Michael Doohan

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Michael "Mick" Doohan
Doohan aboard the Rothmans Honda NSR500
Nationality	Australian

Grand Prix motorcycle racing career
Active years	1989 - 1999
Teams	Honda
Grands Prix	117
Championships	500cc- 1994 - 1998
Wins	54
Podium finishes	95
Career points	2283
Pole positions	58
Fastest laps	46
First Grand Prix	1989 500 cc Japanese Grand Prix
First win	1990 500 cc Hungarian Grand Prix
Last win	1998 500 cc Argentine Grand Prix
Last Grand Prix	1999 500 cc Japanese Grand Prix

Michael "Mick" Sydney Doohan AM born June 4, 1965 (1965-06-04) (age 43) in Brisbane, Australia, is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racing World Champion, who won five consecutive 500 cc World Championships, second only to Giacomo Agostini (though Doohan's feat was basically equaled by Valentino Rossi, who won the final 500 cc GP championship, and the following 4 MotoGP championships, as MotoGP replaced 500 cc GP as the top championship on the world scene). He is considered to be one of the best motorcycle racers in the history of the sport.

1 Biography
- 1.1 Formula One
2 Rollercoaster
3 Grand Prix career statistics ^[3]
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Biography

Originally from the Gold Coast, near Brisbane, Doohan raced in Australian Superbikes in the late 80s, 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.

The Thunder from Down Under, a Mick Doohan biography, by Mat Oxley

Throughout 1993 he struggled to regain fitness and the ability to race the Honda at elite level. However, in 1994 he won his first 500 cc World Championship. From then 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, finishing second in another two and crashed out of the final race of the season at his home GP while leading by more than a 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 almost identical 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, his ability to perfect the suspension and geometry of a racing motorcycle gave him an enormous advantage over his rivals, even though other Honda riders (particularly Doohan's teammates) benefited somewhat from his ability to perfect the bike's handling. It is generally accepted that his development of the Honda throughout the 1990s helped the company to dominate racing for many years. At the time of Doohan's retirement, the Honda had developed into a much better handling machine than it had ever been previously.

One notable trait of Doohan's post-crash riding style was the use of a hand-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. Some commentators have argued that this technique offered Doohan an additional advantage in rear brake control, though there was nothing to stop other riders from trying it (and some did).

In 1999 Doohan had another accident, this time in qualifying. He again broke his leg and subsequently announced his retirement. He was somewhat unlucky, as his accident rate was far lower than many competitors.

For all his time in 500 cc class his chief engineer was Jeremy Burgess, who after his retirement became Valentino Rossi's chief engineer.

After his retirement, he worked as a roving adviser to Honda's Grand Prix race effort. At the conclusion of the 2004 season, Doohan and Honda parted company.

Mick married his long term partner Selina Sines of 11 years on Friday 21st March 2006, on Hamilton Island in front of 100 guests. Mick and Selina have two children, Allexis and Jack, who were Flower Girl and Page Boy respectively; while Mick's brother Colin was Best Man.

Many current generation MotoGP riders consider Mick as an inspiration, including 2007 MotoGP world champion, Casey Stoner.^{[citation needed]}

Mick Doohan is the inspiration for a new motorcycle-style rollercoaster, named Mick Doohan's Motocoaster, at Dreamworld, an amusement park near the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.

[edit] Formula One

After his success in Grand Prix motorcycle racing he got a chance to test a Formula One racecar, the Williams FW19, at Circuit de Catalunya, Spain, in April 1998. Despite posting lap times similar to his 500 cc Grand Prix bike, he found the car difficult to drive and subsequently bent the car against a guard rail. He also crashed and totalled a Mercedes Benz AMG in Targa Tasmania.^[1]^[2]

[edit] Rollercoaster

Michael Doohan received his own rollercoaster at Dreamworld in Gold Coast,Australia.This is the only known Intamin AG Motorbike Coaster,since others are made by Vekoma and Zamperla.

[edit] Grand Prix career statistics ^[3]

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd
1989	500cc	Honda NSR500	12	0	1	0	0	81	9th
1990	500cc	Honda NSR500	15	1	5	3	2	179	3rd
1991	500cc	Honda NSR500	15	3	14	2	1	224	2nd
1992	500cc	Honda NSR500	9	5	7	6	5	136	2nd
1993	500cc	Honda NSR500	13	1	6	4	4	156	4th
1994	500cc	Honda NSR500	14	9	14	6	7	317	1st
1995	500cc	Honda NSR500	13	7	10	9	7	248	1st
1996	500cc	Honda NSR500	15	8	12	8	4	309	1st
1997	500cc	Honda NSR500	15	12	14	12	11	340	1st
1998	500cc	Honda NSR500	14	8	11	8	3	260	1st
1999	500cc	Honda NSR500	2	0	1	0	2	33	17th
Total			117	54	95	58	46	2283