Mick Doohan - Career, Notes and references, Racing Record

Motor-cyclist, born in Brisbane, Queensland, NE Australia. He first raced in 1984, and won his first Grand Prix in 1990, achieving a total of 54 Grand Prix wins. He survived a serious crash in 1992, and retired from riding after another in 1999. He won five successive 500 cc world championships (1994–8), and set a new record for the number of wins in a season (12) in 1997.

Michael "Mick" Doohan (born June 4, 1965) is an Australian former Grand Prix motorcycle road racing World Champion, who won five consecutive 500cc World Championships, only behind Giacomo Agostini.

Career

Originally from the Gold Coast, near Brisbane, Doohan made his Grand Prix debut for Honda on a 500cc motorcycle in 1989. 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.

Throughout 1993 he struggled to regain fitness and the ability to race the Honda at elite level. In 1997, his most successful year, Doohan won 12 out of 15 races, finishing second in the other three.

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. 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, which he operated by a "nudge" bar on the left handlebar.

In 1999 Doohan had another accident, this time in qualifying.

After his retirement, he worked as a roving adviser to Honda's Grand Prix race effort.

Notes and references

Racing Record

500 cc World Championships: 5 (1994-1998) 500 cc Grand Prix starts: 137 500 cc Grand Prix victories: 54 500 cc Grand Prix podia: 95 500 cc Grand Prix Pole positions: 58

Preceded by: Kevin Schwantz

500cc Motorcycle World Champion 1994-1998

Succeeded by: Álex Crivillé