Original subtitles

Downloaded from YTS.MX

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX

Interview with Wayne.

Action!

I just love saying that.

♪ I am a wild colonial boy.

♪ My name you'll never see.

- They call him the boy from the Gong.

The Wollongong Whiz. Wayne Gardner.

- You chase these dreams in life.

- The Australian signalling he wants to be number one.

Jeez, it was great fun.

♪ I live and breathe the silences.

- Some people love him, and some people hate him.

- Don't push me, all right?

Probably the best thing is I've got a lot of friends.

- His thing was pushing things to the limit.

Pushing anything to the limit.

A vehicle,

himself,

me - pushing me to my limit.

I just wanted to go fast.

♪ I'm in love.

♪ I've got blazing light.

- She stood by him through thick and thin.

It was wild.

- 'I'm number one, ' says Eddie.

- When I put my helmet on, I wanted to go beat him.

- Some racers are a completely different breed.

- And Gardner slices through.

It seems like they're mad.

They're willing to push that bit further.

- But Gardner's down.

♪ I breathe the silence that destroys

♪ all the desperate harmony.

We want Wayne! We want Wayne!

- The hundred thousand or more that turned out

cannot believe this. It's a fairy tale come true.

- Seeing his face,

it was like a fast-motion film running through his eyes.

You work so hard all your life.

You dream - people say it's unachievable,

you're not gonna make it, you'll never do it.

Why should a kid from the Gong think it's ever gonna happen?

And then to stand up and say, 'I'm top of the world.

'I did it.'

- Wollongong is basically a steelworks city.

Yeah, it was a tough place.

There was the poor and there was the medium class down there.

And, uh, we were the poor.

The heart of the town is really the steelworks and the mining.

I think my earliest memories is going to work with my dad.

He was a big truck driver, so that was pretty cool.

Going to the quarries with him,

seeing all the machinery loading the trucks and unloading them.

I'd go and lay under the truck with him

to try and help him repair it.

A bit of a menace to him.

- Quite often, I'd have the body up; it was a tip truck.

One day - he'd climb in the truck - he was mucking around

with all the levers. Next thing, I see the body coming down.

And I was underneath it. 'What are you doing?'

So that was it;

he was not allowed in the truck any more after that.

Yeah, he was a bit of a torment.

I remember annoying Vicki a lot.

- He wouldn't like to be seen much with me.

You didn't like your little sister

coming along to too many things.

Mum, she used to make him double me to school on his dragster.

But as soon as he got around the corner, he'd kick me off.

And I'd have to walk to school on my own.

Uh, yes, that's true. Yes, I did.

She responded by saying, 'Wayne wouldn't do things like that.'

Oh, yes, he did.

Mum always stuck up for Wayne. Wayne was the golden child.

That's cos my mum loves me.

He had to win. That was his determination in life.

He had to win. Second wasn't good enough.

Everyone needs a little inspiration,

and I got it from that all-time great movie On Any Sunday.

♪ On any Sunday, stretching up, reaching high.

At the beginning of it is a kid cycling along on the back wheel

on a Mustang - what I had.

And I went, 'Wow! I have to learn how to do that.

'That's so cool.'

So I'd practise every afternoon for six months

until I could go around the block.

What's the next skill I can try?

Most riders agree the biggest thrill of all

is to sit up at the end of the straight

and at 120, pitch it sideways.

On Any Sunday was the most amazing and cool movie

cos it was about motorcycles.

And I came out of that movie cinema going, 'Oh my God!'

When he was about 10 or 12,

him and his mate found an old motorbike

with no back wheel on it

in some of the warehouses in the industrial area.

So I said, 'Let's go and ask the guy - can we have it?'

I said, 'You wanna give it to us?'

And he goes, 'No, I'll sell it to you for $5.'

We put an ad in the paper for a back wheel.

- That was the start of my career -

going halves in a $5 motorcycle.

In the group, he was the showman, we'll say. Yes.

The show-off.

At the back of our place was a creek.

He said, 'I reckon we can build a jump,

'and we can jump the creek.'

Over the creek, up this embankment

and then just popped a wheel stand and went across the park

on his back wheel.

And everyone was, 'Whoa! That is impressive.'

Wayne was always setting little tasks for himself,

just trying to push himself all the time

to see if he could do a little bit better.

And I'd go up in the mountains and practise.

Back of Balgownie, shoot up through the bush.

Up past all the coal mines.

Try and dodge the mine security.

The police, on their trail bikes, used to chase us,

and that was always fun too.

You took a can of fuel with you and just kept riding all day.

And I wanted to just go fast amongst all the trees

and all the fire trails across the mountains.

Freedom.

You stop, you laugh, you giggle,

you take a little sandwich or something.

I'd leave early in the morning, and I'd come back late at night.

Just couldn't get enough of it.

Police had come around a couple of times.

Gave him a bit of a talking-to and said, 'Don't do that again.'

But you know what kids are like.

I met a guy called Dave Horton.

No flies on... on Dave.

He used to put himself in a car and have a stick of dynamite

and blow the car up with himself in it.

Go! Go!

Wayne started going around with Dave and his son, Kevin.

He used to pick us kids up with his Valiant station wagon,

put our bikes up on top of the car.

Two or three on the back, on a rack.

And on the dash of his car, if you can imagine this,

he had pistons and rings, hamburger wrappers

and tomato sauce bottles, old newspapers.

And windows never wound up properly.

They were always hanging down here.

When it rained, the water was coming in here.

Away Dave would go, with three or four kids,

and take 'em away riding somewhere.

That's where my racing career started.

I managed to talk my dad into taking me to Canberra,

cos you were allowed to race in Canberra as juniors.

I knew I had a talent.

But my dad wasn't paid a lot,

and my mum worked in a cafeteria.

They knew I had no interest in school.

My passion and my thoughts were all on motorcycles.

So they said, 'OK, try and get a job.'

Wayne left school when he was 16

and did his apprenticeship as a fitter and turner

at Tubemakers West Dapto.

Fitting and turning and steelworks

used to drive me insane.

I went, 'This is not for me.'

I wanna go fast.

I need the speed. I need the wind in my face.

I just wanted to go and ride motorbikes.

At that point, I was quite frustrated with dirt track.

When I found out what road racing what about - pff!

That was it. I knew where I was going.

Waaah!

This thing just starts revving, and it starts just-

the feeling was pulling my arms out of my shoulders.

Dah-dah-dah! Down the straight.

I knew that's what I wanted to do.

We were all members

of Wollongong Motorcycle Club at the time.

Along came Wayne.

God help us. Along came Wayne.

He was like a tenacious little dog.

When he got a hold of something, he just would not let it go.

I said, 'Dad, I wanna buy a road-racing bike.'

And he goes, 'Well, OK, but it's dangerous,

'and I don't want you to do it.'

I was scared stiff about racing motorbikes.

But I wanna do it.

So we found a second-hand bike.

And he said, 'I'll help you. But you have to pay me back.'

I was like a rat with a gold tooth.

So, I was earning $48 a week,

giving my dad $25 a week towards my $2500 debt.

- I met Wayne at the end of my 15th year.

I wasn't very good at school,

and didn't really like school very much.

I liked the social aspect.

I met Donna via a blind date

from my friend Roderick Sommerville.

My girlfriend lived across the road from Donna.

I don't even know how we got on to it,

but she said, 'Oh, you should meet Roderick's friend.

'He's... He looks like John Paul Young.'

♪ Love is in the air,

♪ in the whisper of the trees.

Wayne had this shaggy head of hair going on at the time.

♪ Love is in the air.

Everyone was saying, 'He's really exciting.

'He races motorcycles.'

And it wasn't really something that I was,

'Oh, great, sounds wonderful, ' because up until then,

I'd really been a bit of a surfie girl.

You weren't watching.

- I was. - Caught this really good wave,

I looked up, and you weren't watching.

- I was. I saw you. - Yeah, she was.

I was absolutely smitten with him.

I had to do a lot more work than he did

in keeping a relationship alive.

