Latest / Rusty's Garage / Robbie Phillis | Part 2 - WSBK wins and brain hemorrhages

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Robbie Phillis | Part 2 - WSBK wins and brain hemorrhages · Rusty's Garage

0:02
A listener production.
0:19
G'day everyone, Rusty here, all set for part two of my feature episode with Mr. Superbike, Robbie Phyllis.
0:24
Now, I know this will appeal to two-wheel fans, but even if you're not a superbike or a bike enthusiast, don't worry.
0:31
The stories and the way that Robbie tells them, I know you will enjoy.
0:37
Some memories coming up in this second instalment, his great friendship with Peter Brock and how the late Johnny Harvey would run strategy for him on some of the longer bike races.
0:47
Plus a yarn that I hadn't heard before, Larry Perkins throwing his leg over a race bike for a little run.
0:54
And as I always say, make sure you give part one a listen first so that you get a better understanding of Robbie's background.
1:01
Working at the local airport and cutting laps around it after dark.
1:06
His memories of the legendary Hume Weir events.
1:09
Carpet laying to make ends meet.
1:11
Working with Mick Hone on the way up the Aussie ladder before breaking into the World Championship.
1:17
Right now though, we're about to shift into gear for part two.
1:24
Take us to the Superbike chapter then.
1:25
I mean, I think in summarising a bit of this, you were in the emergence of things at a world level.
1:34
Age may not necessarily have been on your side.
1:36
I look upon it as you being ahead of the time of the series in some respects.
1:41
Yeah, well, I guess 10 years too early or 10 years too late.
1:44
Yes, that's a much better way of saying it.
1:46
And 10 years too late because I missed out on all the money.
1:49
You know, Aaron was so lucky...
1:53
He made his own luck, though, too, didn't he?
1:55
Oh, he could ride.
1:56
Yes, yes.
1:57
But he was so lucky to get that Honda ride.
2:01
And the amount of money they paid him.
2:03
And I got the sack just before that started to happen because Scott Russell took my ride.
2:09
And he won the championship.
2:11
I wasn't there to beat him.
2:13
And I'd beaten him in nearly every race before that in 92, you know.
2:17
I'm not hanging shit on Scott.
2:18
No, no, no, no.
2:18
I didn't take it that way.
2:19
But it's just, for sake, I said I finished in the top three because it's nearly impossible to beat Ducati with the good riders on it like Roche and Poland.
2:27
Yep.
2:28
They were the guns and falapa, but he was one hit wonder, you know, like on and off.
2:37
How did the door open first for you to go and play in that?
2:39
Well, the big boss of Kawasaki, we had dinner at his place.
2:43
He's got the $100,000 goldfish floating around his pond, you know.
2:48
Seriously, you know.
2:50
And he said, Rob, would you like to do the world championship next year?
2:55
What year are we talking here?
2:57
1990.
2:57
1990, yeah.
2:58
This is 89.
2:58
Mm-hmm.
2:59
And we're at his house having dinner with him, you know?
3:03
Mm-hmm.
3:03
And he said, do you want to ride in the World Championship?
3:06
I said, there's a brown bear shit in the forest.
3:08
And I'm like, fuck.
3:10
There's the Kennedy's gun shy, yeah?
3:13
Yes.
3:16
So off you go.
3:17
So then he said, it's top secret.
3:20
You can't tell anyone.
3:21
And he went and died.
3:24
I told him to stop drinking.
3:26
I did.
3:27
I told him.
3:27
I said, you drink too much and you smoke too much.
3:31
Don't die before we get to the World Championship.
3:34
And he died.
3:34
It was quite sad.
3:37
I thought, oh, so much for the World Championship.
3:39
But no, it was all sealed in the factory.
3:45
So the bike you ride that year is what?
3:48
The first is the ZXR 750s, which I've been testing in Japan.
3:53
What was that thing like?
3:55
Well, I rode it at Adelaide last year.
3:58
Scott Webster's got it now.
4:00
It's a factory bike.
4:01
And my mate in Wodonga, he's got my other one.
4:06
Yeah, time's got tough and I needed some money.
4:09
It's good that they're still around, though.
4:11
Yeah, they're still around.
4:12
And I actually quite liked it better than when I raced it.
4:15
Really?
4:16
When I rode it at Adelaide, yeah.
4:17
I thought, Jesus, how good is this thing?
4:19
Wow.
4:20
What made you appreciate it more then, as in you feel like,
4:24
I thought it was a camel back then.
4:26
Really?
4:27
But now you look upon it as something that was much more, what, a bit more finesse than you realised at the time or something?
4:32
Yeah, yeah, and then, like, New Zealand this last year and the year before, I rode my 93 bike that I had here.
4:39
Aaron and I both rode it in New Zealand because the guy over there owns...
4:48
Anyway, it's there.
4:49
Yeah, so he's made the bike really nice, and Aaron and I rode around on it.
4:54
Fantastic.
4:55
Yeah, we were pretty impressed with it.
4:57
Had that first year of the world...
4:58
But the world championship, I never knew any of the tracks except Masano and Austria.
5:05
Okay.
5:06
Masano went the other direction back then too, didn't it?
5:08
Yeah.
5:08
So, yeah.
5:09
So, the series is...
5:15
12 rounds.
5:15
Yeah, but also what I'm trying to establish for the listener here is that, you know, what's the reception like from the public?
5:25
Because this thing's becoming... Yeah, we get my caravan.
5:28
I go and pick it up.
5:29
I bought Radar's caravan.
5:31
Dave Cullen.
5:33
I go and pick that up over in some other country.
5:36
I can't remember where it was now.
5:38
Take it back to Kawasaki, Germany.
5:40
And...
5:43
I'm camping out the back of Kawasaki, Germany, for about three weeks I was there, and one of the guys, Peter Kruger, why would Kawasaki pick... Why would Kawasaki pick you to do the riding?
5:58
Oh, I don't know.
6:00
I've been doing a bit of test work for them and done okay in Australia and over there, you know.
6:05
Oh.
6:07
So that was sort of a bit of a kick in the guts, you know,
6:13
the workshop boys and just getting it.
6:17
We didn't... Gel.
6:18
...much, didn't go off that well until we go off first round in Harith.
6:24
Harith.
6:25
Yes.
6:25
And...
6:28
I led the race, both races, and then we diced, and I think I finished fourth and fifth.
6:34
It was like an iron of fire's dick over the line, you know.
6:37
And it was all televised.
6:39
And I'd get back to Kawasaki, and they were on me like blowflies.
6:43
Changed everything they realised.
6:45
Everything changed.
6:46
There was 80 people who worked at Kawasaki.
6:50
And then every three months they'd have a party and they had a rock throwing competition at the grill station.
6:57
The grill station being the barbecue.
6:59
Okay.
7:02
And then things just was really good.
7:05
And Willie won the spare parts because Kawasaki Germany was spare parts and homologation.
7:13
So the workshop was for homologating all the new bikes and then the spare parts were all out the back for the whole of Europe.
7:20
Gotcha.
7:21
And Willie was a big fan and I couldn't do anything wrong in Willie's eyes.
7:27
So that was a big thing.
7:28
And then the boys in the workshop, they were good blokes too.
7:32
Franz Sherwell, he was a good guy.
7:36
Were you developing the bike in this?
7:38
Well, no, we were just racing.
7:40
You're trying to change things.
7:44
Rattle off some of the names, the rivals, the competitors you're up against in the paddock.
7:47
Tardocci, Roche, Salappa, Mertens, Piravano.
7:56
Very cool.
7:57
Um, and then you've got them as the regulars, right?
8:02
But you've got, you've got two or three riders from each country that are as good as those guys.
8:11
You've got to, every time you go to a new track, you've got those other guys there as well, giving you a run for your money, you know?
8:19
Um, it's, it was bloody tough, you know?
8:25
Did you enjoy that?
8:26
I mean, you clearly loved it.
8:28
But was it more that you were a competitor and you enjoyed the thrill of everything coming together as effectively an athlete and winning?
8:39
Or was it more that you still had that pure love of bike and riding?
8:43
All of it, really.
8:44
And, you know, when my family got there...
8:47
It was better.
8:48
We're all in the caravan.
8:49
You know, we've done, well, I've done about 300,000 kilometres towing a caravan.
