World Stage Awaits Parkes
Newcastle Herald
Friday June 4, 1999
CESSNOCK 17-year-old Broc Parkes is a young man on a mission.
The apprentice builder has become the man to beat in Australian motorcycle racing and could soon become the man to beat on the world stage.
Parkes, who cleaned up in last year's 125cc grand prix class in the NSW championships, has been unstoppable this season in his first attempt on the national titles where he is racing in two classes.
Not only is he proving unstoppable in the 125 GP class, he also holds a comfortable lead in the 250cc production category.
In the opening round of the championships at Tasmania's Baskerville circuit, he won both 125cc heats on his Honda, then backed up with two second places on his 250cc Aprilia production racer.
A week later, at Phillip Island, he won the first 125 heat and finished second in the next after stalling on the line.
He then finished fifth and sixth in the 250 heats.
Last weekend at Mallala, it was more of the same with two 125 heat wins and two seconds in the production class.
He leads the 125 GP class by 60 points and has a 16-point buffer in the 250 production class.
All that has brought him to the attention of leading Japanese team Moriwaki, who invited him to spend seven weeks with them in Japan so he can test and race their 400cc and 600cc production bikes.
`I got the call two weeks ago out of the blue,' he said yesterday.
`I'm not exactly sure what the program will be but whatever it is, it is all experience.'
Despite his successes, the hard charger has not had an incident-free season. He unloaded the Aprilia twice in practice at Phillip Island.
`One of them was pretty big but I wasn't hurt,' he said.
Parkes' success has allowed him to make a few plans and all of them centre on getting into a team for the motorcycle world championships soon.
His successes so far this season should guarantee a wild card entry for the 125 GP class at the Australian round of the world championships at Phillip Island in October and a good ride there would bring attention from the influential men of world motorcycle racing.
© 1999 Newcastle Herald