Major Sponsor
brad shaw
“Just Doohan it” We recently chatted to Brad Shaw of Brad Shaw Racing - upcoming road race star and recipient of the 2013 SAHOF Scholarship & Mentoring Program. Brad was relaxing at a friends house in his country town of Kyabram late 2012 when he got a phone call advising him of his successful Scholarship application. “It was crazy – I was so shocked. I actually had forgotten about it because it had been awhile since I applied. I didn’t expect anything to come from it. I was so stoked when I got that news”, he said. “It’s kept the dream alive for me” Brad said, going onto say that he wasn’t sure where his racing career was going at that point, mainly due to lack of funding for such an expensive sport. “The SAHOF program has opened so many doors for me”, he said, adding “If it wasn’t for SAHOF and this program, I think we would have stopped by now”. The SAHOF Sponsorship & Mentoring Program has enabled the Brad Shaw Racing crew to upgrade bikes, accessories and fund other vital areas for his racing. The mentoring aspect has been an amazing experience so far for Brad as well. Brad’s mentor is SAHOF Member and five time world motorcycling champion, Mick Doohan. The two formally met at the recent SAHOF & Etihad event “Inspire The Nation” in Brisbane and have forged an ongoing relationship since.
“It was pretty cool finding out Mick was going to be my mentor, and then meeting him”, says Brad. “I hope we will keep in contact forever”, Brad says of his mentor, “his help and his contacts towards my racing have been amazing already”, he said. Keeping in touch regularly, they maintain particular close contact prior to Brads races.
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“I hope we will keep in contact forever”, Brad says of his mentor, “his help and his contacts towards my racing have been amazing already”, he said. Keeping in touch regularly, they maintain particular close contact prior to Brads races. Brad’s grateful for a wide range of support, not only from SAHOF and Doohan, but of course his sponsors, the local community of Kyabram, his family, friends and his boss where he is an apprentice signwriter. “If I hadn’t had the help this last year I wouldn’t have been able to upgrade my bike for the seniors competitions”, clearly a major requirement for his level of competition.
“My dream is to live and compete overseas one day; to never give up and to always have fun”, he said. Costing around $80,000 to do a six-month competitive season in Europe, there’s still some way to go with funding for this dream. Brad is confident he will use his sponsored Etihad Airways flight to at least be able to return to Europe in September to compete in the European Junior Cup in German for a couple of weeks.