You’re a household name
to bike fans in Australia,
but people might not know
you’re also a YouTube
sensation...
If you watch the way I ride that
BMW at Goodwood, you’ll be
able to see how I ride a classic
bike – like I stole it!
There’s a point where
you’re trying to round up
John McGuinness in the
wet (above right), and it
doesn’t go exactly to plan
I didn’t realise the puddle was as
deep as what it was. We had only
completed the sighting lap and
that was the first lap of the race.
There was a bit of a downpour
just before the start, and when
I came around I hooked it up
a gear, as I needed to coming
out of the corner, then I hit the
puddle and it just aquaplaned.
I wasn’t going to let go of it, just
so it didn’t flick round and take
anyone out. The engine was still
running and everything...
Did they give you any
special instructions, like
“take it easy on this one-of-
a-kind museum piece”?
“Takecareofthiscosthere’s
only one of them!” That was
my instruction...
That bike there was pretty
much straight out of the
museum. It’s an original 1935
BMW, not one piece is a replica,
it’s all original parts. For the
qualif y ing lap on YouTube, it
wasn’t my bike. I actually did
steal it!
It belonged to the other BMW
team, but my guy had gone out
on my bike – the #5 bike which
I race – and he came wobbling
into the pits halfway through
qualif y ing w ith a f lat t y re.
I asked where the spare wheel
was so we could go change it, and
they didn’t have one. So I said
“call in the #7 bike,” and just as
I said it, he came rolling into the
pits. They had already qualified,
so I grabbed the bike and told
the rider “get off, I’m taking your
bike,” grabbed my transponder
and jammed it dow n my boot
and rode out. I’d never even sat
on that bike. That lap was my first
ever f ly ing lap on it.
I had an out lap to get a
feel for it, then set the fastest
lap, then next lap I was three
seconds faster again.After winning the
Australian Superbike
Championship for Honda in
1993, you went over to the
AMA. How did that happen?
That came about through Barry
Sheene. He called me up after
I won the championship and
asked what I wanted to do. I said
I wanted to get out of Australia.
He tried for World Supers, but
there were no rides.
So he rang Eraldo Ferracci
[of Fast by Ferracci fame] and
organised for me to go to a test
at Day tona. We f lew over, went
to the track and there were a
heap of guys tr y ing out like me.
I think everyone got eight laps –
fastest lap got the ride.
Daytona is a track like no
other, with that banking. But
I’d never been there before,
never ever seen the place. Colin
Edwards was there, Jamie
James, a few other names, and
I said I wanted to go last. I went
out and sat around the track
and listened to them ride, to try
and learn it, listening for gear
changes. After eight laps I was
quickest, so I got the ride.
Then it was prett y much
straight out in the Daytona 200.IfeltthatgoodIthought I could
win it. Winners’ circle with Scott
Russell (Mr Daytona) and Eddie
Lawson was a big moment.In Australia the Ducati
916 was considered very
exotic at the time. Did you
feel like you were on exotic
machinery?
Absolutely. After I won the
Australian Superbike title,
I actually got the chance to
go to Japan and ride the F1
Honda, and it was a weapon
compared to what I was racing
in Australia. But to jump on the
Ducati, well, the Ferracci bikes
were awesome. Doug Polen had
just won the championship on it
[in 1991 and ’92], so I thought to
myself ‘I’ve just got to get on it
and ride it.’
I wasn’t worried about
changing anything, I had
confidence that the bike was
good, and it was a twin. That
was the first time I had ridden
a twin, and it was easier to ride.
It wasn’t peak y or tr ying to
wheelstand, it had nice power
and torque and it suited my
st yle. Easy to wheelie, easy on
throttle control...“I hooked it up a gear, then I hit the
puddle and it just aquaplaned”
Troy Corser
sport
Grid talk INTERVIEW MATT O’CONNELLWe caught up with the Superbike legend ahead of the AMCN Island Classic