Highsiding a motorcycle is the closest thing motorsports has that’s comparable to bull riding: the rear wheel gets loose, the bike starts to slide, then suddenly traction is regained and the bike launches the rider like a catapult off of the top, usually with nearly no warning and with great force and airtime. A high side launch is normally the kind of event where the best idea for the rider is to gain distance away from the bike as quickly as possible. But in the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix, Randy Mamola wasn’t about to let go of the bike. Uncertain about the conditions that the track was offering, his team had placed a harder compound tire on the bike and made a setting change on the rear suspension. While out testing the new setup, the bike decided enough was enough…in a left corner the rear slipped out, bounced and caught, tossing Mamola and the rear of the bike straight up into the air. Mamola, instead of getting away from danger, held on and rode it out, first sidesaddle-like, then pretty much skiing in the grass until he could get the bike stopped.

Not too surprising for the man who decided that if he wasn’t going to win the race, that he’d instead endo his bike at the 1986 French Grand Prix for the fans.