But I didn't mind giving him my all.

And that started from a very early part of the relationship.

I'd never really had a girlfriend.

Never had time for girlfriends. But she was a cool chick.

Started coming to the races.

- Donna used to do a heap for Wayne - get him organised,

meet him at all the different racetracks and... tolerate him.

That was probably one of the major things she did.

- Isn't this great? - Yeah.

I remember saying to her at the time,

'Donna, you're not going to be important

'with Wayne when he's racing.

'You'll only be important after the races.'

To begin with, Wayne was one of them guys

where he either had to win or he fell off.

My exuberance was far bigger than my talent in the beginning.

He sprouted horns as soon as he was on that grid.

He was a wild little bugger. When he was determined,

he was unstoppable.

So I asked Mentors to sponsor him on my bike.

Standing in awe of the talents of this young man.

And Wayne Gardner is jubilant.

And so, too, will be Peter Molloy.

We're extremely pleased.

I give all the credit to young Wayne Gardner,

who is absolutely magic.

He's probably the most underrated rider in Australia.

You've gotta be aware of what he was trying to do.

He was determined to get overseas.

But it's Wayne Gardner who blasts to the lead.

What a rocket this young boy is, on number 6.

It was rumoured that there was a Japanese

looking for a rider to take to America.

Mamoru Moriwaki was coming to Australia

looking for the next new talent to go to Daytona and race.

Every guy that heard it thought,

'This is for me. This is my chance.'

It was a grey-looking day on race day.

Mamoru Moriwaki was down there; we all knew that.

I decided to go out with wet-weather tyres,

because I knew if it rained, I could win.

But it didn't rain.

I finished way down the field.

I took a chance. It didn't work.

And while we were all sitting around,

it starts pouring with rain.

We'd already done our two races,

and I packed the bike up and put it away.

Then I hear on the tannoy,

'The unlimited Australian Championship Race.

'Calling all riders to the grid.'

And I said, 'If it's raining, I could win this.'

Malcolm, the mechanic, was going,

'You can't; the bike's locked up.'

Let's get a screwdriver. Quick.

I'm not even entered in this race.

And I've gone and lined up on the front row.

Cheeky.

I was talking to Moriwaki,

and Mrs Boulden said, 'You told me you'd packed your bike up.'

I said, 'Yeah, I did.'

She said, 'That's Wayne on your bike.'

And they're racing.

Here comes Wayne Gardner on the outside, on bike 6.

And I thought, 'God, this kid's gonna kill himself.'

The rain starts a little bit harder.

He now must be super-cautious.

But Wayne Gardner doesn't ride super-cautious.

He was really on a mission.

Wayne's going, 'Don, was he watching? Was he watching?'

Daytona - in the language of motorcycling,

just the word evokes the spectacle and excitement

that Indianapolis means to auto-mobiles

and the Kentucky Derby to thoroughbreds.

There was a confidence in him then

that scared me a little bit.

I was just afraid that he would go over and say,

'I don't need you any more now.'

And I kind of always lived with that fear

in the back of my head.

I was just loving every minute of it.

They've got 45- or 50-degree angle banking there.

I'd never done that before.

And I'm riding against all these heroes of the sport -

Graeme Crosby,

Wes Cooley,

Freddie Spencer.

I was in heaven.

I was like a cat in the fish shop.

And for Wayne to turn up and run the Moriwaki bike -

just incredible.

It was kind of just him,

the mechanic, the rider and a bike.

And that was kind of it.

I also got to meet Roger Marshall.

He was racing in the Moriwaki team.

Somebody came up with Wayne and said, 'This is Wayne.'

So he looked me up and down,

never shook my hand, and then just walked off.

And I thought, 'Who's this little shit?'

I think he pisses people off deliberately,

just to show that he's got something over them.

He needed to prove himself on the track.

I finished fourth at Daytona,

which was unbelievable.

By then, Peter Molloy was building a superbike

for me to race back in Australia.

But Moriwaki came to me and said,

'Instead of going home, would you like to fly to the UK?'

OK. Well, let's go and do that.

I had to call Peter and say,

'Pete, mate, I know you're building that superbike,

'but I've got some bad news. I'm not coming home.'

He goes, 'You fuckin' little fuckin' arsehole!

'I'm fuckin' buildin' these fuckin' motorbikes for you,

'and you fuckin' run away, and...'

You gotta be an arsehole sometimes.

Back in England, I got a phone call.

'Mamoru Moriwaki has asked if you can put Wayne up.'

And I thought,

'That is absolutely the last thing I want.'

It reminds me of a movie scene.

It was snowing. It was freezing cold.

I went to pick him up at this remote station.

And I saw this just one person get off the train.

And he has what he calls his stubbies on

and his flip-flops, that were wired together with lock wire,

and a T-shirt, a Moriwaki T-shirt,

and a little brown case. And I could not believe it.

It was snowing. It was freezing.

And he came walking down the platform.

Anyway, I got him in my Granada

and took him back to my little house.

It was a little awkward at the beginning.

It was my first long time away. I was a little bit lonely.

So I called Donna.

Do you think you'd like to come and join me over here?

I haven't got any money to buy you a ticket.

Can your mum and dad help you out?

And my dad fluffed up like a chicken,

and my mum just put her hand up, and she said,

'If she wants to go, let her go.'

I was 17 when I got on the plane,

and I turned 18 a few days after I arrived in England.

And then I had them both in the house.

They loved having us there,

because we spoke with this Australian accent.

And the closest they'd ever gotten to Australia

was Neighbours.

You know what? I'm gonna really enjoy living here.

It was amazing how we gelled as friends, eventually.

Roger was a real gritty road racer from way back.

And he would take Wayne to all the racetracks.

The first race was Cadwell Park.

I took him in the week before,

got us some laps in and walked the track with him.

I got to know the circuit pretty good.

Moriwaki turned up with a superbike.

Wayne said, 'I'm gonna ride this big Moriwaki.

'I'm gonna do burnouts, wheelies, I'm gonna entertain,

'and I'm gonna get myself a proper factory ride.'

And I thought, 'This guy's on drugs.'

The wild man Gardner pitched up with this big,

high-handlebar Moriwaki bike.

And we all kinda giggled and laughed at it.

The sit-up-and-beg bike.

The first time we saw Wayne actually race in the UK

was at Cadwell Park.

We all thought, 'Brash Australian;

'see what he can do in this place.'

We were quite confident, the big Honda team.

He got over there and showed them how to ride.

There was a hill that went up on the track,

and Wayne wheelied up this hill every time.

And the people were like, 'Wow!'

I passed Roger Marshall, my teammate.

I taught him too well, basically, yeah.

Beat-up old bike, flak jacket puffing up.

He was a riot.

Wayne blew us into the weeds.

And people are like, 'Who is this guy?

'Where has he come from?'

'From Wollongong, ' I kept telling them.

I was giving it all I had. I'll tell you,

I'm gonna faint after today.

People loved him - just loved him.

He did wheelies everywhere,

and they thought he was just mad and crazy.

He was a flamboyant rider. It was great.

He was rough as guts, but that's the colonialism

that kind of makes it cute when you go to Europe.

They absolutely love the Antipodean style.

'You're a mongrel, Gardner.'

That's what I used to say to him.

He was not your typical English guy. Not at all.

Wayne was on the up, and it was remarkable

how he actually moved through the ranks.

Mamoru believed in my talent,

and he gave me lots of opportunities.

He was like my Zen master.

But you have to be tough.

I got a message through at Honda UK -

'If we have a chance of acquiring Mr Gardner's services,

'sign him first, and we'll sort it out later.'

I got my first pay cheque,

and it was £15,000.

For me, that was like I'd hit the jackpot.

I went, 'Wow! That's great. That's exactly what you wanted.'

'Yeah, but I wanna do Grands Prix.'

And I said, 'Well, you've gotta start somewhere.'

Wayne Gardner, the leader,

climbing all over the machine, the knee on the ground.

Wayne Gardner desperate to run in the Grands Prix.