8:55
Around Europe.
8:56
Unreal.
8:57
No bullshit.
8:57
But that's a lovely time of life for the family too, mate.
9:00
The kids grew up in the caravan, you know.
9:02
Georgia was doing the schoolwork in the caravan.
9:05
Tom was, as you know, had a brain injury.
9:08
So, you know, like...
9:09
He was full-time care, but he was there and having fun, you know, cruising around.
9:15
Peter Kirshner was this big kind of mechanic in the workshop, and he loved Tom.
9:19
I loved him.
9:20
Tom would be always hanging off him, and Peter would be carrying him around, and he'd be working and be on his shoulders.
9:26
Even the big boss of Carl Saker, the German boss, at a party was in his Y-fronts.
9:33
LAUGHTER
9:35
The parties are legendary.
9:36
They are legendary.
9:37
After the spa bath I built, right?
9:39
Yes, yes.
9:39
That he'd just been in.
9:40
Yes.
9:41
He's got toe on his shoulders dancing to the music.
9:45
You can't.
9:47
Yes.
9:48
But, you know, like, it was grouse fun.
9:52
We had a nice time.
9:53
Peter and Diana Doyle were there and Johnny Asher and his wife and then Radar come along and Mark Barnett, you know, like,
10:02
Radar is Dave Cullen, for people who don't know.
10:04
Yeah, Dave Cullen.
10:04
And Mark Barnett has only just finished with KTM.
10:08
And he worked for Honda with...
10:17
In some ways here, mate, a bit like you had with Mick Hone.
10:20
I know you're trying to remember something here.
10:22
But you've again got a great group of people around you in this period, don't you?
10:26
Either...
10:28
They're good people.
10:29
They're all good people.
10:30
Do you reckon that's a reflection of your personality, that you've been able to, you know, not just what you've achieved on track?
10:36
I don't know.
10:37
I don't know.
10:38
I've never wanted to fight with anybody.
10:40
You know, like, I'm a lover, not a fighter.
10:43
You have some crazy party antics, but they're...
10:45
I did, but I don't anymore.
10:46
No, no, no.
10:47
But, I mean, what I'm trying to say is it's... Yeah, I can honestly say I've never taken any illegal drugs.
10:53
Mm-hmm.
10:56
Or done anything too seriously bad, you know?
11:03
I used to drink a bit once upon a time, but I haven't had a drop for 15 years, you know?
11:06
Good work.
11:07
Good work.
11:09
So take people back to the World Championship then.
11:12
What, you know, from 1990 and in that period that you're there, I mean, there's...
11:18
very memorable races here in Australia and so on.
11:21
I mean... Well, winning a World Championship race is pretty memorable.
11:24
I was going to say.
11:25
But then, you know, in 2000... What was the final tally for you?
11:30
World Championship race wins?
11:32
Wins, race wins.
11:33
Four wins.
11:33
Mega.
11:34
But 32 podiums, I think.
11:35
Yep.
11:36
I think it's 32 podiums.
11:37
Brilliant.
11:38
Yep.
11:39
I can't remember really.
11:40
And it came... You know how many times...
11:42
I reckon I would have led out of the last turn in those 108 races, probably 20 times, and didn't get on the roster.
11:53
How gut-wrenching was that?
11:55
And there would have been a multitude of... You know what?
11:57
What you wanted to do was take him out at the next turn on your slowdown lap, because that's how gut-wrenching it was.
12:04
But the thrill of that, though, because that just showed how competitive, how good it was in the same breath, didn't it?
12:08
Well, how fast to do caddy was.
12:09
Yeah, OK. And how much treating they did, you know?
12:13
You know, like, it's just... You know, in 1992...
12:21
Oh, we're getting jumped in the gun a bit here, are we?
12:23
No, that's what you... See, I was meant to take the ride that Fogarty got.
12:26
You were meant to go to Ducati?
12:28
Yeah, in 93.
12:29
Okay, tell us about that.
12:31
Well, Kawasaki offered me a two-year contract in Australia and take the bike, a second bike anywhere and I wanted to in the world.
12:39
I finished up taking it to Malaysia with David Wong because they wouldn't let me go to the world championship because it was going to stand on Scott Russell's toes.
12:48
Okay.
12:49
Or Team Muzzy.
12:51
So did- And Doyle was running the team.
12:53
But did, are you saying Ducati came knocking on the door in this period to try and- Well, Raymond Rose was going to run the team and he wanted me to ride for him.
13:01
I kept ringing him every week.
13:03
No, we don't owe yet.
13:04
We don't owe yet.
13:05
And then Kawasaki Doyle rings me up and said, you've got a week to make up your mind whether you're going to stay in Australia or take Rocha Steel.
13:13
And I was in a bit of a situation.
13:18
where I had this taxation problem with an estimated earnings for the next three years after the 92 year, you know.
13:29
Then 130 grand a year, I had to pay, which is another story.
13:38
But so I thought, what am I going to do?
13:42
I can hear it in your voice, mate.
13:43
That really knocked you around, knocked you around financially too.
13:45
Yeah, yeah.
13:47
Don't get into detail there.
13:48
Keep going.
13:48
She had me to do the cleaners, basically.
13:50
Did it?
13:51
Eventually.
13:51
Sugar.
13:53
So I took the Kawasaki deal.
13:55
And then a week later, Raymond rings me, and I should have just told Kawasaki, no, I don't want to do the deal now.
14:02
But my word is my word, you know.
14:05
Has that always been the way?
14:06
It's always been the way.
14:07
I don't need to sign anything, you know.
14:08
Okay, yep.
14:10
And, um...
14:12
So they took Fogarty and... Look at what he went on to do.
14:16
Look what happened.
14:18
But at saying that, I was getting old then.
14:21
Would that bike have suited you, do you think?
14:22
Well, I rode Raymond's bike at Manfield in 1990.
14:27
In New Zealand?
14:28
In New Zealand on Monday after the race that I won there.
14:31
Mm-hm.
14:33
The day before.
14:35
And it was on old tyres on a bike I'd never ridden before and I did the same lap time.
14:39
And I only did 12 laps.
14:41
Oh, wow.
14:43
So Kawasaki were going to sign Doug Chandler to take my position for 91.
14:52
And when the boss, Mr. Noda, saw me on the Ducati, he let me ride it, you know, because I really wasn't in big contract with.
15:01
They wanted to see what the bike was like, you know, what I could tell them.
15:05
Yep, give you feedback, give the feedback, yep, yep.
15:08
They had a contract for them to sign within two days.
15:11
Did they?
15:11
Of doing that lap time.
15:13
Time, okay.
15:13
You know?
15:14
Yep.
15:14
So.
15:15
Tell me about the highlights then.
15:16
Tell me about the highlights in the World Superbike Chapter.
15:19
You've rattled off the amount of wins and podiums and so on.
15:22
Is there a standout race for you in all of that that you cherish?
15:26
Is there one?
15:27
I reckon Phillip Island's got to be.
15:29
Got to be.
15:29
Yeah.
15:30
Because it was close.
15:31
Yep.
15:31
Take people there, the year and what transpires.
15:33
Yeah, it was close between Wally and Goddard, and the rest of the Europeans were nowhere.
15:39
So you're talking Peter Goddard there and Malcolm Campbell and yourself.
15:43
Yeah, and I crashed in the first race and broke the handlebar off in a Honda corner.
15:49
It was a run off the track and spun it out in the wet grass and broke the handlebar off.
15:57
I can't remember why I run off now.
16:00
I think I got taken out.
16:02
I don't know, but I was concentrating on trying to win the next leg, which I did, but it wasn't easy.
16:14
And see, those bikes only had CV carburetors on them too.
16:18
Everyone else had flat slides.
16:20
They didn't homologate him with the flat slides.
16:23
Okay.
16:23
It was crazy.
16:25
It was like another seven horsepower.
16:27
And a 750, that's a lot of power.
16:29
Does that underscore then or make the successes even sweeter, that you were able to do that with not quite one arm behind your back, but almost?
16:36
Honestly, this has been a big head, but I always thought I was the best rider on the worst bike.
16:41
Did you?
16:42
I reckon I was better than everyone else.
16:45
I kept telling myself that.
16:47
But I don't know.
