The newest addition to the racing program at the Skyy Vodka Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix may be the least powerful, but it’s packed with personality.

With ages ranging from 15 to 57 and riders from as far away as Cairns and Perth, the Aussie 125cc support category promises to bring extra thrills to the 2003 Grand Prix at Victoria’s magical Phillip Island circuit on October 17-19.

Among the riders will be an airline pilot who is also an aerobatics instructor and former judo champion; a former platoon sergeant; a motorcycle postie; two females, one an 18-year-old newcomer and the other a 125cc “veteran”; five 16-year-olds, including the new national 125cc champion; two 15-year-olds; a team owner riding a former Garry McCoy bike; a former speedway champ; four riders from Far North Queensland; an advertising executive; and a classic racer.

Sponsored by the Glen Cameron Group – an Australian leader in transport logistics, operating a fleet of more than 300 vehicles and now in its sixth year as a GP sponsor – the Aussie 125s will have four races at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit over the three-day event. There will be eight-lap races on the Friday and Saturday, just before the qualifying sessions for the 125cc world championship category, and back-to-back six-lappers on Sunday morning before the three international GP races.

Aussie 125s are renowned for sensationally close racing, with a smooth and precise riding style paramount for getting the best out of the light and nimble machines – which are limited to a single 125cc cylinder and a six-speed gearbox, making them very evenly matched.

Most of the top riders are more like jockeys than muscle men, but they reach speeds of over 200kmh, with plenty of bumping and weaving in the packs.

Slipstreaming – the art of tucking in behind other riders to get “dragged” along in the wind vacuum, before sling-shotting past at the end of a straight – is a highlight of most races.

The field of 48 includes the vastly experienced Peter Galvin, from Sydney, a former world championship rider who also was a regular GP wildcard until recent years; two other former GP wildcards, Tim Inkster of Aldinga Beach in Adelaide and Andrew Willy from Kensington in Melbourne; the 2001 250cc Production champion, Mick Kelly, from Irymple in northern Victoria; and last year’s joint (with Galvin) national 125cc champion, Paul Campbell, of Gordon in Canberra.

Now to some of the other interesting characters in the Aussie 125s …

Rudi Muller has packed a lot into his 32 years. Around the time he was winning his second South Australian judo championship he took up flying aeroplanes. A decade later he started racing motorcycles.

Muller, from North Adelaide, is now a pilot with Qantas but he previously did flying manoeuvres that would leave most passengers green. After progressing through the ranks of general aviation he came under the tuition of a group of former RAAF Roulettes pilots, who taught him to become an aerobatics instructor.

Not content flying the skies at 800kmh, he took up motorcycle racing six years ago and in 2001 won SA’s 125cc and 250cc championships.

Racing runs in the Muller family. After emigrating from Germany, father Otto won the 1967 Australian 50cc TT and the 1976 Australian 50cc GP. He raced everything up to 500cc bikes, even building his own - called an OMR Kreidler 50cc Spezial.

Father and son have their names on SA’s outright points perpetual trophy and have both held the lap record at Mt Gambier’s Mac Park circuit.

Rudi Muller gave up judo at 18 but credits the skills he learnt on the mat, including “breakfalls”, for saving him from injury when crashing on the racetrack.

While he doesn’t get to race as much as he’d like due to his work, he hopes for a top-five finish at the GP.

“I love the Phillip Island circuit - we’re really lucky to have such a world-class track,” Muller said. “I’ve raced there before but think it will be quite daunting this time.”

Army rifle platoon sergeant Roger Derrick had just returned from six months’ duty in East Timor when he heard the Aussie 125s were on the GP program and told himself, “I’m there!”

Now an army reservist, Derrick, 38, from Richmond in Melbourne, rode three years for Team Army Racing during his 11 years of service.

He started racing after training as a motor mechanic and loves 125cc bikes for their cornering speed and braking capabilities.

Once in the army he moved up to A Grade in the Victorian championships.

His work in East Timor involved security operations on the border, including patrols on foot, by helicopter and in armoured personnel carriers – all aimed at maintaining peace and stability.

“It would have been excellent to have had a motocross bike over there too,” Derrick said.

He doesn’t expect to be in the leading pack at the fast, flowing circuit beside Bass Strait because of his height (185cm) and weight (84kg).

Last time Derrick rode at the Island he went over the handlebars at Southern Loop, likening himself to “a gorilla on a tricycle” and declaring he should be slapped if he raced a 125 there again.

He’s now revving up to return with the philosophy that he’s “going to cruise down the main straight with one hand, waving to the crowd”.

Alan Martinsen is not a professional racer, but he gets paid to ride a motorcycle. A postman for eight years, Martinsen, 26, delivers mail around Canberra dreaming of racing in the United States.

