This story was excerpted from CW‘s SportBike 2008 annual, on sale through July at select newsstands, or order direct from shop.cycleworld.com.
It’s an impossible shot. As Suzuki rider Chris Vermeulen rocketed down Phillip Island’s 2500-foot front stretch during last year’s Australian Grand Prix, photographer Andrew Wheeler took aim, his weapon a 200mm lens. Degree of difficulty was raised exponentially because he was tracking Vermeulen from the inside of pit row, his view severely obstructed by team stands, technicians and pitboards.
Bang! In 1/320th of a second, Wheeler got his shot. Rider perfectly framed by a gap in the trackside flotsam; background a green smear; Vermeulen’s clear, calm eyes tack-sharp courtesy the photographer’s steady hands. An amazing image. A millisecond either way and the shot is junk.
The photo is special for another reason. Vermeulen wears a one-off set of leathers and a specially painted helmet. His Suzuki’s bodywork is done up just this one time in retro graphics. It’s all in tribute to Barry Sheene, a.k.a. “Bazzer,” the British racer who won 500cc world championships in 1976 and ’77. Sheene was the first rock-star roadracer. He drove Rolls-Royces, flew in helicopters, lived in a 700-year-old manor house, married a supermodel. He attracted mainstream sponsors, famously Brut aftershave—though, of course, Sheene himself was far too cool to ever wear the stuff.
Somehow, he survived a series of horrendous high-speed get-offs but had to call it quits in 1985. A few years later, he moved to Australia so the southern sun could warm his beat-up bones and to do a little TV commentating.
It was on that job that Sheene took notice of a scrappy teenage privateer by the name of Vermeulen. Sheene’s mentorship led to rides in British Supersport and Superstock. Next came the 2003 World Supersport crown, the runner-up position in the 2005 World Superbike series and then, in ’06, it was on to the Big Leagues.
Sadly, Sheene wasn’t there to see it. Cancer took him in 2003, too young at 52 years. As long as Vermeulen races MotoGP, though, Baz will be along for the ride.
