From our Old Bike Archives – Issue 75 – first published in 2018.
Story: Jim Scaysbrook • Photos: Michael Andrews, Rob Lewis, Coleman collection.
In the annals of motorcycle Grand Prix racing, as well as in the four wheeled equivalent, Formula One, Australians and New Zealanders have occupied many key positions as mechanics, engineers and team personnel – out of all proportion to the size of their countries in population terms. Some even gain fame on their own account – naturally not of the giddy heights afforded to the star riders and drivers, but fame none the less. Jeremy Burgess, featured in OBA 70, is one such name, as are Kiwis Mike Sinclair and Paul Treacy. For many years of Valentino Rossi’s illustrious career, his team contained several such ANZACS, including Burgess, Alex Briggs, Dick Smart, and for the seasons 2000 to 2015 inclusive, Gary Coleman.
Newcastle born and bred, and trained as a fitter machinist, Gary’s initial interest in motorcycling was in the leisurely world of Observed Trials, riding, not unnaturally, a Bultaco Sherpa, since the coal city was the home of Norm Fraser’s Bultaco-based empire. Newcastle and its environs was also a hotbed of Dirt Track (Short Circuit) activity, with numerous tracks and probably the strongest line up of committed sliders in the country. “I used to follow Doug Saillard and Graham Gates, both locals,” recalls Gary. “Doug had a Bultaco Bandito 360cc motocrosser that Norm Fraser supplied, and Doug road raced it. Gates had one too and did quite well on it. When Doug gave away racing I bought the Bandito and raced it on the dirt tracks at Salty Creek and Heddon Greta, and with a change of tyres, gearing and handlebars between events, on the tar at Oran Park and Amaroo Park. About 1973 I bought a new Yamaha TZ350A for $2,400, and later Dick Hunter bought me a new TZ350 so I converted mine to a 250 to give me rides in two classes.”
Gary climbed rapidly through the ranks and after winning the Junior B Grade race at Bathurst in 1974, and finishing second to Queenslander Barry Lemon in the Unlimited B Grade, was elevated to A Grade. At the 1975 Australian GP at Bathurst, Lemon crashed in practice and was unable to start in the races, so he offered his 125cc Yamaha to Gary, who, despite having no practice on the little machine, promptly won a thrilling Ultra Lightweight tussle that included Greg Johnson, Rob Hinton and Geoff Sim and came down to a frantic final corner braking duel. Later in the meeting in the 30-lap Unlimited GP, a spectator in the Esses dislodged a rock which rolled onto the track, and Gary was the first rider on the scene. His 350 stuck the rock and end-for-ended, pitching him off but fortunately without injury. One week later, with Lemon still out of action, Gary won the 125cc Australian TT at Lakeside on the same machine.
Dick Hunter added a new Mk1 RG500 Suzuki to the stable in 1977, followed soon after by an Mk2, but it was not a happy experience for Gary. Forsaking his Yamahas for Bathurst in 1977, the new Suzuki exploded the gearbox in the Senior GP, putting him out for the meeting. “We took the Suzuki to the Marlboro Series in New Zealand, the last time it was held in the summer of 1977/78, but it was a disaster, and Dick and I split up soon after that. I think Stu Avant took over the Suzuki, while I went back to Alan Kay’s 350 Yamaha. I won the Junior (350cc) GP at Bathurst in 1978 and 1981, when I rode Murray Sayle’s bike. In this period I also rode a TZ750 Yamaha that was owned by Frasers, but looked after by the Kay brothers – John, Stu and Alan. I did most of the work on it and we had a fair bit of success with it.” In both 1980 and 1981 he finished second in the Swann International Series and was also second in the Unlimited Australian Road Racing Championship in 1981. He also teamed up with Greg Pretty aboard the special XS1100 Yamaha owned by Pitmans in Adelaide and converted to chain drive by Mal Pitman. At the Coca Cola 800 at Oran Park, the team recovered from an early crash by Pretty to take the win and the lion’s share of the prize money.
These successes led to Gary being offered a position in the newly-formed Yamaha Dealer Team, which had sponsorship from Toshiba and with Warren Willing as Team Manager. The plan was to run three TZ500 Yamahas; a new J-Model for Ron Boulden and two of the earlier models converted to reverse-cylinder specification for Gary and Len Willing. Gary had Murray Sayle as his mechanic and had high hopes for success at Bathurst in 1982, but his first race on Easter Saturday he jumped off on the first run over the mountain and broke a collarbone. The Toshiba squad did not continue for 1983, forcing Gary to look elsewhere for rides. “Yamaha lost interest in racing the GP bikes and switched their focus to Production racing and Improved Production, which I was not really keen on. In late 1981 I was invited to ride a TZ500 at the Selangor Grand Prix in Malaysia, up against Barry Sheene on a square four Yamaha and Randy Mamola and a Japanese rider named Kawasaki. I finished fourth but it was a sad meeting because their star local rider Gerry Looi was killed right in front of me when the front wheel of his Suzuki collapsed.”
