- Ángel Nieto
Infobox Former Grand Prix motorcycle rider
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Name = Ángel Nieto
Nationality =Spain
Years = 1964 - 1986
Teams =Derbi ,Morbidelli ,Kreidler ,Bultaco ,Minarelli , Garelli
Races = 186
Championships = 50 cc - 1969, 1970, 1972, 1975-1977-125 cc- 1971, 1972, 1979, 1981-1984
Wins = 90
Podiums = 139
Points = 1782
Poles = 34
Fastest laps = 39
First race = 1964 50 cc Spanish Grand Prix
First win = 1969 50 cc German Grand Prix
Last win = 1985 80 cc French Grand Prix
Last race = 1986 80 cc Baden-Württemberg Grand PrixÁngel Nieto (born Ángel Nieto Roldán on
January 25 ,1947 in Zamora,Spain ) was a multi-time Grand Prix motorcycle roadracing World Champion. He is considered a national hero in his Spanish homeland.He specialized in racing small displacement bikes such as in the
50 cc , 80 cc and 125 cc classes but many fellow racers, including former world championBarry Sheene consider him among the greatest motorcycle racers of all time.Though he was never successful at the world level racing in the larger displacements, he won Spanish National Championships in the 50 cc, 125 cc, 250 cc, 500 cc and 750 cc classes. He retired in 1986 at the age of 39 with a total of 90 Grand Prix victories and 13 World Championships. His total of 90 Grand Prix victories is third only to the 122 by
Giacomo Agostini , and the 92 ofValentino Rossi as of the American Grand Prix.Later he operated a Grand Prix motorcycle racing team with his son, Ángel Nieto Jr. and
Emilio Alzamora , who won the 125 cc title, as riders. He now commentates GP races for Spanish TV. His nephewFonsi Nieto is also a racer, in World Superbikes in 2006. There is an Ángel Nieto museum in Madrid that displays some of his trophies and racing memorabilia. The FIM named him a Grand Prix "Legend" in 2000.Nieto is also very superstitious, and he says that he had won "12+1" World Championships instead of 13.
Motorcycle Grand Prix results
Honours
Nieto was in the crowd at the French
MotoGP atLe Mans on18 May 2008 , dressed to ride with a special shirt congratulatingValentino Rossi for equalling Nieto's 90 wins. Nieto mounted Rossi's bike, and Rossi as a passenger held a flag aloft with "90 + 90", as they took avictory lap [ [http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g98CzzQoSrauMqLjifgt_qyQz5zA Rossi wins French MotoGP] ,AFP , 19 May 2008] .External links
* [http://www.motogp.com/en/MotoGP+Legends/profiles/Angel+Nieto Ángel Nieto career statistics at MotoGP.com]
* [http://www.motocra.com/museoangelnieto.htm A trip to the Museum Ángel Nieto in Madrid] es icon
* [http://www.selecta-vision.com/home_info_eng.php?id_producto=1177 Ángel Nieto documentary film]References
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