His postie bike is not a performance machine but the job has helped cover the costs of racing his Honda RS125 in the national championship the past two seasons.

“It’s a great job,” Martinsen said. “I get to ride around outside and it’s flexible enough to give me time off to race. I can even practice for the GP while I’m at work! But I’ve never gotten my knee down on the postie bike. I think being a postie might be more dangerous than road racing, though.”

Martinsen lists swooping magpies, vicious dogs and ice on driveways among the hazards of his job.

At the GP he’ll be aiming to qualify well and finish in the top eight.

“My friends reckon I’ll be racing down Gardner Straight at the Island trying to deliver the mail at turn one,” Martinsen said. “Talk about express delivery!”

Candice Scott used to watch her brothers race and thought it was “pretty scary”, until she turned 14 and joined a junior motorcycle club. It took her just a year to go from being lapped by the boys to winning the club championship on an 80cc dirt bike.

“That was the highlight of my year, maybe even of my life,” said Scott, 18, from Mangrove Mountain, near Gosford on the Central Coast of New South Wales. “I really enjoyed beating the boys.”

She then consolidated her progress in the open division, did a test on a friend’s 500cc road bike and scored a one-year sponsored ride in 660cc Supermono.

Now she’s going up against the best 125cc riders in the country and her younger brother, Glenn, is her biggest fan. “He wants to be the next Mick Doohan and is maybe a bit jealous that I’m racing at a GP,” she said.

Scott, who works at her parents’ nursery, only started racing 125s this year and has competed in two rounds of the national championship, finishing 13th at Mallala in SA and 15th at Phillip Island, where she was running fifth in the rain before crashing and breaking a finger.

Undaunted in a male-dominated sport, she encourages other girls to participate.

“Some of my girlfriends think what I do is pretty cool, and have given it a go, but it’s hard to get them to commit,” she said.

“I get on with the guys I race with really well, and being a girl doesn’t matter once you get on the track. We all wear a helmet and leathers, and no one really knows who you are.”

Scott already hopes she’ll be back at Phillip Island next year as a wildcard in the 125cc GP after a full season in the national series.

With a bike called Angel, Cath Thompson is planning on going as fast as heavenly possible at the GP.

But Angel and Thompson, from Rozelle in Sydney, are a bit the worse for wear after a recent crash.

Thompson is nursing a broken foot, while Angel is being rebuilt, complete with disco-ball silver paintwork and glitter.

At 39, Thompson is a veteran of the 125cc class and a regular front-runner, finishing fourth, third and sixth in the national championship the past three years.

A qualified pilot and ski instructor, she was a GP wildcard in 2001, becoming the first woman to race at world level at Phillip Island - and the first female wildcard at an Australian GP in more than a decade.

“It will be fantastic being back at the GP, even though I can’t get a wildcard (now restricted to riders under 25),” Thompson said. “I’ll be going as fast as possible, and hopefully will beat the wildcard times.”

Last year Josh Waters became the youngest Australian to race in an Australian GP at only 15 years and 269 days and the youngest Aussie GP rider a week earlier in Malaysia.

This year he became the youngest national road racing champion, winning every round of the Australian 125cc championship - and he plans to compete in the 125 GP and the Aussie 125s at the Island.

From Mildura in northern Victoria, Waters, 16, has been racing on two wheels for more than 10 years, has won 19 Australian dirt-track championships and 53 state titles, and now has his sights on joining the world ranks full-time.

He had GP wildcards in Malaysia and Australia last year and hopes to get the attention of the international teams at the Island this year.

“If they want to look at the Aussie 125 riders, hopefully they’ll ask, ‘Who’s the champion?’ and watch me race,” Waters said.

Hot on Waters’ heels is 15-year-old Jason O’Halloran.

From Albion Park, near Wollongong in NSW, O’Halloran was second to Waters in the national championship in just his first year of road racing.

He learnt to ride on his grandfather’s farm and started racing Pee Wee junior motocross when he was four. He won this year’s GP80 Masters on a Moriwaki 80, adding to his 11 dirt-track championships and 40 state titles.

O’Halloran was eligible for a wildcard at the GP but has elected to concentrate on the support race instead. “I definitely want to win the Aussie 125s and break the lap record,” he said.

In Year 10 at Albion Park High, O’Halloran has a tough training regime of cycling, boxing, surfing and BMX riding.

“My teachers are really supportive of my racing,” he said. “But it’s really hard to catch up on all the work when I miss so many classes.”

Another 15 year old picking up pace is young Queenslander Matthew Kuhne. Matthew recently won all four races at last weekend's Queensland Championship round by over 30 seconds.  That great performance has seen Matt add his first road racing state title to the swag of 32 dirt track state championships he already has under his young belt.

