Top 10 Australian motorcycle sporting stories to rival the Matildas

Matildas mania is sweeping the nation with the Australian soccer team making an unprecedented run to the FIFA Women’s World Cup semi-finals on home soil.

And with the green-and-gold spirit in full force, we thought it would be a good opportunity to take a look back at some iconic moments when Australian motorcycle racers triumphed on the world stage.

From individual wins in storied one-off events, to world championship wins, and even team world cup success, Australians have always batted above their average in world motorcycle racing.

While the full list of Aussie success stories could warrant a whole book, we’ve narrowed it down to 10 of our favourite iconic motorcycle sporting moments.

The Australian Women’s World Trophy team is motorcycling’s very own version of the Matildas, winning an incredible six straight International Six Day Enduro titles. Jemma Wilson, Jess Gardiner, and Tayla Jones dominated the Women’s ISDE competition for five years before Mackenzie Tricker replaced retiring Wilson in 2018 to win a sixth title.

For context, the Australian Men’s World Trophy team has only won twice (in 2015 amidst controversial circumstances and again 2018) and the Junior team three times (in 1995, 2015, and 2019). Incredibly, the girls never received any mainstream media coverage despite being one of the most successful Australian sporting teams in history. In the motorcycle industry, however, the amazing run of wins is looked at as a golden era for the sport in Australia.

While motorcycle sport rarely breaks through into mainstream media, Toby Price has arguably come the closest with his two Dakar Rally titles. With Mitsubishi advertisements, spots on various news and current affairs shows, and small but consistent coverage in newspapers, Price’s victories were followed closely by Australians.

The lad from rural New South Wales was already a star before he first landed in South America, having dominated the Australian enduro and desert racing scene for much of the 2010s. He finished third on debut at Dakar in 2015, before joining the KTM Factory Team and becoming the first Australian to win the gruelling race in 2016. He repeated the feat in 2019.

The last Australian to win the MotoGP World Championship was Casey Stoner in 2011 but, before Stoner, there was Mick Doohan. The Queenslander made his Grand Prix debut in 1989 for Repsol Honda and won his first 500cc world title onboard an NSR500 in 1994.

Doohan then won four more consecutive titles, before retiring in 1999 as one of the greatest riders in history. He is currently fourth on the all-time list of premier class championships and only Giacomo Agostini has won more titles consecutively. Doohan also features prominently in the top five of many Grand Prix records.

Only two other Australians have won the premier class title, with Stoner winning in 2007 and 2011, and Wayne Gardner taking home the trophy in 1987.

Hot of the press, Jett Lawrence is the 2023 AMA Pro Motocross 450 class champion. Winning the title in his rookie year, he joins a list of just five riders to do the same. Even more impressive is the fact that, at the time of writing, he was 18-0 for the motocross season, keeping his hopes of a ‘perfect’ season alive. Only Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart have achieved that feat.

Prior to his rookie 450 season, Lawrence won two AMA Supercross 250 class titles and two Pro Motocross 250 class titles, giving him the most AMA titles of any Australian rider in history. His older brother Hunter is also an AMA 250 Supercross champion and in the hunt for the 2023 Pro Motocross 250 title. The only other Aussie to win an AMA supercross or motocross title? This guy…

While Jett might now have more championships, no one can deny the mark that Chad Reed left on the world of motocross and supercross. Hailing from Kurri Kurri, New South Wales, Reed won the AMA Supercross 125 East title in 2002 before winning the then-premier class AMA Supercross 250 title in 2004. He repeated the feat in 2008 when the AMA title was an official FIM World Championship, and then won the 2009 450 Pro Motocross title.

Those AMA titles are just a small sample of what Reed achieved in his career. He features prominently in the record books and was a popular poster boy for the sport in both Australia and the United States. He retired from AMA racing in 2020, but remains active in the sport and most recently competed in the WSX series in 2022.

Meghan Rutledge dominated Australian motocross throughout most of her career, but she almost achieved the biggest victory of all on not just one, but two occasions. Her pair of silver medals in the 2013 and 2015 MXGP Women’s World Championships stands as one of the best results for any Australian female rider. The 2014 championship was particular close with 18-year-old Rutledge crashing in the first moto of the final round, ultimately losing the title to Kiara Fontanesi by just five points.

Rutledge experienced similar heartbreak a year earlier in the X-Games final. The Australian was leading into the final jump, but an early celebration caused her to crash and America’s Vicki Golden snatched the gold medal. Despite missing out on those wins, Rutledge will long be remembered as one of the greats of Australian motocross.

The Isle of Man TT is renowned as one of the most dangerous and most exhilarating motorcycle races in the world, and only five Australians have ever stood on top of the podium. Victorian Cam Donald’s pair of 2008 wins in the Superstock TT and Superbike TT rocketed him into the top echelon of TT riders.

These days Cam manages full-time work amongst television commentary and being a regular bikesales contributor. While he arguably never received the appropriate recognition here in Australia outside of the motorcycle industry, he is considered one of the all-time greats when the TT rolls into the Isle of Man each year. The other Aussies to win on the Isle of Man include Barry Smith, Kel Carruthers, Ken Kavanagh, and John Findlay.

In some versions of history, motorcycle speedway originated in Australia with one of the first ever recorded meetings occurring at the Maitland Showgrounds in 1923. Since then, Australia has maintained a strong presence in the arguably European-focused sport.

The first ever Speedway World Champion was Australian Lionel Van Praag, who won the inaugural title in 1936. Van Praag has since been joined by Bluey Wilkinson, Jack Young, Jason Crump, Chris Holder, and Jason Doyle as Australian-bred Speedway World Champions. You could also argue that Tai Woffinden should be on that list, but despite being raised in Western Australia, he represented the United Kingdom when he won his title.

Australia has also been successful in team competition too, with the national team winning five world cups and notching up a total of 15 medals. The first world cup victory came in 1976 with Phil Crump leading the way, while his son Jason was an important player in the 1999, 2001, and 2002 world cup victories. The fifth victory came in the 2022 Speedway of Nations, which took the place of the Speedway World Cup in 2018 and used the old World Pairs Championship format. That victory was achieved by Max Fricke, Jack Holder, and Jason Doyle.

Often dubbed the Olympics of Motocross, the Motocross des Nations is the premier team’s event in world motocross racing. Australia has always struggled to match the might of the USA and European teams, but they came incredibly close in 2011, with Chad Reed, Matt Moss, and Brett Metcalfe finishing an incredible third at Saint-Jean-d'Angély. That result was replicated 11 years later at Red Bud by Hunter Lawrence, Jett Lawrence, and Mitch Evans.

The World Superbike Championship doesn’t get the same level of attention given to the MotoGP World Championship, but it still holds great importance among purists of the sport. And with the motorcycles mostly replicating normal street-going sportsbikes, the abilities of the riders are paramount to success. Troy Corser was the first Australian to win the title in 1996, and he was followed by Troy Bayliss in 2001. Corser won again in 2005, before Bayliss took out the 2006 and 2008 WSBK titles. Their combined five titles leaves Australia as the third most successful nation in WSBK racing behind the UK and USA.