Personal opinion: a strong rider, that’s for sure, but is he strong enough to be a contender for the #1 position? I am not sure; I predict that he will defiantly be in the top 10 maybe even close to the top 5- if not in it.
Name: Broc Parkes
Date of Birth: 24/12/81
Nationality: Australian
Home: The Hunter Valley region of NSW
Height: 170 cm
Weight: 64 kg
Current Occupation: International Motorcycle Racer!!!
Previous Occupation: 2 years as an apprentice bricklayer
Interests: Motorcycling, Bodyboarding, Surfing.
Ambition: "To be successfull at whatever I do"
Tattoo's: Black Panther, a star and number 23.
Favourite Band: Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Favourite Sports Person: Anna Kournikova !!
Favourite Movie Mission Impossible 2
Without a doubt Broc has got to be one of the coolest customers when it comes to racing a bike..or at least that's what it seems. You will not see Broc get flustered, vocal or nervous. However if you look closely you may see him check his watch a little more often when it comes to race time. Otherwise he is quiet, polite and unaffected by his rise to the ranks of World Championship Rider. At the age of 4 he watched Wayne Gardner win a race. He turned around and asked his dad "Who is this guy". He was told that was the World Champion, to which Broc replied that that was what he wanted to be. In 2009 Broc returns to the Superbikes with the Paul Bird Motorsports Kawasaki team. Broc sees this as a 2 year project to get the ZX10 up the front and hopes to build on that with this great UK based team.
Broc comes from a Dirt Track background with a swag of titles to his name from his first at the tender age of 5. His first foray into the world of road racing came at the age of 16 in 1998 on a Honda RS125 Grand Prix bike. In this first year Broc won every Championship he entered and quickly got an enviable reputation around the pits as the one to beat. In 1999 Broc again swept all comers aside in the Australian National series and had his first taste of World Championship racing in the Australian Round of the 125 Grand Prix World Championships. In 2000 Broc accepted an offer from Moriwaki Engineering to pilot a Honda VTR 1000 in the All Japan X Formula series, with the added bonus of a ride in the prestigious Suzuka 8hour endurance race. 2001 was Broc's rookie year in the World Superbike Championship. With Wayne Gardner as his new Manager, Broc rode for the Ducati Scuderia NCR team. Broc demonstrated that in the rain he can run with the best, robbed of a podium finish by nothing more than a bolt holding on the gearshift and finishing the season 16th. For 2002 Broc continued with the Ducati Scuderia NCR team with the addition of sponsorship from Parmalat and tyres from Pirelli. Unfortunately even with the Parmalat support resources were tight and Broc had to ride conservatively, but still finished 11th. For 2003 Broc joined the Honda family and moved to Supersport with the Belguim based BKM team with full factory support from Dunlop. Lack of funds saw the team fold before the end of the year. 2004 saw Broc again with Honda. This time he was with Ten Kate where he ended the year in 2nd spot. 2005 through to 2008 saw Broc aboard a Yamaha R6 with the Yamaha Germany squad alongside fellow Aussie Kevin Curtain and tehn Frenchman Fabien Foret. 2005 was a difficult year although Broc ended the season on a high with a win. 2006 saw Broc right in there with a shot at the title until a nasty crash at Assen which effectively ended his title hopes. 2007 agian saw Broc get a rough start with a series of DNF's. But 4 podiums from the last 6 races including 2 wins saw him climb back to a very creditable overall 2nd. A new bike in 2008 which saw some grmlins during mid season again dashed Broc's title hopes. For 2009, Broc returns to the Superbikes, this time aboard a Kawasaki ZX10R. A big challenge, but Broc's ready for it.
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2008 World Supersport Championship
Circuit Result
Round 1 Losail 1st
Round 2 Philip Island DNF
Round 3 Valencia 4th
Round 4 Assen 5th
Round 5 Monza 3rd
Round 6 Nurburgring 3rd
Round 7 Misano 10th
Round 8 Brno 4th
Round 9 Brands Hatch 4th
Round 10 Donnington 10th
Round 11 Vallelunga 2nd
Round 12 Magny-Cours DNF
Round 13 Portimao 5th
Final overall placing 4th
2007 World Supersport Championship
Circuit Result
Round 1 Losail DNF
Round 2 Philip Island 3rd
Round 3 Donnington DNS
Round 4 Valencia 5th
Round 5 Assen DNF
Round 6 Monza DNF
Round 7 Silverstone DNF
Round 8 Misano 2ND
Round 9 Brno 13TH
Round 10 Brands Hatch 1ST
Round 11 Lausitz 1ST
Round 12 Vallelunga 4TH
Round 13 Magny-Cours 2nd
Final overall placing 2nd
2006 World Supersport Championship
Circuit Result
Round 1 Losail DNF
Round 2 Philip Island 3rd
Round 3 Valencia 4th
Round 4 Monza 7th
Round 5 Silverstone 2nd
Round 6 Misano 3rd
Round 7 Brno 2nd
Round 8 Brands Hatch 1st
Round 9 Assen DNF
Round 10 Lausitz DNS
Round 11 Imola 6th
Round 12 Magny-Cours 3rd
Final overall placing 4th
2005 World Supersport Championship
Circuit Result
Round 1 Losail 6th
Round 2 Philip Island 7th
Round 3 Valencia 6th
Round 4 Monza 7th
Round 5 Silverstone 5th
Round 6 Misano 5th
Round 7 Brno DNF
Round 8 Brands Hatch DNF
Round 9 Assen 7th
Round 10 Lausitz 2nd
Round 11 Imola 5th
Round 12 Magny-Cours 1st
Final overall placing 6th
2004 World Supersport Championship
Circuit Result
Round 1 Valencia DNF
Round 2 Philip Island 4th
Round 3 Misano DNF
Round 4 Monza 2nd
Round 5 Oscheleben 2nd
Round 6 Silverstone 3rd
Round 7 Brands Hatch 4th
Round 8 Assen 4th
Round 9 Imola 2nd
Round 10 Magny-Cours 2nd
Final overall placing 2nd
2003 World Supersport Championship
Circuit Result
Round 1 Valencia 7th
Round 2 Philip Island DNF
Round 3 Sugo 7th
Round 4 Monza 15th
Round 5 Oscheleben 5th
Round 6 Silverstone DNF
Round 7 Misano 3rd
Round 8 Brands Hatch 15th
Round 9 Assen -
Round 10 Imola -
Round 11 Magny cours DNF
Final overall placing 13th
2002
2002 was a year of limited resources. With only the one bike and no data logger for the bulk of the season, Broc could not afford to give it his all as a crash would leave him without a bike. Broc also struggled with the under developed Pirelli tyres for the first part of the seaon. However Pirelli were able to give him tyres that more suited his style for the latter part of the season which shows in the results that Broc was able to attain.
