Wayne Gardner
Wayne Michael Gardner (born 11 October 1959) is an Australian former professional motorcycle and touring car racer. He competed in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from to , most prominently as a member of the Honda factory racing team where he became the first Australian to win motorcycling's premier class in . His success on the world motorcycle road racing circuit earned him the nickname The Wollongong Whiz. After his motorcycle racing career, Gardner competed in touring car racing from 1993 to 2002. Both of his sons, Remy and Luca, are motorcycle racers. Motorcycle racing career Gardner was born in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. He began his racing career in 1977 at the age of 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. In 1981 Gardner was hired by Mamoru Moriwaki to race in the Australian Superbike championship aboard the Moriwaki Kawasaki Kz1000s. Gardner and co-rider John Pace qualified their Moriwaki Kawasaki on pole position at the prestigious 1981 Suzuka 8 Hours, ahead of all the major factory racing teams. Fellow racer, Graeme Crosby gave Gardner his first opportunity to race in Europe. Although Crosby was contracted to ride for Suzuki, he decided to sponsor Gardner to compete in the British Superbike championship riding Kawasakis run by the British Moriwaki concession owned by Crosby. On the way to Europe, Gardner rode the Moriwaki Kawasaki to an impressive fourth-place finish at the 1981 Daytona Superbike race behind Yoshimura Suzuki riders Crosby, Wes Cooley and Honda's Freddie Spencer. Moriwaki and Gardner proceeded to compete in the British championship, winning their first race in England. Gardner entered the final race of the season with a chance to win the title but, an engine misfire relegated him to third place overall in the championship. Gardner's impressive results on the Moriwaki Kawasaki eventually earned him a contract with the Honda Britain racing team. He rode a Honda to a fourth-place finish in the 1982 Formula TT championship. Gardner made his 500 cc Grand Prix debut with the Honda Britain team at the 1983 Dutch TT during which he was involved in an accident with reigning world champion, Franco Uncini. Uncini fell off his bike as he was exiting a corner and as he tried to run off the track, he was struck on his helmet by Gardner's bike. Uncini went into a coma but, subsequently recovered from his injuries. Gardner failed to score any points in the two Grand Prix races he had entered in 1983. In 1984, he won the British 500cc national championship for Honda and was able to compete in five Grand Prix world championship races. He scored points in all five of the Grand Prix races in which he was able to compete in during 1984, including an impressive third-place finish at the Swedish Grand Prix, earning a seventh place in