Wayne Gardner

Wayne Michael Gardner (born 11 October 1959) is an Australian former professional motorcycle and touring car racer.

He competed in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from to, most prominently as a member of the Honda factory racing team where he became the first Australian to win motorcycling's premier class in.

His success on the world motorcycle road racing circuit earned him the nickname The Wollongong Whiz.

He began his racing career in 1977 at the age of 18, riding a second-hand Yamaha TZ250 bike in the Australian championship and finishing second on debut at Amaroo Park.

He went on to record his first win a few weeks later at Oran Park Raceway.

In 1981 Gardner was hired by Mamoru Moriwaki to race in the Australian Superbike championship aboard the Moriwaki Kawasaki Kz1000s.

Gardner and co-rider John Pace qualified their Moriwaki Kawasaki on pole position at the prestigious 1981 Suzuka 8 Hours, ahead of all the major factory racing teams.

Fellow racer, Graeme Crosby gave Gardner his first opportunity to race in Europe.

Although Crosby was contracted to ride for Suzuki, he decided to sponsor Gardner to compete in the British Superbike championship riding Kawasakis run by the British Moriwaki concession owned by Crosby.

On the way to Europe, Gardner rode the Moriwaki Kawasaki to an impressive fourth-place finish at the 1981 Daytona Superbike race behind Yoshimura Suzuki riders Crosby, Wes Cooley and Honda's Freddie Spencer.

Moriwaki and Gardner proceeded to compete in the British championship, winning their first race in England.

Gardner entered the final race of the season with a chance to win the title but, an engine misfire relegated him to third place overall in the championship.

Gardner's impressive results on the Moriwaki Kawasaki eventually earned him a contract with the Honda Britain racing team.

He rode a Honda to a fourth-place finish in the 1982 Formula TT championship.

Gardner made his 500 cc Grand Prix debut with the Honda Britain team at the 1983 Dutch TT during which he was involved in an accident with reigning world champion, Franco Uncini.

Uncini fell off his bike as he was exiting a corner and as he tried to run off the track, he was struck on his helmet by Gardner's bike.

Uncini went into a coma but, subsequently recovered from his injuries.

Gardner failed to score any points in the two Grand Prix races he had entered in 1983.

In 1984, he won the British 500cc national championship for Honda and was able to compete in five Grand Prix world championship races.

He scored points in all five of the Grand Prix races in which he was able to compete in during 1984, including an impressive third-place finish at the Swedish Grand Prix, earning a seventh place in the final championship standings.

From the 1985 season, Gardner raced for the factory Rothmans Honda team and was joined on that team by fellow Australian Michael Doohan in 1989.

Gardner's performance earned him full support in 1986 from the Honda-HRC factory racing team alongside teammate Freddie Spencer.

He won his first Grand Prix race at the Spanish Grand Prix, before going on to win two more races and finish second in the championship behind Eddie Lawson.

In 1987, Gardner became the first Australian to win the 500 cc World Championship, winning seven of sixteen races and wrapping up the title with a win in the penultimate round in Brazil at Goiânia.

Gardner's race engineer in 1987 was fellow Australian Jeremy Burgess who had previously worked with 1985 World Champion Freddie Spencer.

Gardner's 1987 World Championship saw a sharp rise in the popularity of Grand Prix Motorcycle racing in Australia, with increased television and print media coverage.

In defense of his title in 1988, Gardner was hampered by the Honda NSR500 not being easy to ride.

He finished second in the championship behind American Eddie Lawson who rode for the factory Marlboro Yamaha team.

He still managed wins in the Netherlands, Belgium, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, and would have won at the Paul Ricard Circuit in France had he not suffered mechanical problems only a third of a lap from the finish while holding a 2-second lead.

This led to the inaugural running of the Australian motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island in 1989.

The Wollongong Whiz gave the home crowd something to cheer as he won his home race in 1989, just edging out Wayne Rainey and Christian Sarron.

Unfortunately his season came unglued at the next round at Laguna Seca where he crashed and broke his leg, causing him to miss half of the season.

Ironically, Eddie Lawson also joined Rothmans Honda in 1989 and went on to win his fourth World Championship.

Gardner had a frustrating season in 1990.

After winning at Jerez in Spain, he missed three rounds through injury and only managed 5th in the World Championship.

He did finish the season on a high note though, winning his second straight Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island from teammate Mick Doohan and World Champion elect Wayne Rainey.

For over half the race, Gardner had to contend with the fairing of his Honda threatening to part company with the bike after some of the front mountings had broken.

After his motorcycle racing career, Gardner competed in touring car racing from 1993 to 2002.

Both of his sons, Remy and Luca, are motorcycle racers.

Gardner was born in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.