Michael Doohan

mick doohan

Michael "Mick" Sydney Doohan AM born June 4, 1965 (44 years) in Brisbane, Australia, is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road world champion, who won five World Championships, 500 cc, second only to Giacomo Agostini. Doohan’s feat has been equaled by Valentino Rossi, who won 5 consecutive world championships 500cc/MotoGP from 2001-2005, and a 6th MotoGP World Championship in 2008. Doohan is one of the best motorcycle racers in the history of sport, and remains an inspiration for those involved in sport.
Originally from the Gold Coast, near Brisbane, Australia Doohan raced Superbikes in the late 80’s, and also won two races as the World Superbike Championship visited Oran Park in 1988. He is one of the few 500 cc and MotoGP world champion who has won a World Superbike Championship race. He attended St. Joseph’s College Gregory Terrace.
He made his debut in 500cc Grand Prix for Honda in a two-stroke motorcycle in 1989. In 1991, he was tied with Wayne Gardner on a Honda RVF750 superbike and won the Suzuka endurance race 8 hours. Doohan competed successfully throughout the 1990s and seems to be on his way to winning his first world championship when he was seriously injured in an accident in practice before 1992 Dutch TT. He suffered serious permanent damage to her right leg due to medical complications and in a moment, the risk of amputation of the leg. At the time, Doohan was 65 points ahead of the championship, but was unable to compete for eight weeks after the accident. After an arduous recovery, Doohan returned to racing for the last two races but could not prevent Yamaha rider Wayne Rainey won his third consecutive title.
Throughout 1993 he fought to regain fitness and ability to race the Honda at elite level. However, in 1994 won his first World Championship 500 cc. From then until 1998, dominated the class, winning five world championships in 500 cc. In 1997, its most successful years, Doohan won 12 out of 15 races, finished second in two others, and crashed out of the last race of the season at the GP of your home while more than six seconds.
In June 1996, Doohan was inducted as a member of the Order of Australia for his contribution to the sport of motor racing.
Despite up to eight rivals on almost identical Honda motorcycles Doohan margin of superiority over them was such that in many races Doohan would build a comfortable lead walking, and then within the limits of your cruise to victory. Although pure riding skill played a large part of their success, their ability to improve the suspension and geometry of a racing motorcycle gave him an enormous advantage over their rivals, even though other Honda riders (particularly Doohan’s team) benefited to some extent on its ability to improve the handling of the bike. It is generally accepted that the development of the Honda throughout the 1990s helped the company to dominate racing for many years. At the time of Doohan’s retirement, the Honda has become a much better handling machine than it had ever been before.
A notable feature Doohan after crash riding style was the use of a hand-operated rear brake developed during 1993. This was exploited by a "push" like a bar of water craft from the accelerator, but mounted on the left handlebar. Some commentators have argued that this technique offers an additional advantage Doohan at the rear brake, but there was nothing to stop other riders from trying (and some did, including Troy Corse and Miguel Duhamel, none of which had restricted the use of his right foot).
Doohan had another accident in 1999, this time in qualifying for the Grand Prix of Spain. He again broke his leg in several places and then announced his retirement. Was somewhat unfortunate, since their accident rate is much lower than many competitors. Throughout his time in the 500 cc class his chief engineer was Jeremy Burgess, who after his retirement of Valentino Rossi became the chief engineer. After his retirement, he worked as a roving adviser Honda Grand Prix race effort. After the 2004 season, Doohan and Honda parted company. Mick married his long term partner Selina Sines of 11 years on Friday, March 21, 2006, in Hamilton Island. Mick and Selina have two children, Jack and Allexis. The generation of many of the current MotoGP riders Mick considered a source of inspiration, including the 2007 MotoGP world champion, Casey Stoner.
After his success in Grand Prix motorcycle racing had a chance to test a Formula One race, the Williams FW19 at the Circuit de Catalunya, Spain, in April 1998. Despite posting lap times similar to their 500 cc Grand Prix bike, found the car difficult to drive and then doubled the car into a guard rail. It also crashed and totaled a Mercedes Benz AMG in Targa Tasmania.
Michael Doohan helped design and was equipped with its own roller coaster at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast, Australia. This is the only known motorcycle Coaster Intamin AG, and others are made by Vekoma and Zampa.

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