16:47
I guess you've got to do that a bit too.
16:49
How hard is that then from the age perspective?
16:51
Because you've come along with this thing.
16:53
Well, I was 10 years older than most of the writers.
16:56
um a couple there were nearly my age but you know at the end of the at the end of the tenure i don't know if i've got the timeline right here did you you ended up with um kawasaki germany for another another year in 94 yeah yeah but i had another brain hemorrhage at paul ricard and the test i go to the test the first three-day test first day
17:18
I was two seconds up faster than the guy that won the championship, which is Chris Lindholm.
17:24
Good guy.
17:25
Still a mate.
17:26
Talk to him on Facebook.
17:28
Well, like.
17:28
And I come around, Paul Ricciardo, I was only half the day and I've fallen off somebody's oil.
17:38
Woke up in the La Castellar hospital.
17:41
with a bloody brain hemorrhage, you know.
17:43
I started crying straight away and there's a French nurse there giving me a hug, speaking French to me.
17:50
Didn't know what day it was.
17:52
And my little Japanese mechanic's wife's there sitting there by the bed waiting for me to wake up.
17:57
I was there for two or three days.
18:00
Man.
18:00
And, you know, like, that slowed me right down.
18:04
It did?
18:05
Like, it stuffed me.
18:06
It wasn't until I went to Osho
18:10
Austria to... Austria to... Austria to... Where the hills are alight.
18:17
Sound of music.
18:18
Music, okay.
18:20
Dangerous track.
18:21
Vic Dillon was there.
18:22
He won.
18:24
It was a German championship race.
18:27
And I finished fourth.
18:29
And Draper was with me from here.
18:31
He came with me as well.
18:33
And Aaron was there watching.
18:35
And I've got fourth in the race.
18:38
And I was really pumped because that was the best I'd ridden up until...
18:44
In the wake of all that.
18:45
In the wake of all the brain emberage, you know.
18:47
Gotcha, gotcha.
18:50
And I won a race at Moss, Mossed.
18:53
And...
18:56
I started to come good at the end of the year, but because I was so out there, I didn't know what planet I was on.
19:03
I was really different, you know.
19:05
Were you, personality-wise?
19:06
Yeah, yeah.
19:07
Were you?
19:07
Like an angry man, or how did it affect you?
19:10
More of an idiot.
19:11
Okay, okay.
19:12
Yeah.
19:14
I fell out of sorts with Kawasaki Germany.
19:17
But so that was the end of it for me, really.
19:20
And then Emma Webber come along in 96 and 97.
19:22
So just come back a little sip.
19:24
How does that phone call go when it's like, you know, seems like the end or the finish?
19:31
What transpires there?
19:34
I reckon depression's... A real thing?
19:37
A real thing.
19:38
Yeah.
19:41
because you knew there was no chance of...
19:45
I was too stupid or too dumb to know what to do or how to tackle it.
19:52
I should have gone to America like Matt Malatton did.
19:55
But I didn't think of that.
19:58
I have a family here.
19:59
I didn't have any money.
20:02
How did you get out of that funk?
20:04
That's not easy.
20:05
How did you deal with that?
20:07
Still haven't got any money.
20:08
I don't owe anyone any money.
20:10
But from a depression sense or an almost depression sense, how did you get it?
20:13
Because you've got a positivity now.
20:15
You've got good mates here and bikes and things.
20:16
Well, I think everyone helped me.
20:17
Yeah, okay.
20:18
Yeah, like... That's where you see your true friends, isn't it?
20:24
I think that helped a lot.
20:25
It did?
20:26
Yeah, because I worked at Kawasaki for a few years, you know, like in the...
20:31
in a workshop doing their factory record model in Sydney.
20:35
Yeah, and worked at the race team as well, and run the race team for a year when Doyle left.
20:42
And, but then I wasn't racing, but I was there at the track, you know.
20:49
And then when, in 06, I got the old black bike and it,
20:56
I borrowed it, actually, the black bike from the guy that owned it and went to Phillip Island for the Island Classic.
21:03
Classic, yeah.
21:04
Went okay and I thought, this is good fun.
21:07
Then Roger decided he wanted to come and help me and my mate Harry.
21:13
Why you've gone.
21:14
And it just sort of went from there.
21:15
And then Lyle come on board later.
21:18
When he come back to live here in Albury, he was driving bloody reef boats up on the Whitsundays.
21:25
Yeah.
21:27
He come back and started racing himself and then we gave him the job of building our bikes.
21:34
Excellent.
21:35
So that reignited the... Yeah, it was great.
21:37
You didn't lose the passion, though, is that what you're saying?
21:39
Yeah.
21:39
But just to get back to racing was therapeutic.
21:42
Yeah, I think so.
21:43
Yeah?
21:43
Yeah.
21:44
But I couldn't afford it.
21:46
But...
21:46
But that's great that you could throw your leg over and go racing with mates, though.
21:49
Yeah.
21:49
That's, you know, and with some bikes that...
21:51
The ride just helped so much.
21:52
It's unbelievable the amount of help he's done for me and Alex, you know, like...
21:58
wouldn't have been able to do it.
22:02
And Mick Haines still helped.
22:03
Well, I'm keen to explore a bit of that if you don't mind.
22:06
I mean, Mick...
22:09
I think, you know, obviously, would connect you with Brock and Johnny Harvey.
22:16
I mean, is there a story there too?
22:17
Johnny Harvey ran strategy for you at times on some of the longer races and things?
22:20
Yeah, he used to come to the endurance races, yeah.
22:22
Give me an example.
22:23
Well, Adelaide to what's it called?
22:28
A-I-R, yeah.
22:29
And Amaru Park.
22:33
That's cool that he did that.
22:35
Orin Park.
22:36
And the two plus two format, I mean, you and I... Yeah, well, they were always over in Tassie, and Brock used to put my bike in the truck, so we shared the pits with him, his pits, and we'd drink cups of tea all day and talk shit, you know?
22:49
Yeah.
22:51
You got on well, you guys, didn't you?
22:52
Yeah, yeah.
22:53
He's a good bloke, you know.
22:54
Like, he looked after me good.
22:55
And Johnny was just the same, you know.
22:58
And then Jimmy Richards.
22:59
I used to go trail riding with Jimmy every Wednesday.
23:01
I'm told he's quite a good job.
23:03
He was really good, eh?
23:04
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
23:06
And, well, Steve was only a kid then.
23:08
We used to play indoor cricket at night time.
23:13
Phil Arbuckle, Jimmy, Mick Hone, the Crawford brothers, Budgie, Budgie, Budgie worked for Walford and Rex Walford and who else is there?
23:28
Oh, Ricky Stick, Ricky Simmons.
23:31
Good crew.
23:32
Good crew.
23:32
We had fun, you know, playing indoor cricket.
23:35
Did you ever drive a touring car?
23:36
Did he let you loose in one of his cars?
23:37
No.
23:37
No?
23:38
I didn't drive.
23:39
I drove...
23:41
You drove his road car, I know that, I know that.
23:43
I drove a road car and spun it out with John in it.
23:45
He didn't reckon I was ready, but...
23:47
I think Roger was going to buy one and Brock lent you his one.
23:50
His own drive car, yeah, this blue Brock special.
23:53
And I spun it out with traffic lights, said Werribee something.
23:56
Was it Werribee?
23:57
Don't try that at home, kids.
23:59
It was on the main road there, going to Geelong, you know.
24:02
Yeah.
24:03
Roger's in the passenger seat.
24:05
And Brock had just thrown you the keys on the other side.
24:07
Yeah, he just ran us the keys and then I gave the keys to Roger and it was a lot better, you know.
24:13
We'd take it back and the clutch was bloody fried.
24:17
And it was smelling, put it that way.
24:21
And Roger went and bought one.
24:23
Love it.
24:23
He's still got it.
24:25
And it's beautiful.
24:25
It is.
24:26
You and I are talking on the eve of the return of a 2 plus 2 format, if you like, or 4 plus 2, if you like, with the supercars at Queensland Raceway.
24:37
Australian superbikes are going to be there and so on.
24:40
Brock had, I think, been on the hill in Tassie with a similar thing way back when, and he'd seen you.
24:45
Yeah, him and Jimmy Richards and...
24:52
Larry Perkins maybe?
