Douglas Eugene Polen (born September 2, 1960) is an
American former professional
motorcycle
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...
road racer.
Polen was a dominant national and world champion road racer in the late 1980s and early 1990s, culminating with his Superbike world championships in and .
He raced successfully in
AMA Superbike, Japanese Superbike Championship,
Superbike World Championship
Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette road racing series based on heavily modified production sports motorcycles.
The championship was founded in . The Superbike World Champion ...
and endurance racing. Polen was inducted to the AMA
Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2011.
Motorcycle racing career
Born in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
,
Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
, Polen's family moved to
Denton, Texas
Denton is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, Denton County. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the List of cities in Texas by population, 20th-most populous city in Texas, the List of Un ...
, where he began his motorcycle road racing career in 1977 as a
privateer
A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...
racer.
Injuries sustained in a crash in mid-1982 made Polen decide to quit racing but, friends convinced him to begin racing again in late 1985.
In 1986, he competed in the newly created
Suzuki GSXR National Cup Series. He was so successful at winning races that in only two years, he earned $260,000 in
contingency fees while competing in the Suzuki sponsored series.
He earned more money than any privateer rider in the history of American motorcycle racing.
His success earned him a contract to race for the
Yoshimura Suzuki
is a Japanese multinational mobility manufacturer headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Shizuoka. It manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a va ...
racing team in 1988.
With the Yoshimura team, he became the first competitor to win both the AMA 750cc Superbike and the 600cc
Supersport titles.
In 1989 Polen had the opportunity to race for the Yoshimura team in Japan, winning the Formula 1 and Formula 3 in the
All Japan Road Race Championship
The is the premiere motorcycle road racing championship in Japan. It is run by the Motorcycle Federation of Japan (MFJ) (日本モーターサイクルスポーツ協会) – the Japanese affiliate of the FIM.
History
The MFJ was formed in 1 ...
, the first time anyone had captured both titles the same season.
While in Japan, Polen received a one-time offer to race in the Japanese round of the Superbike World Championship and, made an impressive debut by winning the first race and finishing the second race in fourth place.
Polen joined Eraldo Ferracci's "Fast By Ferracci"
Ducati
Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A () is an Italian motorcycle manufacturing company headquartered in Bologna, Italy.
History
Barely a month after the official liberation of Italy in 1944, SIATA announced its intention to sell this engine, called ...
racing team to compete in the 1991 Superbike World Championship.
He won the championship in a dominating fashion, winning 17 of 24 races in the series and finishing 150 points ahead of his nearest rival, the defending world champion
Raymond Roche.
He also set a World Superbike Championship record by winning 6 consecutive
pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...
s, a record which stood for 18 years until it was broken by
Ben Spies in .
Polen successfully defended his title by winning the 1992 Superbike World Championship.
He also finished third overall in the 1992 AMA Superbike national championship.
In 1993, Polen left the world championship to compete exclusively in the United States and won the AMA Superbike national championship.
In he joined the UK-based Castrol
Honda
commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...
team to race the then-new
RC45 in the Superbike World Championship, insisting that the team use
Dunlop tyres due to his close ties with the company.
He left the team abruptly in early but not before teaming up with
Aaron Slight
Aaron Tony Slight (born 19 January 1966) is a New Zealand former professional motorcycle road racing, road racer. He competed in the Superbike World Championships from to , finishing second in the championship twice and third four times. He l ...
to win the prestigious
Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race for Honda.
He teamed up with
Peter Goddard to win the 1997
FIM Endurance World Championship
The Endurance World Championship ( FIM EWC) is the premier worldwide endurance championship in motorcycle road racing. The championship season consists of a series of endurance races (with a duration of six, eight, twelve or twenty-four hours) ...
before switching to a Honda to win the 1998 Endurance World Championship with
Christian Lavieille.
Polen's total of 18 AMA
pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...
s was a record until
Mat Mladin matched it in 2006. His 13 fastest laps in World Superbike competition in is a single-season championship record.
After retiring from racing, Polen formed a road racing school to help motorcyclists improve their skills. In 2011 Polen was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
Career statistics
Superbike World Championship
Races by year
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
Races by year
(
key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
References
External links
Doug Polen at the AMA Motorcycle Hall of FameDoug Polen's Official Racing School
Doug Polen's AMA Career profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polen, Doug
1960 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Detroit
Sportspeople from Denton, Texas
American motorcycle racers
AMA Superbike Championship riders
Superbike World Championship riders
500cc World Championship riders