NSW Championship winner in 1991, Mark Willis went on to take the Australian Long Track title in 1993 before eventually moving into World Superbikes. He had his best season in the series in 1997 when he finished fourth, before injury wrecked his title aspirations in 1998. It wasn't all bad for Willis in '98 though as a 14th placed wildcard finish on a Suzuki RGV in the Australian Grand Prix brought him to the attention of BSL, who integrated him into their 1999 GP project to develop a 3 cylinder 500 machine. The project proved to be somewhat unsuccessful, and mechanical difficulties meant Willis was left kicking his heels for much of the season - a situation which didn't improve much in 2000 until he was offered a ride with Modenas. He made four appearances on the KR3 in the last five races, scoring 3 points.