24:53
Yeah, Larry and Dick Johnson and...
24:57
George Fury.
24:58
Nice.
24:59
And it led to a bit of a sponsorship from Brock or something.
25:01
Yeah, for three years.
25:02
He used to give us cash and help us out.
25:06
Or give Mick cash.
25:07
I didn't say any of it.
25:09
True or false, Larry Perkins rode a katana around.
25:13
I think he rode it a colder as well.
25:15
Did he?
25:16
In his pastoral overalls.
25:17
He rode it the whole way around.
25:19
He had his bloody mobile mobile racing suit on.
25:27
And he rode around Simmons Plains, he did a few laps around there, never sat up once, just under the tank, all the way around the corners, oh, it was a crack up.
25:36
And then he took me around Calder in a touring car in the Commodore.
25:44
And had the cross bars in the back, the cross bars.
25:48
Oh, yes, yes.
25:49
That's what I was hanging on to because there was no passenger seat.
25:51
I only got my letters and helmet on.
25:54
And then he went for a ride in the katana.
25:56
And he said, oh, he's going around tipping into turn one.
26:01
colder and we're sideways.
26:03
I thought, oh, we're going to lose it.
26:04
And he booted it and just come straight and just went around the corner, you know.
26:10
It was unbelievable.
26:11
I couldn't believe it.
26:12
And then Brock's driving me around in this road car, talking to me, looking at me, and I'm looking at the S's and he's looking at me.
26:21
And I'm like, when are you going to put the brakes on?
26:26
It was unreal.
26:28
I've had a good life, mate, honestly.
26:30
How did you feel when, very sadly, and Mick Owen was with him when the crash happened?
26:36
How did you feel about that?
26:37
Mate, when I spoke to Mick on the phone, I was living in Yarra Junction and Mick was in hospital because he broke his hip.
26:44
Yes.
26:45
That must have been super tough on him.
26:47
I burst into tears when I got him on the phone, you know.
26:49
It was just...
26:51
It was pretty horrific, you know.
26:53
And it was only three weeks before we were out to dinner, Peter and his partner and Mick and Anne, you know.
27:00
We were all at this little restaurant...
27:03
just having a laugh and talking about just old times.
27:09
It was really sad.
27:10
Very.
27:12
You were one of, if not the first person to visit Aaron too.
27:17
I mean, it's well documented.
27:18
I drove him there.
27:19
Did you?
27:19
So I want to come to that.
27:21
I've read the book.
27:22
My memory, my recollection of it won't be perfect here, so you can join some dots.
27:26
I think, you know, it had become...
27:28
He was session at Easton Creek.
27:29
Yeah, and it had become a real thing there.
27:31
And he had to drive from there back to the hotel in Parramatta.
27:34
Yeah.
27:34
But you went to... Was it Royal North Shore Hospital?
27:37
We were here.
27:39
actually for the weekend and we're driving home and get the phone call and Carol told him on the phone and he was in tears on the phone.
27:48
Aaron was.
27:48
Yeah.
27:49
Yeah.
27:49
Yeah.
27:50
And uh, so we got him to drive to our place and then Megan had called the...
27:57
This is Aaron's wife.
27:58
Aaron's wife.
27:58
We called the hospital, which was the North Shore.
28:01
The Royal North Shore.
28:02
Royal North Shore.
28:03
Yep.
28:04
And so Aaron comes to our place and
28:07
And then I think he stayed...
28:08
I don't know whether he stayed the night or I took him straight to the hospital.
28:14
Anyway, that's a mission.
28:14
So you drove.
28:15
Yeah, I drove him to the hospital.
28:17
Yep.
28:18
And we were in the car park.
28:20
I had to basically put him over...
28:24
Your shoulder.
28:25
On my shoulder.
28:25
Sugar.
28:26
And then I sat him down and I got in a wheelchair.
28:29
That's how bad it got.
28:30
Yeah.
28:30
So this is, I mean, a brain injury.
28:33
Yeah, brain, what's it called?
28:35
Aneurysm.
28:36
Aneurysm.
28:36
And people can listen.
28:38
There's a podcast episode with him and a great book on that stuff too.
28:41
I mean, he'd been a mate.
28:42
He'd live with you guys, hadn't he?
28:43
Yeah, he lived here in Aubrey with us.
28:45
How did that affect you too, mate?
28:46
Oh, well, yeah, it's the same as all my mates.
28:49
All my mates are my mates in life.
28:52
Well, you know, it's like family, you know.
28:54
And he, they said, oh, he'll be in the scan for 45 minutes, an hour and a half later.
29:04
He was still there.
29:04
I thought he died, you know, because he was in a bad way.
29:09
before he went in there.
29:12
And I wasn't surprised he was able to drive to my house.
29:16
Wow.
29:16
And we didn't realise how bad it was.
29:20
It was.
29:20
But you blokes are all like that sometimes.
29:22
Like, you think you've had crashes, you'll bounce back from a hemorrhage, whatever it might be, and that's how you're...
29:27
But anyhow, they got him in the hospital bed, and they shaved his head, and they've got black texture drawings all over his head.
29:35
They're going to cut his skull off.
29:37
They're going to flip his skull back.
29:39
And they finished up putting that little window in the side of his head.
29:44
It wasn't as invasive.
29:45
It was invasive, but not as bad as at first.
29:47
And then they just welded it all back together and glued the bone back in with some bone glue to stitch her up.
29:55
Amazing.
29:57
He's a great fellow.
29:58
He was f***ed for three weeks straight, you know.
30:01
Like, he couldn't bear light and he was in the bedroom.
30:05
Very lethargic.
30:06
And we didn't have him at our house because it was too noisy with Tom and Alex.
30:13
Like, Alex is only four years old, I think.
30:17
Yeah, yeah.
30:18
And...
30:20
Yeah, it was pretty hectic.
30:22
I thought, like, when he was going off to the Operation Theatre, I gave him a hug and told him I loved him, you know.
30:29
Yep.
30:30
I'm getting a bit emotional now.
30:32
That's okay, mate.
30:32
That's okay.
30:33
Yeah, but that's how it was, you know.
30:35
Like, it was...
30:37
Great fella.
30:38
Yeah.
30:38
He's done some very good things.
30:39
And it's great that he could get back on a...
30:40
He's done a lot of good things for me.
30:42
It's great that he could get back on a bike.
30:43
And as we talk here, he's having fun riding in Sri Lanka.
30:48
Yeah, he and me.
30:49
On some 18-horsepower... Royal Enfield.
30:53
Royal Enfield battleship.
31:05
The two ill guests on this pod are tearaways.
31:07
Often they're thrill seekers and a few are seriously good pranksters, like Steve Parrish, a close friend of the late Barry Sheen, who once pretended to be Baz in qualifying, and got away with it.
31:19
Barry comes back and gets out, and luckily his legs all fixed up.
31:22
Stavros, well done, thanks for that.
31:24
How did we go?
31:25
I said, I don't know.
31:25
I haven't even been to look at the times, because back then you had to go and look on the toilet wall where the old lady would have written out all the times, and we wandered over there.
31:33
And there it was in black and white.
31:34
Front row, number seven, Barry Sheen.
31:37
Third row, number six, Steve Parrish.
31:39
You out-qualified yourself.
31:40
I out-qualified myself.
31:42
And to this day, I don't know whether his bike was better, the underwear being waved at me, or just me wearing the number seven did it.
31:49
There are so many laughs in this episode.
31:51
From blowing up a toilet blocking Finland, to using a hearse for a daily drive.
31:56
Recorded in 2019 at a motorcycle festival, it is full throttle for an hour and 40 minutes.
32:02
Now back to another champion and a larrikin, Robby Phyllis.
32:07
I have some stories to ask you about here in this great, I guess, summary of your life.
32:12
Firstly, Aaron tells me that you, I think somewhere along the line, when you talked Sugo before, as the years went on and you went back there and so on, did you get a Mazda 323 front-wheel drive, some crap car?
32:26
Turbo.
32:27
Turbo.
32:28
And you let it live there for years and you'd come back to it each year or something.
32:33
Is that right?
32:34
This is what happened.
32:35
This is what happened.
32:36
I think it was 1992.
32:37
We were in this little escargot wagon.
32:44
Yes.
32:45
We got...
