Jeremy Burgess - Honda: 1983-2003

Honda: 1983-2003

Moving to Honda, Burgess became chief mechanic to British rider Ron Haslam. In 1985, Burgess was transferred by Honda to Freddie Spencer's support team working for crew chief Erv Kanemoto and preparing Spencer's 500cc machinery. 1985 was Spencer's remarkable "double" year when he won the 250cc and 500cc World Titles, the first time Burgess had prepared a World Championship-winning motorcycle.

The following year, 1986, Burgess was promoted to crew chief of fellow Australian Wayne Gardner, who won the title the following year (1987). In 1989, Burgess became crew chief to Mick Doohan, who went on to win Premier World Championships in five successive years between 1994 and 1998.

After Doohan retired in 1999 due to injuries, Burgess was thinking about quitting; he had witnessed too many major crashes and allegedly didn't want to be a part of it any more. But when Valentino Rossi was given the opportunity to race with Honda, he said the only way Honda would get him was if Burgess was his engineer. Burgess became crew chief to Rossi in what was Rossi's debut year riding in the premier (500cc) class, and helped mastermind Rossi’s seven world titles (five in successive years from 2001 to 2005) in 500cc/MotoGP.