Latest / Rusty's Garage / Peter Doyle Part 2 | dominating the US & moving to Motorcycling Aust.

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Peter Doyle Part 2 | dominating the US & moving to Motorcycling Aust. · Rusty's Garage

0:02
A listener production.
0:19
I'm automotive commentator and journalist Greg Rust, and this is Rusty's Garage.
0:26
G'day, it's Rusty here, all set for part two of an excellent discussion with Motorcycling Australia CEO Peter Doyle.
0:33
We'll come to a bit more on his role now, later in this second instalment of the pod.
0:39
If you've arrived here and you think it's going to be all rules and regs and admin talk, you're very much mistaken.
0:45
This is the story of someone from a motorcycle-loving family with racing in the jeans.
0:51
Some legends would come around to the Doyle house as he grew up for barbecues and more.
0:56
As you'll hear in part one, if you haven't given it a run yet, jump back to the library and check that one out.
1:03
Being around bikes and those stars of the day clearly had a profound effect on Doyley and after coming to an almost life crossroads, he chose to park his own racing for a career working on the other side of the pit wall, working on the bikes and helping to guide the riders to success.
1:22
He was bloody good at it and with an incredible list of achievements.
1:27
Let's continue the discussion now.
1:30
You got sick of wearing the suit around the turn of the century, right?
1:33
After more than whatever it was, 20 years with Kawasaki, you join Yoshimura Suzuki in the United States.
1:40
And I think the plan was initially a short-term one, but it became a long one, didn't it?
1:44
Yeah, Matt rang me up and said...
1:47
I kept in touch with him, obviously.
1:49
He rode with us in like 91, 92, and then went to Europe for the Kajiva, which wasn't a great thing for him.
1:58
And then- I can vividly recall him on the grid at Sydney Motorsport Park or Eastern Creek as it was known then for the couple of, you know, GPs.
2:04
Yeah.
2:04
Yeah.
2:05
And then, you know, so he came back to Australia and we put him back on a super bike and-
2:11
We hope to be part of helping resurrect his career there, but he obviously had that gyrocopter accident and nearly lost his leg.
2:19
Sure.
2:20
And so there was a long process there for him to heal, but ultimately he came back and the results started to come back and he was picked up by Suzuki US.
2:33
Does your phone ring at this point or something?
2:34
What happens now?
2:35
Yeah, we had a chat and I wasn't really that interested in going.
2:39
I'd been at Kawasaki there for 20-odd years at that stage.
2:43
So you're green through and through, you think, mate, yeah?
2:44
I thought at that stage, a lot of people thought that.
2:48
But there, the suit, wearing the suit every day started to get to me, that corporate side, and I was missing getting on the tools.
2:55
I like to get on the lathe or the mill and make things and doing engines.
3:00
So Matt rang up and said, well, my crew chief's gone.
3:06
He said, do you want to come over to Daytona for the test, which was in December?
3:11
So I took annual leave and I told Kawasaki where I was going or something, going to the test at Daytona.
3:17
I turned up there and the boss came over to me, Don Sakakura.
3:21
He turns up and he's pleased to meet you, da-da-da.
3:23
And...
3:25
He said, well, here's the set-up sheet.
3:28
I said, I still work for Kawasaki.
3:30
He said, oh, we won't tell anyone?
3:34
But they were so welcoming there.
3:35
And so I did the test and watched how the team worked.
3:38
Big team.
3:39
Yeah.
3:40
Free riders, you know, probably a $25 million US budget at the time and bike sales were huge in the US.
3:47
And I did the test there and it was a brand new bike as well.
3:51
And did the test, met everybody, went back to their workshop and then flew home and then basically a week later said, yeah, okay, I'm going to come over and, but, you know,
4:03
family, had to get visas.
4:05
I mean, it was a bit of a battle.
4:07
Yeah.
4:07
And, you know, moving to a new country and... Where did you base yourself there?
4:11
Yeah.
4:12
Chino Hills, California.
4:13
So basically geographical center of LA.
4:18
But you had no idea.
4:20
I went over there.
4:21
I couldn't get paid because I didn't have a social security number.
4:24
I couldn't get a social security number until the visa come through and then I had to apply.
4:28
I had to wait eight to 12 weeks for that to happen.
4:31
I couldn't get a bank account open and therefore I couldn't get a credit card.
4:34
I couldn't buy a car.
4:36
Like there was all these things that
4:38
because it was all rushed and you're trying to build new bikes, new team, new environment, and you've got to be at Daytona in the second week of March.
4:46
So it was, but it worked out.