32:50
When was it?
32:51
We got the Japanese girl with us.
32:53
I can't remember which girl it was now who spoke English.
32:56
Mm-hmm.
32:57
And...
33:00
Aaron and I are looking for a car to buy.
33:04
There's this service station in the wrecking yard behind it.
33:06
Uh-huh.
33:08
Car wash and all that stuff.
33:10
And there's this little black Mazda 323 Turbo.
33:13
Turbo, yeah.
33:16
All right?
33:17
With the big woofer, subwoofer, hatchback.
33:21
Yes.
33:22
So I think I paid 50 bucks for it.
33:29
I think it was 50, wasn't because Piravano got ripped off as is.
33:37
This is the story.
33:37
So then we get it.
33:40
It's still got number plates on it.
33:42
Drive it through the car wash, put some fuel in it and drive it back to the track.
33:47
We're doing like 160k an hour or something.
33:51
You can only do 80 in Japan.
33:53
Imagine if we got caught.
33:55
Look at this shit.
33:56
You would have been locked up.
33:58
So we get back to the track and Piravano spotted it.
34:01
And we're driving, because you had to hire the golf buggies and they were 30 bucks a day or some bloody thing.
34:08
And the car was, you know, we were getting fuel out of everybody's old leftover fuel out of the cars and bikes and stuff and put it in the cars.
34:15
And Piravano's gone and bought one from the same place.
34:21
He got it delivered on the truck because the guy wouldn't let him take it.
34:24
Like we just drove off in...
34:28
He didn't realise we were doing that, no.
34:33
And, you know, Piravana's got this little Toyota Camry thing, or Corona, Corolla, something like that.
34:43
And he paid like 200 or 400 bucks for it.
34:45
I can't remember.
34:46
So what is this turning into, like a Japanese drifting championship between you?
34:48
Yeah, but they've got a go-kart track there, remember?
34:52
At night time, nothing's locked.
34:56
But it's like a little Disneyland.
34:59
You know, like it's in the forest.
35:01
Okay.
35:02
Sugo, you know, Yamaha own it.
35:04
So there's all these bishman roads we're rolling around and there's some dirt tracks and stuff like that that they use for off-road stuff.
35:13
So we're...
35:14
That's where we found the golf buggies a couple of years before.
35:17
It was in this junk pile and we got one going.
35:21
Hotted it up.
35:22
Hotted it up and used that.
35:23
We didn't have to pay for anything.
35:24
It was grouse.
35:29
Finished up.
35:30
Peter Doyle started running into the back of Piravana, driving my car.
35:34
And...
35:39
We had fun on the go-kart track.
35:40
We were driving around, racing around the go-kart track.
35:44
I think we went out on the main track as well.
35:46
Can't remember now.
35:47
I think you did.
35:48
I think we did.
35:49
Keep going.
35:50
I think we got kicked off it, though.
35:51
I don't know.
35:52
I can't remember.
35:53
It was a long time ago.
35:54
It was 30 years ago, you know.
35:55
I was like, fuck.
35:58
And anyhow, I just left mine in a car park.
36:05
So did Piravano, but he gave the keys to the girl beyond the desk.
36:11
He comes back the next year and gets a keys offer.
36:14
It's still there.
36:15
It is still there.
36:15
I don't know whether the battery is flat or not, but he started driving around in the thing again.
36:20
We're not going to mention the rental car company because I don't reckon that's a good decision.
36:24
No.
36:24
There is talk of you and a Commodore wagon in Perth.
36:28
No, it was a Falcon wagon.
36:29
It was a Falcon wagon, was it?
36:31
Sorry.
36:31
And a rollback.
36:33
And it might have only had first and third gear left when it got returned to the airport, was it?
36:38
No, what happened was...
36:41
There was a falcon wagon that Kawasaki hired.
36:45
Yes.
36:49
Everyone had a little drive of it, Dowson, because he was one of our riders, right?
36:56
He drove it through the sand dunes on that track next to the road that goes into the racetrack at Perth, right?
37:05
Wanneroo there.
37:06
Wanneroo, yep.
37:07
And dragged the bumper bar off the back, the plastic bumper bar just comes straight off the back.
37:12
As you jumped over... Don't try this at home, kids.
37:15
Yes, keep going, yes.
37:17
Then Scott Stevens had a go at it as well.
37:21
And when we went to come home...
37:27
We were at Kawasaki headquarters in Perth, and I was the driver, and the car was full of gear and people, five people, and I backed out of Kawasaki, back out on the road, and pulled it into drive after I revved it in neutral, and they'd gone, bam.
37:47
Oh, no.
37:49
and it pulled it back into first and just crept off up the road.
37:55
We got to the first roundabout.
37:57
We're going round the roundabout and it stopped driving.
38:01
It stopped driving.
38:02
So then we go through the left-hand part of the roundabout and it started to drive again.
38:10
And just left it at the airport and gave the keys back.
38:15
Neville Doyle, the boss, got this letter from the rental car company.
38:22
Who shall remain nameless, yes.
38:24
With pictures.
38:25
Oh, what did they?
38:27
The differential in the gearbox.
38:29
And the axle was broken.
38:33
The spider gears were broken.
38:35
I don't know how lucky we were to get it back to the airport.
38:38
I don't know how it drove.
38:39
Yeah.
38:42
I was the straw that broke the camel's back.
38:44
That was the only thing I did wrong the whole time.
38:49
I did a rollback.
38:50
I've always been like that, a bit of a...
38:55
Show punies, show off, whatever.
38:57
You enjoy jet skiing too, don't you?
39:01
You've hotted up some jet skis and things.
39:02
We've been doing jet skiing since about 87.
39:04
Yep.
39:06
And here, where we are...
39:07
In the river.
39:08
Yeah.
39:08
The river shits all over everything we've been.
39:11
Oh, surf's not bad, but it knocks you around when you're 60 years old.
39:15
But what happens here, you can tell the story better than I can, but they open the weir at certain times and it means that the water flows into sort of different areas and you can go kind of exploring, can't you?
39:26
Yeah, you go trail riding.
39:28
Basically, yeah.
39:29
Across people's farmland.
39:31
And sometimes if you can jump high enough on your ski, you can get out of the water, you can jump the fence or you have to open the gate to go through.
39:39
Okay.
39:40
Yeah.
39:40
And all the cows are gone.
39:41
Yeah.
39:42
But this is up the Kewil River.
39:43
It goes up to Mount Beauty, you know, and the Falls Creek.
39:46
That's where the water's coming from, you know.
39:48
Yeah, amazing.
39:49
Yeah.
39:49
And then there's Hume Weir.
39:51
You know, like, when it goes down, there's the mudflats up at Talangata.
39:55
And you'd ride on the mudflats.
39:58
You'd go flat out in the water on your stand-up jet ski and you hit this mud, this fresh mud, and the mud would come out the back of the jet unit like a tube of toothpaste, spurting toothpaste out, and you'd have these little trails everywhere.
40:19
But getting the jet ski back into the water...
40:22
It wasn't that easy.
40:23
And Roger's brother-in-law only had one leg.
40:29
And he'd be riding along with his long wetsuit on and his leg flapping behind him.
40:32
No, no, no.
40:34
Oh, mate.
40:35
It was a sight for sore eyes, I tell you.
40:37
You had hotted up some things with jet ski.
40:39
Yeah, Aaron and Mark Vittori were on the sit-down X2 at this stage.
40:44
Okay.
40:45
And they were in water that wasn't deep enough to start.
40:50
So they had to run alongside of the ski and...
40:53
While they were trying to get it up on the plane and then jump on it together.
40:58
That was the circuits within itself.
41:02
Then another time, Aaron and I are down the river with Gary Nelson.
41:08
He's on his ski.
41:08
Aaron and I are on my stand-up together.
41:13
Two up on the stand-up, right?
41:15
And...
41:17
We fell off and then you hear this snake, snake, this frigging tiger snake in the river coming straight at us.
41:26
So it's only metres, not far.
41:32
So he's grabbed one side of the handlebar.
41:35
I've grabbed the other handlebar on the other side because it's a stand-up jet ski.
41:39
They're dangerous, those things too, the snake.
41:42
He hit the starter button, I've hit the throttle and we've dragged ourselves away and then Gary's trying to do donuts around this snake without jumping on the ski with him, you know.
