Jeremy Burgess who , supporting Mick Doohan , Wayne Gardner and Valentino Rossi , took 13 World titles
THE FIRST WAVE - DRAWN TO EUROPE Most of Australian and New Zealand riders of this era and a bit later saw Britain , and Europe , as their holy grail . A lot of riders from Down Under had taken that path before the Boomers , some making it all the way to the top . Australians Keith Campbell ( 1957 350cc championship ), Tom Phillis ( 1961 125cc championship ) and Kel Carruthers ( 1969 250cc championship ) were the stand-outs in this era , along with New Zealand ’ s Hugh Anderson who won four world championships in the 50cc ( 1963 & 64 ) and 125cc ( 1963 & 1965 ) classes . Auckland ’ s Bob Haldane tells the story of a party at the flat he and his wife Val had in London . It was 1966 and of the crowd of Kiwi friends , 17 were in England racing motorcycles . Many of them took care of their own machine preparation , but there were some who had mates along to turn the spanners . After they had worked out the racing ‘ bug ’, most returned home and many either bought into existing motorcycle dealerships - or started their own . They were lucky : the Japanese onslaught was in its infancy and those who tied up franchise agreements were soon making good money from the teenage ‘ baby boom ’ generation . More than a few of
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