Wayne Rainey

Wayne Rainey
Wayne Rainey on the Yamaha YZR500
Nationality	American
Born	(1960-10-23) October 23, 1960 (age 56) Downey, California, U.S.
Motorcycle racing career statistics Grand Prix motorcycle racing Active years 1984, 1988 - 1993 First race 1984 250cc Nations Grand Prix Last race 1993 500cc Italian Grand Prix First win 1988 500cc British Grand Prix Last win 1993 500cc Czech Republic Grand Prix Team(s) Yamaha Championships 500cc - 1990, 1991, 1992 Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 95 24 65 16 23 1270.5

Wayne Wesley Rainey (born October 23, 1960) is an American former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, he won the 500cc World Championship three times and the Daytona 200 once. He was characterized by his smooth, calculating riding style.

Rainey began his career racing in the A.M.A. Grand National Championship, a series that encompassed four distinct dirt track disciplines plus road races. In 1981, he finished the Grand National season as the 15th ranked dirt track racer in the country. Following his success in the Novice 250cc roadrace class, Kawasaki hired him to compete in the 1982 AMA Superbike Championship as a teammate to the then defending National Champion Eddie Lawson. The following year, Lawson moved to the Grand Prix circuit and Rainey took over the role of leading rider, earning the 1983 National Championship for Kawasaki.

In 1984, he accepted an offer to ride for the newly formed Kenny Roberts Yamaha racing team in the 250cc class of the Grand Prix World Championship. A less than successful season (1 podium and difficulty push-starting the bike) saw him returning home in 1985 to join the Maclean Racing team in U.S. 250 and Formula 1 classes, and then on to the American Honda team from 1986 to 1987 where he raced Superbike and F1. It was during the 1987 Superbike National Championship that his intense rivalry began with Kevin Schwantz as the two battled it out for the title. Rainey won the Championship, but the fierce rivalry between the two competitors was just beginning. So intense was their rivalry that they continued their battle during the 1987 Trans-Atlantic Match Races in which they were supposedly teammates competing against a team of British riders.