Dean Thomas

I started riding motorbikes when I was about five, if you could call it a motorbike. It was called a Rock-Hopper, It was a lawn mower engine with some kind of frame around it.

Dad use to tie a rope onto the back of the bike and make me ride it around in circles (like you do with a horse) until I could ride ok. I use to double my brother Chad around the paddock after school every day.

I think I was about 8 years old when I had an upgrade in bike to a Yamaha MX 80, it was a big step at the time but it didn’t take long to get the hang of it. My brother had started riding my old bike by then so we spent most of the time riding around annoying the neighbours.

When I turned 12 I got my first new bike it was a Yamaha YZ 80. That was when dad decided that it was time to have a go at racing motocross, went fairly well at my first event but I thought I was flying. We did as many club races as we could over the next year but nothing too series just a lot of fun.

When I was 13 years old it started to move on a little, I started doing some bigger races up and down the coast. That was when I first saw the young factory backed riders (Mat Maladin, Anthony Gobert,) and could not believe how fast they were. I spent most of the year working my way up the field.

When I was 14 years old dad and mum spent more of their hard earn’t money and brought a new Kawasaki KX 80 it was a major step forward for me and on the track. I started getting results almost straight away; I thought I was getting the hang of this motocross thing. By the middle of the year I was starting to get a bit big for the 80cc so dad decided to buy me a second hand Yamaha yz 125.

I did the rest of the year doing both classes gaining more experience and also finding out what it was like to break bones, but a few broken bones wasn’t going to stop me I was hooked on the sport. This was about the time when mum really started to panic about my brother and I getting hurt (and nothing has changed there). I was starting to do really well by this stage finishing on the podium every few weeks.

When I turned 15 my parents traded in the Yamaha 125 on a new Kawasaki kx 125 and we kept the kx 80 as well.

We had a fairly serious go at it that year travelling all over the place, I had some good results wining the mid north coast championship and finishing in the top 3 in most state championship races.

At 16 years old I left school and was given a motorcycle apprenticeship with a local dealership called Rock Motorcycles and I also traded my bikes in on a new Kawasaki kx250 (with my parents help). I continued with motocross but I also started doing super cross and flat track when I had the time. I did this for the next 2 years with some good results.

I was 18 when my boss Peter started telling me that I should have a go at road racing (Peter had raced in the UK and Australia). So we did some work on my kx 250 and took it to a racetrack and did a club race meeting, if you haven’t worked it out already I loved it. So for the next few months Peter my parents and I started sorting out a package for the following year.

It was now 1991 and I was the owner of my 1st road racing bike it was a Kawasaki KR1S, 250 production racing was the big thing in Aus at the time and if you planned on going anywhere in racing than this was the class to start in.

I had a good year finishing on the podium a few times and really started to realise that there was more to it than being the best rider you also had to know how to set a motorbike up. In 1992 I moved on to a Honda CBR 600, I could not believe the difference between riding a 4 stroke bike compared to a 2 stroke.

The biggest difference was the weight and the way the bike handled but I settled in to it. I competed in the super street championship that year and after my fare share of crashes I finished 4th in the championship.

In 1993 I was lucky enough to get sponsorship from Kawasaki on a ZZR 600 they supplied the bike and some spares and we did the rest.

I competed in the Australian supersport championship which meant lots of travelling for my parents and I. The closest round of the series was 5 hours drive away and the furthest was just short of 50 hours drive each way. We had a fairly good year but we struggled with the bike a little but we still managed to finish 4th in the championship which wasn’t too bad.

It was now 1994 and I decided to stay on the Kawasaki because it was the best backing I could get. I changed brand of race tyres and the rest was the same as the year before, so at least we knew where we stood with the package. We struggled with a few engine problems that year and snapping my bike in 2 pieces at one of the rounds in the middle of the year didn’t help. But we managed to get through it and still managed to finish 3rd in the Australian supersport championship.

For 1995 I was approached by Honda and Steve Crammer who was the owner of the top 600 team at the time, he was also the Ohlins importer for AUS and was very switched on with suspension. His team had won the 600 championship with Graeme Morris for the last 3 years and I couldn’t believe this was my new team. We had a great year with lots of podiums and I learnt loads about setting motorbikes up. The championship was fought out between Troy Bayliss and I and went all the way to the last round before I ended up being the Australian Champion.

The next year (1996) I signed a contract with Honda to ride their factory RC45 Superbike in the Australian Superbike series. It was a difficult year because we struggled with top speed a little but I enjoyed every bit of it. I had a few podiums and managed to finish 4th in the championship, and we also did a couple of World Superbike rounds which was great experience at the time.

