. It was a baking hot day and the whole weekend was something that you just couldn't make up. Those were the days ;-)