4:50
I went there for three years and I stayed for 14.
4:53
Amazing.
4:53
And, I mean, you talked about the health of the industry there then and the budget that the team had and so on.
4:59
It was a golden era, mate.
5:00
You were there in a great period for that sport with success as well, weren't you?
5:05
There was a year there.
5:06
2001 through 3, 4, I mean, you're talking about 16, 18 factory bikes on the grid, huge teams, sales.
5:15
And to put it in perspective, the Suzuki sales manager said to me, I said, how can you put so much money into racing here?
5:21
It's more than MotoGP teams are spending.
5:23
And he said, well, he said, last year we sold 50,000 GSXRs, 600, 750,000 in Hayabusa.
5:27
If you take a $1,000 profit off each bike,
5:36
Look at servicing and parts, putting $25 million into that.
5:40
The GSXR range was their pride and joy back in those days.
5:43
Yes.
5:44
Putting $25 million into support that program probably wasn't a big deal.
5:48
Amazing.
5:49
A couple of other Aussies came over in that period too.
5:50
I think Marty Craggle, who's been on the pod, turned up for a time there too, didn't he?
5:54
Yeah, Marty was there, Bucky, Damon Buckmaster came over, obviously Anthony Gobert, Alex Gobert, Aaron Gobert, the whole Gobert family ended up there.
6:04
Aussies everywhere.
6:05
Yeah.
6:06
Adam Ferguson come over for a few races.
6:08
There was a lot of ins and outs, but there were also seven or eight Aussies that were making careers over there.
6:16
They said big dollars.
6:17
Bucky rode for factory Yamaha.
6:19
So, you know, it was a golden era.
6:22
through to about 2008.
6:24
Before you come back, is there in all of this, you know, from the formation of the Kawasaki team that goes on, not in a street, but in a very small budget sense relative to others like Ducati winning that world championship or the success you had, the continued success you had with Matt in the States, is there a zenith thing for you in the racing that you look back on and go, man, that's pretty special to be a part of that, to have helped shape that?
6:49
Oh, look...
6:50
I like being part of all of it.
6:51
Do you?
6:52
Whether it was from winning the, you know, helping Askenazi win the Australian 125 motocross championship, which was just him on his own and me turning up as the manager with McFarlane and those guys, but helping Askenazi because he had no one there helping him.
7:06
Amazing.
7:07
Right through to, you know, that domination in the US, I think, when you look back now, Mladen, Spees, Yates, Tommy Hayden, that... Great names.
7:18
And we went through, I think we went 80-odd races without...
7:24
with winning every one or three years.
7:27
And then we lost one and then still won the next 20.
7:30
So it was, you know, Joe still remember the day.
7:33
I remember the day we lost a race for the first time in three odd years, which was Jake Zemke on the Honda beat us at Utah, Miller Motorsport Park in the first race there.
7:47
But we sort of quickly resumed control after that.
7:50
But...
7:52
That was the same.
7:53
Anything in racing needs stability for long-term success.
7:58
And we built a long-term group of people who were focused on racing, enjoyed racing, liked to go racing, and were also pretty good at their jobs.
8:07
And when you combine that with a healthy budget, that stability is something, like I said before, with riders being honest with themselves and not blaming the bike too much, that's a great trait to have.
8:17
Building a solid, consistent foundation for your team
8:22
gives them that platform that those guys can launch from.
8:25
What made Maladne so good as a rider, as a racer?
8:29
Hard to find anybody more determined and more focused on the job.
8:35
He was one of those guys that said, you're paying me good money, so I need to deliver.
8:40
And I've heard him say that so many times to people.
8:43
Well, it's like they said, oh, here's your bonus structure, Matt, and we're going to give you $5,000 to finish fifth.
8:51
And he sort of looked at them like they've got two heads and said, well, if I don't win, I don't deserve to get paid, do I?
8:56
So I don't want a fifth-place bonus.
8:58
I want a bigger first-place bonus.
8:59
Gotcha.
9:00
And determination.
9:03
I'll change coach.
9:03
I'll try something different.
9:05
I'll do what the footballers do.
9:06
I'll do what the rowers do.
9:07
Just not rest on laurels.
9:08
Keep changing it up.
9:09
And he kept changing it up.
9:11
I'll go and buy a bicycle.
9:13
He was winning.
9:14
And then all of a sudden every rider was competing in these bicycle races.
9:18
I'm going to go and do this.
9:19
Then all of a sudden riders are going to do that.
9:22
A little bit like slight at world championship level in the 90s, Mladen was setting benchmarks or goals that other riders were going, I need to do that too.
