Dean Thomas (motorcycle racer)

For other people named Dean Thomas, see Dean Thomas (disambiguation).
Dean Thomas
Nationality Australian
Born (1973-01-04) 4 January 1973
Port Macquarie, Australia

Dean Thomas (born January 4, 1973) is a motorcycle racer from Australia. He won his home country's Supersport championship in 1995 after two other top 5 championship finishes, and was 4th in the Australian Superbike Championship series a year later; however, for 1997 he headed for the United Kingdom to race. He came 4th in the country's Supersport series that year, the first of 4 successive top-6 championship finishes highlighted by a run of 11 front-row starts out of 12 in 2000, and a victory as a European Supersport wild card. For 2001 he raced in Supersport World Championship, and struggled on largely unfamiliar circuits. He was 16th overall, and tellingly took his best result of 6th at Phillip Island.

British Superbike Championship 2002-2006

He first raced in the British Superbike series in 2002 for the Dienza Performance team, finishing 11th overall in a season hampered by several oil leaks. In 2003 he stepped back down to Supersport, but returned to BSB for 2004 on a Ducati. He came 7th overall, again qualifying better than he raced on occasion. A pair of 4th place finishes at Oulton Park were a highlight. Fittingly, in the final round he qualified 7th and finished both races in 7th.

He moved to the Hawk Kawasaki team for 2005, noting that the bike is "very different to the Ducati where you have to be very fierce with the throttle... on the Kawasaki you have to be much smoother, which I'm learning quickly." He was 6th overall, finishing every race with a best result of 4th. The first half of 2006 was less encouraging, until a huge crash at Snetterton left him with fractured ribs and a punctured lung, missing several races. For 2007 he raced a Samsung-backed Suzuki.

Beyond Racing

In 2008 he did not race, instead managing the career of Yamaha R1 Cup rider Sam Warren.

Career statistics

British Superbike Championship

Pos Rider Bike BHI
England
THR
England
MAL
England
OUL
England
MOP
Republic of Ireland
CRO
England
KNO
Scotland
SNE
England
SIL
England
CAD
England
OUL
England
DON
England
BHGP
England
Pos Pts
R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2
2005 BSB Kawasaki 8 11 8 6 6 4 6 15 15 13 10 6 10 10 11 9 6 6 9 7 11 7 9 6 5 5 6th 198
Pos Rider Bike BHI
England
DON
England
THR
England
OUL
England
MAL
England
SNE
England
KNO
Scotland
OUL
England
CRO
England
CAD
England
SIL
England
BHGP
England
Pos Pts
R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2
2006 BSB Kawasaki 8 8 9 Ret 9 6 12 Ret 8 9 11 Ret 12 12 8 11 8 8 11th 109
Honda 11 13

References

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