When it comes to brothers and motorcycle racing, does family mean anything, or is it a case of every brother for himself? Scoop went in search of the answer…

WORDS: LARRY ‘SCOOP’ CARTER

RACE FEATURE

When it comes to most sports, sibling rivalry has always been in evidence. In football there were the Charlton brothers, more recently the Brownlees’ brotherly performances in triathlons have been hard to miss, and so it goes on across a multitude of different disciplines in nations all around the world. But there’s one sport that seems to have an even greater allure to sibling rivalry than all others, as motorcycle racing tends to ooze brothers from the same mothers. It’s possibly down to the fact that cocking yours and your brothers’ legs over a field bike or minimoto is a darned sight cheaper than a season in F3, and once the racing bug bites, two-bike trailers or the requisite works Transit van are easier to come by than a 40ft articulated transporter.

Family fortunes

Perhaps the most famous dynasty of all when it comes to two wheels is that of the Dunlops. Revered in circles which go far beyond their native Northern Ireland, Joey and Robert are still talked about today in the present tense despite their racing-related deaths many years ago. Robert’s offspring, Michael and William, with their opposing characters, rule the roost on the roads, with the younger Dunlop already notching up 15 TT wins and the outright lap record, and he’s still in his 20s.

AMA has had the Bostrom boys, the Roberts’ and the Haydens, while BSB has seen the Bridewells, the Ellisons and the Lavertys. MotoGP currently boasts World Champions Marc and Alex Marquez, Pol and Aleix Espargaro, although Maverick and Isaac Vinales are cousins and not brothers. But that still technically counts as keeping it in the family, doesn’t it?

While the racing game is one based primarily on individual merit and achievement, sometimes there’s an added factor into the equation and not one attributable to a team or factory. It’s the input of ‘Our Kid’. Yes, that snotty-nosed excuse for a brother who used to flick bogies at you and who got the best Christmas presents now has become, rather ironically, your best mate as well as your biggest rival out on track.

So, to get the lowdown, we accosted three sets of British racing brothers, two of which are twins. One, the Neaves’, are just setting out in the support classes of BSB, the second one is the Mackenzies, the 2016 British Supersport and Superstock 1000 champions and finally the Lowes’, world championship race winners and two of the nicest guys in the paddock.