Two 16-year-olds who will be giving the GP a bit shot are Craig Nicholson and Bryce van Hoof, from Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.

Nicholson, of Somerville, is no stranger to the GP Paddock at Phillip Island. His older brother, Wayne, has raced in the Australian Superbikes support category at the GP and paid Craig to collect autographs.

“Wayne would get me a pass to the Paddock and pay me $5 for every autograph I got,” Nicholson said. “I remember getting Valentino Rossi, Carlos Checa, Kenny Roberts – a lot of the top guys. I earned heaps!”

Nicholson started road racing at 13 on a Moriwaki 80 after several years of dirt-track. With his father as mechanic, he rode in the Victorian 125cc B and C Grade titles this year, but is contemplating a switch to 250cc production bikes or superstock next year.

In Year 11 at Mount Erin Secondary College, near Frankston, Nicholson said: “School comes first at the moment – and I might go on to university as well.”

For the GP he is aiming for personal best times and to “not come last”.

Van Hoof, from Rosebud, was given a motorcycle for his first Christmas. Although his father ended up riding it because young Bryce could barely crawl, it sowed the seeds for a love of racing.

Indeed, van Hoof’s father and grandfather have taken up racing again after watching his exploits.

After three years of motocross, van Hoof picked up a 125cc bike and finished 16th in this year’s national championship.

“The results will come as I get more experienced,” said van Hoof, who is in Year 11 at Dromana Secondary College.

Two other 16-year-olds, a team owner, a former GP wildcard and a veteran speedway champion are travelling more than 4000km from Western Australia to compete in the Aussie 125s at the GP.

Tom Hatton, 16, from Mullaloo in Perth, has only raced at his local circuit, Wanneroo. Indeed, he has never left WA.

Two years ago he went to a road race with his father and thought, “I’d be good at this”. Last year he finished fifth in the WA 125cc championship and this year is leading it – and has beaten his teammate and “boss”, Jack Declyn, another member of “Team WA” travelling to Phillip Island.

Declyn spotted Hatton’s talent, invited him to join his Double Six Motorsport, and now the youngster aims to step up to the national championship next year – and eventually the world scene.

“He’s an amazing talent,” Declyn said. “He listens to everything he’s told and then goes out on the track and does it. His feedback on the bike is good, especially considering his age and experience, plus he’s the perfect size for a 125cc rider – small and strong.”

To finance his racing, Hatton left school halfway through Year 10 and is working at McDonald’s.

“I needed to get a job that would give me time off to race, but still teach me some work-place skills and pay reasonably well,” Hatton said.

When he’s not racing or working, Hatton is learning the Phillip Island circuit on his Playstation.

Declyn, 35, from Brighton in Perth, has spent a year – and many late-night phone calls and emails to a mechanic friend in Europe - restoring the bike he plans to race at the Island.

It’s the Aprilia RSR that Garry McCoy, Australia’s five-time GP winner, rode to victory in the 1996 Australian GP at Sydney’s Eastern Creek.

“This machine is the only one of its kind in Australia,” Declyn said. “It’s been a real labour of love fixing it up.

“I’ve always really admired McCoy. I had a pair of leathers made up like his, which he spotted me in at Eastern Creek in ’94. We had a bit of a chat and have kept in touch over the years.”

Declyn started racing historic bikes more than a decade ago before switching to 125s, winning three WA titles – with a best finish of third in the Australian championship.

Then came three years overseas, riding some British Superbike Championship rounds and in other series, working as a test rider for the Kawasaki world endurance team and the UK Honda 250cc GP team, as well as teaching youngsters racecraft at world supersport champion Jamie Whitham’s superbike training school.

Returning to Australia in 2001, Declyn helped fellow WA rider Craig Frederickson - a 1998 250cc GP wildcard at Phillip Island - in his national 125 season with Allect Racing.

Keen to get back into racing, Declyn formed Double Six Motorsport with Allect Racing, run by respected team manager Russell Farrow, providing technical and engineering support.

Frederickson, 34, from Gosnells in Perth, and his new 16-year-old teammate Bryan Staring are a combination of experience and youth for the GP.

Staring, from Padbury in Perth, is in his first season of road racing after 12 years of motocross, in which he won national 50cc titles in 1994 and ’95, raced in Indonesia twice, and twice represented Australia in the Oceania series in New Zealand. He got the ride with Allect Racing after good performances with the Honda Australia Junior Motocross Team.

“I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time,” Staring said. “It’s the plum ride in WA and I pretty much walked into a meeting and got it.”

Staring works at The Honda Shop in Perth, detailing and assembling new bikes. “I’m basically the dog’s body, but that’s OK,” he said.

