UK Motorcycle News & Stories — On This Day
On This Day - Kenny Roberts Jr’s 2000 500cc World Championship
Mike Bowden Kenny Roberts motorcycle racing On This Day Suzuki
His sixth place at the Rio Grand Prix on 7 October was enough to secure Suzuki’s first premier-class riders’ championship since Kevin Schwantz in 1993. It also made Kenny and his father, three-time champion Kenny Roberts, the only father and son to have won motorcycling’s premier-class world title.
On This Day 2002 - Alex Barros Won on His Honda RC211V Debut
Mike Bowden Honda MotoGP motorcycle racing On This Day
Barros won the Pacific Grand Prix at Motegi on 6 October, finishing 1.641 seconds ahead of Rossi and recording the fastest lap on the final tour. It was his first race on Honda’s V5 MotoGP machine after spending the opening 12 rounds aboard the increasingly outclassed NSR500 two-stroke.
On This Day – 1923 – The BMW R 32 Created an Engine Identity That Survived a Century
Mike Bowden BMW Motorcycle Engineering motorcycle history On This Day
BMW did not invent the boxer engine, but Max Friz arranged it in the R 32 so successfully that riders still recognise the layout as BMW more than a century later.
On This Day – 1904 – The Disputed Motorcycle Race That Led to the FIM
Mike Bowden FIM motorcycle racing history Motorsport regulations On This Day
France won the 1904 International Cup at Dourdan, but the arguments afterwards convinced five nations that motorcycle racing needed an international governing body.
On This Day – 1948 – Honda Was Founded, and Almost Nobody Noticed
Mike Bowden Honda motorcycle history motorcycle industry On This Day
Honda Motor Co. began with 34 employees, no celebration and no new sign. They were too busy building A-Type bicycle engines to recognise a historic day.