Melbourne welcomes Aussie MotoGP Legends

Melbourne welcomes Aussie MotoGP Legends Race fans in Melbourne met Australian MotoGP Legends Mick Doohan and Wayne Gardner, along with current 250cc World Championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama this week.

Melbourne was the setting on Tuesday as MotoGP fans watched former World Champions and MotoGP Legends Mick Doohan and Wayne Gardner ride through the city centre.

The Aussie heroes were joined by 250cc World Championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama on the street ride which took in Russell St. and Swanson St. before concluding in the city’s beautiful Federation Square.

As part of the build-up for this weekend’s Iveco Australian Grand Prix, five-time World Champion Doohan, the first Australian to win the premier class title, Gardner, and Aoyama – who could clinch the 250cc title this weekend – undertook media briefings, posed for photos and signed autographs for the Melbourne public.

Doohan’s enthusiasm for the weekend’s imminent action was clear, and the former title holder said of the parade in Melbourne, “It’s a great way to kick off the start of the week for the Grand Prix here, so hopefully it will inspire a few people to go down at the weekend. I am excited and it should be good – I’m looking forward to it.”

Doohan also offered his thoughts on fellow Australian Casey Stoner’s hopes of winning at Phillip Island for a third consecutive year.

“For the race this weekend, I think Stoner hasn’t got any pressure on him, so he can just go about trying to win the race and it doesn’t really matter if he has a bad result,” he stated. “He’s going to go into the next race in no worse position. For him it’s Australia and he finished second in Portugal, so he probably wants to go one better and stop the doubt in people’s minds that he’s not capable of riding up the front again.”