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MotoGP, Like father, like son: racing genes, apple doesn't fall far from the tree

There are numerous examples of motorcycle racers who followed in the footsteps of their famous fathers and were successful on two wheels. Here are twelve of them. However, some sons failed miserably

MotoGP: Like father, like son: racing genes, apple doesn't fall far from the tree

In motorcycle racing, we know of some pretty successful father-son relationships. Graziano and Valentino Rossi won 118 Grands Prixs together! Before Remy Gardner's Moto2 title win - which crowned him world champion 34 years after his father Wayne Gardner's 500cc triumph - there was only one other example in GP racing of a family where father and son took the world championship crown: Kenny Jr. and Kenny Roberts Sr.

In Formula 1, Graham Hill and his son, Damon, became world champions. Keke Rosberg then achieved the same feat in 1982, as did his son Nico in 2016. Jacques was also extremely successful like his father, Gilles Villeneuve, winning a world championship, something his father wasn't able to do.

Jos was also a Formula 1 driver, for four-time Formula 1 world champion, Max Verstappen, even if he didn't reach any major success. With Carlos Sainz, the successes of his father - former rally world champion and Dakar winner - took place on a different terrain.

One thing can be said, though: when it comes to families in which father and son are successful in motorcycle racing, there are more than one can expect.

GPOne.com found twelve families in various motorcycle series in which father and son won titles, reached victories or other successes.

But there are also examples in which the fathers were successful racers, such as  two-time 250 cc World Champion Sito Pons, whose sons, Axel and Edgar, were not particularly successful internationally. It was similar for 13-time GP winner Randy Mamola. His son, Dakota, was never able to gain a foothold in GP racing.

Nello and Alberto Pagani

Nello Pagani won the world championship in the 125cc class in 1949, the first year of GP history. He triumphed in the 125cc GP in Ulster and Monza in 1959, and in 1962 on Ducati and Honda. He also celebrated two GP victories in the 500cc class in 1949 on Gilera in Assen and, in Monza, he finished the 500cc World Championship in 1949 in second place. He then rode on Gilera until 1955 (until 1953), and he finished in 4th, 5th, 8th and 15th place in the World Championship, before finishing 13th and 20th on the MV Agusta (1954 and 1955).

His son, Alberto Pagani, later triumphed with MV Agusta as Giacomo Agostini's teammate and won three 500cc victories. He finished the 500cc World Championship in 1972 in second place behind "Ago nazionale". Gilera factory rider Nello Pagani missed out on winning the 500cc title against Leslie Graham by a single point in 1949. At the end of the season, the score was 30 to 29. Only six Grand Prixs were held at that time.

Lesley Graham and Stuart Graham

Les Graham managed to win GPs in three classes (1x 125cc, 2x 350cc, and 5x 500cc) on the British AJS. His son, Stewart, won a 50cc World Championship race and celebrated a win in the 125 cc World Championship. Les Graham can boast of being crowned the first 500cc World Champion in history in 1949. He later died at the TT races on the Isle of Man in 1953. Stuart Graham celebrated both GP victories in 1967, when he finished third in the 50 and 125 cc World Championship classes on the factory Suzuki.


Helmut and Stefan Bradl

The Bavarian rider, Helmut Bradl, competed in a total of 84 world championship races from 1986 to 1993 and won five Grand Prixs in the 250 cc class, losing the 1991 250 cc World Championship to Luca Cadalora by just 17 points. His son, Stefan Bradl, joined the 125cc World Championship in 2006 as a member of the Red Bull-KTM Junior Team and a regular rider. He won World Cchampionship races in Brno and Motegi in 2008 on the Kiefer-Aprilia 125, and clinched the Moto2 World Championship in 2011 on a Kalex after winning his first Moto2 World Championship race on a Suter MMX2 in Estoril in 2010.

In 2012, Stefan Bradl competed in the MotoGP World Championship for the first time on an LCR-Honda, finishing in the top ten in the overall standings for LCR three times in a row until 2014. The German rider completed the first half of the 2015 season with Forward-Yamaha, then switched to the Aprilia factory team in August for the Indy GP and the rest of the season (instead of Marco Melandri), where he struggled alongside Bautista on the new RS-GP16 until November 2016. Bradl returned to the Honda RC213V as a test rider in 2018, often replacing an injured Marc Márquez after Jerez 2020. He has so far achieved 53 top ten places in the premier class, which is a German record.