It was a difficult decision what to do for the 1997 season I could ether stay in Oz and race Superbike or pack up and go overseas. I had an offer to go to England and race 600 Supersport for Honda so I decided to go and try it out. I road for Tony Scott Honda on the CBR600 and we had a very good season, It took a bit of time to get the hang of the tracks but we managed to finish 4th in the British championship and I knew I had made the right decision in moving to the UK. I lived with Brent and his family at the time and they made it that bit easier to get used to living in a different Country.

I decided to stay with the same team for the 1998 season but the team was under a new name GR Motorsport and we had also changed bikes to Suzuki GSXR 600. The new bike was great to work with and the first half of the season went really well with some podiums and some consistent results, but the second half was not so good. I had a big crash mid season which put me out for the rest of the year and that meant I only managed to finish 9th in the championship which didn’t help in negotiating deals for the following year.

For 1999 I signed for B&H Yamaha, which was owned by Graham & Mark, it wasn’t a big budget team, but they were fantastic people to ride for.

I really enjoyed the year because everyone involved in the team put everything into it, and we managed to finish 6th in the British championship.

At the end of the season I was offered a deal to ride a Ducati 748 in the year 2000 for a factory backed team called D&E Racing. It was owned and run by Enzo & Diane and I knew this was the team I needed to be with to have the best chance of wining the Championship. It was the first time I had ever ridden a V Twin engine and I thought it would take some time to get us to it but I was pleasantly surprised. I got the hang of it straight off and I new it was the best chance I had at the championship.

We had a good start to the season with a win here and there and consistent podium finishes, it was really fitting together, the team was working together brilliantly and the rest of the year was looking great. We continued on with lap records and podiums but a fall at one round and an engine problem at another wrecked any chance of wining the championship. By the end of the season we ended up finishing 3rd in the championship that wasn’t too bad I suppose.

I had built up a great working relationship with both Enzo and the team and I knew that wherever the team was going for 2001 I was going with them. It was a bit of a mixed up winter we didn’t know which series we would be racing in, it was ether British Superbike or world supersport either one was a big step forward. After a couple of meetings in Italy it was decided that it would be worlds with Ducati linked in with the Superbike team.

This was a big step for the team and me and it was one that I had been trying to achieve sense I first started.

My teammate was Vitto Guareschi and he was a very well known contender in the world championship. I new that it was going to be a difficult year and I wasn’t wrong, it started out ok Vitto was faster in pre season testing but by the middle of the year I had court up to him.

We where struggling with the speed of the bike all year and we didn’t seem to have an answer for it. As the year went on it just seem to get worse, and we where also having some tyre problems which wasn’t helping matters. So the outcome for the year was that Vitto and I both finished done in the championship and the plain was to change manufacturer and to have another go at trying to win the world supersport championship (or is it).

The 2002-year has just rolled around and it has not been the start I was looking for. The Dienza performance team has recently found out that one of their main sponsors has pulled out and it looks unlikely that the team will compete in the World Championship this year. So they are frantically trying to organize a package to compete in the British Superbike Championship, lets hope it all comes together.

The 2003 season didn’t get off to great start. I was meant to be riding for the Dienza Team again in the Britsh
Superbike Championship but due to sponsorship problems the team had to withdraw from the championship before it even started. I missed 3 rounds of the championship before I agreed a deal with the Vitrans Honda Team to compete in the British Supersport Championship. I had wins and front row starts and still managed to finish 4th in the championship which I was fairly happy with.

In 2004 I was back with the Dienza team and on a ex factory bike and it was a great year. We did a great job as a team and I finished 7th in the championship which I think was great considering the teams wasn’t a factory team.

For the 2005 season I moved across to the Hawk Kawasaki Team. I was teamed up with another aussie Glen Richards and we managed to finish 5th and 6th in the championship.
 
2006 I resigned with the Hawk Team. The year was going ok but at Snetterton I had a huge crash, I was hit from behind buy another rider and the outcome was a punctured lung and broken ribs. This had me side lined for 3 rounds and I was still not 100% for the next 2 rounds. Still I managed to claw my way back up the championship and finish 11th, and with out a doubt the hardest year I have ever had.

2007 is about to kick off and I’m pleased to say I am back with the Dienza Team. We are running some ex rizzla Suzuki’s in the British Superbike Championship so it will be interesting what we can do. And just to top it off I have decided to build my own race team and run a young rider in the British Superstock Championship. It’s going to be a busy year so keep an eye on the website for the highs and lows