Daryl Beattie

Last updated

Daryl Beattie
Daryl Beattie 2007 Oct.jpg
NationalityAustralian
Born (1970-09-26) 26 September 1970 (age 54)
Charleville, Queensland, Australia
Motorcycle racing career statistics
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
Active years 1989 - 1997
First race 1989 250cc Australian Grand Prix
Last race 1997 500cc Australian Grand Prix
First win 1993 500cc German Grand Prix
Last win 1995 500cc German Grand Prix
Team(s) Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki
Championships 0
StartsWinsPodiums Poles F. laps Points
5931401557

Daryl Glen Beattie (born 26 September 1970 in Charleville, Queensland, Australia) is a former Grand Prix solo motorcycle road racer.

Contents

Motorsport career

Beattie posted several good results at the beginning of the 1992 500cc Grand Prix season then teamed up with Wayne Gardner to win the prestigious Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race in Japan. [1] His performance earned him a place on the Honda factory team alongside fellow Australian Mick Doohan for the 1993 season. He won his first Grand Prix that year at the German Grand Prix at Hockenheimring and finished the season in a promising third place behind Kevin Schwantz and Wayne Rainey. [2] [3] After the season, he was inexplicably released by the Honda team.

Beattie had a lackluster season in 1994 on a Team Roberts Marlboro Yamaha. During the 1994 season at the French Le Mans circuit, he crashed and lost all the toes from one foot after his foot was caught between the chain and rear sprocket. He had his best year in 1995 with the Suzuki factory team, leading the championship for the first part of the season before his crash at Assen allowed Doohan to win the championship with Beattie finishing in second, 33 points behind Doohan. [3]

Beattie's career took a blow in 1996 when he crashed in pre-season testing and suffered serious head injuries. [4] He returned only to suffer another crash at the fourth race of the season in Spain. [4] He then crashed again at the sixth round in France. [4] He struggled through the 1997 season but never regained his previous form and announced his retirement from competitive racing at the end of the season.

In 2002 he took up V8 Supercar racing in Imrie Motor Sport's Holden VX Commodore VX at the Queensland 500 and Bathurst 1000. He placed 25th at Queensland Raceway and did not finish at Bathurst.

Television

In retirement Beattie took up a role as a specialist commentator with Network Ten on broadcasts of motorcycle racing, initially calling the 125 cc & 250 cc races and then taking over from Barry Sheene to call the MotoGP races after Sheene died from cancer.[ citation needed ] He was subsequently added to the presenters on RPM. Beattie now works as a commentator on Network Ten's partially sports themed channel 10 Bold.[ citation needed ] As of 2015 he is the co-host of Ten's Formula One coverage alongside Matthew White and expert F1 commentator, 1980 World Champion Alan Jones.[ citation needed ]

In 2015 in an interview on The Project he commented on the 1994 Le Mans motorcycle accident where he lost the toes of his left foot in the motorcycle chain. [5]

Grand Prix career statistics

[3]

Points system from 1988 to 1992

Position12345678910
Points20151210864321

Points system from 1993

Position123456789101112131415
Points252016131110987654321

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

YearClassTeamMachine123456789101112131415PointsRankWins
1989 250cc Honda NSR250 JPN AUS
12
USA ESP NAT GER AUT YUG NED BEL FRA GBR SWE CZE BRA 435th0
1990 250cc Honda NSR250 JPN USA ESP NAT GER AUT YUG NED BEL FRA GBR SWE CZE HUN AUS
4
1322nd0
1992 500ccRothmans Honda NSR500 JPN
NC
AUS
3
MAL
6
ESP ITA EUR GER NED HUN FRA GBR BRA RSA 1814th0
1993 500ccRothmans Honda NSR500 AUS
4
MAL
2
JPN
3
ESP
6
AUT
7
GER
1
NED
NC
EUR
4
RSM
6
GBR
6
CZE
6
ITA
7
USA
5
FIM
2
1763rd1
1994 500ccMarlboro Yamaha YZR500 AUS
NC
MAL
10
JPN
28
ESP
NC
AUT
8
GER
NC
NED
7
ITA
6
FRA
DNS
GBR CZE USA
NC
ARG
NC
EUR
5
4413th0
1995 500ccLucky Strike Suzuki RGV500 AUS
2
MAL
2
JPN
1
ESP
7
GER
1
ITA
2
NED FRA
3
GBR
2
CZE
3
BRA
4
ARG
2
EUR
5
2152nd2
1996 500ccLucky Strike Suzuki RGV500 MAL INA JPN
5
ESP
NC
ITA
4
FRA NED GER GBR AUT CZE IMO CAT
NC
BRA AUS 2418th0
1997 500ccLucky Strike Suzuki RGV500 MAL
NC
JPN
NC
ESP
12
ITA
5
AUT
11
FRA
12
NED
7
IMO
13
GER
12
BRA
13
GBR
6
CZE
10
CAT
17
INA
12
AUS
DNS
6311th0

Complete V8 Supercar results

YearTeam12345678910111213Final posPoints
2002 Imrie Motor Sport ADL PHI ECK HDV CAN PTH ORP WIN QLD
25
BAT
Ret
SUR PUK SAN 74th16

References

  1. "1992 Suzuka 8 Hours results". motoracing-japan.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  2. "1993 500cc German Grand Prix results". motogp.com. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 "Daryl Beattie career statistics". motogp.com. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 Noyes, Dennis; Scott, Michael (1999), Motocourse: 50 Years Of Moto Grand Prix, Hazleton Publishing Ltd, ISBN   1-874557-83-7
  5. "- YouTube". YouTube .