"I want to finish one place better in the World Championship than my dad," sStefan Bradl said during his Wild Card GP debut in Barcelona in 2005. He then surpassed his father in number of GP victories (7 vs. 5) and in the overall World Championship standings, but Helmut Bradl still leads in the number of GP podium places (21 vs 19).

Graziano and Valentino Rossi

The most successful family in terms of motorcycle GP victories comes from Tavullia in Italy: Valentino won 115 races in his two-wheel career, which ended in November 2021, and Graziano won three in 1979 (in the 250cc class on the factory Morbidelli).

Valentino won twelve races in the 125cc World Championship, 14 in the 250cc class, and 89 in the premier class (500cc/MotoGP). The Doctor completed a total of 432 Grand Prixs, achieved 235 podium places, and won nine World Championship titles in four classes: 1in the 125 cc, 1 in the 250 cc, 1in the 500 cc and, most recently, 6 in the MotoGP (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008. and 2009).

Graziano Rossi also has podium places in the premier class. He came in second in Assen in 1980 and third in Misano in the same year on a Suzuki 500.


Kenny Roberts senior and Kenny Roberts junior

This father and son duo can be considered the most successful family in the GP. "King Kenny" won the 500cc World Championship in 1978, 1979, and 1980 with Yamaha, and his son, "Little Kenny", won in 2000 with Suzuki. Exactly 20 years later, Kenny junior followed in his footsteps. But, with a total of four World Championship titles, they're way behind in the hit list, compared to the Nietos and Rossis, for example. But the Roberts family is still the only one to have clinched a World Championship title for father and son in the premier class.

"King Kenny", who turned 73 on December 31st, won two 250cc GPs in 1978 and a total of 22 GPs in the 500 cc category. As Yamaha team owner, he then made John Kocinski (250cc in 1990) and also Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey world champions, the latter two each winning three 500cc World Championship titles in Kenny’s Yamaha team. Kenny senior was the first American to win a 500cc World Championship title. He was followed by Lawson, Rainey, Schwantz, and Hayden. Kenny junior was victorious in eight races in the 500cc Wworld Championship.


Wayne and Remy Gardner

The Gardner family followed the Roberts family. Wayne Gardner became the first Australian world champion in the premier class in 1987 on the Rothmans Honda. He collected 7 GP victories on the way towards the title alone, and the 64-year-old achieved a total of 18 victories. Remy Gardner (26), 2021 Moto2 World Champion in the Red Bull KTM Ajo team, and who made his MotoGP debut in 2022 on the Tech3-KTM, achieved 6 Moto2 GP victories. Since 2023, he's been competing in the Superbike World Championship on an R1 Yamaha and, in 2024, he occasionally competed in the MotoGP World Championship with a wild card for Yamaha.

Ángel Nieto and Pablo Nieto

The Spanish Nieto dynasty also has a highly successful father-son record. Ángel Nieto senior, who died in an accident in August 2017,  won 91 Grand Prixs along with his son Pablo, but the successes are unevenly distributed. Ángel  won an impressive 90 GP victories, Pablo only one, while his nephew, Fonsi, won 5, for a total of 96.

Only his son, Angel "Gelete", hasn't won in the World Championship. Ángel Nieto also reached 13 World Championship titles (50, 80 and 125 cc) and 139 podium places. Ángel Nieto won 27 times with the 50cc, one time with the 80cc, and 62 times with the 125cc. In addition to the single GP victory (2002 in Portugal), Pablo Nieto achieved a total of 8 podium places. The late Ángel senior is the second most successful GP rider of all time in terms of World Championship titles, behind Agostini, with 15 title wins.

Peter and Philipp Öttl

Bavarian rider, Peter Öttl, fought for the 80cc World Championship on a Krauser in 1989 and lost the title fight against Manuel Herreros (Derbi) in Brno at the second to last corner due to a fall. Today's Moto3 team owne,r Peter Öttl, won three 80cc World Championship races and two 125cc World Championship races, the last in 1996 in Mugello.

