A superb and rare image of one of the greatest riders of the 1970s: road racing ace and 1976 and 1977 500cc world champion Barry Sheene.

Barry Sheene was born in London, England, in 1950. He became the British 125cc champion aged just 20, and finished second in the World Championships for that class a year later. A spectacular crash at the Daytona 200 in 1975 threatened to end his career, breaking his left thigh, right arm, collarbone and two ribs, yet he recovered and was racing again seven weeks afterwards. In 1976 he won five 500cc Grands Prix, bringing him the World Championship. He repeated as champion in 1977 with six victories. After the 1979 season, he left the Suzuki works team, believing that he was receiving inferior equipment to his team-mates. He shifted to a privateer Yamaha machine, but soon started receiving works equipment. In 1981, Kenny Roberts was the reigning World 500cc Champion for the third time, and Barry Sheene, now on a competitive Yamaha, was determined to regain the championship. Ironically, Sheene and Roberts battled all season and let Suzuki riders Marco Lucchinelli of Italy and American Randy Mamola beat them for the top two spots. Roberts finished third and Sheene fourth for the 1981 championship. A 1982 crash largely ended Sheene as a title threat, and he retired in 1984.

This is your rare chance to own this non period photo that reflects a very interesting and historic piece of motorcycling’s glorious history. Therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 11" (ca. 20 x 28 cm).