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Motorcycle Racing's Greatest Father-Son Duos
Turns out, the apple and tree can sometimes ride the wheels off a motorcycle.
It’s no secret that the bond between father and son is rock solid in the motorcycling world — it often takes a dad who was a motorcycle racer to get a kid on two wheels with mom’s approval. In motocross and road racing, fathers and sons litter the pits, and some of those teams have dominated generations of motorcycling’s premier titles. Here’s a look at a few of them:
Josh Hansen fully turned up
© Ryne Swanberg
Donnie and Josh Hansen
While Josh Hansen never won an AMA title, he did come tantalizingly close to the 125 East Supercross Championship in 2005 when he tied with Grant Langston, only to lose the tie-breaker. But the Hansen name actually has multiple AMA titles attached to it — Josh’s dad Donnie "Holeshot" Hansen swept both the 1982 AMA Motocross and Supercross titles in the 250 class, which means that he and Josh are the only father-son duo to ever both score the exact amount of points that the champion scored that year. Work that out in your head
An American racing legend, Kenny Roberts
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Kenny and Kenny Roberts
Kenny Roberts Sr. is an American road race legend — he is the first American ever to win what is now the MotoGP World Championship, a feat he accomplished back in 1978, only to repeat in both 1979 and 1980. Twenty years later, his son Kenny Roberts Jr. followed in Sr.’s footsteps, winning the World Championship and effectively cementing them both in the record books as the first and only father-son team to have won a MotoGP World Championship.
Stefan Everts shows some riders how it's done
© Fabio Piva/Red Bull Content Pool
Harry and Stefan Everts
The greatest MXGP racer of all time is a title that Stefan Everts quietly holds, as he now steers the ship for Suzuki’s MXGP program. Even before he stepped into MXGP and won a record 10 world titles, he knew a little something about winning championships. Stefan’s father Harry Everts is another legend in the world of MXGP, a four-time world champion himself. What’s more, both Stefan and Harry Everts have represented Belgium and won at the biggest motocross race on the planet, the Motocross of Nations. They are the only father-son duo to have each won FIM World Championships and been on winning teams at MXoN.
Michael Dunlop on track
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Michael and Robert Dunlop
Eli Tomac at Thunder Valley
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John and Eli Tomac
Though Eli Tomac’s father John may have never won a title in professional motorcycle racing, he is a legend in the mountain bike world; John is a multi-time world champion in cross-country, and has several medals in Downhill, as well. Now the right-hand man to his son, John has guided Eli to multiple AMA 250 Supercross and Motocross titles. Oh, and he won a Vet class title at the Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s, where he and Eli were the first father-son team ever to each win titles.