9:31
Gotcha.
9:33
And the focus and determination.
9:35
He went to America for one reason, to win.
9:40
And there was, he did everything he could around that, set himself up.
9:44
I mean, I went round to his house one day and he was showing me around his house in Chino and I walked in and he's sleeping in an altitude bed with a pump.
9:55
I said, what are you doing?
9:56
He said, oh, we've got Pike's Peak at Colorado and, you know, it's at 10,000 feet and the bikes are slow.
10:02
I'm acclimatising.
10:03
I'm acclimatising.
10:04
And the poor white family, you know, putting up with his bed, beating all night, pumping all night, the pump's going.
10:10
But...
10:10
He did whatever was needed to win.
10:13
I love that.
10:14
I couldn't ride a motorbike like him, but I wasn't bad at pool or darts or table tennis.
10:19
And we would go around there and have a few beers on Friday night.
10:23
He wouldn't drink, of course, or the team would.
10:26
But, you know, he wouldn't touch alcohol until after the race, last race of the year.
10:31
We'd go in, but he wanted to play table tennis because I wasn't bad at it.
10:35
And we would sit there, I'm drinking beer in between points and he's up the other end and he wasn't that good at it.
10:41
And he wasn't that good at darts.
10:43
But by the end of our era over there, he'd kick our asses at both.
10:47
Unbelievable.
10:48
And that's what he did.
10:48
That says so much.
10:50
Before we move on to the kind of administrative part of your career, can I come to dealing with people, right?
10:56
So you've enjoyed the engineering side.
10:57
You talked about being on the lathe and working on engines and stuff like that before.
11:01
But clearly it's the athlete too, right?
11:04
So, and you've worked with some very different, they're all wired very differently and so on.
11:08
When did you sort of grasp that people aspect and the importance of, because you have to motivate them all in different ways, I would imagine, Doily, do you?
11:18
They're all different and they all act different.
11:22
They all want something different.
11:24
And when I come back to having those kids ride those bikes,
11:28
I remember we had Robbie Phyllis' bike, Matt Mladen's bike, and Aaron Slyt's bike.
11:33
Mm-hmm.
11:34
And they were all ZX7s, but they were all so different.
11:39
And we call them soft, medium, and hard.
11:41
Yeah.
11:42
Phyllis was soft, Slyt was medium, and Mladen's was like a brick.
11:46
Right?
11:46
And that's just the way, you know, their style, their ability, the way they rode the bike.
11:52
The one thing we didn't do...
11:55
There may have been a small part of it.
11:58
We never tried to change the rider to suit the bike.
12:02
Gotcha.
12:04
We've got to make the bike his bike, right?
12:07
So, yeah, you've got to tell riders sometimes and say, you know, hey, we think you're doing this wrong or, you know, Troy Bayless, for example, was never a great user of his feet.
12:16
He said, you know, you really need to...
12:18
use your feet more to weight.
12:19
But that's not telling you how to change your style.
12:21
That's trying to help him ride the bike better by using your feet on the pegs to change the weight balance.
12:28
But we never try and change their style too much.
12:31
So is it more about you understanding them to provide them the thing underneath them?
12:35
Correct.
12:35
So we had three different motorbikes that were so different that the riders couldn't ride each other's bike, but they all said the same uptime.
12:42
Unbelievable.
12:43
Yeah.
12:44
When you come into the era of data, and data started in the, let's call it 1990-ish, is when data started to come in.
12:53
And I had some hilarious things with data over the years.
12:55
Like what?
12:56
Yeah.
12:59
But a lot of riders learnt this data.
13:01
The guy who started 2D, which is probably one of the most utilised data systems, acquisition systems in MotoGP and bike racing in the world now, that guy, Dirk Debus, turned up at Hockenheim when we were doing a test with Robbie in 1990.
13:20
and said, oh, I'm this, I'm a Kawasaki fan.
13:22
And he said, I've got this data logger I'm trying to build.
13:26
And he said, I'd like to put it on your bike.
13:27
And we had a look at it and said, no, it's not bad.
13:30
It's not going to hurt.
13:31
Yeah, put it on the bike.
13:32
So he put it on the bike and he's sitting there and we're just doing our thing.
13:36
And he come over, he said, oh.
13:37
He said, Rob Phyllis is a terrible gear changer.
13:40
And he said, look, I can see on the data and he's showing us the data.
13:46
Yeah.
13:47
Anyway, Phyllis hears this comment and comes over and he says, what are you talking about?
13:51
You know?
13:53
And tells the guy, he says, I can make you go half a second a lap faster because you are losing this time on every gear shift.
