MotoGP's Best Battles: No5 Jacarepagua 1999

Our pick of the 10 greatest premier-class multi-rider dogfights of all time

enowned for years as the wildest GP off the racetrack, this one was just as wild on the track. Biaggi (Yamaha) was in the thick of it with Roberts Junior (Suzuki) and Abe (Yamaha). Roberts led until a stone chipped a reed valve and cost him several hundred rpm.

The final laps were hectic as Biaggi and Abe went at each other like madmen, both their leathers covered in tyre marks by the end.

The final lap was a classic: Biaggi dived past leader Abe, pushing them both wide. Roberts, clinging on desperately just behind, swept through the retake the lead, only to get murdered on the back straight.

Abe won by inches, a quarter of a second covering the lot.