Michael Rudroff

Michael Rudroff
Nationality	German
Born	(1960-12-28) 28 December 1960
Motorcycle racing career statistics 500cc World Championship Active years 1987–1989, 1991–1993, 1996 Manufacturers Honda, Harris Yamaha, Suzuki Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 53 0 1 0 0 67 Superbike World Championship Active years 1990, 1995, 1997 Manufacturers Bimota, Ducati, Suzuki 1997 championship position NC (0 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 10 0 0 0 0 7

Michael Rudroff (born 28 December 1960) is a German former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer.

Rudolf competed in his first Grand Prix in 1987, and made one podium; coming third in the 1989 Nations Grand Prix. His career ranged from 1987 until 1996, where he started in 53 races, though he never started from pole position.

Career

Rudroff, riding a Honda bike, appeared in two Grand Prix in 1987, the West Germany Grand Prix and the Austrian Grand Prix where he qualified in positions 38 and 26 but did not compete in the final race. He raced in the West German, Dutch TT and Yugoslavian Grand Prix in 1988, completing 28 laps in the first and coming in at 15th having started at 24th, completing 20 laps and coming in at 19th having started in 31st, and failing to qualify for the race in Yugoslavia.

1989 saw regular appearances for Rudroff, racing in the Australian Grand Prix where he came 15th from a starting position of 21, followed by the United States Grand Prix where he came 15th one more having started again at 21. Following the Spanish Grand Prix, where he came 20th having begun at 23, he raced in the Nations Grand Prix. He began at 24, and finished 3rd in 59 minutes, 53.630 seconds over 33 laps. This was the only podium in his career. He raced in West Germany, Austria, Yugoslavia, Netherlands and the Czechoslovakian Grand Prix later that year. He ended the season with 18 championship points.

Rudolf competed in three rounds of the 1990 Superbike World Championship aboard a Bimota. He returned to Grand Prix competition in 1991, where he competed in 10 races, and one other race in which he was not classified. This included a season-best 11th in the Australian Grand Prix, and he enjoyed a career-best 26 championship points. He made 13 more starts in 1992, now on a Harris Yamaha, but only returned three points despite coming 8th at the British Grand Prix. In 1993 he made 14 appearances again on the Yamaha, returning 17 points despite falling out of the Australian Grand Prix and of the Japanese Grand Prix in the first lap. He was not seen again on the race track until 1996, where he raced once in the German Grand Prix on a Suzuki bike and fell at the first lap.

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	13	14	15	Pos.	Pts
1987	500cc	Honda	JPN	SPA	GER Ret	NAT	AUT Ret	YUG	NED	FRA	GBR	SWE	CZE	RSM	POR	BRA	ARG	NC	0
1988	500cc	Honda	JPN	USA	SPA	EXP	NAT	GER 15	AUT	NED 19	BEL	YUG Ret	FRA	GBR	SWE	CZE	BRA	37th	1
1989	500cc	Honda	JPN	AUS 15	USA 15	SPA 20	NAT 3	GER 21	AUT 19	YUG 15	NED 17	BEL	FRA	GBR	SWE	CZE 20	BRA	20th	18
1991	500cc	Honda	JPN	AUS	USA	SPA 15	ITA 15	GER 12	AUT 11	EUR 14	NED 14	FRA 14	GBR 13	RSM 14	CZE 12	VDM Ret	MAL	18th	26
1992	500cc	Harris-Yamaha	JPN 15	AUS 18	MAL 14	SPA 16	ITA 16	EUR 18	GER 14	NED 11	HUN 16	FRA 14	GBR 8	BRA 15	RSA 19			21st	3
1993	500cc	Harris-Yamaha	AUS Ret	MAL 17	JPN Ret	SPA Ret	AUT 17	GER 13	NED 12	EUR 17	RSM Ret	GBR 10	CZE 13	ITA 15	USA 18	FIM Ret		21st	17
1996	500cc	Suzuki	MAL	INA	JPN	SPA	ITA	FRA	NED	GER Ret	GBR	AUT	CZE	IMO	CAT	BRA	AUS	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		12		13		Pos.	Pts
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
1990	Bimota	SPA	SPA	GBR	GBR	HUN	HUN	GER 15	GER Ret	CAN	CAN	USA	USA	AUT	AUT	JPN	JPN	FRA Ret	FRA 24	ITA 13	ITA 26	MAL	MAL	AUS	AUS	NZL	NZL	66th	4
1995	Ducati	GER	GER	SMR	SMR	GBR	GBR	ITA	ITA	SPA	SPA	AUT 19	AUT 13	USA	USA	EUR	EUR	JPN	JPN	NED	NED	INA	INA	AUS	AUS			51st	3
1997	Suzuki	AUS	AUS	SMR	SMR	GBR	GBR	GER DNS	GER DNS	ITA	ITA	USA	USA	EUR	EUR	AUT	AUT	NED 17	NED 18	SPA	SPA	JPN	JPN	INA	INA			NC	0

External links

• Michael Rudroff on MotoGP.com
• Michael Rudroff on WorldSBK.com
• World Superbike Rider Profile