We started travelling over to Europe to watch the GPs.

We were just children.

Every day was a new thing.

It was great fun. And I had bought this car for about £150.

And everyone called it the Land Crab.

We loved it. We lived in it. We slept in it.

And I remember the first race I went to,

sitting up on the hill in the car with Donna,

cos I didn't have a ticket to get in,

watching Kenny Roberts and Randy Mamola,

and I was saying, 'Wow. One day, I'm gonna be like that.

'One day, I wanna be out there with those guys.'

We roughed it, but it was so exciting.

I remember Donna as one of the lads.

And I loved Wayne straight away,

cos he wanted to come to the pub afterwards,

or even the night before.

One or two of the people started to get too serious.

But he came over and dropped the level quite a lot.

I taught him how to drink the English beer

instead of the lager in the stubbies.

And obviously, we all partied.

Wayne was right into all that. Loved it.

But they had a pretty serious team manager, Barry Symmons.

He had a job reining us in all the time.

I recommended to Wayne that he should get a business manager.

Because this young Australian rider was very raw,

he needed to make sure the contract money wasn't blown away

on wine, women and song.

I wanted to make sure

that the riders protected their investments

and had proper life insurance,

to make sure that their partners were provided for

in the event of something drastic happening.

I think, probably, the fun we had was because of the danger.

You were in amongst a bunch of people that were comrades,

mates, and they were dropping like flies.

So you made a point of living life to the fullest.

We talk about the golden era,

which it was, as far as I was concerned,

cos it was sex, drugs and rock and roll

and riding motorbikes fast.

But there was an awful lot of sadness to it

that you had to blinker yourself from.

It wasn't so much seeing the accident or hearing about it;

it was driving out of the paddock on a Sunday night

and seeing a truck and a caravan and maybe a girlfriend

or maybe even a family there,

that hadn't got a father or a boyfriend or a husband.

It was tough.

The greatest asset you can have is experience.

But sometimes, things go wrong.

1983, there was a World Championship round at Assen.

And we decided to give Wayne a chance at a Grand Prix.

Assen, the cathedral of Grand Prix motorcycle racing.

Wayne was making his Grand Prix debut

at an absolute legendary venue.

It was my first Grand Prix, and got to meet some of these guys.

And to meet Franco Uncini, the current world champion,

was an honour.

Wayne qualified in the top 10, so he felt, 'Gee, you know,

'I might belong in this kind of company.'

All eyes on the premier ride. It is green. Away they go.

Who is going to fire up first? It's Freddie Spencer.

There's Freddie Spencer in the lead.

Franco Uncini diving through on the inside, number 1.

Of course, what happened there is history, more or less.

Uncini, highside. Uncini is down.

Franco Uncini, and he's just-

Oh dear!

I still see Franco Uncini falling in...

in front of Wayne.

Highsided, smacked himself on the ground big style,

and then that was at the point where I came around the corner,

and I could see all the bikes kind of splitting.

All the other bikes went to the right. I went, 'Oh God!'

And I tried to avoid him, and go to the left.

He hit him so hard,

knocked Franco Uncini's helmet off.

Uncini just lay there.

Everybody thought he was probably dead.

It was awful.

It was awful, awful, awful.

I was injured, and they took me back

to the medical centre at the track.

And I'm asking, 'What happened to Franco?'

'Oh, he's gone to the hospital. He's gone to the hospital.'

The only thing he wanted to do was go and see him.

Roger said, 'I'll take you to the hospital.'

So I've turned up, and the media are everywhere.

And they took me up to the operating theatre,

up the top of the building.

And when the door opened, I looked in

and there was a steel table in the centre of the room.

And here's Franco, wires all over him,

and he was just shaking.

And I'm going, 'Oh, oh, is he OK?'

And they said, 'No, he's not. He's in a coma.'

It's just... It's just the worst thing I could ever imagine.

I could see how Wayne was upset. He was in tears.

I've killed somebody in my first race in Grands Prix,

and I shouldn't be out there.

I said, 'Get me out of here, Rog. Get me out of here.'

And Donna was there too.

So we went back down the elevator, and the door opened

and there was more media and press,

and Franco's wife and children were there,

and they were calling me a killer.

And I'm going, 'But I didn't do anything.

'I promise, I didn't mean to. It was an accident.'

The stare, the look in her eye, the look she gave him was just

murderous.

It felt like something was gonna erupt,

like they were gonna get hold of Wayne.

People screaming and cameras and flashing, and I just went,

'I wanna go home. I wanna go home.'

Roger got in the car, and then Donna, and started driving,

and we took off home.

And we were all...

'God, if he dies...'

Wayne said, 'I can't live with that.'

A world champion being so badly injured,

it was a massive story.

I think probably the natural assumption would have been,

'Oh, yeah, rookie coming in,

'Wayne Gardner trying to make a name for himself.'

It hurt. It hurt a lot.

Emotionally, it hurt me a lot, because I was blaming myself.

Sorry. I was blaming myself for being there.

I saw it on television.

And my heart went actually out for Wayne on that one,

because it was unavoidable.

They said to Wayne he wasn't expected to live.

Well, um, Wayne broke down and cried.

I'm just...

pretty upset. I'll come good in a mo.

I hate thinking about that.

He was on the phone to his dad, who said,

'Come home. We'll find you a job in steelworks or some such.'

Oh, come home. Just give it away, Wayne.

It's too dangerous, you know?

Yep.

Thankfully, he didn't die.

We're very lucky and grateful that he didn't die.

I was this close to going home. I was this close.

There was a lot of nights out having 10 pints

to get him over that, I can tell you.

He went home,

saw his mates,

enjoyed himself,

and came back to the UK stronger and better than ever.

There's Gardner. 23 years of age.

Desperately looking for a sponsor

to help finance his Grand Prix ambitions.

How do I make the step from the UK into Grand Prix?

I talked to Honda about it.

Honda Britain offered him the bike

and the team and the mechanics

but said, 'You will have to pay.'

Somehow, Wayne put a package together with Harris.

Four events at the circuits

that were the cheapest to do for us.

It was a way of marketing myself, to get me noticed.

Number 53. That's Wayne Gardner.

It showed the tenacity of the guy. He wanted to do Grand Prix.

If he had to pay to do it himself, he was going to do it,

whatever it took.

Green light given.

Four starts.

And it was my job to make sure that he was prepared.

That was my role in the team.

Those four races were just groundbreaking.

Wayne Gardner is up to fourth place.

In Sweden, I was third place.

And after four races,

I finished seventh in the World Championship.

That was just something phenomenal.

It didn't surprise me.

I'd seen what that guy had in his belly, the fire.

I knew he would make it one day.

Short-changed at the wall.

Wayne wanted to do Grands Prix, and we did as well.

But we needed a sponsor.

Rothmans came to the party and said,

'If we're going to invest,

'we wanna know what we're investing in.

'Is he a loose cannon? Is he going to just lose the plot?'

Rothmans asked me, could they put me through

a series of tests with a sports psychologist called Phil Fearon.

So they sent Phil along to really psychoanalyse Wayne.

And I took offence to it. And he went, 'What?'

I said, 'I don't need that stuff. That's bullshit.'

Phil went back to Honda and said,

'If you don't sign him, you're idiots.

He felt like

he had really made the big time.

The fans are here in their thousands

for this opening round of the World Championship.

Will this man, Eddie Lawson, retain his title?

Eddie was the number one Yamaha rider,

the world champion from '84.

Hi, Mom.

Will Freddie Spencer be able to overcome the injury problems

that he had last year?

Freddie was the focus of the Honda factory.

Freddie was going to make the double attack on the 250

and the 500 World Championships.

And Wayne Gardner at the start

of his first full Grand Prix season.

I'd never rate myself up amongst those guys - Eddie and Freddie.

I'm sorta like the next bunch back.

I was in a second-tier team, riding three-cylinder bikes.

The next step is into the factory team,

with Freddie Spencer, riding four-cylinder bikes,

which were missiles.

