When Suzuki Racing Promotions was set up in the autumn of 1981 to run Suzuki’s official Grand Prix effort, the Heron Suzuki GB team that had previously been the official GP squad was free to focus on domestic races, various internationals and the TT Formula 1 world championship.
The team would, however, still field the occasional rider in select Grands Prix and would act as a springboard for mercurial talents like Kevin Schwantz.
For the 1982 season, team coordinator Rex White went overboard and signed no fewer than five riders: Mick Grant, Keith Huewen (who had been loaned an RG500 Mk VII by Heron Suzuki in 1981 to run under his own steam), Paul Iddon, Mark Boughton and Roger Marshall. The riders shared a mixture of semi-factory Mk VII RG500s, XR69s and even Katanas for the ‘Streetbike’ championship, which Iddon and Boughton were signed to contest.
For Marshall, it was a dream come true after years of struggling in private teams. “I’m proud that I came from a council house in the Grimsby area and ended up as a factory rider with Heron Suzuki,” he says. “Once I got that ride in 1982 there was no way they were going was calling me ‘win-a-week Marshall’ at the time and it was brilliant. But my proudest moment was being voted Man of the Year by the fans ahead of Ron Haslam and Barry Sheene. To go to the Lyceum Ballroom in London, in front of 2000 people, and have the trophy presented to me by David Essex? That was just an amazing year.”
