From the world’s fastest wheelie to jumping 18 double decker’s, we look at the very best stunt riders to have emerged from these shores. Here are our top 5 in no particular order:
1. Dave Taylor MBE
The late, ‘70s ‘wheelie king’ and display riding star rose to even great prominence as a leading campaigner for motorcycle safety making many radio and television on the likes of ‘Record Breakers’ and ‘Blue Peter’. Most famously of all, however, he wheelied an entire lap of the TT Mountain circuit aboard a Yamaha XT500. His name lives on via MCN’s Dave Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors those whose life’s work has had the biggest positive effect on motorcycling.
2. Gary Rothwell
Merseysider Rothwell sprang to fame in 1992 when he performed an impromptu stunt show at the TT aboard a Z1300 on Douglas Prom and was promptly featured in Performance Bikes magazine who acclaimed him as ‘a genius on a motorcycle and will be a star in years to come.’ Despite a night in clink, he was officially booked to return the following year. He faded off the scene in the early 2000s but re-appeared last year at Elvington to grab the record for the world’s fastest wheelie.
3. Craig Jones
Self-styled ‘extreme stunt rider’ Craig Jones is a Brummie born in 1970 famous mostly for an assortment of ‘stoppie’ world records and for being ‘factory’ rider with Buell/Harley-Davidson between 2000 and 2010 when his stunt shows were used as a publicity tool. He has since also had associations with Kawasaki and Victory while in 2007 he also launched a Bike Skills Academy.
4. Kevin Carmichael
Scot Kevin Carmichael is another Brit stunt rider who sprang to prominence in the late ‘90s, when the there was a sudden surge in stunt riding competitions, and has been both European and World champion. He’s most famous, however, for being, like Craig Jones, a ‘factory’ rider, this time with the UK”s own Triumph with whom he regularly appears at shows and events – most recently being involved with the press launch for Triumph’s new Speed Triple R in Spain.
5. Dave Coates
Coates, from Darlington, has been a professional stunt rider for over 20 years, regularly performing at shows in the UK and Europe he has also delivering on-track stunt shows for high profile events such as the British F1 GP at Silverstone, BTCC, British Superbikes, and the Isle Of Man TT. In recent years he’s been supported by Yamaha and has regularly used an R1, FZ1, WR450 and, most recently, an MT-09, in his shows.
News Courtesy: bennetts.co.uk