Barry said that for them to take Wayne in the team,

it would be best if I didn't go on to the circuit with them.

I didn't want him distracted.

And he also wanted us to go and have a good time too.

Like a little boy club.

And then the push.

Because of what they had to do -

the danger, the mental pressure, everything about it -

they went out and misbehaved.

You've gotta remember that these guys, in their world,

were superheroes.

There was that much sex in the sport

that you could talk to the girls on the grid

and get chatted up on the grid.

We were all dressed up in our colours and our robes,

and the women loved the smell of leather.

We were like gladiators on wheels.

I could see that he was attractive to other women,

and I know that he knew he was attractive and funny,

and he was quite a flirt.

I trusted him.

He was my partner.

I had to trust him.

We often talk about having a family eventually.

Just now, it would be very hard.

I don't think marriage would be a great problem,

but a lot of people seem to think it would be,

because people take a different attitude to a married man

to a single man, but that's not what I think.

He called me, and you could hear in his voice that he was lonely,

saying, 'I want you to come over,

'and everything's going well, but I miss you. I miss you.'

It was very hard for Wayne to say that,

because it wasn't in his DNA.

I stuck by him through thick and through thin,

and it was... there were some tough times.

But I was prepared to make those sacrifices,

because I had to give him that rein,

to allow him to be Wayne Gardner the motorcycle racer.

I always wanted Donna,

because she's been there from the very, very beginning.

I did love her, and it was a way of having a piece of home

and giving me a bit more confidence

to go and perform better on the track.

Mamola second, Gardner third. Gardner winding on the power.

Dives through on the inside.

Second is going to be Wayne Gardner,

his best Grand Prix result ever.

Freddie Spencer won both the 250

and the 500 championship that year.

And Wayne was very, very strong.

Australian motorcycling ace Wayne Gardner

has just finished fourth in the world title.

Gardner grew up in Wollongong,

yet very few in his own street even know he exists.

Overseas, it's a different story.

In Europe, he's a sporting superstar.

And in Japan, he needs bodyguards

to protect him from adoring fans.

It was the Suzuka 8-hour race.

It was unbelievably popular.

You win that race,

you become very famous in Japan very, very quickly.

It was so hot at the track, Suzuka,

they lost 2 or 3 kilos in the race.

In '85, I was partnered with a Japanese rider

called Tokuno.

Wayne's not the easiest guy to work with.

And he can be quite uncompromising

in some respects.

It comes out every now and then. You see it in its full glory.

I was leading the race after the first stint

and passed it over to Tokuno.

He was about four seconds a lap slower than me.

The other rider lost the lead.

And that pissed me off.

The whole day was a see-saw in between last and first,

last and first.

Wayne got back up into the lead.

WAYNE And in the last hour, he was ready to get on,

and when I came in, I just pushed him out of the way

and said, 'No, you're not getting on.

'I want to win this race.'

I rode as hard as I could.

He was hallucinating.

He started to see chickens and elephants and everything

running across the track in front of him.

He did it, but he nearly killed himself.

I was so weak,

I couldn't walk up the stairs to the podium.

It did establish my name in Japan.

Gardner capped a memorable year by taking out

the classic Suzuka 8-hour in Japan before a crowd of 300,000

and an estimated local TV audience of 30 million.

He's secure in the knowledge that six championship teams

want his name next year.

I was hot property.

Yamaha, Suzuki put offers on the table.

Everyone's handing me cards.

Harris was busy, running around talking deals,

big sums of money - you know, $750,000 a year.

But I really wanted to stay with Honda if I could.

One of the HRC administrative personnel came running over,

'Barnett-san, Barnett-san, where is Wayne-san?

'We want you to discuss a contract for Wayne to ride

'for the full factory team.'

Harris took me down to Monaco

and said, 'See what you think of Monaco.' I'm looking around.

I went, 'Oh yeah, this is quite a nice place.'

And he goes, 'OK, pick a house or apartment.'

And I went, 'What?'

And he goes, 'You have to live here.'

And I went, 'No, I don't wanna live here.'

I said, 'It looks nice for a holiday.'

And he goes, 'No, no, no, you have to find something now.'

Wayne, when you left Wollongong however many years ago

and came to England to ride a Moriwaki

with sit-up big handlebars,

did you ever think you were going to end up here in Monaco?

I certainly didn't.

That was probably the furthest thing from my mind.

We had to learn how to live this lifestyle

that we had never known even existed.

It was Concord and meeting princes and princesses.

It was first-class.

They tell me it helps a bit on the tax side

if you live in Monaco. Is that true?

Don't know anything about it, Murray.

I always wanted to better myself.

When I left Oak Flats High School

and worked in a music store, I wanted to do better.

I wanted to show that we're both rising up.

I want to show people too

that I'm capable of making this journey as well.

The Honda NSR500 is worth £250,000

and has a top speed of 190mph.

I went into '86 as the learner.

Before that, in '85, I had a nice, articulate,

easy-to-ride three-cylinder that was underpowered,

but it was easy to ride and ride to the limit.

Then you get on this four-cylinder animal.

And you open the throttle, and just that millimetre more

and, wham, it throws you over the handlebars,

and you're in the bushes.

They were brutes to ride.

There was a very, very small number of riders -

would you say 10? I would say almost half a dozen riders -

that could tame them.

They were brave guys who raced them.

No matter how fast you were, even if you were Wyatt Earp,

you couldn't shut that throttle quick enough

for it to not bite and then fire you over the handlebars -

the old classic highside.

I was young; I was in my early 20s.

And I thought, 'Well, I'm king of the world here.

'These are easy. I can race anything.'

And then I got on a 500.

Holy crap.

'This is not what I signed up for.'

'I don't know if I can do this.'

You'd hear the thing warming up some mornings,

and you'd actually be frightened to go and,

'Jeez, I've gotta go and hop on that thing.'

One little movement of that right hand too much

when it's on its side,

and it was sky time.

Earth, sky, earth, sky, earth, sky.

The 500 was about... it was right about here,

where you ride into the impossible zone.

Being invited into the Honda team

to be second to Freddie Spencer showed Honda had enough faith

to put you up there in the big league.

Freddie was there to win the championship.

I was his backup.

For me, it was the genius act.

They're off, and the 1986 World Championships are under way.

Spencer, the leader, pulling away.

Freddie's made a blinder start, as usual.

Spencer in World Championship form.

I just seen him as one of these gods.

Gardner second. He's gone ahead of Lawson.

Freddie Spencer knows the threat to his title

doesn't come only from outside his camp.

The four-cylinder bike was difficult to use,

but I was happy to finish second,

because that's my position in the team.

Here's Spencer.

But he's slowing. There's something wrong with Spencer.

Gardner's right with him.

I started to notice I was catching Freddie.

The next minute, Freddie pulls in.

Here's Gardner, and he's the new race leader.

Spencer has retired.

Situations evolve. Somebody goes out,

everybody steps up into that vacant spot,

which leaves another vacant spot behind them.

Incidents provide opportunities.

So, I'm never gonna let this opportunity go.

This is the chance the boy from Wollongong has been waiting for.

Gardner like a rocket ship.

It's the chequered flag. Gardner is gonna win.

What a marvellous moment for Gardner.

Wayne Gardner, the race of your life.

Terrific to win your first Grand Prix. Congratulations.

Thanks. Finally it happened.

I've been working hard for that for such a long time.

And, uh, it's finally happened, and I...

yeah, I can't express how pleased I am.

And to be on the podium and get the trophy and the champagne

and the prize cheque...

it's, 'Hallelujah. Thank you.'

That first win was huge news back home in Australia.

The shadow of Freddie loomed very large.

And I guess that's when the pressure really started.

Honda sat me down and said,

'Look, it's gonna take some time before Freddie's back.

'He's got a carpal tunnel problem.

'You are now our main rider.'

And I've gone, 'But I'm not ready for this.'

- While this is a good ride from Gardner, he can't catch Lawson.

Eddie Lawson would be the most difficult competition.

