Kevin Magee (motorcycle racer)

Kevin Magee (born 16 July 1962 in Horsham, Victoria, Australia) is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer.

His career began with production and Superbike racing, at home and in Japan. He gained early notice racing the Bob Brown Ducati in Australian Superbike races and then joined Mike Dowson at the Warren Willing-managed Yamaha Dealer Team to race the then premier Production race series as well as the growing Superbike series. In 1986 he gained international attention when he and Dowson scored a second place in the Suzuka 8 Hours Formula One race on a lower-spec Superbike.^[1] His Grand Prix debut was delayed after he broke his leg crashing at the Arai 500 race at Bathurst when, leading by a clear margin, he was confused by his pitboards and thought another rider was closing in on him. At the end of year big-money Swann-Series he was given the opportunity to ride a Yamaha factory Grand Prix bike and distinguished himself by winning two of the six races.

In 1987, he got his break in the 500cc world championship with three wildcard appearance on the Kenny Roberts Yamaha team. Crashing in the opening Japanese Grand Prix, he earned a point in the rain-affected Dutch TT before scoring an impressive third place in his third ever Grand Prix at the Portuguese Grand Prix round. Having teamed up with Martin Wimmer to win the 1987 Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race, and having also won the 1987 round of the now-defunct Formula 1 motorcycle championship at Sugo, he became the only rider to stand on the podium of three different World Championships in a calendar year.^[2][3]

In 1988, he was awarded Randy Mamola's place in the Kenny Roberts team, competing as team-mate to Wayne Rainey for the next two seasons. He also returned to the Suzuka 8 Hours race, teaming with Wayne Rainey to claim another win.^[4]

Magee won his first Grand Prix at the 1988 Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix at Jarama and the future looked bright for the young rider. However, at the 1989 United States motorcycle Grand Prix, he was involved in a terrible crash with Bubba Shobert on the cool off lap after the race. Magee was allegedly performing a burn out, where the rider spins the rear tire while keeping the bike stopped with the front brake. A YouTube clip from the 1989 American 500cc GP shows there was no smoke visible, but it was reported the smoke from the burning rubber made it difficult for Shobert to see and he collided with Magee’s bike.^[5] The accident ended Shobert’s career. Ironically, Magee would crash at the same spot during the 1990 race, suffering head injuries that put him out for the season. In 1991 he appeared a couple of times for Suzuki and once for Team Roberts, along with another wildcard Grand Prix appearance in 1993.

Magee also entered a few Superbike World Championship races, winning twice at his home race at Phillip Island in 1991 and 1992. He also raced in the AMA Superbike series in 1994, for the American Honda team before announcing his retirement.^[6] Magee was never able to capture the early brilliance of his career after his accident with Shobert.

Magee is still a familiar face with Australian motorcycle-racing fans in his position as co-commentator on Australian Grand Prix and Superbike telecasts on pay-TV. He is also an occasional tester and writer for Two Wheels magazine.

Motorcycle Grand Prix results ^[7]

Points system from 1969 to 1987:

Points system from 1988 to 1992:

Points system from 1993 onwards:

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

References