Most naturally talented racer

joe101uk
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joe101uk 10/16/2009 3:47am
10/16/2009 3:47am
What about Joel Smets ?...didn't he get his first bike when he was 17 or something crazy like that ?
ehr400
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ehr400 10/16/2009 4:23am
10/16/2009 4:23am
How come no one has mentioned Joel Robert? He was Decosters biggest rival. Plus the dude would show up to the starting line smoking a cigeratte! I would have to say Marty Smith
JMb
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Kinetic1
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Kinetic1 10/16/2009 5:02am
10/16/2009 5:02am
I'm kinda surprised that nobody has brought up Damon Bradshaw. He never won a major title but he was a badass on the bike. From what I understand he never trained much either. Let's not forget that he jumped on a bike not long ago after basically not riding for years and was pretty quick at his "exhibition" race with chicken. That screams of natural talent.
chumley
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chumley 10/16/2009 5:06am
10/16/2009 5:06am
Arlo Englund- from the 70's mad skills

Pastrana- insane on a 125

Joel Robert....wish I'd seen him

Anthony Gobert...the Lechien of road racing, started in MX

The Shop

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Rudicross
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Rudicross 10/16/2009 8:34am
10/16/2009 8:34am
joe101uk wrote:
What about Joel Smets ?...didn't he get his first bike when he was 17 or something crazy like that ?
Indeed, Joël had the skills to become a professional football player but he preferred individual sports over team sports and started riding at the age of 17.
Gym Briggs
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Gym Briggs 10/16/2009 9:39am
10/16/2009 9:39am
Jimmy woolridge anyone remember him? Natural talent for sure. Used to battle with lechine and Bradshaw. Was a should have been.
lapper
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lapper 10/16/2009 10:33am
10/16/2009 10:33am
There may be others, but to me, JMB proved himself to be a naturally talented racer. A smooth effortless style may appear natural, but it could also be a learned skill from years of practice. When a rider can switch from knobbys to slicks and instantly be competitive at the highest level, that can only be natural talent.
sdfog1
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sdfog1 10/16/2009 10:33am
10/16/2009 10:33am
Charley Bogard
Cool
googs
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googs 10/16/2009 3:11pm
10/16/2009 3:11pm
Lechien or Kdub...........
Kinetic1
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Kinetic1 10/16/2009 3:14pm
10/16/2009 3:14pm
lapper wrote:
There may be others, but to me, JMB proved himself to be a naturally talented racer. A smooth effortless style may appear natural, but it could...
There may be others, but to me, JMB proved himself to be a naturally talented racer. A smooth effortless style may appear natural, but it could also be a learned skill from years of practice. When a rider can switch from knobbys to slicks and instantly be competitive at the highest level, that can only be natural talent.
JMB wasn't exactly "instantly competitive" on slicks but he did okay. Never close to a title though.
Killer Customz
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Killer Customz 10/16/2009 3:38pm
10/16/2009 3:38pm Edited Date/Time 10/16/2009 3:38pm
I hate to say J-Law is right up there. Pastrana for sure is on the list. Stewart is unreal. RJ was nuts. Robbie Reynard. Windham is my favorite. Here in Michigan I'd have to say Lichtle. There is so many great riders who didnt train much and just hauled a**! Stewart is one of the few of those guys who amounted to much though.
FTW 674
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FTW 674 10/17/2009 1:06am
10/17/2009 1:06am
J Law for sure even though JS7 and Reedy didn't get the start he proved it at Daytona in his 450 debut that he is a guy that can run up front. He is so naturally gifted that he can party and live the rock star lifestyle and finish top 5 when he wants! J Law is a sic guy and doesn't look at racing as a lifestyle, he rides his motorcycle for fun. He shows this by ridding the pit bike races at all the nationals, the guy rips and lives life like many of us! If evidence is needed that the guy kills it here it is......http://motocross.transworld.net/videos/jason-lawrence-450-testing/
nytsmaC
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nytsmaC 10/17/2009 8:49pm
10/17/2009 8:49pm
Joseph Boehler.
TheWeapon
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TheWeapon 10/17/2009 10:03pm
10/17/2009 10:03pm
joe101uk wrote:
What about Joel Smets ?...didn't he get his first bike when he was 17 or something crazy like that ?
beat me to it.....Smets was a machine
TheWeapon
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TheWeapon 10/17/2009 10:07pm
10/17/2009 10:07pm
chumley wrote:
Arlo Englund- from the 70's mad skills

Pastrana- insane on a 125

Joel Robert....wish I'd seen him

Anthony Gobert...the Lechien of road racing, started in MX
Woohoo THE GO-SHOW!!!!!

