Mark Willis (motorcycle racer)

Mark Willis (motorcycle racer)
Mark Willis
Motorcycle Grand Prix Career
Birthdate 3 May 1976 (1976-05-03) (age 35)
Birthplace Narrabri, NSW
Nationality Australia Australian
Active years 19982001
Team(s) BSL, Modenas, Pulse
Grands Prix 22
Championships 0
Wins 0
Podium finishes    0
Pole positions 0
Fastest laps 0
First Grand Prix 1998 500cc Australian Grand Prix
First win none
Last win none
Last Grand Prix 2001 500cc British Grand Prix

Mark Willis (born 3 May 1976 in Narrabri, NSW, Australia) is an Australian Grand Prix motorcycle road racer.

Career

In 1991 Willis won the NSW championship in Australia. He later became the Australian Long Track Champion in 1993 and 'Australian Rider of the Year' in 1996.

He was participated in the Australian Superbike Championship in 1997 with the Factory Suzuki Superbike team, Troy Bayliss was his team mate. Willis took his first race win in the wet at Eastern Creek and finished 4th in the championship.

In 1998 Willis was a wildcard ride in the Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island saw Willis finish 6th in Race 1 and 9th in Race 2. This was on a private Suzuki, all the more impressive as he beat both factory Suzuki riders along with many of the other WSB regulars. He competed in both the Australian Superbike and Supersport until injury sidelined him for the final two rounds of both. He was then offered a wildcard ride in the Australian 500 GP as Phillip Island. He finished in a point scoring 14th place.

Willis joined the BSL race team in 1999 to compete in the 500 GP World Championship. Unfortunately, the bike suffered persistent mechanical problems and Willis only competed in one race at Jerez. Willis finished the season on a leased Modenas bike. He was consistently the fastest of the three Modenas riders, finishing 6 out of the last 7 races.

In 2000 Willis competed in 2 rounds of the Endurance World Championship for the Yamaha Motor France team. Along with French team-mates Jean-Marc Deletang and Fabien Foret, he won both the Spa 24 Hour and Bol D’Or 24 Hour races. He finished joint 7th in the Championship. Willis was also still with the BSL team in 500 GPs, but got little track time due to the bikes continuing development problems. He left the team and signed with Kenny Roberts Snr. to compete in 4 of the last 5 rounds of the season aboard the 3 cylinder Modenas.

Willis signed with the Pulse team in 500cc GP, alongside British teammate Jason Vincent in 2001. His best finish was 13th at Mugello, scoring 3 points. The team however withdrew from the series in July due to lack of funding.

Later in 2002 Willis entered one race in the World Supersport Championship for the Dutch Saveko Racing team aboard a Yamaha YZF R6, finished 16th at Sugo. In 2006 He competed in four rounds of the Australian NakedBike Championship finishing 9th in the series on board a BMW K1200R. In 2007 Willis is currently competing in the Australian NakedBike Championship riding a Benelli TNT 1130 Sport.

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Mark Willis — may refer to: Mark Willis (motorcycle racer), Australian Grand Prix motorcycle road racer Mark Willis (racing driver), English racing driver in the UK Pickup Truck Racing series Mark W. Willis, chief executive officer (CEO) of Keller Williams… …   Wikipedia

  • Mark Webber — This article is about the Formula One driver. For other people named Mark Webber, see Mark Webber (disambiguation). Mark Webber Webber at the 2011 British Grand Prix Born 27 August 1976 …   Wikipedia

  • Owensboro, Kentucky — City of Owensboro, Kentucky   City   Historic District in downtown Owensboro Nickname(s) …   Wikipedia

  • Deaths in 2004 — Contents 1 December 2 November 3 October 4 September …   Wikipedia

  • Deaths in May 2008 — Contents 1 May 2008 1.1 31 1.2 30 1.3 29 …   Wikipedia

  • 2007 in sports — yearbox in?=in sports cp=20th century c=21st century cf=22nd century yp1=2004 yp2=2005 yp3=2006 year=2007 ya1=2008 ya2=2009 ya3=2010 dp3=1970s dp2=1980s dp1=1990s d=2000s da=0 dn1=2010s dn2=2020s dn3=2030s|News by dateJanuary*1 College Football… …   Wikipedia

  • 1955 — This article is about the year 1955. Millennium: 2nd millennium Centuries: 19th century – 20th century – 21st century Decades: 1920s  1930s  1940s  – 1950s –  1960s   …   Wikipedia

  • Deaths in 2003 — Contents 1 January 2003 2 February 2003 3 March 2003 4 A …   Wikipedia

  • David (name) — David, Davit Michelangelo s statue of the biblical David. Pronunciation /ˈdeɪvɪd/ Gender …   Wikipedia

  • List of people with surname Harris — Harris is an English language surname with a variety of spellings.A list of notable people sharing the surname Harris is shown here. Only the Harris spelling is considered here.List of well known people with surname HarrisA* A. J. Harris (born… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”