The gradual shift to production-based bikes didn’t sit well with Gary, although he was no slouch on them. In the Castrol Six Hour Race he finished third in 1978, teaming with Len Atlee on a Yamaha XS1100, and seventh in 1983 on a Yamaha XJ900 he shared with Ron Boulden. But he was also beginning to consider life after racing, which came when he hung up his helmet in 1984 and bought into a car rental franchise. In Gary’s words, it was a ‘disaster’, and with ‘no money and no prospects’ he briefly considering working as a dive instructor, but quickly realised there was no money it that either. Then a chance conversation with Wayne Martin, another local, resulted in a complete change. “Wayne was working for Team Roberts in Europe and told me he might be able to get me a job overseas. I said to my wife Sue, ‘What do you reckon’ and she said, ‘yes, let’s get out of here, away from all this mess’. Our daughter Katie had been born in 1984, I was nearly 40 so I thought I’d give it a go, but it meant leaving the family. I left for Spain in 1992 to join the Team Roberts test team based in Barcelona. Warren Willing was crew chief and Randy Mamola was the test rider. Glenn Willing also worked in the team. I was away eight and a half months, and I’d write a letter home every day. Every few weeks I’d pinch the company phone at midnight to talk to Sue. So that worked for me, doing my penance, and I stayed on for 1993 when Sue and Katie moved over to Spain. The following year Wayne Martin was dropped from the race team and I took his place, so Sue and I moved to Holland. My rider was Norick Abe and I spent two years working with him in the 500cc GPs. I had my first GP with Norick in Japan in 1996. Between 1997 and 1999 I worked with various riders in the team, including Kenny Roberts Junior and Ralf Waldman. We had two 500 Yamahas and three mechanics, plus I drove the race truck. These days everyone on the GP teams has a specific job, whereas we all just worked on everything. My jobs became tyres, wheels, brakes and fuel.
“I stayed with Team Roberts until the end of 1999. You only ever had a job from year to year and at the end of 1999 I wasn’t offered a renewal; they said they could get local guys for less than what they were paying me. I was already back home over Christmas when I got the news, so once again I had no job. I rang up Warren, who was then with Suzuki looking after Roberts Junior, and asked him if there were any jobs going but he said there weren’t. I was getting a bit depressed and then Sue said, ‘Give JB (Jeremy Burgess) a call.’ I hesitated but she persisted, and it was the best phone call I ever made. JB said, ‘Hey Gary, don’t sign anything until I get back to you’ – that was a laugh, I was sitting in Newcastle with nothing! He said, ‘I can’t say too much, but we’re starting this new team and you’re just the guy we need.’ So he got on to Japan and rang back and said ‘You’re in!’. The new team was for Valentino Rossi to ride a 500 Honda with sponsorship from Nastro Azzuro beer, and they faxed back a contract – reams of it – and your wage is always on the last page. I didn’t know anything; where I had to live, when I would start, but when I got to the money part I thought, ‘Holy shit!’ It was magic compared to what I’d been on.”
For the next three seasons, Gary became an integral part of the highly successful team that clinched the final 500cc championship in 2001, as well as the first MotoGP title the following year. After a third consecutive crown, Rossi stunned the GP world by defecting to Yamaha, crucially taking his slick squad with him. “I was still driving the truck, as well as working as a mechanic, when I joined Yamaha in 2004, but I finally talked my way out of driving in 2006.” Rossi’s disastrous switch to Ducati in 2011 has been well documented, but for Gary, Alex Briggs, JB and the others behind the scenes, it was a tough time as well, with the Italian press baying for blood, and only 7th (2011) and 6th (2012) places in the championship standings to show for it. But once again Rossi packed his crew and swapped camps – back to Yamaha – with Gary and the boys back in blue. “When we went back to Yamaha it all changed. I could have stayed in Europe between races but I preferred to come home, so I would fly in and fly out for races – I’d be back to Newcastle every two or three weeks. Sometimes I wouldn’t get home until the Friday and have to leave again on Monday or Tuesday. Yamaha had this policy that if you stayed in Europe you paid your own way, so it could cost you one or two thousand dollars a week in accommodation, car hire, food – and beer!”
Then at the end of 2013, Jeremy Burgess sensationally departed the team, leaving the others under the leadership of Silvano Galbusera, who had previously looked after Marco Melandri in the World Superbike Championship. By this stage, Gary already had his own plan. “My contract was still a rolling one, year by year, but I decided that 2016 would be my last, and I gave a year’s notice. I really enjoyed my time with JB and all the guys; we had our arguments but we also had lots of fun, and I have to admit that I miss the involvement with the team. I remember once I was putting the brakes into the bike and the tv cameras were filming me and Alex (Briggs) said, ‘No need to be nervous Gary, but there are 200 million people watching you, so don’t stuff it up!”
On the subject of Valentino Rossi himself, Gary is emphatic. “Valentino is a thorough gentleman, we got on wonderfully well and he treated me with respect. I have never seen him raise his voice to anyone. When I’d be working on the bike he would come through the garage and just give you a pat on the shoulder. He trusted all of us. He gave me one of his sets of leathers, and to my knowledge he has only done that once before. I count that as a sign of genuine friendship. One of the helmets he gave me he inscribed, ‘To Gary, I love you’, and he meant it. He is an extremely passionate guy. You hear all kinds of opinions about Valentino from people who don’t even know him.”
Gary’s final GP was at Valencia in 2016, so for 2017, for the first time in 26 years, Gary was a man of leisure. “We’re not rich but we have enough for a comfortable life, and we enjoy hitching up the caravan and getting away to things like food and wine festivals and just generally travelling around the country. My other passion is aircraft, although I’m not a pilot myself; I just love flying.” Gary and Sue have lived in the same charming house in Newcastle for 30 years, and are happy and contented there. For the moment, Gary has not been tempted back into the motorcycle racing scene, even as an onlooker, although he did attend the 2017 MotoGP at Phillip Island to catch up with old friends. It’s been a rich and rewarding career, on both sides of the pit wall.