- The chequered flag for Lawson, the new championship leader.

Eddie's very good, very calculated.

- Lawson on the way to his third win in a row.

I pushed really hard but couldn't pull off a win.

- Gardner still trying so hard.

Eddie Lawson was - it's tough to figure out which word

to put before 'competitor' -

a tough competitor, a fierce competitor.

Eddie now three seconds clear.

But the better word is 'consistent'.

Lawson a clear-cut winner.

At what stage of the series will you regard

- the championship as safe? - When I win the next four.

Maybe 'vicious' was the word I was looking for, for competitor.

Does it feel any different that Freddie Spencer's

not been taking an active part this year?

Who?

Eddie really had Wayne's measure.

His little antagonistic ways got to me.

I'm certainly trying all the time to do my best.

I wanna do well, and I wanna do well for Honda and Rothmans.

There was a lot of pressure, and Wayne changed his lifestyle.

Him and Donna kept themselves to themselves in the motor home.

And all of a sudden, he was wrapped up.

You don't drink, you don't do this, you watch the telly,

you read a book, you whatever.

And I knew that wasn't Wayne Gardner.

I do find this year, since we've come over, he's quieter.

He's, um, I think perhaps more reserved,

because he's got so much on his plate - a world Grand Prix.

- A lot of pressure. - A lot of pressure, tension.

Coming up to the Dutch TT, Wayne rings out of the blue -

'I want you to come to Assen with me.'

That's where my big accident happened with Uncini.

So I always go there with a bit of apprehension.

Let's go.

Donna says, 'What are you gonna do?'

I said, 'Me and him are going into Assen.'

Rightly or wrongly, we got really on the pop.

He opened his heart up to me.

He'd got that wrapped up in a bubble.

Wayne needs release.

This was the night before the race.

I've gone in there and had one or two,

except two turned into, like, 22.

We got absolutely hammered.

I don't think I got home until about 2 o'clock in the morning.

Donna was not impressed.

Wayne woke up with a horrendous hangover.

I felt absolutely disgusting at that point.

I didn't want to go and ride,

and I was nearly throwing up when I got out there.

Gardner second in the points table but 23 behind Lawson.

The pressure is on.

And Gardner uses the power of the four-cylinder

to go through into the lead.

So I've just kinda let my body do the work,

rather than thinking about it and concentrating.

Just started letting it happen naturally.

Started to pull away.

Through the chicane for the final time.

And victory for Wayne Gardner by just under four seconds.

To me, he went back to being Wayne Gardner.

- Gardner jubilant.

He's cut Lawson's lead to just eight points.

We have a chance.

We have a chance here of taking this championship out.

He was back within striking distance.

Wayne definitely thought there was an opportunity

to really put some pressure on Eddie.

It didn't work out like that.

- Lawson has broken clear.

Eddie's really special.

- Gardner a way back.

They don't call him Steady Eddie for nothing.

He doesn't do many things wrong.

- Eddie Lawson is going to be 500cc World Champion

for the second time.

'I'm number one, ' says Eddie.

Wayne made me work for it. I'm happy.

Eddie was quite ruthless sometimes.

- And not content with beating Wayne on the racetrack,

Eddie wants to make the cheerful Aussie suffer some more.

He humiliated me at that moment.

I wanted to kick his arse.

He knew I was coming.

I had a good contract under my belt.

Honda were very happy with the results.

But I missed my family, my parents.

I needed a bit of home.

Wollongong had been so wonderful to Wayne.

I'm the boy from the Gong, as they say.

Every now and again, Wayne would go back to,

'Shit, I'm only a kid from Wollongong.

'Am I allowed to have this?

'Should I have this?'

When you're racing at such a high level,

you need a lot of support.

My mum was always in the grandstands cheering me

and screaming and motivating me. And my dad was the opposite.

He's a wonderful man, but he's a bit pessimistic.

He worried, and during the race, he couldn't watch.

Wayne often said to me, 'You proud of me, Dad?'

I'd say, 'Yeah, I'm real proud of you, mate.'

But I never...

I don't think I ever raced up and gave him a big hug

and said, 'I'm proud of you!'

I think I was too scared or too wound up

about whether he'd crashed or something, you know.

That was always on your mind.

He tried to unmotivate me, most of the times, you know?

And it used to annoy me.

And then, in the end, I used it as motivation

to prove him wrong.

- The Australian signalling

that he wants to be number one, I think.

1987 was so... exciting. So exciting.

From the moment we arrived back in Europe,

it was going to be our year.

120,000 fans,

the biggest crowd ever for a Spanish Grand Prix.

Wayne said, 'Dons, I'm gonna work really hard.'

I said, 'I know you are.'

The bike had phenomenal acceleration.

- And they're away. Gardner and Lawson side by side.

The NSR500 was a great bike. It had a real personality.

That first race, we had all the ducks in a row.

It was a chance to psychologically damage Eddie.

- Gardner leads.

The Australian has taken over from Lawson.

The crowd go wild.

If you're going to get into a race, and you can win it,

win it by as much as you can.

- And Gardner is definitely extending that lead.

Put the knife in and give it a bit of a twist.

- Gardner over four seconds ahead.

Nearly seven seconds clear now.

Nine seconds ahead.

And Lawson losing more ground.

It was great to beat Eddie by so much,

and Wayne was pretty vocal about reminding Eddie

that he'd won by 21 seconds.

- A delighted Wayne Gardner.

- We'd be up on the podium, and Wayne would throw out a barb.

He would say, 'Boy, there just wasn't much in it, was there,

'between our bikes?'

And we'd look at the speed-trap numbers,

and it was just depressing.

Wayne just dominated the first half of 1987.

He won four of the first six races.

But Wayne would look at anything

to make his performance better.

Your level of riding and your level of ability

reaches a certain point.

But at that point, after then, it becomes a psychological game.

And I was just amazed when he told me that,

'For the last two years,

'I've been using a sports psychologist.'

Sports psychologists were new at this time.

Wayne had continued to see Phil Fearon.

I lost the embarrassment or the stigma of thinking,

'It's my psychologist with me; it seems like I'm a lunatic.'

But as I started to listen to what he was saying,

I realised that it could be beneficial.

Phil really helped Wayne get very scientific

about how he thought about races.

He gave Wayne another skill

on top of his raw talent.

In one of the great races of Wayne's whole career,

the Austrian Grand Prix, Phil helped to develop tactics.

Actually, I hate it here, because it's so dangerous.

Probably the worst track of the season for me.

I think we shouldn't be racing here,

because of the speeds of the bikes now.

You're doing 330km/h over the crest of a hill.

You've gotta be millimetres away from the Armco fence.

No room for error, and if you come off,

you ain't gonna get up and walk away.

Phil was very calming, and he had a great way

of putting Wayne in the moment

so he could go, 'I'm gonna do this.'

Randy Mamola, it's a very fast circuit, Salzburgring,

and there's one or two riders really don't like it very much.

What's your personal feeling of this circuit?

I like fast circuits. The speed doesn't bother me.

A lot of riders have a hard time getting used to it.

For me, it's just one of my favourite racetracks.

Phil taught Wayne the act of visualisation.

- Gardner closing on Mamola up the hill

and goes straight past the Californian to take the lead.

Wayne said, 'You know, Dons, it's really good.

'I see things like a movie.'

- And Mamola has a go on the hill.

He's alongside Gardner...

and goes ahead.

Phil would get Wayne to think about

a particular corner in a race,

imagine Eddie Lawson or Randy Mamola in front of him,

and visualise how to beat him.

- Catching up with these tail-enders, and they peel off

and Mamola goes one side, and Gardner goes the other.

And Gardner has the advantage back.

This is very dangerous stuff.

In Austria, in the last few laps,

he started to slow down at the chicane...

Through the chicane.

...to give Randy the idea that that was a place

where he might be vulnerable.

- Gardner from Mamola and Mackenzie.

And Mamola pulls out of the slipstream.

Mamola goes for the lead.

Into the chicane.