All the Gobert brothers have some amazing talent on 2 wheels. Anthony actually raced a SX in Sydney YEARS (maybe 10) after going to road racing....and almost won the thing! Impressive.
nytsmaC
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nytsmaC 10/17/2009 11:04pm
10/17/2009 11:04pm
Robbie Knievel?
Blake
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Blake 10/18/2009 12:36am
10/18/2009 12:36am
Lechien bought a bike and won the SD SX. A guy today wouldn't buy a spark plug to race.

MX-LIFE.
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MX-LIFE. 10/18/2009 7:04am
10/18/2009 7:04am
Blake wrote:
Lechien bought a bike and won the SD SX. A guy today wouldn't buy a spark plug to race.

I've kinda got that vibe to,that alot of these guys that get in the big rigs or get some kinda support will not race and will sit on the bench if some else isn't paying for it! I mean if a rider is good and for what ever reason they cant get support but they have been making $ before why not pay for your own gear and racing if this is your profession?

Pit Row

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gt80rider
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gt80rider 10/18/2009 7:11am
10/18/2009 7:11am
top two on my list are Robbie Reynard, and TP 199
MX-Files
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MX-Files 10/18/2009 7:19am
10/18/2009 7:19am
FreshTopEnd wrote:
Tripes.


Robert.


Lechien


Bayle



I'd put guys like Bailey and Windham in there, but they actually applied themselves.
Just some input...After all the racers and industry folks we have interviewed over the last 5 years these are the top names that come up from their peers as "most naturally talented".

Todd
midpack
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midpack 10/18/2009 7:56am
10/18/2009 7:56am
Lechien
RR
Tripes
KW
Camp332
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Camp332 10/18/2009 11:29am
10/18/2009 11:29am
J-Law (I'm bias, because I've watched him since he was on minis) One time at Englishtown, they had a staggered start for collegeboy, and schoolboy. Collegeboy went first, then schoolboy, JLaw was in schoolboy on his mini, and he caught the leader of Collegeboy!

A couple years ago, while riding Wednesday practice at Englishtown, JLaw scrubbed underneath me while we jumped the "Pension Road Plunge" jump at the same time. He was looking up at me, as I looked down at him l0l.

I hope he learned a lesson, and comes back and rips a couple Championships.
calimxer91
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calimxer91 10/18/2009 11:38am
10/18/2009 11:38am
Reynard should be in the top 5 no doubt.
RACEGUY
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RACEGUY 10/18/2009 11:43am
10/18/2009 11:43am
Nurture...or nature.

I see naturals, and I see incredible skills in well-schooled pee-wees.

Natural talent ... or an early start and unlimited resources.

I can cite hundreds of examples of "Naturals" who just didn't have the mechanism to make it.

Too bad.
KMC440
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KMC440 10/18/2009 12:01pm
10/18/2009 12:01pm
Bikes
Chandler
Lechien
JMB
K. Roberts

F-1
Senna

Neckcar
R. Petty

Track and Field
Edwin Moses

To the fridge for another beer
Me
AdamB
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AdamB 10/18/2009 12:16pm
10/18/2009 12:16pm
I'm going to have to go with j-law for the whole not traing thing. He doesnt put half the effort in as the other riders yet he shows up somtimes and hangs with and or beats them like hes just riding a practice session... And of course stewart because he does things on an mx bike that we cant even understand how he does it. He has un-human skills.
RACEGUY
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RACEGUY 10/18/2009 12:50pm
10/18/2009 12:50pm
Ever heard the term "flash in the pan"?
mosslander
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mosslander 10/18/2009 2:01pm
10/18/2009 2:01pm
Roadracing
Joe Dunlop
Freddie Spencer
Mike Hailwood
Kenny Roberts
Motocross
Hakan Carlqvist
Rick Johnson
Jean Michael Bayle
Joel Robert
F1
Ronnie Pettersson
Car racing
Frank Gardner
Rally
Hannu Mikkola
Hank_Thrill
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Hank_Thrill 10/18/2009 2:10pm
10/18/2009 2:10pm
I'm going with MC.

He rode a mx bike 3 or 4 years, then started winning titles. Something like that...
croom mx
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croom mx 10/18/2009 2:35pm
10/18/2009 2:35pm Edited Date/Time 10/18/2009 2:37pm
Yeah I have to say Ron Lechien by a far margin! If Ron was here now riding at his prime say 21 years old I think he could beat James Stewart!

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