Cycle News Staff | July 18, 2023
The annual Goodwood Festival of Speed was held July 15-16 on the stately Goodwood House grounds just out of Portsmouth in the UK and saw a plethora of MotoGP stars past and present in attendance.
The legends gather at Goodwood. There are 15 World Championships between them all.
Kenny Roberts Jr., Mick Doohan, Randy Mamola, Enea Bastianini, Casey Stoner, Augusto Fernandez, Brad Binder, Alex Criville, Kevin Schwantz, Giacomo Agostini, Wayne Gardner, Raul Fernandez, Freddie Spencer and Francesco Bagnaia were all riding their own and each other’s machines up the famous hill climb, and it marked the first time in history Ducati’s first World Champion (Stoner) and latest World Champion (Bagnaia) were on track together.
They were joined by masses of four-wheel stars, including Sebastian Vettel, Mick Schumacher, Nigel Mansell, Travis Pastrana and Sebastien Loeb.
“It was great, it’s maybe the greatest event I’ve ever been to in terms of passion for motorsport,” said Bagnaia. “So very happy to see so many people around the hill climb, I really enjoyed seeing the cars and bikes from all the years, so very happy.”
Spencer was equally enthused, saying, “These kinds of events are so important; I was talking to Pecco and the riders about this yesterday. It’s an opportunity for us to get in front of an entire motorsports crowd, as equals, with the other Championships and that’s so critical and important. To come here and be here, today it’s incredible. I’ve been coming here off and on since 1997!
“Getting back on the 500 is like going home for me. Three cylinders! It’s great and the collectors of the bikes are amazing, the fans are amazing. It’s so nice, I’m in my gear and to see the different generations here is really cool.” CN
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