14:01
He says, yeah.
14:02
He said, you tell that thing to ride the bike.
14:06
So that era of data led to...
14:09
Riders now grow up with it.
14:11
Yes.
14:11
So there's data already on standard bikes now.
14:14
Yeah.
14:14
Back in those days, you got this data and then you've got to try and look at the data and you interpret the data and then try and convince the rider that, hey, look, the rider says, I'm going through that corner flat out.
14:27
I say, yeah, nah.
14:28
You know what?
14:30
Come and have a look at the data.
14:32
I can swear it's wide open.
14:34
And I think that's that mental thing where, you know, you're going through a corner and I think the head sort of says,
14:43
roll that throttle off.
14:44
Yeah.
14:44
And, you know, so the data was really good for convincing them when they said, no, I'm going through that corner flat out.
14:50
Yeah, well, yeah, actually not because the throttle position shows you're rolling out.
14:54
So that was a really good tool for us to be able to show when it first started, yeah, no, you're not doing what you think you're doing.
15:02
So it's not me saying you're doing it wrong, Robbie or Matt.
15:06
It's the data saying you're not doing what you say you're doing because the data sort of says otherwise.
15:12
Yeah, wow.
15:12
And when they embraced that and Matt Mladen went from a guy who was also a little bit anti-data to start with, he had his own computer, had MoTeX set up on there and he would take the files away.
15:26
after the race and he would take them at night and he would study his data.
15:31
He knew how to read data like some of the engineers.
15:34
Right.
15:35
That's the amount of focus that he had on his job.
15:37
So the US chapter finishes, correct me if I'm wrong here, you received an honorary completion of your original apprenticeship.
15:44
Did you not come...
15:47
Yeah, I sort of, when I went racing, you know, you bailed out.
15:51
So I wasn't, I couldn't attend trade school.
15:54
And so, yeah, I had to do that later.
15:57
And I did that through, we were doing some educational stuff with Sydney TAFE, a lot of TAFE colleges and giving them engines and going there and speaking with some of the young guys at some of the colleges.
16:09
And then one of the teachers there, I said one day, he said,
16:13
You've got such a lot of experience.
16:15
What was your trade?
16:16
And I told him the story and he chased it up for me.
16:19
I love that.
16:19
He found all the details and said, you're now complete.
16:23
That's on the Aussie side.
16:24
But you got a – is it a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in the States too?
16:28
Is that right?
16:29
So –
16:30
Living in the States was something, it's hard to explain to people, but we went through September 11 and we were living in Los Angeles when that went down and we had staff around the country flying to the final, well, second last race of the year.
16:46
And we had to do the last race of the year during that year
16:49
era of war was breaking out and we're turning up to LAX airport and they're about to shut the airport because the US started bombing Iraq.
16:59
So we went through the GFC.
17:01
Yep.
17:02
So living in the US, it was a, there was definitely an experience there, but it also tightened up a lot of the visa laws.
17:10
Okay.
17:11
And, uh...
17:13
one of the ways to basically cement that was that I needed to finish a degree.
17:20
Okay.
17:22
So we worked on that and I got that through the University up in Wisconsin and that was just to make life easier.
17:28
Yeah, but that's a great, I think, acknowledgement of what you'd done around racing and a great compliment to what you'd done in racing, isn't it?
17:34
Yeah, and as I said, it continued to make – we moved to the E3 visa and –
17:40
So it was great change in the US in that period and the rules changed as well.
17:45
So yeah, we had to adapt.
17:47
So you come back, we are talking here in 2025, you come back, is it 2015, you become the technical manager of Motorcycling Australia.
17:54
Did you ever imagine yourself, Crompo often uses a line in the commentary about poacher turned gamekeeper, right?
18:00
People who've worked on the pit side who then go and work for the administrator or the rule maker.
18:05
Did you ever imagine yourself doing that?
18:07
No, it's funny.
18:10
They'd asked a couple of times, you know, what do you do?
18:14
We don't have any technical people here.
18:16
And the moon sort of aligned and it was a part-time gig and I was quite happy because I wanted to set up my own little workshop and do some work here and get back on the tools and got in there and, oh, boy, what a change.
18:32
You've gone from, as you said, the cooper, but I put it for –
18:37
You've gone from the guy who's diplomatically, the guy who's trying to bend the rules to the people who try and make the rules.
18:46
From breaking to making.
18:49
Bardo talks about it in supercars like, I know all the bullshit aligns because I've been there.
18:53
And...
18:56
Just so you know, Timmy Edwards, who was one of our board members, has done the same thing.
