Barry Sheene

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Barry Sheene
Barry Sheene at the Daytona 200 (1976)
Nationality	British
Grand Prix motorcycle racing career
Active years	1970 - 1984
Teams	Suzuki, Yamaha
Grands Prix	102
Championships	500cc - 1976, 1977
Wins	23
Podium finishes	52
Pole positions	19
Fastest laps	18
First Grand Prix	1970 125cc Spanish Grand Prix
First win	1971 125cc Belgian Grand Prix
Last win	1981 500cc Swedish Grand Prix
Last Grand Prix	1984 500cc San Marino Grand Prix

Barry Sheene MBE (September 11, 1950 – March 10, 2003) was a British former World Champion Grand Prix motorcycle road racer.^[1]

Contents 1 Biography 2 Motorcycle Grand Prix results 3 Books 4 Notes 5 External links

[edit] Biography

Sheene was born in London, England the second child of parents Frank (resident engineer at the Royal College of Surgeons) and Iris. He grew up in Queen's Square, Holborn, London.

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.

Sheene was a colourful, exuberant character who used his good looks, grin and Cockney accent to good effect in self-promotion, and combined with an interest in business was one of the first riders to make a lot of money from endorsements. He is credited with boosting the appeal of motorcycle racing into the realm of the mass marketing media. He also tried his hand as a TV show host and starred in the low-budget film Space Riders.

He moved to Australia in the late 1980s in the hope of relieving some of the pain of injury-induced arthritis, moving to a property near the Gold Coast. He combined a property development business with a role as a commentator on motor sport, first at the Nine Network with the Darrell Eastlake, then moving with the TV coverage of the motorcycle Grand Prix series to Network Ten.

In later years, Sheene became involved in historic motorcycle racing. A little-known piece of trivia is that Sheene invented the motorcycle back protector, with a prototype model he made himself out of old helmet visors, arranged so they could curve in one direction, but not the other. Sheene gave the prototype along with all rights to the Italian company Dainese - they and other companies have manufactured back protectors since then.

He died of cancer, survived by his wife Stephanie McLean and two children.

Following reconstruction of the Brands Hatch Circuit in England for safety concerns after requests by the FIM, the Dingle Dell section was changed for safety, and shortly after Sheene's death the new section was renamed Sheene's Corner in his honour. The FIM named him a Grand Prix "Legend" in 2001. At the 2004 season, V8 Supercars Australia made a memorial medal, calling it the Barry Sheene Medal. A memorial ride from Bairnsdale, Victoria to Phillip Island is held by Australian motorcyclists annually, before the MotoGP held at the island.^[2]

[edit] Motorcycle Grand Prix results

Year	Class	Classification	Machine	Victories
1971	50 cc	7th	Kreidler	1
1971	125cc	2nd	Suzuki	3
1974	500cc	6th	Suzuki	0
1975	500cc	6th	Suzuki	2
1976	500cc	1st	Suzuki	5
1977	500cc	1st	Suzuki	6
1978	500cc	2nd	Suzuki	2
1979	500cc	3rd	Suzuki	3
1981	500cc	4th	Yamaha	1
1982	500cc	5th	Yamaha	0
1984	500cc	6th	Suzuki	0

[edit] Books

• The Story so Far. 
• Marriott, Andrew. The Sheene Machine. 
• Scott, Michael (1983). Barry Sheene: A Will to Win. UK: Comet Books (softcover edition), 223. ISBN 086379095X. 
• Leader of the Pack. 
• Barker, Stuart (2003). Barry Sheene 1950-2003: The Biography. UK: CollinsWillow, 335. ISBN 0007161816. 
• Scott, Michael (2006). Barry Sheene. 
• Parrish, Steve; Harris, Nick (2007). Barry. 

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Barry Sheene at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with Stephanie McLean on her husband, Barry Sheene

Preceded by Giacomo Agostini

500cc Motorcycle World Champion 1976-1977

Succeeded by Kenny Roberts

v • d • e 500 cc/MotoGP Motorcycle World Champions     1949 - L. Graham 1950 - U. Masetti 1951 - G. Duke 1952 - U. Masetti 1953 - G. Duke 1954 - G. Duke 1955 - G. Duke 1956 - J. Surtees 1957 - L. Liberati 1958 - J. Surtees 1959 - J. Surtees 1960 - J. Surtees 1961 - G. Hocking 1962 - M. Hailwood 1963 - M. Hailwood 1964 - M. Hailwood 1965 - M. Hailwood 1966 - G. Agostini 1967 - G. Agostini 1968 - G. Agostini 1969 - G. Agostini 1970 - G. Agostini 1971 - G. Agostini 1972 - G. Agostini 1973 - P. Read 1974 - P. Read 1975 - G. Agostini 1976 - B. Sheene 1977 - B. Sheene 1978 - K. Roberts 1979 - K. Roberts 1980 - K. Roberts 1981 - M. Lucchinelli 1982 - F. Uncini 1983 - F. Spencer 1984 - E. Lawson 1985 - F. Spencer 1986 - E. Lawson 1987 - W. Gardner 1988 - E. Lawson 1989 - E. Lawson 1990 - W. Rainey 1991 - W. Rainey 1992 - W. Rainey 1993 - K. Schwantz 1994 - M. Doohan 1995 - M. Doohan 1996 - M. Doohan 1997 - M. Doohan 1998 - M. Doohan 1999 - À. Crivillé 2000 - K. Roberts, Jr. 2001 - V. Rossi 2002 - V. Rossi 2003 - V. Rossi 2004 - V. Rossi 2005 - V. Rossi 2006 - N. Hayden 2007 - C. Stoner