Waters is the youngest of the trio, who scored the last three wildcards for the Grand Prix at Victoria's Phillip Island on October 18-20. Indeed, Waters is set to become the youngest Australian to race at an Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix when he lines up in the 125cc race. At just 15 years and 269 days, Waters, from Mildura in northern Victoria, will eclipse the previous record of 15 years and 363 days - set by Australia's rising international star, Casey Stoner, when he was a 125cc wildcard at last year's GP.

Mark Stanley, 23, a 250cc GP wildcard, will become the first Australian to follow his father into world GP racing in over three decades. Another teenager, Brendan Clarke, last year became the youngest rider to compete in a GP on a 500cc bike, but he will ride a 250cc GP bike for the first time at Phillip Island.

Waters got his first motorcycle, a Suzuki 50cc four-wheeler, when he was three years old. A year later he started racing and now has over a decade's experience on two wheels. Like his contemporary Stoner, who is wrapping up a very successful debut season in the world 250cc championship, Waters' background is in dirt-track racing.  Before starting road racing a year ago, he had won 17 Australian dirt-track championships and 52 state titles, sometimes beating Stoner. He recently added another junior dirt-track title to the already impressive list, with three straight wins in the championship at Albury Wodonga on the Victorian and New South Wales border.

His first senior road race was round two of this year's national 125cc championship at Mallala in South Australia, where he finished fourth in one race. When he lines up on the 125cc grid at Phillip Island against the best riders in the world it will be only his seventh open road race.

"It was my goal this year to get a wildcard to the Australian GP," Waters said. "At first I thought I'd missed out, but then I was put up for nomination to the FIM (Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme, the world governing body of motorcycle racing)."

International team owner Ian Edwards got wind of Waters' form and agreed to field him in his TSR outfit, which already runs Italian rider Andrea Ballerini in the world championship.

"I'll be riding a 2002 A-kitted Honda, which should be a lot better than the 1996 model I'm on now," Waters said.

"It would be fantastic to finish in the top 15 at Phillip Island and score a world championship point.

"I've got to remember that it will be a 45-minute race, which is a lot longer than what I'm used to, so I better get the fitness up."

A year 10 student at Merbein Secondary College in Mildura, Waters wants to complete his schooling but said: "They know racing comes first."

Stanley, from Marom Creek, near Ballina in New South Wales, will make his world debut at Phillip Island almost 30 years after his father last competed in international Grand Prix racing.  Dave Stanley, now Mark's team manager and chief mechanic, raced in the world 125, 250, 350 and 500cc GP classes in the 1970s, with his best result second in the Spanish 125cc GP at Madrid in 1974.  Stanley senior even beat Spanish motorcycling legend and 13-time world champion Angel Nieto in that race.  Now Mark will be racing against Nieto's nephew, Fonsi Nieto, in the 250cc GP at Phillip Island, but says: "He'll be just another guy I have to try to stay with."

"Dad and I have put a lot of work into getting everything ready and making it work.

"We've tried to anticipate as many problems as possible and to be prepared for everything.

"I've down-loaded the average lap times from last year's 125cc race and the mid-field runners averaged about 1 minute 39 seconds per lap, which is entirely possible on my bike.

"If the lap times haven't increased too much, which I don't think they have, then I hope to finish about 15th and score a championship point.

"The most important thing is to maintain concentration for the entire race, and not make too many mistakes."

The only previous Australian father-and-son world championship duo are Harry and Eric Hinton. Hinton senior raced from 1949-51, scoring a 500cc podium finish in the 1950 Dutch GP, while son Eric raced from 1956-69.

Clarke, 18, from Brisbane, already has eight 500cc GPs under his belt, but is looking forward to his 250cc debut at Phillip Island.

"I actually haven't ridden a 250cc GP bike before, only a 500," Clarke said. "But I hope to at least get some testing done on a 250 before the Grand Prix."

Clarke was plucked from his maths class at a Brisbane high school to ride in the 500cc championship in July last year, but returned home after the team he raced for folded at the end of 2001.  Too late to secure a national championship ride this year, he has spent the time working as a builder for his father and keeping up his training in anticipation of the next opportunity.

He has competed in a couple of rounds of the FX series, with good results, but is itching to get back into full-time racing. "I can't wait to race at the GP and be back amongst it," Clarke said. While he admits his bike "won't be a rocket", qualifying does not daunt him, and he hopes to have a few of the regular 250cc riders behind him when he crosses the finish line at Phillip Island. There are eight other wildcards for the Grand Prix, six of them Australians.

Peter Holmes, 22, from Red Hill on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, Tim Inkster, 22, from Aldinga Beach, south of Adelaide, and Jeremy Crowe, 17, from Condobolin in central NSW, have 125cc wildcard entries.

Peter Taplin, 26, from Perth, Russell Holland, 18, from Marulan, south-west of Sydney, and Earl Lynch, 31, from Yatala, south of
Brisbane, will be 250cc wildcards.

In the premier MotoGP class, Japan's Akira Yanagawa will be a wildcard on Kawasaki's new 990cc four-stroke bike, while his veteran countryman Shinichi Ito will be on a two-stroke 500cc Honda for the Kanemoto Racing team.

Josh Waters will become Australia's youngest ever GP competitor at the SKYY Vodka Australian GP