19:02
He came onto the MA board and obviously now he's away from Tickford.
19:06
He's with Supercars.
19:07
Yeah, yeah.
19:08
It becomes sporting manager in 2016.
19:11
In 17, you move into the CEO role.
19:14
How have you found that whole experience?
19:17
And I mean, you know, you're...
19:19
in charge of lots of different categories, as we see it in the two-wheel world and so on.
19:22
It's been a big responsibility for you, hasn't it?
19:25
Oh, yeah.
19:26
It's a massive change.
19:27
I mean, the technical side wasn't too bad.
19:29
I mean, it's pretty normal regulation, noise, just do some stuff for the federation that makes them tick a few boxes, you know, and a lot of it was around noise control, which is a big problem in motorsport, as you know, especially in motocross tracks out in the regions.
19:47
and getting into the sporting side of motocross and supercross and superbikes.
19:51
And, um, but the CEO role wasn't something that I'd ever thought about it.
19:57
It just came because the organization imploded, um, and, um, had to pick up the, uh, the ashes from there.
20:05
And I remember being, I was on a plane to the ISDE and, uh, they asked me to go and help out with the ISDE and I got to Bangkok and got off, got off the plane and,
20:15
Turned the phone on and all these messages.
20:17
I ran back and they said, oh, you need to come back.
20:19
We've just fired a couple of people and no one knows what they're doing.
20:22
We can't even pay the staff.
20:24
Crikey.
20:25
So you're it more or less.
20:26
So I got a hotel room there and flew back the next day.
20:29
Lazy.
20:30
And, you know, and started to try and… Rebuild.
20:33
Rebuild it from there.
20:35
Where are you at in that journey?
20:36
How do you feel about where you are now and so on?
20:39
Well, look, I think the play, it was broke.
20:44
There was a lot of debt, $5 million roughly in debt, and there were issues.
20:50
Every bit of paper you picked up for two years, there was a bomb going off under it.
20:54
God, that must have been hard to deal with.
20:55
Because, you know, you've come from winning positives and that injection of adrenaline, positive stuff, and then here you are, every page you turn has got some sort of... And that went on for probably...
21:09
minimum 18 months to two years.
21:11
How did you stick that out then?
21:12
Because you just wanted the good for the game?
21:13
Why did you?
21:14
Yeah, well, I think it was serious enough, and a lot of people won't know how serious it is until probably a few more years down the track when it comes out, but it was serious enough that when I got back and paid the wages, there was only $7,000 left in the bank account, and there was a garnershee from the tax department.
21:32
Oh.
21:33
So, which I just sort of looked at and said, well, a garnishing from the tax department means that they're going to block 30% of your bank account.
21:41
And I said, well, 30% of seven grand is not much, so go ahead.
21:44
You know, and we set about paying it.
21:46
But, you know, we're...
21:50
Four years later, debt-free.
21:53
Well done.
21:54
So there's no assets out there anymore.
21:57
The properties had to go that they had, but we're debt-free and we're going along.
22:02
But the biggest issue there was we were on quite a solid recovery until COVID hit.
22:07
Okay.
22:07
And then that was like, well, the last three years we've got the place almost to wear it there and then whack, we get three years of...
22:16
It was two years, but in reality it was three because nobody was prepared to set calendars and invest money in events when you didn't know whether the government was going to close its borders or shut you down.
22:27
So we'd got to a point where we were strong enough.
22:31
We didn't have to put off any of the staff.
22:34
We maintained all our staff.
22:36
And we'd also set about rebuilding our staff.
22:41
So we got, like any race team, you've got to have good people around you.
22:45
It's not just me or just him or just her or just that rider.
22:51
You know, in the end...
22:52
The administration of the sport is also a little bit like racing.
22:55
You've got to have a solid team of people around you.
22:58
So when we were bringing some people in, new people and changing jobs, we were bringing some people with some experience.
23:07
Same with the board.
23:07
Yeah.
23:08
You know, we got Peter Goddard and Michael Strano and there were people from within the industry who understand a bit about motorsport were coming onto the board.
23:17
Roy Chamberlain, our president now.
23:19
So we got some good people on the board.
23:22
They weren't just enthusiasts.
23:23
They'd also been actively involved in the sport from low level to top level.
23:28
Yep.
23:28
But it also could bring a bit of kind of call it business acumen or something or elements of that to the table.
23:34
Yep.
23:35
They bring a bit of clout and the name brings some integrity.
23:39
Goddard was a great person to have on the board as a leader.
23:43
He was a world endurance champion, Australian champion, dirt track.
