At Wakefield Park on Sunday, David Curtis and I were speculating as to why there is a disproportionate number of Australians competing at the top level in World Championships overseas when we only have a population here of 20 million people.
Now this is not new, of course, and we reached no definite conclusion, but a study of the stats is fascinating.
Currently we have competing O/S:
MotoGp: Chris Vermeulen, Casey Stoner, Anthony West
WSBK: Troy Bayliss, Troy Corser, Carl Muggeridge
WSS: Andrew Pitt, Josh Brookes, Broc Parkes, Russell Holland, Mark Aitchison, Jeremy Crowe
World Superstock 1000: Brendan Roberts, Gerry Jones, Chris Seaton
World Endurance Championship: Alex Cudlin, Damien Cudlin, Steve Martin
AMA Superbike: Mat Mladin
AMA Supersports: Aaron Gobert
World Speedway Championship: Jason Crump, Leigh Adams
Supercross: Chad Reed
British Superbike Championship: Billy McConnell
British Supersport Championship: Glenn Richards
Henderson R1 Cup: Shannon Etheridge
This list is not exhaustive, but, just within this list there are 14 Champions of their respective classes. So, what IS it that makes us continue to produce World Champions from such a tiny population base??
Answers on a postcard, please.