In his last Phillip Island race Staring broke a collarbone, but he is “pretty excited” about his return – and the chance to see the MotoGP stars up close.

The oldest competitor in the Aussie 125s, indeed at the GP, is 57-year-old Bob Humphries.

A speedway star in Britain in the ’70s, Humphries, from Koongamia in Perth, now races “for the sheer fun of it”.

He’s teaming up with Declyn and Hatton for the chance to race at the famous seaside track for the first time – against riders more than 40 years his junior.

“I like the young guys and can still mix it up with some of them – I can even frighten a few of them,” said Humphries, who is in his third season of the WA 125cc championship.

“I know what it’s like to be the young gun as I was there once myself.”

Humphries started racing as a teenager in WA and was given his first speedway bike at 21. “The shop just gave it to me when I said I’d love to race it. That’s how it was back then,” he said.

A year later, in 1971, he left Perth for Britain and spent 14 years “on holiday” racing speedway for a living.

He rode for several prestigious clubs - including Kingslynn, Reading, Swindon, Milton Keynes and Essex - before setting up a training track for rising stars.

Returning to Perth in the late ’80s he was happy to have a break from the sport, but when almost 50 he built himself a “bucket” racer to ride at club days.

“Before I knew it, people started giving me bikes to ride again and I ended up in the 125 series,” Humphries said.

He trains regularly at a kick boxing club. “I’ve had more injuries from kick boxing than from racing - broken toes, a broken arm. It’s far worse than racing,” he said.

Competing at the GP will be “really just a continuation of the fun I’m already having”, said Humphries.

Four riders who have only ever raced in Far North Queensland are making the big trip to Phillip Island for the Aussie 125s – and two were planning a visit to the final round of the state titles in Brisbane in late September as a warm-up.

Karl Vorderwinkler, 32, Brian Cale, 46, and Reece Payne, 30, all from Cairns, plus Alan Todd, 38, from the Atherton Tableland near Cairns, have done all their racing on go-kart tracks.

The four started on the 1km Mareeba circuit in Cairns, then - lacking a proper club - began making the five-hour trip to Townsville to compete in its club championships, which are held at night due to the extreme day-time heat.

Cale did not know what a 125cc bike was when he first saw one, but was soon hooked and helped organise a separate competition for the class in Townsville.

“We’re all good mates and have a bloody good time racing together,” Cale said. “Everyone is really looking forward to seeing the track at Phillip Island and racing on a proper circuit.”

Vorderwinkler sees the GP as a great opportunity to network with other riders and gain valuable racing experience, while Todd, who hopes to compete in next year’s Queensland titles, will be sizing himself up against the country’s best.

Payne switched to racing after deciding it was too dangerous to ride on the road, but it was on a dirt-bike riding excursion that he broke his back. He is training hard to get fit for the GP and is “keen as mustard”.

“The speed will be very different, and qualifying may be a challenge, but we’re a bunch of triers,” Payne said. “We’ve got to perform, otherwise it’s a long way to go just to watch.”

A rider with more than 30 years’ experience, Russell Malley wants to try 125cc GP racing before he retires.

Malley, 50, from Heathmont in Melbourne, has ridden in just about every class imaginable - from 250 and 350cc GP, superbikes, production bikes, supermono and as a sidecar passenger - but he could not pass up the chance to race in the Aussie 125s at this year’s GP.

The Victorian advertising representative for Australian Motorcycle News magazine, Malley likes 125s because they’re cheap and require “rat cunning and skill”.

He expects only a couple of hours off a day from manning the AMCN stand in the GP Expo at Phillip Island, but thinks that will give him enough time to qualify and race.

“The racing should be very entertaining for the spectators, with loads of slip-streaming and late braking,” Malley said. “If I can beat a few of the teenagers it will put a smile on my face.”

Dale Grandi looks to the riders of yesteryear for his motivation.

Grandi, 43, from Olinda, in Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges, started racing on classic bikes, often coming up against the likes of New Zealand’s Ginger Molloy, who was runner-up to the legendary Italian Giacomo Agostini in the 1970 500cc world championship after his earlier miraculous feats on Spanish-made Bultaco bikes.

Grandi rates watching Molloy and the late Barry Sheene, a two-time 500cc world champion, riding at the Phillip Island Classic some of the best racing he’s seen, but two years ago he decided classic bikes were too difficult and expensive to maintain, so he switched to the Victorian 125cc championship.

A top-10 finish is Grandi’s GP goal, but most of all he wants to have fun.

“I’d like to beat the young guys, but some of them are just too fast,” Grandi said. “I’m going for longevity instead. I like to think I’ll still be racing at Ginger’s age – if the wife lets me!”