Michael Doohan - Biography

Biography

Originally from the Gold Coast, near Brisbane, Doohan attended St. Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace. He raced in Australian Superbikes in the late 1980s, and also won both races as Superbike World Championship visited Oran Park in 1988. He is one of the few 500 cc or MotoGP World Champions to have won a Superbike World Championship race.

He made his Grand Prix debut for Honda on a 500cc two-stroke motorcycle in 1989. In 1991, he was paired with Wayne Gardner on a Honda RVF750 superbike and won the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race. Doohan competed successfully throughout the early 1990s and appeared to be on his way to winning his first world championship when he was seriously injured in a practice crash before the 1992 Dutch TT. He suffered permanent serious damage to his right leg due to medical complications and, at one stage, risked amputation of the leg. At the time, Doohan was 65 points in the lead of the championship, but could not compete for eight weeks after the crash. After an arduous recovery, Doohan returned to racing for the final two races but could not prevent Yamaha rider Wayne Rainey from winning his third consecutive title (by 4 points from Doohan). In 1993 he struggled with the healing of his leg and the ability to race the Honda at elite level, stating later that in that year it was all he could do to just keep his ride at Honda. It was also during this time he switched to a left thumb-operated rear brake, as his right foot is no longer able to perform this function.

In 1994, however, he won his first 500 cc World Championship. Thereafter, until 1998, he dominated the class, winning five consecutive 500 cc World Championships. In 1997, his most successful year, Doohan won 12 out of 15 races, finished second in another two, and crashed out of the final race of the season at his home GP while leading by more than six seconds. In June 1996 Doohan was inducted as a Member of the Order of Australia for his contribution to the sport of motor racing.

Despite up to eight rivals on non factory HRC Honda motorcycles Doohan's margin of superiority over them was such that in many races Doohan would build a comfortable lead and then ride well within his limits to cruise to victory. Although pure riding skill clearly played a large part in his success, the ability of his chief race engineer, Jeremy Burgess, to perfect the suspension and geometry of a racing motorcycle gave him an enormous advantage over his rivals. Between 1994 and 1998 the bike was said not to have had many changes, with Honda engineers reportedly becoming frustrated at Doohan's reluctance to try new innovations such as electronic shifting (it was only when Rossi came to Honda in 1999 that Honda engineers had their head with Rossi willing to try more innovations).

One notable trait of Doohan's post-crash riding style was the use of a thumb-operated rear brake developed during 1993. This was operated by a "nudge" bar similar to a personal water craft throttle, but mounted on the left handlebar. In 1999 Doohan had another accident, this time in a very wet qualifying session for the Spanish Grand Prix. He again broke his leg in several places and subsequently announced his retirement. Jeremy Burgess, Doohan's chief engineer for his entire career, later became Valentino Rossi's chief engineer. After Doohan retired he went to work as a roving adviser to Honda's Grand Prix race effort. At the conclusion of the 2004 season, Doohan and Honda parted company.

In June 2011, Doohan made an appearance at the Isle of Man TT to see "What all the fuss was about." Doohan completed a parade lap, and was most enamored by the thrill and spectacle of the Snaefell Mountain Course. He then went on to pay tribute to his former Honda racing team-mate, Joey Dunlop.