Wayne Gardner

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Wayne aboard the Honda NSR500 (Donington Park)

Wayne Michael Gardner OAM (born October 11, 1959 (1959-10-11) (age 48) in Wollongong, New South Wales) is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and touring car racer. His most notable achievement was becoming 1987 World 500CC Motorcycle Champion. His success on the world motorcycle racing circuit earned him the nickname The Wollongong Whiz.

1 Motorcycle career
2 Four-wheel racing career
3 Personal
4 External links

[edit] Motorcycle career

Gardner began his racing career in 1977 at age 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.

He won his first 500cc race at the Jarama circuit in Spain in 1986 , the 500cc World Championship in 1987 and the inaugural Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island in 1989. For his entire Grand Prix career, Gardner raced for the Rothmans Honda team and was joined on that team by fellow Australian Michael Doohan in 1989.

Gardner also won four Suzuka 8 Hours races in 1985, 1986, 1991 and 1992.

Gardner retired from motorcycle racing following the 1992 season but stayed closely involved with the sport, helping various riders like Daryl Beattie early in their careers. He rode at special events like the Goodwood Festival of Speed on classic Honda motorcycles and raced again at the Goodwood race meeting against fellow bikers James Whitham and the late Barry Sheene and ex-Formula One driver Damon Hill.

[edit] Four-wheel racing career

Following his retirement from the 500cc championship, Gardner turned his interests to four-wheeled motorsport. He began his V8 Supercar career in 1992, driving the Raider Motorsport built Bob Forbes Racing VN Commodore, leased by Graham Moore for the 1992 Bathurst 1000. In 1993 Gardner won a race at the Australian Grand Prix weekend and finishing third in the prestigious Bathurst 1000, driving a Holden Commodore. Many incidents while driving for the Holden Racing Team in 1993 led to him being given the nickname Captain Chaos, and actually led to his brief suspension from the team for that year's Sandown 500. For the 1994 season he formed his own team, Wayne Gardner Racing, where he raced for many years with team mate Neil Crompton. The team folded after a partial 1999 season with a leased car from Perkins Engineering, but he continued racing V8 Supercars until 2002, with the highlight of taking pole position for the 2000 Bathurst 1000.

Gardner also made a foray into the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, racing a works Toyota Supra, in 1996 and raced in this competition until his retirement from motorsport in 2001. He won a round of the championship in 1999 (at Fuji Speedway) and 2001 (at Sportsland SUGO). He also had the distinction in 2001 of being the only Toyota driver to finish every race that season, and he also finished every race in the points.

In 1998 Gardner made a one-off appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Gardner was entered in the Riley & Scott with Philippe Gache and fellow ex-motorcycle rider Didier de Radigues. They qualified 26th, but failed to finish after competing 155 laps due to engine problems.

[edit] Personal

Following his victory in the 1987 500cc World Championship, Gardner was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 1988's Honours List.
Gardner is married with two sons, Remy and Luca. He spends his time living between his two homes in Sydney and Monaco.
In 2006 he was a contestant on Australia's Celebrity Survivor.