James Michael "Jamie" Whitham (born 6 September 1966), is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

former professional motorcycle

road racer Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily closed public ...

. He raced in most major British and international championships, winning the British championship twice. The readers of

Motorcycle News ''MCN'' or ''Motor Cycle News'' is a UK weekly Motorcycle, motorcycling newspaper published by Bauer Verlagsgruppe, Bauer Consumer Media, based in Peterborough, United Kingdom. It claims to be "the world’s biggest weekly motorcycle newspape ...

voted him 'Man of the Year' in both 1991 and 1996. After retiring from racing he works as a television motorcycle race commentator as well as runs road-race tuition track days. Witham also operates a small private airstrip near Huddersfield, Crosland Moor Airfield.

Early years

Born in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, England, Whitam's first

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 ...

as a child was a Raleigh Wisp, a small-wheeled

moped A moped ( ) is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. Historically, the term exclusively meant a similar vehicle with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle eng ...

, and his favourite early road-going machine was a Yamaha FS1-E, but he admitted to

in 1994 that he was more embarrassed at taking his learner-test with a Suzuki X-5 200 cc sidecar outfit.''

'' 23 February 1994 p.39 ''My Bikes, Jamie Whitham'' Accessed and added 2014-10-23 He won the 1986 British 80 cc Championship, the 1988 1300 cc Production British Championship, the 1988

Mallory Park Race of the Year The Race of the Year was a non-championship motorcycle race held at the Mallory Park circuit in Leicester, England between 1958 and 1981, and again between 1986 and 2008, with a one-off race in 2011. It often attracted high quality entries from t ...

, the 1991 MCN TT Superbike Challenge, with

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 ...

; and for

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: People * Torakusu Yamaha, a Japanese businessman and founder of the Yamaha Corporation Companies * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese musical instrument and audio equipment manufacturer ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organi ...

in 1993 both the

British Superbike Championship The British Superbike Championship (BSB), known for sponsorship reasons as the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, is a road racing championship for superbike class machines in the United Kingdom and acknowledged as the premier domestic s ...

Supercup and the ACU TT Superbike British Championship. He confirmed to Motor Cycle News in 1994 prior to his World Superbike career that his best biking moment was winning the 750 cc double British championship for Yamaha, and that doing 185 mph at Daytona Speedbowl banking was exhilarating. He competed in the 1992 French Grand Prix at

Magny Cours Magny-Cours () is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France. It is the home of the ''Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours'', a famous motor racing circuit (whose name is often abbreviated to 'Magny-Cours'). It formerly hosted the Formula ...

. He also competed on the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

- running in the Manx Grand Prix in 1985, and the TT from 1986 to 1989, with three top six results; and he won British championship races at Superstock, Seniorstock, Supersport 600 and TT Formula One levels.

International racing and health problems

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

he raced full-time in the

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 ...

for

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 ...

with team-mate

Carl Fogarty Carl George Fogarty (born 1 July 1965), often known as Foggy, is an English former motorcycle racer and one of the most successful Superbike World Championship, World Superbike racers of all time. He also holds the third highest number of rac ...

,''

Motor Cycle News ''MCN'' or ''Motor Cycle News'' is a UK weekly Motorcycle, motorcycling newspaper published by Bauer Verlagsgruppe, Bauer Consumer Media, based in Peterborough, United Kingdom. It claims to be "the world’s biggest weekly motorcycle newspape ...

'' 22 December 1993 p.19 ''Whitham signs up for factory Ducati assault'' Accessed and added 2014-10-26 taking a race win at

Sentul Sentul may refer to: Plants * Sandoricum koetjape, a tropical fruit grown in Southeast Asia In Indonesia * Sentul, Indonesia * Sentul International Circuit, a motor racing circuit In Malaysia *Sentul, Kuala Lumpur, a suburb * Sentul Komuter stat ...

and finishing 7th overall. He returned to the British series in 1995, leading the standings and taking a podium as a World Superbike Championship wild-card at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

, but was diagnosed with

Hodgkin lymphoma Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the lymph nodes. The condition was named a ...

mid-season. He recovered in time to be British Superbike Championship runner-up in 1996 on a Yamaha, despite not scoring at the first round - he won ten races, twice the number of champion Niall Mackenzie. He raced for the Harris Suzuki team in the World Superbike Championship in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, finishing 8th in the championship both seasons with a total of 3 podiums, but for

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

the factory contract changed hands, and the new owners hired

Pierfrancesco Chili Pierfrancesco 'Frankie' Chili, (born 20 June 1964 in Bologna, Italy) is a former motorcycle racer who competed in the Superbike World Championship and the 250 cc and 500 cc classes in Grand Prix. In September 2020 he confirmed he was su ...

and

Katsuaki Fujiwara Katsuaki Fujiwara (born 27 March 1975 in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan) is a former professional motorcycle racer. He last competed in the Asia Road Race Championship in the SS600 class aboard a Kawasaki ZX-6R, where he was champion in ...

