Australian legend Mick Doohan emerged ahead of Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz and Alex Crivillé to be the legendary rider selected
The 2022 MotoGP™ eSport Championship is close to roaring into life but prior to that, fans of the series had an important part to play: they voted to choose which legendary rider and machine they would compete aboard for the second Online Challenge of the Pro Draft.
Four legends of the sport were available to vote for, all hailing from the 1990s, one of MotoGP™’s truly golden eras, where riders had to tame wild 500cc two-stroke machines high on horsepower and acceleration. And after a vote held over two days, we have a winner!
Kevin Schwantz and his title-winning 1993 Suzuki RG500 was one name in the vote, as was Wayne Rainey and his 1993 Yamaha YZR500, Mick Doohan and the legendary 1994 Honda NSR500, and Alex Crivillé and the Honda NSR500 on which he became Spain’s first-ever premier class champion.
And after 24h of voting and more than 15.000 votes, the winner was quintuple MotoGP™ champion and 54-time MotoGP™ race winner Mick Doohan!
As well as gamers using vintage names and machinery in this challenge, they will also be pushing to post the fastest possible time at a vintage MotoGP™ track: England’s Donington Park!
The famous venue, which hosted the British Grand Prix from 1987 to 2009, is renowned for its glorious first sector: from Redgate Corner, gamers will negotiate the glorious, downhill Craner Curves and Old Hairpin before firing back uphill again. This is a track of two halves: the final sector, containing the Melbourne Loop and Goddards hairpin require a different skill set.
If you haven’t already, now is the time to start practicing your racing lines and throttle control ahead of the Pro Draft which gets underway at the start of March.
Mick Doohan: The tough Australian was on the verge of winning his first 500cc world championship in 1992 when he badly broke his leg in a qualifying spill at Assen. Complications from the injury threatened his career and led to him losing out in that particular year. But Doohan’s recovery is the stuff of legend. His haul of five consecutive championships from 1994 to 1998 cemented his place as one of the all-time greats. Never was he as dominant as 1995, the first year of the now legendary Repsol Honda partnership. That year no other bike could get close.
Number of MotoGP™ starts: 137
Number of MotoGP™ race wins: 54
Number of MotoGP™ championships: 5
Register now at esport.motogp.com and be ready for the first Online Challenge!
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