Mark Willis (motorcyclist)

Mark Willis (born 3 May 1976 in Narrabri, NSW, Australia) is an Australian Grand Prix motorcycle road racer.

Mark Willis
NationalityAustralia Australian
Born (1976-05-03) 3 May 1976
Narrabri, NSW
Motorcycle racing career statistics
500cc World Championship
Active years19982001
ManufacturersSuzuki, BSL, Modenas KR3, Pulse
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
22 0 0 0 0 11
Superbike World Championship
Active years1998
ManufacturersSuzuki
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
2 0 0 0 0 17
Supersport World Championship
Active years2002
ManufacturersYamaha
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
1 0 0 0 0 0

Career

In 1991 Willis won the NSW championship in Australia. He later became the Australian Long Track Champion in 1993 and 'Australian Rider of the Year' in 1996.

He participated in the Australian Superbike Championship in 1997 with the Factory Suzuki Superbike team, Troy Bayliss was his teammate. Willis took his first race win in the wet at Eastern Creek and finished 4th in the championship.

In 1998 Willis was a wildcard ride in the Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island saw Willis finish 6th in Race 1 and 9th in Race 2. This was on a private Suzuki, all the more impressive as he beat both factory Suzuki riders along with many of the other WSB regulars. He competed in both the Australian Superbike and Supersport until injury sidelined him for the final two rounds of both. He was then offered a wildcard ride in the Australian 500 GP as Phillip Island. He finished in a point scoring 14th place.

Willis joined the BSL race team in 1999 to compete in the 500 GP World Championship. The bike suffered persistent mechanical problems and Willis only competed in one race at Jerez. Willis finished the season on a leased Modenas bike. He was consistently the fastest of the three Modenas riders, finishing 6 out of the last 7 races.

In 2000 Willis competed in 2 rounds of the Endurance World Championship for the Yamaha Motor France team. Along with French teammates Jean-Marc Delétang and Fabien Foret, he won both the Spa 24 Hour and Bol D’Or 24 Hour races. He finished joint 7th in the Championship. Willis was also still with the BSL team in 500 GPs, but got little track time due to the bikes continuing development problems. He left the team and signed with Kenny Roberts Snr. to compete in 4 of the last 5 rounds of the season aboard the 3 cylinder Modenas.

Willis signed with the Pulse team in 500cc GP, alongside British teammate Jason Vincent in 2001. His best finish was 13th at Mugello, scoring 3 points. The team however withdrew from the series in July due to lack of funding.

Later in 2002 Willis entered one race in the Supersport World Championship for the Dutch Saveko Racing team aboard a Yamaha YZF R6, finished 16th at Sugo. In 2006 he competed in four rounds of the Australian NakedBike Championship finishing 9th in the series on board a BMW K1200R. In 2007 Willis competed in the Australian NakedBike Championship riding a Benelli TNT 1130 Sport.

Career statistics

Races by year

Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Rank Points
1998 500cc Suzuki JPN MAL ESP ITA FRA MAD NED GBR GER CZE IMO CAT AUS
14
ARG 33rd 2
1999 500cc BSL MAL
DNQ
JPN ESP
18
FRA
DNQ
ITA
DNQ
CAT 30th 3
Modenas KR3 NED
17
GBR GER
16
CZE
16
IMO
17
VAL
Ret
AUS
15
RSA
16
BRA
16
ARG
14
2000 500cc Modenas KR3 RSA MAL JPN ESP FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR
15
VAL BRA
14
PAC
DNS
AUS
Ret
28th 3
2001 500cc Pulse JPN
Ret
RSA
20
SPA
19
FRA
Ret
ITA
13
CAT
18
NED
16
GBR
19
GER CZE POR VAL PAC AUS MAL BRA 25th 3

Races by year

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

Year Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos Pts
R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2
1998 Suzuki AUS
6
AUS
9
GBR GBR ITA ITA SPA SPA GER GER SMR SMR RSA RSA USA USA EUR EUR AUT AUT NED NED JPN JPN 23rd 17

Races by year

Year Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos Pts
2002 Yamaha ESP AUS RSA JPN
16
ITA GBR GER SMR GBR GER NED ITA NC 0
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