23:46
He'd done motocross, speedway, dirt track, road racing, Japan, Europe.
23:51
So as a figurehead and a leader, having those people there...
23:56
people look at the company differently.
23:58
Good.
23:58
So we brought other people in the staff.
24:00
We brought in, with my position, had to change and move into that role.
24:05
We brought in Pip Harrison from Honda, who'd led Honda's race team for 15 to 20 years, and he wanted a change, and he's still there today.
24:13
So you've got to get those good people around you, and right now we've got –
24:17
quite a, and we're always looking to improve by the way, but we've got quite a good team.
24:23
Good framework.
24:24
Good framework, yeah.
24:24
And we've got some experienced people in there in all our areas of all departments, media, events, operations, technical.
24:33
So we've got some solid people in there.
24:35
So we know we've still got to improve, but I think that's just like any race team.
24:40
If you're not looking to improve, you're not doing your job.
24:42
Yeah.
24:52
Peter is part of the board for the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame.
24:56
In 2025 the panel voted to uplift Casey Stoner to legend status, a very worthy inclusion in a rare group of champions with nerves of steel.
25:05
We entered the corner at 265, and the slowest point of the corner, I cracked the throttle, I opened it again, was 258k an hour.
25:14
We were breaking the rear end to get it out.
25:16
So that's the quickest we ever went through there.
25:18
I'd say through a race, because I never wanted to spin the tyre too hard, I wanted to save it throughout the race, we were probably sitting at about 250, I suppose, every lap.
25:28
Casey's recollection of tackling a corner now named after him at Phillip Island is just one of many captivating stories in his podcast with Rusty.
25:36
He also opened up on some health battles he faced in post-race life.
25:40
Search for Casey's two-part EP in the garage library.
25:44
Now back to Doyle.
25:45
What's the vision, if you will?
25:47
And I ask that twofold, right?
25:49
I'm asking it from a business perspective, what you might like to see in the years to come.
25:54
I'm very mindful of the shape of the motorcycle market and demands that are in the general public around being greener and all of these sort of things.
26:03
But also too, you've come through at a point where we've had Casey Stoners, Chad Reeds, you've had all that sort of stuff.
26:10
What are the green shoots like for the next generation of racers coming through?
26:13
Yeah.
26:13
Well, I think, you know, right now, and it's funny because we, our sport is so many disciplines, right?
26:20
So we went through such a golden era of road racing.
26:25
I mean, you can look back really from the 70s to the 80s to the 90s to the, it just keeps going.
26:31
Going, yeah.
26:31
It's probably a bit thin on the ground now, but a lot of that is due to probably what occurred 10 years ago where FIM World Superbike rules went away from Australia for more than 10 years.
26:44
Fragmentation, multiple series in Australia, unparalleled.
26:48
different promoters and state bodies within our own pulling in different directions, no pathways.
26:54
It really, really changed the landscape in road racing.
26:58
But, you know, right now our Speedway and Motocross boys and our Enduro guys are really solid globally.
27:06
More than solid.
27:07
Yeah, yeah.
27:07
Yeah.
27:07
I mean, Speedway of Nations twice in the last three years, Motocross of Nations twice in a row, ISTE.
27:14
I mean, we've got a room at the MA office, which is just one of our small meeting rooms.
27:20
I call it the ISTE room because we've got all the team trophies there.
27:25
I love that.
27:26
The women won six in a row.
27:27
We've won outright the trophy team, the junior team.
27:30
There was a year they won all three.
27:33
Daniel Sanders won the World Rally this year, and I didn't check this morning's results, but I'm hoping he goes undefeated.
27:40
That would just be incredible.
27:41
Won the Dakar.
27:43
Toby Price won the Dakar a couple of times.
27:44
So you look at Enduro, Speedway and motocross, and in reality, the world results have never been better.
27:51
Better.
27:51
Ever.
27:52
Road race...
27:54
I think road races changed enough that it's going to be hard to see a Mick Doohan era because the fact is getting there now is totally different.
28:06
Mick Doohan got there on talent.
28:07
Yep.
28:08
Wayne Gardner on talent.
28:09
Casey Stone are on talent.
28:11
Now you've got to have talent and money.
28:13
Yeah.
28:14
And I think that's a bit of a game changer in road racing.
28:17
I'm not necessarily a fan of it, but the only way through there is there's huge costs to get to it now.
28:23
And I think it's probably gone a little bit the way of Formula One, I'm assuming.
28:26
Yeah.
28:27
But the days of that manager coming out and watching the support race at MotoGP and saying, geez, I like that Troy Bayless.