2002 World Superbike Championship
Circuit 1st Race 2nd Race
Round 1 Valencia 15th DNF
Round 2 Philip Island DNF 13th
Round 3 Kayalami 11th 14th
Round 4 Sugo DNF DNF
Round 5 Monza DNF 8th
Round 6 Silverstone DNF 12th
Round 7 Lausitz 11th DNF
Round 8 Misano DNF 14th
Round 9 Laguna Seca 15th 12th
Round 10 Brands Hatch DNF 18th
Round 11 Oscheleben 10th 10th
Round 12 Assen 9th 8th
Round 13 Imola 9th 8th
Final overall placing 11th
2001
2001 was Broc's rookie year in the World Superbike Championship. With Wayne Gardner as his new Manager, Broc rode for the Ducati Scuderia NCR team. Unfortunately the year was dogged by Mechanical failures at points where Broc was well placed. A bad crash testing tyres for Michelin at Sugo kept Broc out of the Monza race and a bad crash at Brands Hatch meant that Broc missed 2 complete rounds with injuries and struggling with the same injuries for a couple more. These all combined to give him an end result of 16th in the Championship which does not reflect his true potential. They say rain is a great leveler as skill and talent take over from horsepower. In 2001 Broc demonstrated that in the rain he can run with the best, robbed of a podium finish by nothing more than a bolt holding on the gearshift.
2001 World Superbike Championship
Circuit 1st Race 2nd Race
Round 1 Valencia DNF 13th
Round 2 Kayalami 16th 17th
Round 3 Philip Island 5th Abandoned
Round 4 Sugo 19th 16th
Round 5 Monza DNS DNS
Round 6 Donnington 20th 14th
Round 7 Lausitz 15th DNF
Round 8 Misano DNF 7th
Round 9 Laguna Seca 13th 14th
Round 10 Brands Hatch DNS DNS
Round 11 Oscheleben DNF 18th
Round 12 Assen 22nd DNF
Round 13 Imola DNF 8th
Final overall placing 16th
2000
For 2000 Broc rode for Moriwaki Engineering on a Honda VTR 1000 in the All Japan series. Despite 3 DNF’s, Broc still managed to finish a very creditable 3rd in the series. Broc’s result in the Suzuka 8hour does not reflect on his personal performance, due to his teammate crashing the bike.
2000 All Japan X Formula Championship
Round 1 Suzuka 4th
Round 2 CP Mine DNF
Round 3 Tsukuba 2nd
Round 4 Suzuka DNF Crash due to oil lap 9
Round 5 Twin Ring Motegi 3rd
Round 6 Sugo 1st
Round 7 Suzuka 2nd
Round 8 Tsukuba 1st
Round 9 Sugo DNF Crash
Round 10 TI DNS
Round 11 Twin Ring Motegi 3rd
Final overall placing 3rd
Suzuka 8 hour Endurance Race
Honda VTR 1000 17th
Suzuka Endurance Summer 2000
SSS 600 1st
1999
In 1999, there is no question that Broc was the one to beat in every national race he entered. Despite being significantly underpowered due to budgetary restrictions, Broc managed to put up a good fight in the Australian round of the 125GP World Championship. It seemed what ever he lost down the main straight he made up in the corners in his dice for 15th, until he eventually had to push the bike too hard and ended up out braking himself which led to him losing touch with the pack and ending up in 23rd.
1999 Australian National Shell Road Race Series
250 Produciton Series Aprillia RS250 1st
125 GP Series Honda RS125 1st
1999 Australian Grand Prix
250 Production Series Aprillia RS250 1st
125 GP Series Honda RS125 23rd (Highest Placed Australian)
1998
1998, at the age of 16, was Broc’s first year as a senior rider and his first year on the road race circuit. Although completely unknown to road racing, Broc quickly became the talk of the pits and secured all the road racing titles he entered in his first year! Meanwhile he still continued with his Dirt Track, this time as a senior, picking up another title.
NSW Championship (road race)
125 GP Honda RS125 1st
Formula 3 Honda RS 125 1st
RB Import Series Honda RS 125 1st
Australian National Dirt Track Championship
500cc dirt track 1st
250cc dirt track 2nd
Pre - 1998
1997 Broc rode some Road Racing Demonstration races on a moriwaki 80cc. Otherwise, the titles for Broc, pre-1998 are too numerous to mention. However it is worth pointing out that in addition to the ones listed above, he has 46 Australian National titles and 90 state titles in dirt track together with 3 junior speedway championships to his name!
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