Michael Doohan

Michael Sydney Doohan ( ; born 4 June 1965) is an Australian former Grand Prix motorcycle road racing World Champion, who won five consecutive 500 cc World Championships.

Biography Originally from the Gold Coast, Queensland, Doohan attended St Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace and Aspley State High School, Brisbane. He raced in Australian Superbikes in the late 1980s, and also won both races as Superbike World Championship visited Oran Park in as well as the second leg of the Japanese round held earlier in the year. In a break-out season he also won the final Australian motorcycle Grand Prix to be held in the TT format at Mount Panorama before the race became a round of the World Championship the following year and moved to Phillip Island. He is one of the few 500 cc or MotoGP World Champions to have won a Superbike World Championship race.

Doohan made his Grand Prix debut for Honda on an NSR 500 cc two-stroke motorcycle in 1989. Late in the 1990 season, Doohan claimed his first victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix on his way to third in the championship.250px

In 1991, Doohan was paired with his fellow Australian Wayne Gardner on a Honda RVF750 superbike and won the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race. He 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 and serious damage to his right leg due to medical complications and, at one stage, faced 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, he returned to racing for the final two races but could not prevent Yamaha rider Wayne Rainey from winning his third consecutive title (by four 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 was no longer able to perform this function.

In 1994 however, Doohan 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 the 1996 Queen's Birthday Honours, Doohan was inducted as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) 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 may have given him an 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 innovations such as electronic shifting (it was only when Rossi came to Honda in 2000 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 owing to the reduced range of motion in his ankle. 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. 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 teammate, Joey Dunlop.

Cars After his success in Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Doohan got a chance to test a Formula One race car, the Williams FW19, at Circuit de Catalunya (in Spain) in April 1998. He found the car difficult to drive and crashed against a guard rail. In 2001, Doohan drove a Mercedes Benz CLK55 AMG works rally car with his co-driver Mark Stacey in the 2001 Targa Tasmania rally. He was in thirteenth place on day three when he crashed the car; he and Stacey were uninjured after the incident.

Personal life On 8 August 2006, Doohan appeared in Darwin Magistrates Court to face charges over a weekend fracas at a strip club. He was fined $2,500 after pleading guilty to assaulting a bouncer and failing to leave a licensed premise. No conviction was recorded.

Doohan married Selina Sines, who had been his partner for the previous eleven years, on Tuesday 21 March 2006, on Hamilton Island; the couple have two children, including Formula One racing driver Jack Doohan.

Doohan helped design an Intamin Motorbike Launch Roller Coaster, named Mick Doohan's Motocoaster. The ride is located at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast, Queensland. Doohan's name was removed from the ride's branding in May 2022, and it is now known simply as Motocoaster.

Honours Doohan was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1996 and received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000. He was awarded the "Key to the City" by the City of Gold Coast in 1997. He was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2009. The first turn at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit is named after him.

In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, Doohan was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for his role as a "sports legend".

Career statistics Superbike World Championship Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pos Pts R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 1988 Yamaha GBR GBR HUN HUN GER GER AUT AUT JPN31 JPN1 FRA FRA POR POR AUS1 AUS1 NZL NZL 12th 30

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season SeasonClassMotorcycleTeamNumberRaceWinPodiumPoleFLapPtsPlcdWCh 1989 500cc Honda NSR500 Rothmans Honda 27 12 0 1 0 0 81 9th – 1990 500cc Honda NSR500 Rothmans Honda 9 15 1 5 3 2 179 3rd – 1991 500cc Honda NSR500 Rothmans Honda 3 15 3 14 2 1 224 2nd – 1992 500cc Honda NSR500 Rothmans Honda 2 9 5 7 6 5 136 2nd – 1993 500cc Honda NSR500 Rothmans Honda 2 13 1 6 4 4 156 4th – 1994 500cc Honda NSR500 Honda Team HRC 4 14 9 14 6 7 317 1st 1 1995 500cc Honda NSR500 Repsol YPF Honda Team 1 13 7 10 9 7 248 1st 1 1996 500cc Honda NSR500 Team Repsol Honda 1 15 8 12 8 4 309 1st 1 1997 500cc Honda NSR500 Repsol YPF Honda Team 1 15 12 14 12 11 340 1st 1 1998 500cc Honda NSR500 Repsol Honda 1 14 8 11 8 3 260 1st 1 1999 500cc Honda NSR500 Repsol Honda Team 1 2 0 1 0 2 33 17th –Total 137 54 95 58 46 2283 5

By class

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Pos Pts 1989 500cc Honda JPNRet AUS8 USA8 SPARet NATRet GER3 AUT8 YUG6 NED9 BEL8 FRA8 GBR SWE CZE BRA4 9th 81 1990 500cc Honda JPNRet USA2 SPA4 NAT3 GERRet AUT3 YUG4 NED4 BEL6 FRA4 GBR4 SWE4 CZE9 HUN1 AUS2 3rd 179 1991 500cc Honda JPN2 AUS2 USA2 SPA1 ITA1 GER3 AUT1 EUR2 NEDRet FRA2 GBR3 RSM3 CZE2 VDM2 MAL3 2nd 224 1992 500cc Honda JPN1 AUS1 MAL1 SPA1 ITA2 EUR2 GER1 NEDDNS HUN FRA GBR BRA12 RSA6 2nd 136 1993 500cc Honda AUSRet MAL4 JPN7 SPA4 AUT2 GERRet NED2 EUR2 RSM1 GBRRet CZE3 ITA2 USARet FIM 4th 156 1994 500cc Honda AUS3 MAL1 JPN2 SPA1 AUT1 GER1 NED1 ITA1 FRA1 GBR2 CZE1 USA3 ARG1 EUR2 1st 317 1995 500cc Honda AUS1 MAL1 JPN2 SPARet GERRet ITA1 NED1 FRA1 GBR1 CZE2 BRA2 ARG1 EUR4 1st 248 1996 500cc Honda MAL5 INA1 JPN6 SPA1 ITA1 FRA1 NED1 GER2 GBR1 AUT2 CZE2 IMO1 CAT2 BRA1 AUS8 1st 309 1997 500cc Honda MAL1 JPN1 SPA2 ITA1 AUT1 FRA1 NED1 IMO1 GER1 BRA1 GBR1 CZE1 CAT1 INA2 AUSRet 1st 340 1998 500cc Honda JPNRet MAL1 SPA2 ITA1 FRA2 MADRet NED1 GBR2 GER1 CZERet IMO1 CAT1 AUS1 ARG1 1st 260 1999 500cc Honda MAL4 JPN2 SPADNS FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE IMO VAL AUS RSA BRA ARG 17th 33

Suzuka 8 Hours results Year Team Co-Rider Bike Pos 1991 Oki Honda Racing Team Wayne Gardner Mick Doohan Honda RVF750 RC45 1st