Niall Mackenzie: The Autobiography

Niall Mackenzie: The Autobiography
Stuart Barker

Niall Mackenzie

The 40-year-old Scot has been Britain's most successful Grand Prix racer since the legendary Barry Sheene. At his final race in Knockhill in August 2001, more than 20,000 fans turned up to watch Mackenzie and to bid farewell to their local hero.Niall has come a long way from Denny where he would regularly get into trouble for racing round the streets, as well as in and out of the local chip shops, to impress the girls.As an amateur it was recognized he had an abundance of talent, especially after winning his first race at Knockhill, but he also had a wild side and looks back on a time when chasing girls and getting drunk were as important as winning races.After moving up through the amateur ranks and securing his first factory 500cc rides on a Suzuki, Niall notched up a host of 500cc GP podium finishes before moving to Superbikes. He proved unbeatable between 1996 and 1998 when he claimed a hat-trick of British Superbike titles. On each occasion he beat big-name team-mates such as Jamie Whitham, Chris Walker and Steve Hislop.This fascinating look into the British GP and Superbike scene through the eyes of one of its legends, has now been fully updated with Mackenzie’s latest adventures in his career off the track in 2003.

Niall Mackenzie

The autobiography

Niall Mackenzie

with Stuart Barker

With love for my mum, Amelia.1929-2002

Table of Contents

Cover Page (#u091b8359-3d4f-59e3-a47c-0c1aa03157b2)

Title Page (#u4aac7097-1b05-551e-a979-00cf608b9a3a)

Foreword (#u6e2a176b-af39-58b5-89e9-46406907a36f)

CHAPTER ONE Chip Shops and Railway Tracks (#ucb46c76e-d0bb-5a9e-8def-f2eb5b38a819)

CHAPTER TWO Tractor Racing (#u43a46e9d-186d-56e4-bbf2-c15553a998c3)

CHAPTER THREE No Van, Man (#ue9fd7a9e-5ef1-5a88-8d7a-6ce29d5444ec)

CHAPTER FOUR Stealing Tomatoes (#u6a98bf47-2f48-508f-894b-b9cae9f56d46)

CHAPTER FIVE Watching the Washing Machine (#u1975c250-c073-52e7-ba31-97d3a047d2b1)

CHAPTER SIX I’m Not Really a Welder (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SEVEN Thanks for the Watch (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER EIGHT Stoney’s Return (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER NINE A Lucky Strike (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TEN A Baboon on the Lawn (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ELEVEN A Horse at the Traffic Lights (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWELVE Steak Instead of Spam (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN It’s a Boat – It’ll Float (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN The Dead Rat (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN 10 Downing Street (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN The Mackenzie Shuffle (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Like a Virgin (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Evil Twins (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER NINETEEN Pipe and Slippers (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWENTY World Domination (#litres_trial_promo)

Career Results (#litres_trial_promo)

Index (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Foreword (#ulink_8f6bf061-06f5-5d57-8f22-34cc56029ff6)

by MICK DOOHAN

Five Times 500cc World Champion

1994-1998

Niall Mackenzie was one of the first people I got to know when I started Grand Prix racing with Rothmans Honda in 1989 and since then we’ve always had a friendly relationship. He was one of the few guys against whom you could race and then go and have a coffee with at the end of the day without any worries. It was good to have him and his wife Jan around the GP paddock and they were very popular with everyone.

Back then we used to do some training together and would often go out running, which was something I couldn’t do any more after I broke my leg at Assen in 1992.

In my first season, I sometimes used to ask Niall about the weather in the various countries in Europe. I was straight out of Australia and had never been to most of those places, whereas Niall knew his way around. Before my first GP at Spa Francorchamps, I remember I mentioned to Niall that the weather in Belgium wasn’t so flash and he replied that he’d never been in a dry Grand Prix at Spa in all the years he’d raced there! Niall beat me in the 1989 championship when he was seventh and I was ninth.

That season, and the next, we were often racing each other closely and he was always a very fair sportsman in the way he rode.

Over the years that we’ve been friends he has visited me in Australia and we’ve been out on boats together and spent lots of time just relaxing away from the Grands Prix.

Niall started GP racing a year or two before me and around that time there was plenty of strong competition with riders such as Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz, Wayne Gardner, Christian Sarron and others.

It was a really quality field in those days but Niall had a pole position, seven podiums, and a total of twenty-eight top five finishes between 1987 and 1993.

The results don’t always tell the whole story, but on this occasion they show that Niall was a very competitive motorcycle racer and Britain’s best rider in 500cc Grands Prix at that time.

Since then he has raced in a variety of championships at world level and in Britain, mostly on Superbikes, and not surprisingly, he’s always done well relative to the capabilities of his equipment.