Paddock Gossip
RAINEY’S RETURN!
Wayne Rainey, the three-time 500cc world champion, will ride his iconic 1992 title-winning Yamaha YZR500 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year, marking 30 years since the Californian won his final Grand Prix title.
Wayne, whose amazing battles with fellow American Kevin Schwantz were the stuff of legend (see page 62), was 500cc champion in 1990, 91 and 92 – the last title proving a tough one, battling Mick Doohan’s ‘big-bang’ Honda NSR500. He would only take the title after Doohan’s awful Assen accident, with the American playing catch-up while the Aussie took time to recuperate from a badly broken leg.
Sadly, Wayne himself would suffer a life-changing injury at Misano the following season (1993) while wrestling Schwantz for the title. He was left paralysed from the chest down as a result. Since the accident he’s been a Grand Prix team boss and is currently in charge of the regeneration of MotoAmerica
