The American Heroes

Norm DeWittForeword by Alan Cathcart

Pub Date: Out NowPublisher: Motorbooks

ISBN: 978 0 7603 3468 3 · RRP: £18.99 · Format: Hardback

For decades, Grand Prix motorcycle road racing was a world championship in name only, a distinctly European sport run on road courses in the European tradition, with little connection to the dirt track roots of American two-wheeled racing.Until the 1970s, North America was considered a backwater with respect to world championship level motorcycle road racing, a place where provincial hillbillies rode around in circles on tracks made of dirt.

Then everything changed in 1978 when a hotshot American racer named Kenny Roberts arrived in Europe and proceeded to thrash the establishment, beating the Europeans at their own game and kicking the door open for a generation of racers who would go on to dominate the sport.

Grand Prix Motorcycle Racers: The American Heroes profiles the lives and careers of the ledgendary riders who rewrote the world championship history books.Author Norm DeWitt, with input from the champions themselves, tells the story of Kenny Roberts, Freddie Spencer, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz , Kenny Roberts Jr, and the most recent title winner Nicky Hayden. With additional chapters profiling the American champions of World Superbike and the top American stars who competed but never conquered the world championship, this book is a must-have for every motorcycle racing fan's library.

Norm DeWitt, a life long motorcycle racing fan, has written about motorcycles and racing for many national magazines. He lives in San Diego, California.

'Grand Prix Motorcycle Racers - The American Heroes' is available from all good bookshops or direct from Grantham Book Services T: 01476 541080