Y
ou could say that Mick Doo-
han's illustrious world road
racing career started with a crash
and ended with a crash, the first
one, unlike the last, coming not
on a factory Honda GP machine,
but rather on a Yamaha World
Superbike ride.
That crash, however, was
followed immediately by his first
World Championship race vic-
tory, and it couldn't have come at
a more perfect place for Doohan.
The win came at Sugo, Japan,
in the backyard of the powerful
Big Four Japanese motorcycle
manufacturers.
"It was a big win for me,"
Doohan says. "I'd been to Europe
earlier in the year. Barry Sheene
had helped some of the teams
understand what I was doing
back at home, and I had talked to
Suzuki earlier on. I also went and
saw some of the Yamaha guys
at Assen... [Giacomo] Agostini
[who was running the Marlboro
Yamaha GP team at the time] and
a few others. Then I did that race
[Sugo], and then Honda came
asking about what I wanted to
do."
Held on August 28, 1988, the
Sugo race was round five of the
fledgling World Superbike Cham-
pionship Series, and Doohan,
a relatively unknown 23-year-
CN
III ARCHIVES
P140
Doohan Crashes To Success
BY SCOTT ROUSSEAU
All of Mick Doohan's five World
Championships came while riding
for Honda but his first success came
on a Yamaha.
PHOTO (AUSTRALIAN MOTOGP,
2012): GOLD & GOOSE