41:51
That was an eye-opener.
41:53
Yeah, yeah.
41:54
And another time...
41:56
We were racing around this little island down the river and Aaron fell off in front of me and I ran over him.
42:01
He shouldn't have fallen off in front of me.
42:04
And I did the same to McGee up in the Wimmera River as well.
42:07
Kevin McGee, yes, you.
42:09
Run over the top of him and then...
42:12
We were in the floodwaters and Aaron got stuck in this creek not far from here with a tree laying across the creek.
42:24
It was about two metres thick and he's gone under it in the water, you know, like the water was nearly going over the top of it.
42:31
And there's a whirlpool in front of it, you know.
42:33
Didn't get trapped there.
42:34
That's scary.
42:34
He didn't get trapped.
42:35
We thought we'd lost him, you know.
42:37
He'd come up spluttering on the other side.
42:41
It was close, you know.
42:42
Tell me more about the two-wheel side of things.
42:44
I love the fact that...
42:46
with Island Classic, with Roger and so on, you get a second wind, if you will.
42:54
You have great love for it again.
42:57
One of the bikes in particular is just beside us here, this Suzuki.
42:59
Tell people The XR69 that Rog bought in 2013, it's a direct copy of the Suzuki factory bike.
43:08
It's not a Harris or anything like that.
43:11
It's a Triton engineered thing.
43:12
It's
43:13
Exactly.
43:13
But it is beautiful.
43:14
Yeah, it is beautiful.
43:15
And it's probably worth three times as much now as what he paid for it.
43:20
What is that thing like to ride?
43:22
It's unreal.
43:23
It's got 200 horsepower.
43:25
Alex won the Island Classic on it.
43:26
This is your son.
43:27
My son.
43:28
And then last meeting we did with it, he got pole position and won all three races at...
43:35
Well, it's at the Bend, at the Australian Road Race Championships, you know, whatever they call it, ASBK, in the... What's it called?
43:46
The Superbike Masters.
43:48
Superbike Masters, yeah.
43:49
My memory is so bad.
43:50
That's OK, that's OK. You've done super well here today, mate.
43:53
What about the Katana that's beside us here?
43:54
Well, the Katana, I built that with Rex Wolford in 2010.
44:00
It's actually a 1980 GSX 1100.
44:04
Okay.
44:05
But we were in, Roger and I were in Melbourne, in Sydney at a race meeting up there with the black bike and he bought a bike off a guy who owned Wreckers up there, Metro Wreckers,
44:22
Steve Lembrugge.
44:24
And so we go to Steve's wrecking yard.
44:27
There's a tank and a seat and a few bits and pieces off a katana there fairing.
44:33
And let's make a katana.
44:36
Okay.
44:38
So that's how we got that one.
44:39
Like it's a replica of what I raced.
44:43
Way better.
44:45
That classic meeting at the island went through a great period, mate.
44:48
Yeah, it was great.
44:49
It was good, but it just got out of control.
44:50
But how good was that for you personally is what I'm meaning, like to ride these bikes again with some mates?
44:55
I won it in 07, I think it was, on the black bike, and I felt pretty good about that.
45:02
Then when Alex won, it was... Special.
45:04
It was like winning a world championship.
45:06
Yeah.
45:06
You know?
45:07
It was pretty emotional, you know?
45:10
You have never... You have never... Well, correct me if I'm wrong here.
45:13
I think you've stopped.
45:14
But have you ever said I'm formally retired?
45:16
Have you ever said that?
45:17
I don't know that you have.
45:18
No, not really.
45:19
I just...
45:20
So when we're looking at this, when you look back, your last...
45:24
maybe the last race in Australia in kind of an official capacity.
45:28
What are we talking there, 2015?
45:29
And then you did an appearance in New Zealand in 17 too, is that right?
45:33
Yeah.
45:33
Yeah?
45:34
Yeah, and that was...
45:35
I was over there for the Southern Classic they have every year.
45:39
They invite us over and Aaron and I were there and Graham Crosby and a couple of other old boys, Hugh Anderson and... Lovely.
45:48
You know, like all the old guys, you know.
45:49
Yeah.
45:50
Ginger Malloy and, you know.
45:52
Great history and all those guys.
45:53
And I'm riding around on a 90 model 250 that Rod Price owns and 250TZ Yamaha.
46:01
And I loved it.
46:03
I think it's the best handling bike I've ever ridden.
46:06
I still think that, you know.
46:07
Does it give you a good buzz when you ride like that?
46:09
I mean, I know life and age flows you down nationally.
46:13
I just felt like it was made for me.
46:15
Mm-hmm.
46:16
And, you know, I'm 62 years old or something back then.
46:21
And I'm riding around on it and the officials come up to me and they, the last race of the day is a 250, a two-stroke race.
46:32
I mean a two-stroke race for all classes.
46:34
Okay.
46:35
Yeah.
46:36
Do you want to ride in it?
46:38
And Rod said, yeah, yeah.
46:40
You've only got second-hand tyres on the thing, you know.
46:42
So I had to start from the back of the grid, which was 30 riders in the race, you know.
46:47
So it was a five-lap race, and it's like a minute a lap, you know, roughly a bit over a minute a lap.
46:56
And...
46:58
Avalon Biddle then is now Avalon Lewis.
47:01
Yes.
47:01
She was on an Aprilia 250.
47:02
Yeah.
47:03
And her husband... Keep going.
47:07
You're off.
47:08
Her husband was on the other Aprilia 250, which is... Oh, my memory's so bad.
47:13
Don't beat yourself up.
47:13
Just keep going.
47:15
Lewis.
47:15
Yeah.
47:16
Young Lewis, right?
47:17
Um... Oh, gee.
47:20
I hate this when I forget whose names.
47:22
Anyway, you... And he's...
47:24
He's on the other Aprilia.
47:25
Mm-hmm.
47:26
And...
47:29
It was a five-lap race.
47:30
I could see him in front of me, and he's not getting away.
47:32
He was staying in a similar gap, you know.
47:36
And come up the last lap.
47:38
So what are you here?
47:39
You're second?
47:40
I come across the line in second position.
47:42
Unreal.
47:43
I was so happy.
47:44
I got a trophy.
47:45
I cherish that little trophy.
47:47
I bet you do.
47:48
I bet you do.
47:48
Yeah.
47:49
You know, like it was a really good thing to remember.
47:56
But, you know, there was a...
47:59
The A100 Gentleman's Cup in Switzerland that I did a couple of years when Alex was over there racing.
48:07
And Alex was doing the three years in the German Superbike Championship.
48:12
And he rode for Emil Weber, my mate, who I rode for in 96 and 97.
48:17
But Emil's got these Kawasaki 800, W800s.
48:20
They look, they're like a retro bike.
48:23
And they have what they call the Gentleman's Cup.
48:26
So I've ridden in the Gentleman's Cup a few times and won a few races in that as well.
48:31
Brilliant.
48:32
And we're at this airport in Switzerland.
48:37
I can't remember the name of it now.
48:39
And I was leading the race and I got my helmet open and the track is from here to the wall.
48:46
It's two metres from the spectator's.
48:50
I'm roaring around and the horn still worked.
48:52
So I blew the horn and looked.
48:55
I had the visor up and they were, yay!
48:57
Yelling at the people, you know, and I'm leading the race.
49:00
And every day after I'd come around, they'd be all waving and waiting and cheering and carrying on.
49:05
I crashed.
49:06
Did you?
49:07
I went under this plastic arm coat.
49:10
And...
49:13
I broke another rib and I broke my wrist.
49:18
But I got back on it and got it going again and finished the race and then rode in the next race.
49:22
And everyone was...
49:24
There was like 6,000 or 7,000 spectators there and they were all on the fence and they were all waving, you know.
49:30
I broke my left wrist and I didn't do too bad in that race.
49:34
I don't know if I wanted it or not, I can't remember now.
49:37
But the feeling I got from it, from all these people, the interaction that we were making to one another, it was priceless.
49:47
I've been told to ask about...
49:49
Now, you need to expand here.
49:52
We're talking mid-'80s.
49:54
I think this is based around a Norton engine originally.
49:58
Twin-cylinder water-cooled Norton that Cosworth made years ago in 72.