. Worse was to follow when he was hired by

Kenny Roberts Kenneth Leroy Roberts (born December 31, 1951) is an American former professional motorcycle racer and racing team owner. In 1978, he became the first American to win a Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championship. He was also a two-time w ...

' uncompetitive

Modenas ''Syarikat Motosikal dan Enjin Nasional Sdn. Bhd'' (National Motorcycle and Engine Company), or known as Modenas for short is a Malaysian national motorcycle company producing various small motorcycle models below 400cc targeted for local marke ...

500cc World Championship team: he crashed heavily at

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

, breaking his pelvis. Following his win at Donington during 1999 in a one-off appearance, he competed in the

Supersport World Championship The Supersport World Championship, abbreviated to WorldSSP, is a motorcycle racing competition on hard-surfaced circuits, based on mid-sized sports motorcycles. Competition machines were originally based on production-based motorcycles with 600& ...

from 2000 to 2002. He won his very first race in 2000 before a string of crashes (including while leading at Misano) knocked his confidence and relegated him to 8th overall in 2000. He was 4th overall in 2001, forced to support team-mate Paolo Casoli's bid for the championship. In 2002 he won in the wet at Silverstone, before

glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that can lead to damage of the optic nerve. The optic nerve transmits visual information from the eye to the brain. Glaucoma may cause vision loss if left untreated. It has been called the "silent thief of ...

, an eye-condition most likely a consequence of past

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

, caused him to retire at the end of the year. In total he took 4 World Supersport victories and 12 podiums. He held the Supersport lap record at

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport Race track, circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, sti ...

until

Kenan Sofuoglu Kenan (also spelled Qenan, Kaynan, Caynam or Cainan) (; ; ) is an Antediluvian patriarch first mentioned in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. The '' Sefer ha-Yashar'' describes Cainan, the possessor of great astrological wisdom, which ha ...

beat it in 2007. Whitham confirmed at his own website in May 2017 that his previous cancer problems had recurred, requiring urgent and ongoing chemotherapy and other treatments. This was further updated in December. Whitham was unable to present television coverage of the Isle of Man TT races in May/June 2018 due to intensive treatments as an in-patient at Jimmy's hospital, in the city of

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

British Superbike Championship

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Superbike World Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Post racing

Whitham now operates Crosland Moor airfield, and also runs race-tuition track days, previously with business partner Paul Shoesmith under the defunct company ''Speed Freak''. He established a second career as a popular TV analyst for

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

and ITV. Whitham provides commentary and analysis for the Isle of Man TT coverage by

ITV4 ITV4 is a British free-to-air television channel which first aired on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV plc. The channel focuses primarily on general entertainment programming targeting a male audience, including action series and films, ...

alongside former racer

Steve Parrish Stephen James Parrish (born 24 February 1953 in Cambridge, England) also known as "Stavros", is a British former professional motorcycle and truck racer, who is now a motorsport television commentator and speaker/entertainer. Racing career Pa ...

, which is shown on Velocity Channel in the United States. Whitham also works as a road tester for the British motorcycle magazine Visordown, and has also worked with the young riders of the Virgin Media Cup. In 2008 he launched his autobiography, 'What A Good Do!'. From January 2013 he hosted and presented The Superbike Show on

Loaded TV Loaded TV was a British television channel created as a spin-off from the popular men's magazine ''Loaded (magazine), Loaded''. It was launched on 26 November 2012 and streamed live on the Loaded TV website. The channel had also previously broa ...

. Whitham was awarded an honorary Doctorate qualification by Huddersfield University in July 2009.Honorary Doctorate, Huddersfield Examiner
Retrieved 2014-06-12

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitham, James 1966 births Living people Sportspeople from Huddersfield British motorcycle racers English motorcycle racers 500cc World Championship riders Superbike World Championship riders British Superbike Championship riders Supersport World Championship riders Motorsport announcers 20th-century English sportsmen