Facebook reminded me this morning that it is Chris Vermeulen’s birthday today. He will be 37 years old, they say. The Aussie WSBK and MotoGp star has long retired from racing but is keeping his hand in, so to speak, by being part of the regular TV coverage of the MotoGp world championship here in Australia. His expert commentary is always incisive and his insights always worth considering.
Bring reminded of Chris in turn reminded me of the first time that I saw him race and, as a consequence, of a mini-anniversary that I had missed in the hectic lifestyle that I now lead. I first saw Chris race at Wakefield Park, near Goulburn, NSW, on the Queen’s Birthday weekend in 1997. Now it isn’t REALLY the Queen’s birthday on the 2nd weekend in June, she was actually born in April but, for esoteric reasons known only to the Poms, we celebrate her birthday in June and do so with a long weekend, Monday being the official public holiday. And it was on the Sunday of the weekend, 22 years ago LAST weekend, that I first saw Chris Vermeulen.
Now you’d think that I’d have twigged it sooner what with the French Grand Prix, the scene of Chris’s first and only MotoGp win, being on only a couple of weekends ago but, as I said, my life since I retired has been so hectic that I have tended to miss all sorts of important stuff.
So, back to the story. Wakefield Park was built by Paul Samuels on some clapped-out sheep farming land about 15 kms south of the city of Goulburn. The track itself is great, with a good combination of high and low speed corners and its placement on the side of a hill means that spectators can see all of the track from the stands without any difficulty (a far cry from most modern tracks, Eastern Creek for example). The facilities are good and, when I used to commentate there regularly, I always appreciated the support given to us by the staff at the track. HOWEVER, WP has a very distinct downside. It is usually punishingly hot in the summertime and “arcticly” cold in the winter. I distinctly remember one winter meeting there when I announced over the PA at 1430 in the afternoon that patrons could now use the toilets because the water pipes had now thawed enough for the water to flow, I kid you not!
I don’t think it was QUITE that cold on the weekend in 1997 but it certainly wasn’t warm. The event was a St George MCC club day and all the heavy-hitters were there (if you only rode one club day series it HAD to be the St George one). But also on the card were some races for a new series, the Moriwaki 80cc Junior Series being run by road racing legend, Tony Hatton (of whom much more later.) Tony’s effort was the first of many to start a series that enabled junior riders to participate in road racing. Up until that time, you had to be 17 years old before you could race on the tar, but Tony badgered MA until they grudgingly gave him permission to start his series with riders from 13 years old to 16 years old. Tony sourced “proper” road race bikes through his connections with Moriwaki in Japan, 80cc two stroke engines in a dedicated road race frame with proper running gear (none of this converted motocross bike rubbish for him). The bikes were little, light, fast, easy for a junior to ride and provided the basis for a genuine road race championship for kids who were mostly ex-dirt-trackers who were looking for a new challenge.
And it was a huge success. While negotiating the minefield that was (and still is) Motorcycling Australia politics and bureaucracy, Tony had already started training his squad out of MA’s reach, racing on go-kart tracks around NSW and SE Queensland (does this sound familiar?). But that June long weekend was to be the first time that his juniors raced on a full-sized motor racing circuit. Everyone was nervous, not the least Tony and his supporters, of course. They needn’t have worried. The Junior races went off without a hitch and Tony’s series prospered until politics reared its ugly head. The father of an up and coming dirt tracker saw the series as an ideal opportunity to promote his son’s ambitions and tried to take the series off Tony. Tony stood firm and MA’s answer was to deny both parties and to take over the series itself. So typical that the bureaucrats in Melbourne, wait till someone else has done all the hard work and established something great before swooping in and pretending that it was their idea all along. It didn’t take long before they ran the series into the ground and it folded.
But all of this was in the future that sparkling winter day in 1997. Participation in the series was by invitation only and Tony, with his huge network of contacts in the game (both dirt and tar), selected what he thought were the best kids that were available. After my regular morning pit walk and homework, I collared Tony and asked him what was happening. I had not heard of what he was doing so I was keen to get the hot gossip. I was stunned but not surprised that Tony, ever the innovator, had come up with something that was elegant, simple and obviously the future of the sport. I asked him to come up to the box when their first race was on and explain to the people, as he had to me, what the Moriwaki 80cc series was all about.
This he did and we watched as I commentated that first race. I asked Tony lots of questions and I can’t remember any of them except this one. I asked him who we should look out for amongst his young chargers. With the famous Hatton twinkle in his eye, he replied, “All of them.” He then followed up by saying, “But you probably should keep an eye on this young kid from Queensland named Chris Vermeulen, I think he could go a long way.” According to the chronology, Chris was 15 years old that day and would turn 16 the weekend after.
But Tony was right (are we surprised?) I DID need to watch out for all of them and watch out I did. Let me tell you some of the names who raced that day, their first time on a proper road racing circuit. Along with Chris there was Broc Parkes, Joshua Forster, Josh Brookes, Anthony West and Damian Cudlin to name just a few.
That was 22 years ago. I don’t have the time to research and comment the careers of all those kids except to tell you that, last weekend in Britain, Josh Brookes won both of the BSB races at Brands Hatch. Josh is presently running 3rd in the championship just 20 points behind the leader.
Now I cannot close by pointing out that, fast forward to 2019, we have a very successful junior road race series running again in Australia. MotoStars has gone further by allowing kids as young a 9 years old to race and the results of that series has already seen many names that are becoming household names in the road racing paddock. MotoStars has also spawned several other junior racing programmes that are producing some amazingly talented and well-trained racers. And who is it who is running MotoStars? Yep, Damian Cudlin (ably assisted by a sterling crew of helpers) The wheel, it could be said, has turned the full circle and what better time to celebrate it than on the anniversary of that freezing day at Wakefield Park on the Queens Birthday long weekend in 1997?