FROM RACER TO ROSSI
Some even gain fame on their own account – naturally not of the giddy heights afforded to the star riders and drivers, but fame none the less. Jeremy Burgess, featured in OBA 70, is one such name, as are Kiwis Mike Sinclair and Paul Treacy. For many years of Valentino’s illustrious career, his team contained several such ANZACS, including Burgess, Alex Briggs, Dick Smart, and for the seasons 2000 to 2015 inclusive, Gary Coleman.
Newcastle born and bred, and trained as a fitter machinist, Gary’s initial interest in motorcycling was in the leisurely world of Observed Trials, riding, not unnaturally, a Bultaco Sherpa, since the coal city was the home of Norm Fraser’s Bultaco-based empire. Newcastle and its environs was also a hotbed of Dirt Track (Short Circuit) activity, with numerous tracks and probably the strongest line up of committed sliders in the country. “I used to follow Doug Saillard and Graham Gates, both locals,” recalls Gary. “Doug had a Bultaco Bandito 360cc motocrosser that Norm Fraser supplied, and Doug road raced it. Gates had one too and did quite well on it. When Doug gave away racing I bought the Bandito and raced it on the dirt tracks at Salty Creek and Heddon Greta, and with a change