I fooled him a little bit,

to think that I wasn't fast in there.

I got by with a couple of laps to go.

- He hurtles past Mamola.

Motocrossed it through the chicane

and just kept in tight as possible.

- Gardner is winding up the wick,

and Mamola is dropping back.

The chequered flag is ready.

And it's a new lap record from Gardner

on the final circuit of this race.

The expectation to win the championship

certainly was growing.

And he started to feel the pressure.

His thing was pushing things to the limit.

He had to be full throttle the whole time.

I remember Donna telling me that I was unbearable to be with

at that point of the season.

He becomes very serious as the week goes on.

What he thought was funny at the beginning of the week

is not so funny any more.

Cos I sort of can feel for him, like he's a small infant,

cos that's what they- that's what he goes like.

I hadn't been in that position

of leading a World Championship before. It was new to me.

And I was nervous.

- You OK? - Yeah.

Wayne clearly had the ability.

But sometimes, he doubted himself.

I was nervous because I was waiting for something to happen.

- And Gardner's bike is slipping and sliding all over the place.

I built up such a points lead over the championship

that I got all protective, and I didn't want to lose anything.

Eddie was never gonna go away.

- Lawson leading, Mamola chasing.

I hate to lose.

- OK, Eddie Lawson, a win in the end, and 15 much-needed points.

- You bet. I'm so happy. I can't believe it.

Really, really happy.

Oh, I'll take anything.

Eddie's still quite a bit behind.

21 points, and Randy's 19 behind.

- Randy's 19 now? - Yeah.

- And Mamola cheered home.

And suddenly the gap at the top of the championship table

is just 12 points.

Wayne Gardner's well on his way to a World Championship.

But his lead is being whittled away.

He was afraid that he would overstep the mark.

I didn't wanna push too much and make a mistake.

So he backed off.

We could see he was backing off.

Jeremy was looking at the times, going,

'What the hell's he doing?'

After the British Grand Prix, I remember him coming back

into the motorhome. He was really angry.

'I rode like an idiot.'

- The flag is ready for Eddie Lawson.

Victory for the American.

Gardner second.

After a good race, everyone's feeling really good

and you're all on a high.

And yesterday, well, for example,

coming second, we're really pleased that he got the points,

but it's still not the same in the end.

It's just not there.

We all sat around and had a debrief after it

and said, 'We're off to Sweden next.

'What's the best way to attack this and get you back on track?'

We did it by boat in those days.

A bit of a time for a blowout deluxe with the team.

The idea was we'd feed him raw meat, put the loud music on

and get him in the zone.

- Look at Gardner's lead.

It seemed to work.

- Six riders chasing Wayne Gardner.

And the Australian showed that he can cope with the pressure.

That first world title another step nearer.

With a bit of luck, Australia will have

a new sporting hero this year.

You might not have heard of this 28-year-old

former apprentice metalworker,

but Wayne is already worth a fortune and among the elite

of a sport which draws huge crowds overseas.

From growing up in Wollongong,

here he is on the world stage.

We were just getting letters and postcards.

I got a letter from Bob Hawke, the Prime Minister.

'Come on, Wayne. You're gonna do it.

'You're gonna do it for us.'

There was so many of us sitting on the back of him

that we must have weighed the bike down.

They made me nervous.

We were nervous, because motorcycle racing

is a fickle sport, and anything can and does happen.

There's always something that brings you undone.

- There's nothing between this leading trio.

Mamola, Lawson and Gardner.

Jarama's a very stony track.

The radiators get perforated quite easily.

I looked down and seen the temperature coming up,

and obviously something had happened.

- Mamola and Lawson now definitely pulling away,

and Gardner clearly in trouble.

I was trying to monitor the temperature,

because if they get over 110 degrees, they're finished.

They're gonna seize completely.

My finger's on the clutch,

getting prepared for it to seize,

boiling water spraying up on my arm.

But if I stop, I'm gonna lose points.

He's gonna hate me for saying it,

but Wayne is one of these people,

he probably didn't have as much talent as some of the others,

but he got round it by sheer bloody-mindedness

and being determined.

- The Rothmans Honda sounding far from healthy.

No problems, though, for Eddie Lawson.

- Eddie Lawson, that was some race. Absolutely fantastic.

I'm glad it ended when it did.

Fourth place. It was eight precious points

with two races to go.

Now it looks like we're gonna have to go

to Brazil and Argentina for a result.

Well, I'm sorry about that,

if I have to take you all the way to South America.

And if you don't wanna have a holiday, then you can blame me.

- It's carnival time in Goiania, Brazil.

Wayne was very relaxed.

And he was enjoying the fact that so many

of the other characters on the circuit

were having a great time in Brazil.

We had a great time in Goiania,

an absolute party town if you've ever seen one.

The World Championship riders decide Miss Grand Prix.

The girls were beautiful.

There were lots of lovely big red lips and big bottoms,

and the guys were just like, 'This is heaven.'

Judge Wayne Gardner still finds time to relax

and give a hint as to his hotel room number,

despite the pressures that will be on him in a few days' time.

I knew Randy and probably Eddie were expecting me to ride

for, like, a third or fourth place.

Eddie and Randy were saying,

'We believe that Wayne will back off.

'The race is going to be between us.'

Most of the pressure's on Wayne's back.

He's gotta finish the race.

I don't have anything to lose, and I have everything to gain.

You never know. Anything could happen.

Those two guys could go out.

I used to say to Wayne, 'Get out there and win,

'and don't come back unless you do.'

And he'd go, 'Yes, boss.'

And it was kind of like a little mantra thing we had.

But I meant it. I meant it, and he knew I meant it.

He wanted to hear that too.

Everyone thought I'd just go out and ride conservatively.

But I just went, 'Nah, I'm gonna go for it.'

I just had my head down.

- A clear leader after only a single lap.

I don't think I took a breath the whole time.

- Gardner in magnificent form.

I pushed hard.

- A big moment there for Wayne Gardner.

A strange thing happened during the race.

There was a big whirlwind.

And I seen all the papers and everything

coming across the track.

And I think, 'Here we go.

'I'm just gonna go through it as fast as I can.'

Hit the centre of it, tucked in as tight as possible,

waiting for something.

But, basically, I was going at such a high velocity,

I just pierced it and went out the other side.

I was riding the limits of myself.

It was pretty scary, but...

it was exciting.

- Wayne Gardner powers towards the line on the Rothmans Honda.

A place in the history books as he takes the chequered flag.

The first Australian ever to win the World 500cc Championship.

It's Wayne Gardner.

When he clinched the world title,

I felt I'd won it with him. It got to me that much.

I was so proud of him.

It was a magical moment for me.

It was a highlight of all my racing career.

It was the duck's nuts.

We just knew he was gonna win it.

And then the way he just stood there

and sniffled like a little kid, I wanted to go up

and take me tissue and wipe his nose

and wipe his bum and his eyes and everything else.

That was just the absolute pinnacle of his life.

For all of us.

I remember asking Jerry, I said, 'Where's Eddie?'

And he goes, 'I dunno. He's not coming up.'

Eddie didn't turn up on the dais at the end,

which was extremely strange.

I...

I don't think I would deliberately do that,

but... who knows?

I could have.

I don't remember doing it on purpose, but...

Huh.

That particular moment,

something really strange happened, because

finally, finally, I've done this.

Then I've gone, 'What do I do now?'

If Wollongong can't claim to be

this country's most beautiful city,

then today it could definitely take the title as the proudest.

Wayne Gardner arrived home to a hero's welcome.

We had no idea just how involved everyone had become.

Cheering, 'We love you, Wayne, ' and, 'Good on you, Wayne, '

and holding up their sons and saying, 'His name's Wayne.'

Unbelievable.

Thank you all so much.

I'm trying to hold back the tears again,

to tell you the truth.

Gosh, bringing that back to Wollongong was just...

You know, it was their World Championship too.

Wollongong has never bestowed the city's keys on anyone.

When he won the championship, he went back home

to his home-town, and they gave him a key to the city.

