Marco Lucchinelli

Marco Lucchinelli (born 26 June 1954) is an Italian former professional motorcycle racer and television sports presenter. He competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing between and . He was 1981 FIM Road Racing World Champion as a member of the Gallina-Suzuki racing team. In 2017, Lucchinelli was inducted into the MotoGP Legends Hall of Fame by FIM.

Career Lucchinelli was born in Bolano.

Lucchinelli began his road racing career in 1975 on a Laverda in endurance racing. His riding impressed the Yamaha factory enough to earn him a sponsored bike in the Italian National Championship as well as a ride in the 1975 Nations Grand Prix in the 350 class.

In 1976, Lucchinelli rode a Suzuki in the 500cc World Championship earning fourth place in the championship with two second-place finishes along with a third and a fourth place. He earned the nickname Crazy Horse for his wild riding style that attracted many fans. This fearless riding style also meant that he crashed quite often. In the 1977 season, he would drop to 11th place in the 500 World Championship on a Yamaha.

Lucchinelli returned to Suzuki for the 1978 season and in 1980, he won his first 500cc Grand Prix at the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. He would finish the season in third place behind Kenny Roberts and Randy Mamola.

Lucchinelli had his best year in 1981. He began the year with a victory over Kenny Roberts in the prestigious Imola 200 non-championship race in Italy. He then took five Grand Prix victories aboard the Roberto Gallina backed Suzuki, battling Randy Mamola to the final race of the season before winning the 500cc World Championship. In 1982, Lucchinelli accepted a job offer from Honda to race their new three-cylinder NS500 alongside Freddie Spencer and Takazumi Katayama. He would have a lackluster season in which Franco Uncini would win the championship for the Roberto Gallina-Suzuki team for which Lucchinelli had won the title the previous year.

After another lackluster season with Honda in 1983, Lucchinelli joined the Cagiva team for the 1984 and 1985 seasons before he retired from Grand Prix racing. He tried his hand at auto racing, competing in the Italian round of the 1986 Formula 3000 season in a Lola-Ford. Lucchinelli raced a Ducati 851 to a popular win at the 1987 Daytona Battle of the Twins race. In , he joined the Ducati in the Superbike World Championship where he won two races during the year before taking on the role of Ducati's team manager.

On 6 December 1991, Lucchinelli was arrested for drug possession. He spent some time in jail, during which he successfully fought against drug addiction. After retiring, Lucchinelli became a television commentator for the Eurosport network's motorcycle race coverage. He retired with 6 Grand Prix victories. However, he briefly returned from retirement in 1998, entering the 1000 km Monza, and the opening race of the International Sports Racing Series (ISRS), driving for Centenari; he didn't start the 1000 km Monza, and finished sixth overall (second in the CN class) in the opening round of the ISRS.

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pts 1975 350cc Yamaha FRA SPA AUT GER NAT7 IOM NED FIN CZE YUG 32nd 4 1976 350cc Yamaha FRARet AUT NAT YUG IOM NED FIN CZE GER SPA NC 0 500cc Suzuki FRA3 AUT2 NATDNS IOM NED BEL SWE15 FIN5 CZERet GER2 4th 40 1977 500cc Suzuki VEN7 AUTDNS GER7 NATRet FRARet NED6 BELRet SWERet FIN2 CZERet GBR 11th 25 1978 350cc Yamaha VEN AUT FRA NAT6 NED SWE 18th 5 Harley-Davidson FINRet GBR GER CZE YUG 500cc Suzuki VEN SPARet AUT4 FRARet NAT3 NEDRet BEL7 SWERet FINRet GBR4 GERRet 9th 30 1979 500cc Suzuki VEN AUT9 GERRet NATRet SPA10 YUGRet NEDRet BELDNS SWE7 FIN9 GBR9 FRARet 18th 11 1980 500cc Suzuki NATRet SPA2 FRA3 NEDRet BEL2 FINRet GBR3 GER1 3rd 59 1981 500cc Suzuki AUTRet GER3 NAT5 FRA1 YUG2 NED1 BEL1 RSM1 GBR19 FIN1 SWE9 1st 105 1982 500cc Honda ARG5 AUTRet FRADNS SPA5 NAT5 NEDRet BEL6 YUG8 GBR17 SWE5 RSM6 GER5 8th 43 1983 500cc Honda RSA9 FRA2 NAT10 GER3 SPARet AUT7 YUG9 NEDRet BEL7 GBRRet SWE6 RSM4 7th 48 1984 500cc Cagiva RSARet NATRet SPARet AUTRet GER FRADNS YUG NEDRet BEL GBR SWE RSM NC 0 1985 500cc Cagiva RSA SPA GER NAT AUT YUG15 NEDRet BELRet FRA GBR SWE RSMRet NC 0 1986 500cc Cagiva SPA NATRet GER AUT YUG NED BEL FRA GBR SWE RSM NC 0

Superbike World Championship

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Pts R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 1988 Ducati GBR2 GBR1 HUN9 HUNRet GER6 GER11 AUT1 AUTRet JPN12 JPNRet FRA10 FRAC POR3 POR4 AUS AUS NZL NZL 5th 63 1989 Ducati GBR GBR HUN HUN CAN CAN USA USA AUT AUT FRA FRA JPNDNS JPNDNS GERRet GER10 ITA9 ITADNS AUS AUS NZL NZL 42nd 13