audition ... and on the first of the twoday test , I crashed ! I got up and saw what looked like plane crash debris leading to the bike . It was upside down against the wall . I personally had never seen a bike so damaged . The fuel tank was split and fuel was glugging out - I didn ’ t even think about fire but that would have been the only way to make it worse .
I pushed it over onto its bent wheels ; I could see straight to the throttle bodies , where gravel-trap stones lay because the air-box had been torn away from the mountings . Just like that , one little mistake and I had destroyed a quarter-million-dollar bike . I was off the list .
At the time , I was just a naive 21-yearold Aussie that acted about 15 and didn ’ t even fully realise how big this opportunity was .
Before the disappointment could set in , the ‘ Suzuka bug ’ had bit . I didn ’ t have the factory ride so I put my hand up for any seat going and secured a place with team Yoshiharu . I arrived again in Japan for a pre-event practice and to my horror the bike was nothing like the works-level machine I ’ d smashed to pieces a few weeks earlier .
It might have looked bad , but it rode okay and turned out to be very reliable . I stayed in Japan for the two weeks between practice and the start of the race event - living at the team ’ s little work shop . The daytime mechanics would go home at about 6pm so I was there alone - bored for hours each day and would pass the time ratting through the workshop shelves and drawers .
I quickly recognised there were enough parts to build two bikes ; so that ’ s what I did . I stripped the race bike and started with two chassis . I picked the best one ( the one with the least crash damage ), marked it # 1 and put all the best parts on that bike . Whatever was left went onto the other bike – labelled
# 2 - until we had two running bikes .
In the meantime , word had gotten out that I was going to do the race . I had a call from friend and legend of the sport , Kevin Magee . He is a Suzuka 8 Hour winner , so I listened to what he had to say . He went on about how tough the race would be and how important it is to stay hydrated . He said “ drink until you feel sick and then keep drinking , and eat every chance you get .” At first I thought he was just being dramatic but when he said the factory teams were banned from using a drip to re- hydrate their riders , I began to believe how serious he was .
I was teamed up with Japanese rider Yoshiyuki Sugai , who I knew nothing about . I later found out no other Japanese riders wanted to team up with him because he was hard to work with . But as I didn ’ t speak a word of Japanese nor him a word of English , we got on just fine - and are still friends today . He started the race and I would ride second and so on for the following eight hours . One hour riding , one hour of resting until my 4th stint that would finish the race .
This all sounds pretty straight-forward but only 16 laps into my first 27 lap stint I felt like the heat was trying to strangle me . I couldn ’ t concentrate anymore and I was making mistakes . I put my head over the screen in search of cool air but it was like a hair dryer pressed up against the air vents of my helmet . I put my head back down and continued to suffer for what felt like the longest hour of my life . I was taking my feet off the pegs any chance I could because the hot air from the exhaust and oil cooler were literally burning my feet . I convinced myself to press on but swore - with every agonising lap - I would never do this stupid race again .
My life was hell for the next few hours . I got on for my fourth and final stint : the sun was almost gone , the temperature had dropped and the end was near . I crossed the line in sixth place and – in an emotional 180 - I immediately forgot the pain and was overcome with the satisfaction of the achievement . We were already speaking about next year and what we could do better .
This was also a super , great , amazing result for the team . In the nineteen years they had been at it , their previous best finish was a 17th .
To my surprise this still wasn ’ t enough to catch the interest of the big teams - so in 2006 it was like ground hog day . I went through the exact same feelings , emotions and asked myself “ what the hell are you doing here again ?” We finished seventh . Even though this was one position worse , it was actually a far better race for us as we were much closer to the leaders at the finish . u