Mamola out, Pedrosa in. New MotoGP Hall of Fame redefines the racing greats

A busy and sun-kissed weekend on the Adriatic coastline mixed eras for MotoGP. The San Marino Grand Prix was watched by Valentino Rossi — born and bred only a few kilometres away from the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli — as his protégé, Marco Bezzecchi, won the Saturday Sprint and his former (and persistent) nemesis, Marc Márquez, owned the GP distance on Sunday for the 11th time this season.

Misano entered the World Championship back in 1980, disappeared from 1994 until 2007 and declared a fresh five-year deal up until 2031 while toasting a record 174,000 attendance across the three days.

Mingling on the packed grid were the likes of F1 drivers Kimi Antonelli and Lando Norris along with a gathering of faces familiar to MotoGP fans. A few days earlier, on Thursday evening in nearby Rimini, and in the operatic splendour of the Teatro Amintore Galli, Dorna Sports unveiled its Hall of Fame with seven of the 17 inductees in attendance, covering the 1960s, 1980s, 1990s and the first two decades of this century.

The black-tie roll call included Giacomo Agostini, Freddie Spencer, Kevin Schwantz, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Rossi. Absentees were Kenny Roberts, Mick Doohan, Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey, while posthumous honours went to Umberto Masetti, John Surtees, Geoff Duke, Mike Hailwood, Phil Read and Barry Sheene.

The pomp and fanfare around the Hall of Fame, with the red carpet and limited guest list, came with the presentation of a new tower of champions trophy that already has 76 plaques for every year of the contest. Host, Jack Appleyard, informed us that more than 2500 riders have lined up on a MotoGP grid. So, what was the distinction for Hall of Fame status? The answer: racers with at least two titles and/or 25 grand prix victories only in the premier class. The criteria mean that the championship can expect at least two more entrants in the coming years: current MotoGP riders Marc Márquez and Pecco Bagnaia.

Legends don’t always get a place in the Hall of Fame

Initially, the purpose of the event and the platform was puzzling. MotoGP has had a separate ‘Legends’ gallery for a quarter of a century with almost 40 figures included. Becoming a MotoGP Legend was based on wider merit. Randy Mamola, four-time 500cc championship runner-up, was included for his charity and representative work over five-decades of involvement in sport. The late Mike Trimby, former head of the International Race Teams’ Association and one of the main proponents for safety and diplomacy in the GP paddock, was the last to be added to the line-up, at Silverstone in 2024.

Legends ceremonies usually follow a champion’s retirement and have also involved retiring specific career numbers in the cases of Rossi (46), Schwantz (34), Stoner (27) and Loris Capirossi (65). Some have been formulaic, several have been emotional, and others have been wonderfully nostalgic: three-time 50cc world champion Hans-Georg Anscheidt brought his old bike, equipment and riding gear to his tribute at the German Grand Prix in 2023.

‘Legends’ is an eclectic selection with no hard statistical basis. MotoGP has tended to create at least one commemorative triangle medal each year and, in Rimini, announced that the list will expand to embrace Les Graham (the first 500c champ in 1949), Libero Liberati and Gary Hocking in 2026. MotoGP Legends is purposeful but, in context, it might not be the easiest home to define the real ‘cream’.

“From when the Legends was created, the sport has come a long way and the whole MotoGP eco-system has been developed quite a bit,” Dorna CSO Carlos Ezpeleta told Motor Sport when pushed to justify the existence of the Hall of Fame alongside Legends, which follows on the heels of the sport’s modern rebranding.

“There are other sports with these different tiers, and the idea was to create this ‘club’ of the most significant or important names and people in the history of our sport. We also wanted to objectify the reason for inclusion. MotoGP Legends: there is no question who and why they continue to be…but from its creation until now I think there has been a change regarding the priority of the premier class. While Moto2 and Moto3 are an intrinsic part of the championship, and will continue to be so, there is a clear target to elevate the premier class of the sport as well as its champions and heritage.”

Dorna’s yardstick ring-fenced the club, and fewer than 20 motorcycle racers (of the 29 other champions since Graham) make the grade so far. The Hall of Fame classifies MotoGP aces by numbers, and will undoubtedly favour later generations. The sport is more competitive now compared to the years of Agostini romping to seven titles in a row by contesting 10 GPs more or less per annum (although usually racing different categories on the same weekend).

