Jurgen van den Goorbergh started his Grand Prix career in 1992 after being crowned Dutch 250 Champion the previous year. He spent six seasons in the 250 World Championship, often finishing with the top riders despite never riding a factory bike. He moved to the 500cc class in 1997 on a V2 Honda and in 1999 was outstanding on the MuZ, which he guided to pole position twice. \'The Flying Dutchman\' was back on a V2 Honda for 2000 and finished as the best privateer before switching to Proton Team KR in 2001. His consistent qualifying and race performances on the lightweight 3 cylinder machine caught the eye of Erv Kanemoto, who signed him up to ride the Honda V4 in MotoGP in 2002. He had 2 Honda wild card appearances in 2004 with a best finish of 6th.