One big 'yahoo'. Come on, ladies and gentlemen.

When I won the championship, I got a parking ticket

in my own city.

I guess I parked in the wrong spot or something.

He got a key to the city.

So it was like, 'Wow, we live on two different planets.'

- Proud of you, mate!

- So I was kinda jealous.

And the nominations for the Male Athlete of the Year are...

Patrick Cash,

Wayne Gardner,

and Jeff Fenech.

The winner is Wayne Gardner.

1987, Pat Cash won Wimbledon.

And Wayne, I'll never forget, was voted

sportsman of the year in Australia.

And I thought, 'Wow, they really do know who this guy is.'

Wayne Gardner.

Wayne Gardner now rivals cricketer Allan Border

and golfer Greg Norman

as the number-one sporting hero down under.

He was Johnny Everywhere.

Every time you turn on the TV, it was Wayne Gardner.

- Wayne Gardner. - Wayne Gardner.

It was just great timing. It was the bicentennial year.

All of a sudden, I'm this national hero.

Happy birthday, Australia!

It was amazing. I knew Alan Bond and Pat Cash,

Greg Norman and Kylie.

♪ Everybody's doing a brand new dance now.

♪ Come on, baby, do the locomotion.

Australia was growing up rapidly.

I'm Australian royalty.

♪ Come on, baby, do the locomotion.

The same old fogeys who doff their lid

and tug the forelock to the British establishment.

We'll have no bar of you or your sterile ideology.

Hear, hear!

And Wayne and I grew up with Australia.

1988 was really a coming of age for Australia,

and Wayne was included in everything that happened.

And he sort of changed a bit.

Of course I wanted to be rich and I wanted to be famous.

And I've nearly done that.

I've even got a couple of breweries after me

for some TV commercials.

♪ They said you'd never make it.

♪ You're just a larrikin kid.

♪ Wayne Gardner, get a proper job

♪ and settle down instead.

♪ They said you'd never make it

♪ when you took on all the rest.

♪ What chance does an Aussie stand

♪ of beating the world's best?

♪ They said you'd never make it.

♪ But you proved their words untrue.

It's been this emotional roller coaster for years,

and then you finally reach the top.

♪ This Swan's made for you.

And you're very, very lucky if you can capture

that essence in something after that.

My mind was straight away on, 'What's the next journey?

'Where are we going from here?'

- The outstanding achievements of Wayne Gardner

have been recognised internationally.

The time is now perfect for Australia to host a round

of the prestigious World Championship.

We know we can do it as well as anyone in the world.

Bob Barnard came to us and said,

'We are planning on putting an Australian Grand Prix together.'

Cos I sort of saw that the world was changing

and Australia could get some of these major events.

But we were piggy-backing on Wayne.

He said, 'We want as much input from you as we can have.'

Now, OK, if we're gonna do this,

where are we gonna do this?

Phillip Island? I'd never heard of it.

He showed me a few photos of what it looked like.

Yeah, it needed a lot of work.

And Wayne said, 'If you're gonna do it,

'do it properly. Otherwise, you'll look like a joke,

'Australia will be a joke.'

We've worked too hard to have that taken away from us.

Don't forget, quite a few years before then,

we went through this period, motorcycle racing was thought of

bikies with big beards and tattoos.

Hey!

And I worked really, really hard trying to make

motorcycle GP racing popular in Australia.

He had proved himself to so many people.

He'd wanted another championship.

And everyone's saying, 'Oh, Wayne, you've done it once.

'You can do it again. It's easy.'

But he needed to be told, 'You can't do it.'

He needed something to battle against.

We tested the '88 bike at Calder Park

at Rothmans' insistence, by filming a commercial.

It's a small circuit. It's not a Grand Prix size.

So it was a pointless test, to be honest.

We thought we had a reasonable bike,

although I kept saying to Jerry,

'I don't know why, but it's wheel-spinning a lot.

'It's just laying rubber everywhere.'

Honda somehow had made a really big mistake

with the '88 bike.

In their wisdom, they designed a new bike.

Honda was just a clean sheet. 'OK, 1987's done. We won. Tick.

'1988, we just start again.'

Because that was the Honda way.

- And in third, but on a very ill-handling Honda indeed,

Wayne Gardner.

The whole ball of string was unravelling.

- And Gardner's rear end steps out there.

He'd be out there saying, 'I'm just riding my balls off

'and I cannot get this bitch of a thing to go anywhere.'

I knew the bike was crap.

It was my first year in Grand Prix,

and I'm running with Wayne Gardner, the World Champion.

So I knew that he was riding a pile of shit.

I'm fucking pissed off with Honda.

- Lawson ahead on the Marlboro Yamaha.

But Gardner's down!

Wayne Gardner has crashed right in front of the Australian flag.

I've even got newcomers

and past guys I've never even tangled with before,

here I am struggling with them.

So it's a little bit hard to take, and it hurts a lot.

- Gardner perfectly OK,

but furious with himself and the bike.

Wayne was just in a terrible state.

I guess you could say he was depressed.

When he took his gloves off, you could see that the calluses

and blisters on his hands were massive.

To just hang on to that bike for as long as he did,

to keep us in the game, was an incredible effort.

I was so in love with him.

We were in love. We were a wonderful couple.

We worked well together.

And I thought, 'By now, after all we've been through,

'we really should be getting married.'

I wanted that respect of a wife-husband relationship.

He said, 'OK. But just not now.

'Nothing's going well for us at the moment.

'The racing's been shit.

'And putting the energy into organising a wedding

'and being there is just too hard.'

And I said, 'Fine.'

- For Australia's Wayne Gardner, it's make-or-break time.

He trails the championship leader,

American Eddie Lawson, by 40 points.

So to keep in touch, Gardner must win tonight.

We chopped and modified the chassis.

- And they're away.

The results started coming.

- Wayne Gardner heads through the chicane for the last time

to take the Dutch Grand Prix.

We were back on track.

- And Wayne Gardner wins the Belgian Grand Prix.

Gardner, then, crosses the start and finish line

to win the Yugoslavian Grand Prix.

I had three wins in a row,

and I was within reach of winning the championship.

To catch Eddie, I needed the fourth win at Paul Ricard.

- After 18 laps of duelling in the hot French sunshine,

it looks like Gardner's got it sewn up.

I had a dead-set win for sure.

And less than half a lap to go to victory.

And Gardner sat up.

There's a problem with the Rothmans Honda

and Wayne Gardner. Sensation on the last lap.

And the bike broke down.

If it hadn't been for bad luck this year, then I still

would have been winning this year's World Championship,

so I dunno what I've gotta do to correct that bad luck.

But, um, I feel - and I think I've proved to everyone, still,

who's the fastest, anyway.

End of '88, Wayne did have some offers from other teams.

Good offers, as well.

I'd had a huge offer from Kenny Roberts and Yamaha.

Nearly double the value of Honda's.

Kenny pushed, pushed, pushed very hard.

I said no, because I was staying loyal to Honda.

However, there was a bite.

And it was a big bite.

Unbeknown to Wayne,

Honda had also gone and signed Eddie Lawson.

Australia's motorcycling champion, Wayne Gardner,

flew into Sydney today, still smarting over the appointment

of arch-rival Eddie Lawson to his team.

He's got the wrong image for Honda.

And he's been with Yamaha for five or eight years or so.

And I said, 'It's impossible.'

So it comes as a big, big shock to me.

If Wayne had known earlier,

he wouldn't have been on a Honda.

Honda told me that Eddie wasn't coming to join,

and I was cool with that, if he came and joined,

but I said I would leave and go to Yamaha.

But... I stayed loyal to Honda,

thinking it was the right thing to do, and, um...

basically, they lied to me.

It's unfortunate for Wayne and everyone else, myself.

It just wasn't really handled as professionally

as it could have been.

Wayne was absolutely devastated.

It was a slap in the face, a huge slap in the face.

They didn't have to do that, you know? It was not necessary.

They could have just been honest with me,

and I would have happily left.

