DOMESTIC BLISS
The career of Kevin Magee, Part II, 1983 - 1987

Story by Tony Hatton, Mark Bracks, Jeff Ware
Photography by Lou Martin, Heather Ware

WHEN Victorian Ducati tuning guru Bob Brown approached Kevin Magee in late 1982, neither of the larger than life personalities had any idea what their meeting would lead to. The tuning skills of Bob Brown coupled with the talent and determination of young Magee was to become an unbeatable force. It was meant to be.
The bike was a Ducati Pantah that started life as a wreck. Bob had rebuilt it and, as Magee points out, "Had turned it into a superbike and 'Bob Browned' it." Magee took to the bike like it was built for him. "I'd heard a lot about this young kid," says Bob Brown, "People said he crashed a lot. But I watched him and kept an eye on him when he raced the RDs. I needed a rider as my rider at the time, Jeff Thyme, was getting married on race weekend. I decided to give Kevin a chance. It was the right decision"! Kevin tested the bike and was immediately on the pace. In his first meeting on the Ducati, Magee won both Thunderbike races from Peter Muir. It was an astonishing result.
"I remember his face at the trophy presentation," recalls Bob, "I think at the time Fat Head, as I called him, was an apprentice and he earned about $29 per week. You should have seen his face when he was handed a cheque for $700 with his trophy! He handed it to me, and I passed it back and said 'No mate, that is your winnings'. He just couldn't wipe the smile off his dial.
"He spent all of his money racing and he was always broke. I'll never forget the time he drove his old ute into the Kookaburra Petrol Station at Melton and asked the attendant to put one-litre of gas in his car so he could get to my workshop. He really was a character!"
The 1983 season was a huge success for the duo. Kevin won the Victorian Thunderbike Series and the NSW Formula European Championship, a series that he won all but one race, and that was because he snapped a drive chain off the start!
"We also raced in the Eastern States rounds of the Australian Superbike Championships, "adds Kevin, "Plus the Mallala round, where I set a new outright lap record. I won the Tom Phillis Memorial meeting at Winton also. "It was a good deal for me. Bob paid for tyres, entry fees and tent site fees because we stayed in a tent. I got to keep the prize money!"
The essential element of 1983 was racing against the factory teams on the 680 Pantah. They were on 1000cc and 1100cc superbikes and Magee was really giving them some curry. That year he scored a third in one race against the factory boys and finished the championship fifth against the likes of Rob Phillis, Wally Campbell and Andrew Johnston.
"It was a good learning year for me," says Magee, "Because I was finding out that I was pretty fast and getting faster against guys who I thought would hose me.
"We also did the Swann Series at the end of the year and I did well in that. "Bob was a dedicated Seventh Day Adventist, so we wouldn't practice on Saturday. We didn't do anything and Bob wouldn't even open his shop. We would do Friday practice and if there was anything that needed checking we would do it in the warm up on Sunday morning. It didn't worry me at all though. I was being looked after very well and I had a great bike to ride". 1984 saw Magee race the Bob Brown Pantah again, with the same race meetings scheduled as 1983, plus the plan to travel to NZ for the end of year races. But the season didn't kick off too well.
"All I wanted to do that year was race against the likes of Wally, AJ and Phillis. Early in the year I raced the TTF2 Ducati for the first time. It was like a real GP bike. I raced two classes in the 1 Hour at Calder; Up to 500cc and 500 - 1000cc. I was chasing down AJ, who was riding the factory Honda V4 860 and had a big lead over third place. There had been a sidecar blow up in the race before on the back straight, leaving oil everywhere. Five laps in I tipped it into the right-hander through the cement dust. The front tyre hit the curb and I went down, catching my right pinkie between the 'bar and the road. Now it's permanently bent and I almost lost it. That crash put me out for six weeks".
The next race was at Mallala. Bob Brown was on his way to Horsham to pick Magee up for the trip to SA. Meanwhile, Kevin was mucking around with a mate on a three-wheeler up in the back paddock of his family property. They were two-up, and Magee over stepped the mark and highsided. Kevin continues the story, "I looked down and thought, 'Oops.' My foot was looking at me. I'd broken my leg. I was out for another six weeks. Bob wasn't happy"!
"Here I was driving into Horsham," says Bob, "When someone flags me down to tell me that Fat Head was in hospital with a broken leg. I could have strangled him"!
When fit, Kevin did all of the same races as 1983, plus raced in NZ at Gracefield International (the only time Bob let Kevin ride on a Saturday) and the Wanganui Street Races, where Magee finished second behind Dave Hiscock, the then World TTF1 Champion, who was riding his Macintosh Suzuki 1100. "1983 was tough but a good year. We were really giving all the superbikes a tough time as I was learning more about riding and how to control a bike when going so fast," says Magee, "But by the end of the year I was really getting keen to get on the same machinery as the factory boys as I knew I could run with them".
1985 was Magee's third year without Saturday practice but he didn't mind, as Bob was very good to him.
It was a huge year in Kevin's career.
In the Australian Superbike Championships, Magee was really starting to get under the factory team's skin. At Winton, he broke the lap record in the morning warm up - by half a second!
"The factory team bosses rarely talked to each other," recalls Bob, "As it was very competitive back then. But that morning, all of the team managers were seen huddled together, talking to ACU officials and trying to get rid of us"! Magoo continues, "We'd show up in a Falcon XD panel van with a trailer. They'd be in big trucks with all the gear. And we'd make them look silly". Magee's results were getting him some recognition, and offers started to come in to ride other bikes. Bob was fine with it, as he could see that Kevin had a lot of talent and could go a long way. But they still had plenty to accomplish that year.
Yamaha announced the RZ National Invitation Series, plus all States had their own RZ Series. Bob bought a bike for Kevin to ride in the State Series, while the RZ National Invitation Series bikes were supplied; You simply turned up, dug the key out of a hat and raced your lucky bike. The winner of the series was to go on and race in the finals in Holland.
Magee and Bob went 50/50 in earnings and debt. They won both the Victorian State RZ Series and the RZ National Invitation Series that year. Magoo was over the moon. He now had a chance to prove himself overseas at the final. But it didn't happen.
"In May, Yamaha invited me to race in the Nippon Denso 500 with Michael Dowson," says Magee, "We won it. And that led to more offers. In June Trevor Flood invited me to ride his Yamaha FZ750 road bike in the Calder round of the Aussieland Superbike Series. I finished third behind Wally and Phillis. That race confirmed to me that I could run with the best of them".