28:35
I'm going to get him on one of my bikes.
28:36
I think those days are gone.
28:37
Yeah.
28:38
I think the dot joining and all of that somehow is that from all of us collectively, finding the right sort of benefactor that has that same belief that you just talked about and then getting them somehow to help that rider to get to the top.
28:51
Yeah.
28:52
There's a lot of riders overseas right now and I was looking to put it in perspective
28:59
we never recovered our international participation from COVID rapidly.
29:04
So to give you an idea, we have to issue FIM licences on behalf of the FIM.
29:09
So the international licences for all the Aussie riders are issued through the MA office.
29:14
Gotcha.
29:15
So the peak of that was...
29:18
pre-COVID, probably going back to about 2018, was 300.
29:24
We went to COVID, it went below 100.
29:26
And we've only now, we're back up to about 260, 270, and we've got a couple of months to go this year.
29:32
So we'll almost have an equivalent number, record number of people
29:37
Aussies who are taking international licenses and participating overseas.
29:42
It's just not necessarily at MotoGP where you've only got Jack Miller.
29:46
They're over there doing Spanish championships, BSBs, and there's a few popping up in the AMAs again.
29:52
And so Asia Talent Cup, Red Bull rookies, there's a lot of young talent out there.
29:58
So...
30:00
You've got to be hopeful that in a few years one of them get through.
30:03
We can unearth another.
30:06
Kelso and Rulston, Harry Voigt's got a wild card this weekend.
30:11
They're at the fringe.
30:12
There's a lot of guys knocking on that door.
30:14
I think that there's money and being in the right place at the right time or putting up that right performance in the right place at the right time.
30:21
is now very important to those guys to take that next step.
30:24
You've been ace with your time.
30:25
Let's do a couple to finish.
30:27
Firstly, you bring up MotoGP.
30:28
That is this weekend.
30:29
We're recording days out from heading to Phillip Island.
30:31
You might even be heading there today for all I know.
30:33
On race weekend, what happens for you?
30:35
Are you immersed in things?
30:37
Can you take it in?
30:38
What have you got to do?
30:39
Um...
30:40
Well, so today when I go back from here, we've actually got 15 officials at the MA office today and we've got the FIM senior officials there.
30:50
Nice.
30:50
And they're delivering the clerk of course, so the people who run the event in race control.
30:55
So we're delivering that seminar today at the MA office.
30:58
Excellent.
30:59
With the FIM.
31:00
And we'll head down tomorrow.
31:03
Tomorrow afternoon will be a track inspection with the FIM and Motorcycling Australia and...
31:10
people from Dorna.
31:11
There'll be a lot of, it's grown from having one or two people do it.
31:15
There's entourage and buses and walk around the track.
31:20
So it's grown into this massive big, and everybody's got their input.
31:25
Oh, that corner's too fast.
31:26
That barrier's too here.
31:27
That needs doing.
31:28
And,
31:29
A lot of it's not really that relevant.
31:31
It's just part of the show now.
31:33
But we'll do that Thursday.
31:35
Obviously, a lot of catching up with people.
31:38
It's one of those events, like any of the big events, there's people from manufacturers turn up, there's partners, there's sponsors, there's riders who'll turn up, there's other business contacts that will turn up.
31:51
And there's a lot of meeting and liaison goes down there.
31:54
It's that conversation.
31:55
connectivity is probably for us the most important part of the Grand Prix.
31:59
It has been a crazy busy few weeks for you from the United States back here to MotoGP, but I want to come to the fact that we had MXGP in Darwin.
32:08
You know, I was there with you at Broadfoot all of those years ago.
32:10
Fantastic that we can get that level of motocross back in Australia.
32:15
What did you think of that?
32:15
The track they created at the Hidden Valley Circuit I thought was awesome.
32:18
Other than a decent downpour, which surprised everybody late on Sunday afternoon, it was massive, mate, wasn't it?
32:24
Well, you were there, you saw it, I saw it.
32:27
I went to the Des Nations and obviously the week after and yet there was people still talking about MXGP in Darwin.
32:37
The global promoter in front loved it.
32:40
The riders loved it.
32:41
All the international people had a great time up there.
32:44
The track was fantastic.
32:46
Great crowd.
32:48
I think major events, Northern Territory major events did a great job
32:51
And we were just happy to get that Grand Prix back here.
32:56
And it's quite – there's a funny – well, it's not a funny story, but a lot of people are not going to believe how that came about.
33:03
But with Craig Fletcher, who – Used to be at the Grand Prix Corporation near Melbourne.
33:08
And that was just a conversation that Craig and I were having over super bikes going to super cars.