His so,n Philipp, competed in the World Championship for six Moto3 years and one Moto2 season, achieving a third place in the Indy in 2014, a second place in Spielberg in 2017, and also confidently won the Moto3 race in Jerez in May 2018 onn his father's team, Südmetall Schedl. In 2020, he switched to the Supersport World Championship, where he collected eleven podium places in two years and made his debut in the Superbike World Championship in 2022 on the Go Eleven Ducati, finishing this series in 13th place, overall. In 2023 and 2024, he didt gen't beyond a 15th and 24th place on the Ducati.

Donnie and Josh Hansen

Besides the GP World Championship, we also looked for other successful father-son performances in other categories. American rider, Josh Hansen, has never won an AMA title, but he came very close to winning the 2005 125 East Supercross Championship, when he finished, tied for second, with Grant Langston. But the Hansen name is associated with multiple AMA championship wins. Josh's father, Donnie "Holeshot" Hansen, won  AMA motocross and supercross titles in the 250 class in 1982.

Harry, Stefan, and Liam Everts

The greatest Motocross GP rider of all time is Stefan Everts, who headed Suzuki's Cross World Championship activities until the end of 2017. The Belgian rider already knew a bit about the World Championship when he started his career. His father, Harry Everts, also established himself as a cross legend. He rode a 250 cc factory Puch, then switched to the Suzuki 125 factory team, and lived in Austria for years.

Harry won a total of four World Championship titles, the first in 1975 on the Puch 250, and three in the 125 cc class on a Suzuki. Harry and Stefan Everts have also achieved numerous successes for Belgium in the Cross of Nations. They are the only father-son team to have triumphed in both the Cross World Championship and the Motocross of Nations (MXoN).

The Everts family is now also successful in its third generation: Stefan's son, Liam, competed in his first full MX2 season on the DIGA Procross KTM in 2022 after good performances in the European Championship (including the opening victory in the 2020 EMX125 series in Matterley Basin). In 2023, he competed in his first season in the MX2 World Championship as a Red Bull KTM factory rider. He has now finished fourth, overall, twice in a row.
 

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Robert, Joey, and Michael Dunlop

The Dunlop name is iconic in motorcycle racing, and that's not just because of the tires. Joey and Robert Dunlop were two brothers who made a name for themselves in road racing in Great Britain and on the international stage. The late "Joey" Dunlop is considered an unforgettable TT legend. He won 26 races in the Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man and was TT Formula 1 World Champion five times. He also celebrated 13 victories in the legendary North West 200 road race. On July 2, 2000, "The King of the Roads" had a fatal accident in a road race in Tallinn (Estonia). Since then, his nephew, Michael, has also managed to become a first-class TT hero. Michael was the first rider in history to reduce the lap record on the 60 km long Mountain Course to under 17 minutes. In 2016, his time at the Senior TT stopped after the second lap at 16:53.929 min (average 133.962 mph or 215.591 km/h), even though he headed to the pits to refuel and change tires. He, therefore, improved the lap record set in 2015 by 23-time TT winner John McGuinness by around ten seconds. The 35-year-old rider has now reached a total of 29 TT wins, clearly surpassing his uncle Joey. In 2024 alone, Michael won four out of seven races.

John and Eli Tomac

Although Eli Tomac's father John never won a title in professional motorcycle racing, he became a legend in the mountain bike world. John is a multiple world champion in the cross-country category and is the only athlete to win the UCI XC World Championship and the XC World Cup in the same year in 1991. He also won the silver medal in the Downhill World Championship in 1991 and 1997. John then acted as his son's right-hand man and led him to a number in the AMA 250 Supercross and Motocross titles.

At the same time, John won the veteran class title in the Amateur National Motocross Championship in Loretta Lynn's, where he and Eli became the first father-son duo to win titles in US motocross. Eli secured the 450cc outdoor crown for the third time in a row in 2019 and, in 2020, he finally clinched the Supercross World Championship title. In 2022, Eli won the US Supercross and Outdoor titles for Yamaha and, in January 2023, he also won the opening race of the AMA Supercross series.

Translated by Leila Myftija

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