50:04
So something happens here around a Calderberry Sheen somewhere.
50:09
Just tell the story.
50:10
Yeah, well, Bob Graves...
50:13
owned Quintel, right, and he invented colour TV, basically.
50:18
Okay.
50:18
Well, Bob did.
50:19
Somehow or other, he had a lot to do with it, you know.
50:23
The colour, the flick or something, the lines... Split screen, maybe, yeah, yeah.
50:26
Yeah, I don't know.
50:27
I don't understand.
50:28
But, so, Bob was a keen motorcycle guru, like, billionaire.
50:35
Yes.
50:35
And...
50:36
He had Gary Flood working on the bike.
50:41
Not Cross, but Barry Sheen said, oh, Gary Flood's a man for the job.
50:47
Gary Flood's quite famous in the motorcycling industry, you know, and he is a rocket scientist as well.
50:55
Unbelievable.
50:56
Good bloke.
50:58
So Gary rang me up and asked me if I was interested in riding it.
51:04
So they took me over to Brands Hatch and we did a meeting on it and I finished 10th in an unlimited race and had mainly GP bikes in it.
51:15
Just talk a bit more about the tech around the bike too.
51:18
So this bike, Gary's built it up.
51:21
It's a 830cc water-cooled Norton.
51:27
And… The engine was part of the… was it part of the stress member or something?
51:33
Yeah, it was.
51:34
Gary made the steering head which bolted to the top of the engine.
51:40
And then the monoshock went into the steering head.
51:44
The swing arm was hanging off the back of the motor, you know, and the subframe and all that.
51:49
And I built a fairing for it, a modified a fairing.
51:55
So you spent weeks there with Gary?
51:57
I spent six weeks there with Gary getting it ready for Daytona.
52:00
Okay.
52:00
They asked me if I'd stay a bit longer to help get it ready for Daytona.
52:05
Mm-hmm.
52:06
So we go to Daytona in 97.
52:09
I missed out on the first round of the Australian Championship because that was my first year with Kawasaki.
52:14
That's 87.
52:14
87.
52:15
Yeah, sorry.
52:16
Yeah, 87, not 97, 87.
52:19
And because I was racing at Daytona.
52:22
So I go out and practice at Daytona.
52:25
Marco Lucanelli was there on the Ducati.
52:29
Jimmy Adamo, I think it was.
52:31
on another Ducati and all the boys were there and Rainey was there on a superbike and Merkle and I think Schwantz could have been there too.
52:38
I can't remember now.
52:41
Maybe no, no, Schwantz wasn't there, I don't think.
52:43
But anyhow... Had a vibration, didn't it?
52:48
And what had happened, the quill shaft, it's a balance shaft, kept bending or twisting or whatever they do and it put it out of balance and, you know, the vibration was unbelievable.
52:59
Yeah.
52:59
But I'd never ridden at Daytona before in the G-Force.
53:02
Like, that thing did 180 mile an hour then.
53:04
It was fast.
53:06
It was as fast as the Ducatis.
53:08
I qualified third on 103 laps.
53:11
And it would have, if I'm wrong, the lap time would have been good enough in the superbike race in some way.
53:17
Yeah, well, the lap time that I qualified apparently was...
53:21
would have put me on the second row of the grid in the superbike race with Wayne Rainey and all the boys, you know.
53:25
So I was – yeah, I was going – I wasn't going too bad.
53:30
And then that was the first time – was that the first time I met Marco?
53:36
Mm-hmm.
53:37
Anyway.
53:41
Yeah, and Marco come up to me and said –
53:46
Fuck you, I fastened in the infield.
53:49
You know, like old Marco's in there.
53:51
Yes.
53:51
Yeah, Marco's an unreal bloke now.
53:53
Like, he's world champion, of course.
53:56
And one of my birthdays, I get this Facebook message with a video of Marco.
54:05
And he comes on and he goes, Rob!
54:13
that's all that's all it was amazing that you were a part of that project along with Gary we never got a mention in his book because I failed at Daytona I never got to raise it because you reckon I was a problem and wasn't revving it hard enough at low revs you know
54:32
Pretty wild place to go motorcycle racing.
54:34
Yeah, yeah.
54:35
I mean, you've picked...
54:37
I don't think it's that dangerous, actually, because if you fall off, you only slide along the fence, unless you're really high-sided and went over the fence.
54:46
Well, I suppose...
54:46
But, I mean, lots of great tracks you've been to.
54:49
There's another legendary one.
54:50
Yeah, yeah.
54:51
I don't know how many...
54:51
I can't remember.
54:52
I did count something like...
54:56
It was 58 tracks or something like that around the world, you know?
55:00
And I've ridden around the old Monza track.
55:03
You can hardly walk up that.
55:04
On the banking?
55:05
Yeah, on the banking.
55:06
I was on a minibike.
55:08
Yeah.
55:08
But, you know, just rolling around.
55:09
Around there, yeah, yeah.
55:10
And so, like, you can see why people died there.
55:13
Legendary place.
55:14
Oh, unbelievable, yeah.
55:16
And the fences were closed back in those days too.
55:20
But, anyhow, yeah, all good.
55:23
In bringing this to a close, a couple of things.
55:28
of all the places, of all the races, of all the motorcycles.
55:35
What's the one moment?
55:36
Tell me about the bike, tell me about the place, tell me about the result.
55:45
Look, there's been so many.
55:46
Many.
55:47
You know, like you win the championships and you win some races.
55:53
Some races you don't even win have been good, you know?
55:57
But, you know, if you picked something, it would be Phillip Island, World Supers in 1990.
56:03
Yep, yep.
56:04
I guess.
56:05
But then I won at Harama in Spain and I won at Spa and that was a pretty big accomplishment and a dangerous track.
56:15
Yep.
56:16
Big kahunas there, mate.
56:17
Big kahunas.
56:17
You know where I passed Doug Poland?
56:19
Where?
56:19
Fifth gear.
56:21
through that left-handed before the bus stop.
56:23
There's only two corners left after that underneath him.
56:27
And then Flapper went from tenth to second and took everyone with him, including Aaron, into the kiddie litter.
56:35
And I think, I don't know, Pollan or it was Mertens and Scott Russell, I think Mertens and Scott Russell were on the roster with me.
56:44
I can't remember.
56:45
But I was about two seconds in front.
56:48
When I went across the line, you know, or maybe more.
56:50
To do that at a place like Spa, that's...
56:53
It's so dangerous.
56:53
Yeah, yeah, but...
56:55
But, you know, like it's like Bathurst.
56:59
It's not as dangerous as Bathurst, but it's just awesome to ride on, you know.
57:05
That it's that caliber.
57:07
I mean, I know you're a bit frustrated by technical enhancements or the cost, I guess you could say where the sport's gone and stuff, but are you still a regular watcher of super?
57:15
I mean, you watch the eight hour at the weekend.
57:16
You still watch MotoGP and things?
57:18
It's the first eight hour I've watched the whole way through.
57:20
Really?
57:21
Yeah.
57:21
All those years.
57:22
Yeah.
57:22
Yeah.
57:22
I mean, there's, there's a race that we haven't really spoken about.
57:25
Well, I did 10 of the things.
57:28
You know, I would have done 1,000 laps around Suzuka with testing, racing, and the eight hours.
57:34
Amazing.
57:35
You know, like, easily.
57:36
Yeah.
57:37
That's a great race, that, isn't it?
57:38
Yeah, and it's a dangerous bloody track, too, you know?
57:40
Like, you shouldn't be able to hit the fences, but they're going faster and faster all the time.
57:44
The first time we went there, 83 for the 200K race, I rode for Morawaki, and Cros and I were going around the track, and we got on the arm co-op on –
57:56
I think it's Degna.
57:58
Mm-hmm.
57:58
They've now got a chicane there.
57:59
Yep.
58:00
Because only a month before the Yamaha test rider got killed there.
58:06
So you pressured them to take the... And Croz was the one that pressured them to pull the arm cut.
58:10
Cut down.
58:11
Wow.
58:12
So you still follow, which is great.
58:15
We've talked about Alex.
58:17
Can we come to the fact that there is a kind of a third generation doing things on the world stage?
58:22
Oh, yeah.
58:22
Freddie.
58:23
Tell us about this.
