Graeme Crosby

Graeme Crosby (born 4 July 1955) is a former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer from New Zealand.

A versatile rider, Crosby was equally capable on either four stroke Superbike racers or two stroke Grand Prix racers.

He is the only person to have won the Daytona 200, the Imola 200, the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race, and the Isle of Man TT.

After his international motorcycle racing career, he returned to New Zealand to become a commercial airline pilot and also competed in touring car racing.

Crosby moved from his home in Renwick, New Zealand to Auckland in the late 1960s and began a motorcycle apprenticeship at a local Kawasaki dealership.

He began racing on a Kawasaki H2 learning to race on New Zealand's street circuits.

In the inaugural Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race in 1978, Crosby and co-rider Tony Hatton had an opportunity to win the race on a Moriwaki Kawasaki Kz1000 before running out of fuel relegated them to third place.

By 1979, he was racing in the Australian Superbike championship for the Australian importer for Pops Yoshimura's motorcycle racing parts company.

He was then contracted to race for Yoshimura's son in law, Mamoru Moriwaki another talented motorcycle engineer.

The following year, Crosby qualified a Moriwaki Kawasaki on pole position at the 1979 Suzuka 8 Hours, ahead of all the major factory racing teams.

Moriwaki provided Crosby with Kawasaki motorcycles to compete in the Formula TT world championship and the Isle of Man TT.

He placed 4th in the Formula 1 Class at the 1979 Isle of Man TT and finished the season ranked third in the Formula 1 Class of the Formula TT world championship.

Crosby's impressive results earned him factory backed sponsorship in 1980 with the Suzuki Grand Prix racing team, operated by their British importer, Suzuki GB. He would compete on a four stroke Suzuki GS1000 in the Formula TT world championship, and ride a two stroke Suzuki RG 500 in the 500cc world championship.

He began the year with a victory at the Daytona Superbike race in March.

Crosby was forced to start on the back row of the starting grid due to a minor rules infringement but, charged through the entire field of competitors en route to an upset victory over Freddie Spencer.

He followed this with a victory in the Senior TT at the 1980 Isle of Man TT races held in June.

In July, Crosby teamed with Wes Cooley on a Yoshimura Suzuki GS1000 motorcycle to win the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race.

He then won the Ulster Grand Prix to secure the Formula One Class of the 1980 Formula TT world championship.

His string of victories with four stroke machinery earned him a reputation as a four stroke specialist.

However, Crosby also showed himself to be a capable rider of two stroke machinery when he rode a Suzuki RG 500 to an eighth place ranking in the 1980 500cc world championship, including an impressive second place finish in the 1980 German Grand Prix held at the challenging Nürburgring.

Crosby was contracted by Suzuki GB to defend his Formula TT world championship and to compete alongside teammate Randy Mamola in the 1981 500cc world championship.

Crosby gave a boost to the racing career of Wayne Gardner by giving him his first opportunity to race in Europe.

Although Crosby was contracted to ride for Suzuki, he decided to sponsor Gardner to compete in the 1981 British Superbike championship riding Kawasakis run by the British Moriwaki concession owned by Crosby.

Gardner would go on to become Australia's first 500cc world champion in 1987.

Before the start of the world championship season Crosby returned to Daytona in March where he just missed winning a second Daytona Superbike race.

After a race-long battle with his Yoshimura Suzuki teammate, Wes Cooley and Honda's Freddie Spencer, Crosby was beaten to the finish line by Cooley by just a few bike lengths with Spencer finishing in third place.

In the Daytona 200 race, Crosby was forced to retire due to a transmission problem.

Crosby made a strong impression by winning the pole position at the season opening Austrian Grand Prix held at the fast Salzburgring.

Crosby led for the first two laps before finishing in second place behind Mamola.

He repeated as pole position winner at the German Grand Prix held at the Hockenheimring.

After leading the race for half a lap, a front tire slide made him lose confidence in his tires however, he still managed to finish the race in second place behind Kenny Roberts.

In the third race in France, Crosby's motorcycle suffered from carburation problems and he nursed it to a third place finish.

At the Yugoslavian Grand Prix held at the hot Automotodrom Grobnik, Crosby initially battled for the lead but, later admitted that he was out of shape as he faded to a fourth place finish.

His championship hopes were dampened when he crashed in the rain at the Dutch TT then, an engine problem left him in sixth place at the Belgian Grand Prix but, he rebounded to finish third in San Marino Grand Prix.

Crosby won the pole position at the British Grand Prix held at the Silverstone Circuit but, then had a disastrous crash while leading the race, causing crashes by Barry Sheene and Marco Lucchinelli.

His motorcycle had more carburation problems which relegated him to sixth place in the Finnish Grand Prix.

He ended the season with a fifth place finish in the rain at the Swedish Grand Prix.

He posted two second place finishes along with two third place finishes to end the season ranked fifth in the world.

In between world championship races, Crosby also competed in the 500cc British national championship, using the British rounds as test sessions for developing his RG 500.

Crosby was inducted in to the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Motorcycling New Zealand Hall of Fame in 2006.