Classic Racers: Mick Doohan

A look at the life and career of five-time consecutive 500 cc World Championships Mick Doohan.

Photographs: Nick Nicholls collection at Mortons Archive

“That is my bloody traction control mate…” Mick Doohan points to his right wrist, leaving the young journalist asking the question, a tad flustered.

It was a relevant question: was Mick using all the various tech aids that the other HRC riders were rumoured to be using in the early 1990s? Apparently not: Shinichi Ito (who’d cracked 200mph at the Salzburgring) was running a Honda NSR with fuel-injection, but the HRC press officer said he was on carbs when he did it. Mick just wanted to use tried and tested parts on his NSR500.

After all, he’d come such a long way and knew what worked. Mick’s career trajectory was meteoric: 18 months after riding a 250cc production bike, two top 500cc Grand Prix teams were after his signature for the 1989 season. 1988 had been stellar, riding production four-strokes but – when he was signed by Honda to ride alongside countryman Wayne Gardner – things weren’t so easy. “Jeez, so they call this a motorcycle, do they?” he asked, after a session riding the fire-breathing two-stroke. The 1989 NSR was supposed to have wayward handling but the most powerful 500cc V4 engine on the grid. Crashes came and so did the nickname ‘Dead by June Doohan.’

Dedicating himself fully to the task, the years rolled by. In 1990 he won his first 500cc race in Hungary and was in the hunt for the title thereafter. Honda and HRC had begun to listen to Doohan and crew chief Jerry Burgess even before Gardner retired at the end of 1992, and the onus was more on handling than horsepower.

The ‘big-bang’ motor of 1992 gave Honda an edge that season, the close firing order giving grip and giving Mick wins in the first four races. At Assen it all came undone thanks to a broken leg which was almost amputated following a botched operation in a Dutch hospital.

Yet again he showed steely determination to fight back from injury, only to be injured again in a pre-season crash in 1993 and a late season crash at Laguna Seca. He was weak thanks to the ongoing rehabilitation, with the right leg compounded by the new injuries. He scored only one win that year.

1994 was the year it all came together Mick won nine out of the 14 races that year, with a then-record points haul. Mick would be almost unbeatable for the following seasons to come, taking the 500cc title for five seasons straight, until injury led to retirement in 1999.