An Age of Superheroes: A Time Before Traction Control

Traction control? Engine management? Acres of run-off? You’ve got to be joking: motorcycle racing's Age of Superheroes, 1988-93, was the nadir of two-stroke Grand Prix racing, when macho colonials slugged it out on evil two-strokes capable of 200mph. Even Valentino Rossi acknowledges this period as a special moment in motorcycle racing history, for he grew up watching Kevin Schwantz, Wayne Rainey, Eddie Lawson, John Kocinski, Mick Doohan and Wayne Gardner on TV as they bumped fairings and burned rubber around ultra-fast, lethal racetracks.