The realisation was that the loyalty he displayed to them

was not reciprocated.

By then, he was wondering, who was he riding for?

Was he riding for Wayne Gardner? Was he riding for Honda?

Was he trying to win a battle with Eddie Lawson?

Was he trying to win a battle with himself?

♪ I'll show you a land

♪ like you've never seen.

♪ A land filled with colour,

♪ excitement

♪ and dreams.

We were going back to Australia...

...for the Australian Grand Prix.

All these people,

all these bikes, all this fuss,

they're here because of one man.

It was just a media circus,

promoting, promoting this Australian Grand Prix.

And Wayne was fantastic.

He absolutely threw himself into this.

He made himself available for everything we wanted to do.

He never asked me for a fee.

In 1989, when I first landed in Australia,

I just remember seeing Wayne Gardner's picture everywhere.

I was like, 'Man, that guy must not ever sleep.'

From early this morning, traffic on the only bridge

to Phillip Island was at a standstill.

It got worse as race time approached.

He was the one-man ambassador for the whole thing,

and it was all riding on his shoulders.

Grand Prix fever moved to Melbourne's Southern Cross Hotel

last night, where riders, celebrities and socialites

wined and dined their way through to the small hours.

Can we go to the races now, lads?

He was absolutely the reason that this thing happened.

I was driving to the circuit,

and I was pulled over. And I was speeding.

The patrol man goes, 'Who do you think you are - Wayne Gardner?'

I mean, it was kind of Wayne's world that time,

for lack of better words.

Be lovely for him to win it, wouldn't it? It'd be so good.

Cos as he so rightly says, nobody really took any notice

of motorcycle racing until he won a World Championship.

I'd like Gardner to win.

Oh, Wayne Gardner.

Who else?

Just before he went out to race, he sat down, and he just went,

'Don, I'm exhausted.'

And I remember saying to him,

'It's because of you that this race is on.'

And he pulled on his gear, and I kissed him, wished him luck,

and off he went.

I closed the shop early and got home to watch it

and was glued to the TV.

I still hold my breath now, thinking about it.

That race was one of the most exceptional moments of my life.

- Where is Wayne Gardner, the local hero?

He's in fourth place. Eddie Lawson fifth.

Schwantz trying incredibly hard.

None of us had been there at that point,

so nobody... nobody had an advantage.

Three-quarters of the way around the first lap,

had a glance over my shoulder.

- And Schwantz is down!

Kevin Schwantz has just booted himself

out of the Australian Grand Prix.

My '89 Australian Grand Prix was over.

- Wayne Rainey it is, who leads.

- If anything gives you a buzz and a boost,

it's racing in your home Grand Prix

with your friends and your family

and everybody rooting for you.

- Still it's Wayne Rainey leading.

I set after Wayne Rainey.

- And look at Gardner in the dirt,

trying to get into second place.

Number 2, up the inside. Or does he? Yes, he does!

And it can inspire you to do things

that you can't find at every Grand Prix.

I eventually caught up to his back wheel.

- Wayne Gardner is coming off the straight.

Oh, and they both want the inside.

And Gardner hits the dirt.

Gardner looks for the inside.

And Gardner slices through.

And Gardner holding a little bit of a tighter line.

No, he doesn't!

Oh-ho!

I didn't know, but I'd dragged along

all the rest with me - Sarron, Magee.

And it's three abreast into the first corner.

And Gardner goes from third to first.

As Wayne Gardner once again leads-

Oh!...his own home-grown Grand Prix,

as Wayne Rainey almost loses it.

I was riding on the absolute limit.

- Oh, and Gardner is all over the place.

Rainey is side by side with Gardner.

Gardner-Oh!

And that's Donna, the fiancee of Wayne Gardner.

Can he hold on for two laps?

I could hear the crowd screaming.

- He's slipping right round.

Oh, he's lucky to hold it there.

- Just when I started to get tired, I just looked across

and caught a glimpse of the people, and they're waving.

And I went, 'Wow, this is just amazing.'

- It's the last lap.

The crowd - the near-on 100,000 crowd -

are rising to their feet.

Who can blame them?

They're willing Wayne Gardner on to victory.

Just about every man, woman or child is standing up

and shouting for Gardner.

The Australian flag is hoisted high.

You just knew that there was an angel on his shoulder that day.

I just knew we were going to win.

- The noise, the crescendo of noise is incredible.

Gardner leads.

Gardner coming towards the line.

It's Wayne Gardner on his Rothmans Honda

that wins the Australian Grand Prix.

Rainey is second...

And I just can't imagine writing the story any other way.

- Rainey has put on a tremendous duel, but look at Gardner.

Can't believe it. And there it is - the touch.

Great sport. Look at Donna jumping up and down.

This crowd, right around this circuit, absolutely ecstatic.

And the people went mad.

- It's a dream come true. He gets the Australian flag.

Wayne Gardner, such a proud Australian.

Everyone was so excited.

- The 100,000 or more that turned out today

cannot believe this. It's a fairy tale come true.

It was a crown for me.

My win as well.

I can't even say anything. I just don't know what to say.

I'm just so happy for him.

To feel that this is all part of what he's done for the sport,

and it's come off, I'm just so happy.

And then seeing Donna running towards me with her dress,

with her tight dress, and her legs are out the side,

running with a can of Coca-Cola.

Oh, this is fantastic stuff.

This is what sport's all about.

I know you don't run on to the track. It's dangerous.

It's just not what you do. But I couldn't hold back.

The pinnacle of his career.

We did it! We did it!

Donna's, 'Ah! Amazing! Amazing!'

I couldn't hold back. I just... I just wanted to just...

be the first, cos I knew after that

that I probably was not gonna see him for the next two weeks.

I just wanted to be the first to show him that,

'I am so proud of you.

'I really am just so proud of what you've done.'

- Chaos here. Look at Gardner.

There's tears in the eyes of every Australian

at this track today.

And Gardner said he had tears.

Well, I was, 'Oh! That's him! That's... That's my mate!'

You know? It was just sensational.

We want Wayne! We want Wayne!

I can't begin to tell you

what an amazing moment that was in my life.

And you think, 'Wow. There he is.'

He pulled it off.

I promised Donna that we'd get married.

I felt that it had to happen.

I don't know that he believed in marriage, but I believed in it.

So we had the big, lavish wedding in Wollongong.

Wollongong wanted us to get married in Wollongong.

It was the most beautiful wedding.

And it was very heartfelt.

I felt like a princess.

We had a great time. It was an amazing wedding.

It was really good fun.

Donna's my mate, and she always will be my mate.

And I still love Donna.

And we're as good a mates as ever before.

We went through it amicably,

which I believe still allows us to be friends now.

We still tell each other all the things that we're doing in life.

Donna's connected to my kids, and I'm connected to her kids,

and we've actually become a bigger family.

I don't know that Wayne would ever change.

I don't know Wayne knows how to change.

And he has, now, a great relationship with his children,

which I think is wonderful.

And that's what I've said to him -

'If you don't change for you,

'do the best you can for your children.

'Make sure you show them that you love them.'

Having my own children racing, I do worry.

And I understand my dad's concern

now, as a parent.

My son Remy, his first race, he goes...

He's 11. He goes, 'Dad, that was the most amazing experience

'I've ever had in my life, and I never want it to stop.'

I rode the wheels off the bike, constantly.

For me, that was the only logic that I really knew.

And sometimes I pushed too hard, and I threw it in the weeds.

Sometimes I crashed and broke bones.

Well, I've fractured two collarbones;

some wrists - I'd say two or three times on each wrist;

finger injuries; knuckles broken;

ribs - multiple ribs;

cracked my pelvis once;

I've broken both my legs - tibia and fibula's of my legs;

I've injured a left knee,

being smashed into the foot peg by another bike;

got neck injury from hitting a bird;

I got a fracture in my neck and a vertebrae in my back;

hurt my balls - hurt my balls big time.

That was painful, believe me.

Doctor thought it was pretty funny.