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ROAD RACE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROAD RACE SERIES STAnSnCS Indonesia when the Japanese rider shadowed Doohan the entire race and then pulled off a desperation last-lap pass and made it stid< to win his first 500cc Grand Prix. In Phillip Island, his home Grand Prix, Doohan beat himself when he crashed out while leading and pulling away. At the other 12 races, he won. At the last 12 in a row he took the pole and starts this season with the ongoing record streak of consecutive pole positions that he can extend even further. We are unable to compare Doohan's stat line directly with those of riders such as Agostini, Hailwood, Read, Surtees and other grea ts from the 500cc class because reliable statistics on true number of starts, pole positions and fastest laps are not available from the FIM prior to the 1976 season. By using the newspaper reports for the day, we ha ve been able to piece together 5a rry Sheene's stats from 1974 and 1975, allowing us to include Britain's last 500cc World Champion in our comparisons. (Sheene's career links the Agostini years with the Roberts years and Sheene clearly is part of "modern" Grand Prix history, while Agostini, who retired. in 1976, is a~ociated with the more distant past.) Doohan started the 1997 season second in 500cc Career Winning Percentage at 34.8%, behind Kenny Roberts, but his 12 wins in 15 starts have taken him just barely past "King Kenny," who won 22 of his 58 starts between 1978 and 1983. Tenth on the list is America's John Kocinski, who won 4 of 44 starts in the 500cc class between 1991 and 1994. He sat out the '95 season and then roared back to finish third in World Superbike in'1996 with a Ducati and then to win the title on a works Honda in 1997. Just off the list of top modern riders in Winning Percentage is America's Randy Mamola, who won 13 of 145 starts in the 500cc class (9%). t was usually very easy to find Freddie Spencer in the 500cc grid. Of all modem SOOcc riders, "Fast Freddie~' holds the highest Pole Position Percentage at 41.9%, and this in spite of several poor seasons after the golden years from 1982 to 1985 that came before the physical problems tllat cut short his great career. Doohan would need to take two more poles in a row to provisionally better Spencer's Pole Position Average. Doohan, who starts the 1998 season with an ongoing streak of 12 consecutive pole posi tions - a newall-time FIM record for the 500cc class - has started on the pole in 50 of his 121 starts. Only four riders since 1976 have managed to take the pole in more that 30% of their starts: Spencer, Doohan, Venezuelan "Johnny Cecotto and Roberts. Cecotto, however, doesn't appear on the list because he started only 34 Grands Prix in the 500cc class, less than the qualifying number of 40 that I've used for this article. The rider with the highest Fastest Lap Percentage over the last 22 years (since this information became available for FIM timing and scoring officials) is Californian Kenny Roberts, who set the 500cc-CLASS CAREER POLE-POSITION PERCENTAGES (1976-PRESENT) (Limited to riders with a minimum of 40 starts in the 500cc class) Rider Starts Poles 1. FreddieSpencer 2. Mick Doohan 3. Kenny Roberts 4. KevinSchwantz 5. Wayne Gardner 6. Barry Sheene 7. John Kocinski 8. Wayne Rainey 9. Luca Cadalora 10. Marco Lucdlinelli 62 121 58 26 50 18 29 19 18 8 15 8 9 104 102 97 44 83 70 87 quickest lap in 24 of his 58 starts (41.3%). Roberts' philosophy as a Grand Prix rider was to push to be the fastest rider in every race. He told me once, "Even if you are bad< in fourth for one reason or another, you can keep the other guy worried if you can do the fastest lap. It keeps the guy looking over his shoulder." Mick Doohan, with 41 fastest laps in 121 starts, is second in the rankings but is still well back (at 33.9%) of Roberts. (Top left) Despite Kevin Schwantz's wlfH)l'crash reputation, he still ranks among the world's best In every category - including average points per start. (Top center) Wayne Gardner atop the podium with rivals Rainey and Doohan. Gardner won 17.6% of the races he started. (TC?p right) Freddie Spencer was Indeed fast - Spencer was on pole 41.9% ofthe time. (Above) Barry Sheene (center) stands with Takazumi Katayama (left) and WII Hartog. Sheene is seventh on the all-lime win list. Pole Percentage 41.9% 41.3% 31.0% 27.9% 18.62% J8.55% 18.2% 18.1% 11.4% 10.3% (Although he made only 34 starts. Johnny Cecotto had 11 pole positions, enough for a 32.4% on pole, making hIm third on the list. Even if we charge him With the minimum 40 starts. his pole-position percentage would be 27.6°/0, good enough for sixth place.) 500cc-CLASS FASTEST-LAP PERCENTAGES (1976-PRESENT) Starts Rider 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Kenny Roberts Mid< Doohan Freddie Spencer Wayne Rainey Kevin Schwantz Wayne Gardner Barry Sheene Eddie Lawson Alex Criville John Kocinski Fastest Lap 58 121 62 83 104 102 97 127 78 24 41 18 44 22 26 19 18 21 8 4 Fastest-Lap Percentage 41.3% 33.9% 29.0% 26.5% 25.0% 18.63% 18.56% 16.5% 10.3% 9.1%