Hardwick Racing was a grand-prix motorcycle racing team founded by

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

businessman Jeff Hardwick. The team ran in the world championship with Shell-sponsored

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 ...

motorcycles from to and became the first Australian-owned and managed team in the premier class of road racing.

History

Jeff Hardwick started his long relationship with Honda in 1972, when he bought a motorcycle dealership on the

Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Coast, also known by its initials, GC, is a coastal city and region in the state of Queensland, Australia, located approximately south-southeast of the centre of the list of Australian capital cities, state capital, Brisbane. It is ...

. Within few years the business expanded to many shops and dealerships. In 1985, Hardwick approached

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

to market its motorcycle oils in Australia. Around that time Hardwick and Shell began backing a number of bikes in major local road racing events such as Bathurst and the Castrol 6-Hours, providing a national platform for riders like

Mick Doohan Michael Sydney Doohan ( ; born 4 June 1965) is an Australian former Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Grand Prix motorcycle road racing List of Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champions, World Champion, who won five consecutive List of 500cc/Mo ...

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and

Andrew Pitt Andrew Pitt (born 19 February 1976 in Kempsey, New South Wales, Australia) is a retired motorcycle racer. He is a double World Supersport Champion, and has also won a World Superbike race and competed in MotoGP. He lives in Peel on the Isle of ...

. In Hardwick Racing entered a team in the 500cc world championship establishing a workshop in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Garry McCoy Garry McCoy (born 18 April 1972 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian former professional motorcycle racer. He has won races in the 125 cc and 500 cc World Championships, as well as in the Superbike World Championship. He is no ...

and Juan Borja were the two riders, aboard Shell-backed Honda NSR500Vs. McCoy was the leading rookie until a crash at Brno ended his season prematurely. The following year Hardwick joined forces with

to enter a team in the 250cc world championship with Tohru Ukawa riding a works

Honda NSR250 The Honda NSR250 and Honda RS250RW were race motorcycles manufactured by Honda Racing Corporation to race in the 250cc class of the Grand Prix motorcycle World Championship. Both names identified the factory specification bikes entrusted to work ...

, and Anthony West on a TSR-Honda 250. Ukawa won the French and

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grands prix, finishing the season in second place behind the young

Valentino Rossi Valentino Rossi ( ; ; born 16 February 1979) is an Italian racing driver, former professional motorcycle road racer and nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion. Nicknamed "the Doctor", Rossi is widely considered one of the greate ...

. In the Hardwick team continued in the 250cc world championship with Ukawa and West. The Japanese rider won two races and finished fourth in the championship. The team moved back to the premier 500cc class in with Chris Walker aboard a Honda NSR500 and

Leon Haslam Leon Lloyd Haslam (born 31 May 1983, in the London Borough of Ealing) is a motorcycle road racing, road racer based in Derbyshire, England. In February 2022, Haslam confirmed he would be racing in 2022 British Superbike Championship, British ...

riding a Honda NSR500V. During the season Hardwick signed Katja Poensgen to ride the last races with a Honda in the 250cc class. For 2002 Hardwick planned a four-riders team, signing Poensgen and Alex Debon for the 250cc class, while Haslam and

Tetsuya Harada is a Japanese former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He was the 1993 FIM 250cc World Champion. Early years Born in Chiba, Japan, Harada won the Japanese 125cc Junior championship in 1988, and was runner-up to Tadayuki Okada in the All ...

would have contested the 500cc class. However at the end of 2001 Shell ceased their sponsorship deal with Hardwick Racing and the team fell in financial difficulties. The 250cc program was discarded, leaving Poensgen and Debon without a team, while the 500cc program and Harada were taken over by

Pramac Racing Pramac Racing is a motorcycle racing team competing in the MotoGP World Championship based in Casole d'Elsa, Tuscany, Italy. History d'Antin MotoGP The d'Antin MotoGP Team was created in 1999 by Spanish former motorcycle racer Luis d'Antin an ...

. Jeff Hardwick became the first Pramac team manager, but then he retired from racing and returned to Australia to establish the Hardwick Racing Products emporium. Jeff Hardwick died in 2011 at the age of 66.

References

{{Reflist Motorcycle racing teams Motorcycle racing teams established in 1985 1985 establishments in Australia Motorcycle racing teams disestablished in 2001 2001 disestablishments in Australia