Wayne Gardner

Wayne Michael Gardner (born 11 October 1959) is an Australian former professional motorcycle and touring car racer. He competed in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from to , most prominently as a member of the Honda factory racing team where he became the first Australian to win motorcycling's premier class in . His success on the world motorcycle road racing circuit earned him the nickname The Wollongong Whiz. After his motorcycle racing career, Gardner competed in touring car racing from 1993 to 2002. Both of his sons, Remy and Luca, are motorcycle racers. Motorcycle racing career Gardner was born in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. He began his racing career in 1977 at the age of 18, riding a second-hand Yamaha TZ250 bike in the Australian championship and finishing second on debut at Amaroo Park. He went on to record his first win a few weeks later at Oran Park Raceway. In 1981 Gardner was hired by Mamoru Moriwaki to race in the Australian Superbike championship aboard the Moriwaki Kawasaki Kz1000s. Gardner and co-rider John Pace qualified their Moriwaki Kawasaki on pole position at the prestigious 1981 Suzuka 8 Hours, ahead of all the major factory racing teams. Fellow racer, Graeme Crosby gave Gardner his first opportunity to race in Europe. Although Crosby was contracted to ride for Suzuki, he decided to sponsor Gardner to compete in the British Superbike championship riding Kawasakis run by the British Moriwaki concession owned by Crosby. On the way to Europe, Gardner rode the Moriwaki Kawasaki to an impressive fourth-place finish at the 1981 Daytona Superbike race behind Yoshimura Suzuki riders Crosby, Wes Cooley and Honda's Freddie Spencer. Moriwaki and Gardner proceeded to compete in the British championship, winning their first race in England. Gardner entered the final race of the season with a chance to win the title but, an engine misfire relegated him to third place overall in the championship.