1996 World Champions. 500cc – Mick Doohan ( Honda) 250cc – Max Biaggi ( Aprilia) 125cc – Haruchika Aoki ( Honda) Mick Doohan (pictured at Jerez) became the 1996 500cc world champion. The 1996 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 48th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season. 1998 World Champions. 500cc – Mick Doohan ( Honda) 250cc – Loris Capirossi ( Aprilia) 125cc – Kazuto Sakata ( Aprilia) Mick Doohan (pictured at Phillip Island) became the 1998 500cc world champion. The 1998 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 50th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season. Rumours that Yamaha is actively courting current Honda MotoGP riders Alex Rins and Joan Mir in an attempt to find a replacement for Franco Morbidelli in its factory team for 2024 prompt the question of whether walking away from one difficult bike mid-contract to ride another would really represent a significant improvement.

They maintained their weight minimums from the 90s to compensate for the power and performance differences with a lower weight. That first year of MotoGP, there were 29 kilos of difference between the lightest and heaviest bike. The Proton KR3, a 500 cc three-cylinder bike, weighed 116 kilos. The Honda NSR 500 and Yamaha YZR 500, 131 kilos.

Valentino Rossi is an Italian nine-time Grand Prix world champion - seven of which are in the premier MotoGP class. Rossi raced for Honda's factory team, Yamaha's factory team and Ducati's factory team. Rossi is also the only road racer to have competed in 400 or more Grands Prix. Another way Yamaha MotoGP riders’ struggles hurt Quartararo Read more Even a recent run of success wasn’t set up to last for long, with Quartararo picking up the 2021 world championship only to see it slip away again a year later to the Ducati-mounted Pecco Bagnaia, with the reasons very obviously being less to do with the Frenchman’s nksnPXb. 462 199 241 437 294 323 149 424 367

yamaha motogp riders history