South Australia’s David Johnson is yet another young crow eater that has managed to carve himself out a handy career in Europe since leaving our shores as a teenager. Season 2014 sees the 31-year old embarking on his 12th season overseas. We recently caught up with the likeable jokester between rides at the Island Classic as he gears up for his ride in British Superstock for PR Kawasaki this year.
MCNews.com.au: Can you just rehash for us what you did before you left and then a quick rehash of where your career has taken you thus far?
David: “I started out racing 125s in the year 2000. I then went to Supersport in 2001 and raced in the Australian Supersport Championship and Victorian State Championship. From memory I finished top seven; I think 5th was my best that year in the Australian Championship (Josh Brookes won the 2001 Australian Supersport Championship).
“In 2002 I didn’t have much funding to race here in Australia and got an opportunity to race in the UK. I had to put a bit of money in to race in the British Superstock 600 Championship but thought it a better option thus went to the UK for that.
“During the 2001 season in Australia I always had a fairly crappy bike. Finally in 2002 in the UK I got to ride for a great team on a really, really good bike, a Suzuki. I finished 4th in my first ever race there and then I was on the podium the next three following races; so on the pace. I was racing against Craig Jones, Tom Sykes and Cal Crutchlow and all that crew. I was actually running second in the championship halfway through the season; then all of a sudden there was a mix-up with my visa and I had to leave the country. Craig Jones was leading, I was second, Sykes was third and Crutchlow was fourth, but with my visa problems that abruptly ended that season for me.
“After that I didn’t get the best of rides for the following year; 2003. I did get in to 1000 Superstock though, so evidently we had impressed enough people to get me on a 1000 over there. But all the other boys I was racing against the previous year went on to factory bikes, like Cal, Tom and Craig.
“That was always the turning point in my career; from then on I’ve just felt as if I’ve always been chasing my tail. I was the first Yamaha in 2003 Superstock 1000 and inside the top ten.
“The following year (2004) I scored a factory ride with Yamaha and just had a really shitty year; again in Superstock 1000. I had some good results, but I just crashed a lot; I was still young and learning.
“I rode for Suzuki in 2005 and got my first podium on the 1000! I had a few podiums that year and did the 750 World Cup with Suzuki. I got on the podium at Silverstone there in 2005 and then in 2006 I went on to the IDM Series, IDM and ONK, Dutch and German, and went out there and I won my first European race, which I was well happy with! I rode for Yamaha out there and finished second in the Dutch Championship and regularly scored top five finishes in the IDM.
“In 2007 I started the year in the German Championship and had a bit of a fallout with the team, the bike just wasn’t good enough. Then I went into British Superbike, the main premier Superbike class and stayed there for the next few years.
“In 2011 I was riding in the main Superbike class again but with not the best kit; bikes that were just not up to it. Every now and again I’d finish Top 10, but most of the times just in the points, but the package was just not competitive enough. I really wanted to be at the front. I got sick of running mid-pack; so then I decided to go back to Superstock, where I knew I could run at the front. I went back to Superstock 1000; it’s just such a competitive class and everyone looks at that. Since then I’ve been winning races each year and going strong so this year I signed again for PR Kawasaki.
“I rode for PR Kawasaki at the TT last year. I first started the TT in 2010 and I’ve been going on with that. This year I signed with PR Kawasaki to do British Superstock as well as the TT, they’ve got a Superbike and me on the Superstock. The Superbike rider is Keith Farmer, Irish guy, he’s quite a good rider. I’m really looking forward to it.”
MCnews.com.au: Tell us about your first lap of the TT course.
David: “First ever lap was… always before the TT I always thought, “There’s no way I’m ever going to do this,” and then all of a sudden I just said “stuff it” and just went for it and talking to Cam (Donald) about it, then the next thing, I was doing my first lap, it was just unreal. Everyone told me, “You’re either going to come in with a massive smile on your face, or you’re just going to basically put your bike up against the fence and go home, shitting yourself” So I actually went around, and it was an induction lap, behind Milky Quayle, when I came back in I was freaking smiling from ear-to-ear and just loved it.
“I did a lot of research before I went there, and my first lap I felt like I knew the place, and my first ever flying lap was straight over 110mph, and yeah I got fastest newcomer in my first year and broke a couple of records, that Brookesy has broken again now (laughs).
“It was unreal, they say it’s like a drug, once you do it you either love it, or you hate it; and I loved it; so now I’ve been back there. I missed the year after my debut year at the TT, it was sort of personal matters in my life at the time… my girlfriend didn’t let me do it basically, which sucked. So I missed out in 2011 then went back in 2012. After I got rid of her (laughs), I had a decent year that year, I think I finished 13th or 14th in the senior (actually it was 14th in the Superbike TT as the Senior TT was cancelled due to inclement weather) and I did a decent lap (124mph in practice – 125.8mph in the race). Then last year I was Top 10 in the senior race (tenth -127.8mph lap); which I was very, very happy with and now I’m in the Top 20 fastest of all time around the TT course. So I’m well happy with that, and with Cam and possibly Brookesy out of the TT this year it looks like it’s all down to me for the Aussie stakes; which is a bit of a; I don’t know; don’t know how I’m going to take it, me being the only Aussie and all”
MCnews.com.au: “Have you had a crack at the Northwest or looking to have a crack at the Northwest?
