Former Dutch TT-victor and MotoGP Legend Randy Mamola will return to the famous Dutch TT racetrack to attend the Classic GP Assen which will be held September 8^th. to 10^th. at the TT Circuit of Assen in Holland. The American, 4-times runner-up in the 500 cc motorcycle world championship, will be reunited with his 1981 Heron Suzuki.

Regular TT-visitors will have no difficulties pointing out the fan favourites at Assen throughout the years. In the 80s Randy Mamola stood out thanks to a spectacular riding style as well as his ability to always find ways to joyfully interact with the fans. To this day motorsport fans around the world watch the footage of Mamola hanging off to the inside of the track with his foot on the other side dangling in mid-air, of his ´rodeo ride´ with both legs hanging beside the bike trying to save a ´highside´ and of Randy joining the local fanfare in a parade right before the start of the Dutch TT, wearing a huge cartoonesque Arai helmet.

Assen favourite

In 1981, riding the number 3 Heron Suzuki, already having 4 Grand Prix victories to his name, the 21 year-old Mamola was one of the favourites for the victory in Assen. Unfortunately a spectacular crash on a rain-soaked racetrack robbed him from that potential victory, as it did for protagonists Kenny Roberts and Barry Sheene. The race drew up a remarkable result with no less than 3 Dutchmen finishing inside the top 5. Boet van Dulmen finished second behind winner Marco Lucchinelli after having led for the majority of the race, with Willem Zoet and Jack Middelburg finishing fourth and fifth.

Randy Mamola scored his first world championship points in the ‘Class of Kings’, the 500 cc category, at the Dutch TT in 1979. The year after he set the fastest lap of the race on route to a top 5 finish. From 1980 to 1992 the American finished inside the top 5 on 7 occasions at Assen. He won the Dutch TT in 1984 and 1985, came in second in 1986 and took the rostrum in third in 1987. In 1992, which was to be his final Dutch TT, after a period of mediocre results, he achieved another top 5 result, to then go on to Hungary to claim the final podium finish of his illustrious career.

Upon his retirement from racing in 1992 his victory count stood at 13 wins and 57 podium finishes. He finished as runner-up in the world championship no less than 4 times, the only rider to do so in the history of the sport. In 2018, during the U.S. Grand Prix, Mamola was inaugurated as a MotoGP Legend.