2025 MotoGP stretches to 22 rounds, whereas Sheene’s first 500cc crown in 1976 was won by five victories in the six GPs he raced, and he didn’t bother travelling for the final three. Right now, Yamaha‘s Fabio Quartararo, champion in 2021, will need another 13 wins or another crown to gain a HoF medal. Four of the most recent Famers all raced each other: Rossi, Stoner, Lorenzo and Pedrosa.

“We wanted an objective ground for what you have to do to be inside the Hall of Fame,” Ezpeleta adds. “That’s why we came up with the 25 victories or more and the 2 titles or more, and it has matched the most iconic names, and that’s great. It sucks that a number of them are no longer with us and cannot be inducted in a way that merits. Also, we spoke to the Hall of Fame members and asked them who might be missing because they haven’t met the criteria…and they had a hard time to say names. That tells you that the standing is correct.”

The list carries a huge weight of course, but the cut-off feels tough for some individuals who heavily impacted MotoGP, such as Wayne Gardner with 18 wins and a sole title in 1987, which was Australia’s first. The same for Alex Criville: Spain’s first 500cc champ with one title in 1999 and 15 victories.

“Conference call with champions is the kind of content we want going forward”

The inductees who were present in Rimini are hardly strangers to the series. Agostini and Stoner were both running laps on historic machinery for a Red Bull initiative at the Austrian Grand Prix in August. Rossi has a team, a family member and four riders from his VR46 Academy on the grid. Pedrosa is a test rider for KTM and competed as recently as the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix (he was even lapping Misano at the IRTA test on Monday). Lorenzo is an ambassador for brands and does occasional media work for broadcaster DAZN, Schwantz frequently pops up at the US GP at COTA and Spencer was the head of the FIM Stewards until the end of 2024.

Still, the grouping was newsworthy and the conference call, part of which was shown at the ceremony as a video, between Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta and 11 of the Hall of Famers to announce the scheme and ask for their presence in Rimini was unique.

In contrast to the Legends, MotoGP plans to do more with its defined ‘greats’. “They are huge ambassadors already but now it is about how we can build memorabilia around them and also use this Hall of Fame concept as much as possible to try and grow the sport,” Carlos Ezpeleta said. “There is a long-term plan to do as much as possible and when these people are at the races, because the current MotoGP riders are very active with 22 races and many promotional events.

“I think the call we had with them is the kind of content we want moving forward. They can help convert new fans because of who they are and their connection to the sport. We need more of that content; when we put them together and they can talk about the sport.”

Get ready for another motorcycling Hall of Fame

MotoGP celebrating its ‘own’ is all well and good, but the Hall of Fame feels like an institution that should have been established by the governing body long ago. Dorna has accelerated ahead of the FIM in this regard, at least until December 6 when the overseers of all world championship-sanctioned series and events will open the FIM Racing Motorcycle Museum in Lausanne. Its own Hall of Fame will live there.

“The museum is a way to protect our history and our industry. It will be different from what we saw [in Rimini] because we need to talk about all the disciplines; we don’t have special parameters,” said FIM marketing director Fabio Muner.

Selection for the FIM Hall of Fame will “be an internal decision”, he adds. “It’s not only riders but also big names that did a lot of things to make this sport great. We have promoters, we have partners, we have people who gave their own lives for motor sport. I believe that you can build a bright future by respecting the past,” Muner opines. “The careers and the gestures of these riders can make this sport be more understandable and grow…because of the respect for what they did.”

In Rimini, there was extra poignancy as the event took place on what would have been Barry Sheene’s 75th birthday. The brief but glorious old racing clips of Duke, Hailwood, Agostini and co gave a stiff but wistful reminder of MotoGP’s evolution. On stage, there were living testimonies of how the past influenced the next generations. Kevin Schwantz was visibly moved recalling the help and advice he received from Sheene that kickstarted his career to 25 GP wins (11th on the all-time list). “He took me under his wing,” he said.

Sheene saw the Texan’s spectacular raw ability in the old TransAtlantic match races in the mid-1980s and even paid for the American to fly back to Europe for more auditions and an eventual association with Suzuki. Schwantz would even ape Sheene (the first premier class title winner for the Japanese brand) by giving Suzuki a title in 1993.