58:24
Freddie Coote, my daughter's son, now Georgia and Jordan Coote,
58:32
Jordan's brother, Dion, owned the Honda team up until a couple of years ago.
58:37
And Jordan's won a 250 proddy championship back in 2000 or 2001 or something like that.
58:47
So he's no slouch on the motorcycle either.
58:49
But Freddie, my grandson...
58:52
He's just raced, he's been BMXing since he could walk, before he could walk, basically.
58:58
He's properly passionate about it too, is he right?
59:00
He is, he is.
59:01
And he's a good little bloke.
59:02
He's got a lot to say.
59:03
I think he's got ADD as well.
59:05
Wonder where he gets that from.
59:08
Anyhow, he's just represented Australia in the BMX World Championship in Copenhagen in, what's it called, Australia.
59:18
Denmark?
59:19
Denmark, yeah.
59:19
Yeah, that's some real, mate.
59:20
Yeah, I never remember these names of these places.
59:22
I've been there a few times, but I never remember.
59:24
That's ultra competitive.
59:25
That's a very... Well, he finished third in the cruiser class.
59:29
He almost, you know, finished second.
59:33
Okay.
59:33
You know, like, and he won a few races because he had about nine races each day.
59:40
And then he went to the second class.
59:43
And he got halfway through into the semis and stuff like that.
59:47
But he got pipped by another guy and missed out, you know, by the eye on the flies.
59:53
But they finished third in the World Championship.
59:57
Pretty impressive for a 12-year-old.
59:58
Very, very.
59:59
I don't want you to talk about it because I'll have to be a little bit careful with the audience.
1:00:05
But Cork, Bellington and a couple of others have all lost money on you and your party triggers.
1:00:15
Dickie Smart, Mick Dillon, um, um, um, Let's just say, let's just say you can contort yourself in a certain way.
1:00:23
Yeah, yeah, I used to be able to.
1:00:24
You can't do it anymore.
1:00:25
You've broken too many bones.
1:00:26
People didn't believe it at the time and they lost money.
1:00:28
That's probably, I think even the lady who owned the old Il Cabello Blanco near Orrin Park, she lost money.
1:00:33
She lost money and another woman in a bar in Japan.
1:00:37
Okay.
1:00:40
Anyway, harmless barn.
1:00:44
Can we wrap this up, mate?
1:00:45
It's been so nice to reminisce with you.
1:00:47
You must please, with Mark Vittori or someone like that, you must do a book, mate, because you've got so many yarns and we've only just scratched the surface on some of them.
1:00:56
When you look back...
1:00:57
The problem is I think the ADD...
1:01:00
I can't concentrate.
1:01:01
Yeah, but a good writer can sit with you and capture those yarns and piece it together in the way you tell them.
1:01:08
A good writer that can put up with me.
1:01:10
Yeah, but, I mean, if they can do it and tell it the way Robbie Phyllis would, that would be a beautiful thing to keep.
1:01:17
I like just doing them a little bit on Facebook.
1:01:20
I'm frigging useless with... Technology.
1:01:24
Technology, like...
1:01:28
I can write stuff on Facebook.
1:01:30
You know, I couldn't spell my name until I was about 10 years old.
1:01:34
Facebook has taught me a little bit of spelling, you know.
1:01:38
I never wanted to write anyone a letter or fill out forms and stuff as a young bloke because I was too embarrassed.
1:01:44
But Facebook, I'm addicted to it.
1:01:48
But I love that.
1:01:49
You give people a little window into your memories that pop up from time to time.
1:01:51
Yeah, and I like writing about stuff and making a bit of a story out of it.
1:01:55
You might sound like bullshit, but most of it's pretty much on the mark, you know?
1:02:01
And it's told like you've told this today, this podcast, mate.
1:02:05
Never let the truth stand in the road, though.
1:02:07
So can we wrap up by kind of asking what you're proudest of here, mate?
1:02:12
I mean, you've had an unbelievable career, one that started as a kind of tearaway kid on an airfield up the road and having a bit of fun...
1:02:23
And you've travelled the world, you've won races at world championship level, you've garnered great mates who've been with you on this journey, you've got family doing good things.
1:02:37
And I know it's been tough in a financial sense and what have you.
1:02:40
Yeah.
1:02:40
But there's a lot to be proud of there, Martin.
1:02:42
Oh, yeah.
1:02:43
I wouldn't.
1:02:43
I'd do it all again if I could.
1:02:45
You know, like I'd try and do it better though.
1:02:46
But I've had a bloody good life.
1:02:48
My kids have had a good life.
1:02:52
Even my mates that have been able to share with me on some of the moments, and I've still got good mates.
1:03:00
That means more to me because I need them.
1:03:04
Yes.
1:03:05
It's so important, mate.
1:03:06
Yeah, it is.
1:03:09
Yeah, she's just having a bit of fun still.
1:03:12
Keeping that youth.
1:03:12
Still a bit of a hoon, you know.
1:03:13
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:03:15
I don't speed anymore, but... You did get caught with Roger by the local cop here when you were both younger.
1:03:23
I think he might have been doing donuts.
1:03:25
Yeah.
1:03:25
And amidst the smoke, he taps on the window and says, bloody Phyllis, I should have known.
1:03:33
Yes, that's so true.
1:03:35
And I've been caught by a couple of cops that have been fans.
1:03:39
Have you?
1:03:39
And I've been doing 100 mile an hour and I've gotten away with it.
1:03:43
Okay.
1:03:44
And I do it again.
1:03:46
It's been pretty good.
1:03:47
I love telling these stories.
1:03:49
I've lost my license six times, you know.
1:03:51
Have you?
1:03:52
Don't...
1:03:53
For lots of points.
1:03:55
Not D or I or anything like that.
1:03:56
No, no, no.
1:03:57
But I love telling these stories, and I'm very big on letting the audience know to keep it in perspective that that was the era, right?
1:04:04
And a lot of things happened in the era that maybe we don't...
1:04:09
we don't like now in modern day life, so to speak.
1:04:11
But no one's been hurt, obviously.
1:04:14
What do you reckon the advice you would give to a young racer today would be?
1:04:18
If someone was sitting out and they were wanting to make it on the world stage, what would you say to them?
1:04:24
Well, if they can't win a race in Australia, I wouldn't even bother going overseas.
1:04:28
Because our game is that good?
1:04:30
Is that what you mean?
1:04:30
Yeah?
1:04:31
What does it teach them here, do you reckon?
1:04:33
Well, you've got to win here first.
1:04:38
And if you can win here, you might do okay over there.
1:04:42
But how are you going to live when you get there?
1:04:44
Where are you going to stay?
1:04:46
What are you going to get around in?
1:04:50
Who's going to pay the bills?
1:04:51
But to be resourceful like you've been is so important in all of that, isn't it?
1:04:55
Yeah, unless you've got a rich parent, it's hard.
1:05:01
I bought a house in Germany and took Alex there because...
1:05:07
I got the house cheap and I renovated it and made money out of it, you know, like, but I wasn't allowed to have a car register in my name, but I could own a house there, you know.
1:05:14
Okay.
1:05:16
It's how you do things, you know.
1:05:17
Like, Germany's a good place to live.
1:05:19
Mm-hmm.
1:05:20
Um, because it's pretty central.
1:05:22
Mm-hmm.
1:05:23
Everyone goes to Spain, but at one stage, if you spent 50,000 euro on a house in Spain, they give you automatic residency in some of the provinces.
1:05:33
Mm-hmm.
1:05:34
Um, I don't know if that still stands.
1:05:35
Yes, yep, yep.
1:05:38
You know, like to look at Casey and Jack and a couple of other Aussies of late, I don't know, like they've been lucky to be able to do the job and get to where they are.
1:05:51
But there's a few little Aussies over there now.
1:05:54
I don't know how they're getting on with the cost of it all.
1:05:59
And they deserve more help, but they ride good.
1:06:04
I barracker for them all the time you know I just can't see it lasting you know it's just too hard mate it's been wonderful to reminisce with you today thank you very much it's nice to tell a bit of your life and to have a good laugh along the way congratulations on what you've done mate thanks a lot Rusty
1:06:32
Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust.
1:06:36
If you've got a guest suggestion, get in touch with me via social media.
1:06:41
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