33:13
Yeah.
33:14
Amazing.
33:15
And I said, you're in major events now.
33:17
MX Grand Prix is a little golden nugget sitting out there that a lot of people have kicked around over the years and someone needs to take it because...
33:29
Look at the market and look at the amount of people in the right place with the right promoter, with the right track.
33:35
It'll be as big as MotoGP.
33:36
Amazing.
33:37
Great.
33:37
And we're really excited about, you know, building on it for 2026 and beyond.
33:41
You shared a post very recently on MA socials with some absolute legends at donations.
33:47
Yeah.
33:48
Jeff Leask is in there.
33:50
Stephen Gall, who I'm going to get on the pod soon, is in there.
33:52
I love the fact that while we're talking about the Lawrence brothers and what they were doing and how the Australian team generally performed so well, we have these legends that we're acknowledging in the same breath, mate, aren't we?
34:03
Yeah.
34:04
Yeah, look, Stephen Gall, Jeff Leask, and again, I'm fortunate that I've known those guys for years.
34:09
And, you know, those two guys support the Australian MX of Nations team by organising a tour and they lead the tour.
34:19
So Steve and Jeff organised that and they had 60 people with them.
34:22
Unreal.
34:23
But Marty Kragle was part of that, so two-time Superbike champion here, international.
34:28
Chris Watson was there, who's won so many dirt track championships and stuff in Australia that I think he's probably lost count.
34:35
Okay.
34:35
Ray Vanderberg, former Mr. Motocross, and I knew Goof really.
34:39
We were juniors together and junior racing, as was with Jeff Leesk and Mark Leesk, his brother.
34:44
Yeah.
34:45
And those guys all up there wearing the Australian shirts and having a good time and waving the flag.
34:51
Proudly waving the flag too, mate.
34:53
And so they ran it for Maddely Basin in the UK and that was the first go.
35:00
It went okay.
35:01
And then, oh, we're going to do MX of Nations in the US.
35:05
And they were already talking.
35:06
We're going to have to do an A in France.
35:08
So...
35:10
The competitive side of the year comes out.
35:11
There's only one thing possibly better about Australia beating the Americans in America and in motocross is probably beating the French in France.
35:20
So I think that should be what everybody sits back.
35:23
I hope that's the aspiration they use for everybody to get behind Ernais next year.
35:28
I love that.
35:29
To finish...
35:30
you have had an amazing career that spans decades.
35:34
You've been a part of some successful, very successful racing teams and manufacturers.
35:39
You're doing some great things now in a governing body sense.
35:43
What do you reckon is the key to your longevity and the success?
35:47
And I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I want to part answer it from an observation that I have.
35:52
I reckon it's a roll your sleeves up approach.
35:54
I reckon it's that Aussie kind of can-do thing, but I also reckon it's a no BS approach.
35:58
What
35:59
If you sat back and looked at it, am I right?
36:01
Yeah, I think you're right.
36:03
When we were running race teams, there was one thing I like to do is that like any business you're running, running a race team, running a business, you have to have a good crew around you.
36:15
Yeah.
36:16
So you hire the people.
36:18
People come and do the job.
36:19
People get sick.
36:20
People leave.
36:20
People go away.
36:21
People don't turn up.
36:22
Whatever might happen.
36:23
Yeah.
36:24
my thought process was that I need to be able to do the job of everybody in the team.
36:29
So if somebody's not there, I can change the gearbox or I'll put that cylinder head on or I'll change that engine or shock or forks or so, you know,
36:39
That was something that you can only do by working in the sport for a long, long time.
36:44
So you have that ability to roll your sleeves up and get dirty if you need to.
36:48
I mean, even being in the US, when we used to do the pit stops at Daytona before they sort of stopped all what we used to do in the old days, I was the rear wheel guy.
36:59
So even as the team manager, you know, you roll your hands up and get dirty and
37:04
Hopefully, you hope that that's leading by example.
37:08
So, yeah, that is my approach.
37:09
And, yeah, I'm a fan of the no BS approach, whether it's coming from me or whether it's at me.
37:17
I'm quite happy with that approach.
37:18
Great stuff.
37:19
It's been wonderful to talk a bit of life and time with you and what you've achieved.
37:23
Congratulations.
37:25
get the joy of spending a little bit of time with you around the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame and we're doing some some cool things with that too we wish you continued success with Motorsport Australia and and thank you mate for everything you've done along the way it's been lovely to tell a bit of your story thanks mate anytime I'm sure there's more stories that will never see the light of day but anyway it's been great thanks awesome cheers