David: “My name’s been down to do it for so many years, but they’ve always got money issues with the Northwest. I want to be paid to race there and initially they agree and then at the last minute they always say something’s gone wrong; or it has been with the team as well. I sorted out my personal deal with the organiser last year but the team didn’t come to a complete agreement. To get my team, the PR team; which is a massive superbike team; it’s a huge effort and it’s like five mechanics and huge double-decker truck-trailer and to get it all over there costs a lot of money. Like the Isle of Man TT pay for it all; they pay me and the team to be there and everything. So then that’s what they expected at the Northwest, and we did a deal and then the organisers backed out at the last minute.
So, my name’s been down in the list, in the actual program to do the Northwest for about four years now, but I haven’t actually done it; so that is one box I haven’t ticked yet.”
MCnews.com.au: Who’s going to be your main competition in the British Superstock 1000 this season?
David: “There’s so many good riders, I mean the Top 20 at most rounds there is one second between the whole Top 20, so it’s so hard to tell; if you fart coming on to the start-finish straight on your best qualifying lap you pretty much go from 20th to being on the front row.
“We’ve got some really good guys; we’ve got the old Swedish champion, his name slips my mind right now (Filip Backlund), but he won races last year and then finished I think he was in the Top 3 or 4th in the championship last year (3rd). He came really strong at the end of the year and he was a top European Superstock rider as well.
“Then we’ve got the local guys like Victor Cox and Adam Jenkinson; all of which have ridden Superbikes, so there are so many good experienced guys and then you’ve got young guys coming through as well. There’s this young guy that’s won the 600 Superstock Championship (Luke Hedger), Lee Jackson, he’s riding for factory BMW, he’s a freaking fast little kid and he’s only 17. That’s just to name a few. But in saying that; there are always some of the other guys, some of the regular midfielders that step it up, because usually it’s that last little bit, literally the last three-tenths to bring you from Top 10 to a race winner.
“I won a couple last year and I’m really keen for it this year. We had a heap of mechanical DNF’s, I didn’t crash the bike once and I got good results, but I split from that team. Now I’ve moved on to a much more experienced team, so I think we’ll be in with a good shot at the title.”
MCnews.com.au: The British Superstock 1000 I believe is a very stock class compared to a lot of other Superstock classes around the world, is the Kawasaki a competitive machine?
David: “Yeah, it is, it’s got the whole package, and you’ve really got to ride hard… it’s all down to your setup. Because you’ve got to have bog standard traction control system, you can’t flash the ECU and yeah the bikes; basically you get more horsepower, more torque without blueprinting them. If you screw with them too much you either lose horse power or torque. There’s no real way to increase both without cheating.. And it’s impossible to cheat as they dyno each bike after every race!
“I sort of prefer the BMW really, it didn’t handle as good, but it’s got more torque, more power, but it really suits my riding style, so I tried to get on the Beemer first, but there was no room in the factory team for me, so I opted for the Kawasaki. But the ZX-10R is a great bike, it’s just you really have to rush into the corners a lot more than a BMW, it’s not a point and a squirt, you’ve got to really carry corner speed and yeah, it does have the all-around package and it’s (Superstock 1000) now known as the Kawasaki cup, it’s just full of them, there’s only a couple of BMWs and now the Honda is basically not competitive anymore, the Yamaha, no one in the whole field’s got one, and the Suzuki, they’re only competitive if you’ve got like a 45kg jockey on them. So yeah; the Kawasaki’s are the only ones in the championship other than a couple of BMWs.”
MCnews.com.au: And what’s your favourite circuit in the UK?
David: “Oulton Park’s where I’ve had most of my success, I’ve won races and I got my first podium there plus it was the first track that I rode at in England. Oulton Park’s always been a good one for me. Donington; I’ve been on the podium at Donington but I’ve never had the best results there, but I love that track, it flows so nice. So it’s between those two.”
MCnews.com.au: And where’s home base in the UK?
David: “Leicestershire, right in Hinckley, basically you can throw rocks at the Triumph factory from where I live.”
MCnews.com.au: So you’ve been there quite a while and there were quite a few Aussies based around there for a while, weren’t there?
David: Yeah, it was known as “Australian Embassy” for a while and Billy’s moving back there now as well, and Glenn (Richards) lives nearby. And yeah, pretty much all the riders that are out in that district are all from Adelaide as well, so it’s a very tight knit group, all of us Aussies. I don’t know where Jason O’Halloran is racing this year (believed to be on a Honda in Superstock or Superbike), but he’s a great bloke and we always spend time with each other at the race track and stuff. So yeah; we’re all pretty close to each other, he’s a bit further North from where I’m from.”
MCnews.com.au: And where’s your favourite place to spend time in the UK, if you’re going to go visit somewhere?
David: “I love London. I’ve lived there before but I don’t like living there. I like going there to cruise around and party and stuff, it’s good fun. But living there did my head in.”
MCnews.com.au: And what’s the first thing you like to do when you get back to Australia?
David: “First thing I do is go straight to the bakery and get a Balfour’s pie with sauce, and a large classic strawberry milk!”
Speaker 1: Sounds good. Thanks, Dave!
