Jeremy Burgess

Jeremy Burgess
Jeremy Burgess at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia, 2010
Born	(1953-04-16) 16 April 1953 (age 64) Adelaide Hills, South Australia
Nationality	Australia
Occupation	Chief Mechanic, three world champions
Known for	MotoGP

Jeremy Burgess (16 April 1953 in Adelaide Hills, South Australia), is an Australian motorcycle racing chief mechanic, having worked with three world champions: Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi. He was also a mechanic on Freddie Spencer's team when Spencer won the 500cc World title in 1985. Burgess learned his GP skills from the legendary American crew chiefs, George Vukmanovich and Erv Kanemoto for whom he worked in his early years.

Winning machines prepared by Burgess range from the Suzukis of Randy Mamola to the Hondas of Ron Haslam, Freddie Spencer, Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi to the Yamaha of Valentino Rossi. Since July 1980, these riders have won 157 GP/MotoGP races (as at 2 November 2009) and a total of fourteen World Championships on motorcycles that "JB" has either prepared himself or whose preparation he has overseen as crew chief. Burgess's machinery have achieved over 280 podium finishes.

Born on a farm in the Adelaide Hills in 1953, he grew up around machinery, first driving aged 8 and owning his first car aged 12.

Three days after leaving school, he bought his first race track bike, a 1969 Suzuki T500 Cobra. From 1972 through 1979, he rode on the Australian racing circuit, racing against Gregg Hansford, Warren Willing, Kenny Blake and Harry Hinton. His own racing efforts culminated in his purchase of a Suzuki RG500, with which he had much success due to the reliability of his preparation.

Looking to extend his racing career, in February 1980, Burgess decided to visit Europe to observe the Grand Prix racing scene. But he quickly figured out that he wasn't as young or as well financed as he would need to make it.

Staying with a friend in Surbiton, Surrey, who worked for Suzuki UK, at Burgess's request his friend put his name forward for a mechanic's job with Texaco Heron Team Suzuki at Beddington Lane in Croydon, South London. He already knew team racer Graeme Crosby (who he had raced against); mechanics Mick Smith and crew chief George Vukmanovich (who worked as a mechanic on the Australian circuit in 1978); and had met Randy Mamola in New Zealand in 1976.