Interview with James Tonna
Joe Rascal Harley-Davidson and Ducati
The motorcycle retail landscape in Victoria shifted dramatically when the Joe Rascal Group stepped in to take over Harley Heaven Dandenong, Harley Heaven Ringwood, Harley Heaven Melbourne and Peter Stevens Ducati South Melbourne. It was one of the most significant multi-dealership acquisitions in recent years, instantly placing the Joe Rascal operation at the centre of both Harley-Davidson and Ducati motorcycling in Victoria.
But big moves bring big challenges, and some big expectations. From stabilising teams across four busy metropolitan sites to modernising systems, reshaping culture and rebuilding customer confidence. All signs suggest Joe Rascal is already making their presence felt within the industry, and there is a lot more to come…
We sat down with James Tonna, co-owner and Chief Rascal, to discuss what’s gone to plan, what hasn’t, what they’re most proud of so far, and why they’ve decided to take things a step further by fielding a Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup team on the world stage alongside MotoGP in 2026.
This is a rare look inside the growing pains, the wins, and the future vision of one of Australia’s newest major motorcycle groups.
What motivated the Joe Rascal group to take over Harley Haven, Dandenong, Ringwood, Melbourne and Peter Stevens, Ducati, South Melbourne?
“Very simply, opportunity. We’ve been looking for a number of opportunities in the motorcycle market.
“We acquired our first business in May this year after a fair level of due diligence, which is MotoTrack Accessories. The deal closed in May, and we were looking at probably six more at the time, seeking to bolt together a number of small businesses, run a centralised back-office DC structure, simplify all these businesses into one platform, and cross-pollinate the customer base.
“While we were doing that, we heard about Peter Stevens going into administration and seriously considered the opportunity. We made contact with the administrators, Harley and Ducati, promptly broke down the data and quickly realised this was a very viable business. We structured an offer, and we were done.
“That came out Monday, we were done by Wednesday.”
What was the most significant factor in deciding, yes, we can take this on?
“A number of things. The biggest one was giving us a big footprint quickly. Enabling us to bring our plans forward to both launch and expand the Joe Rascal brand. In fact, Ducati is quite similar; our central Melbourne location gives us greater access to Ducati customers all across Victoria.
What challenges didn’t you anticipate before the takeover?
“Honestly, we haven’t come across anything we haven’t anticipated. My business partner (Barry Fitzpatrick) and I, along with some of the executive team, have followed me from a previous business. So we come from a retail background.
“We come from a large-scale client base. In our previous business, we ran 42,000 hires a year on rental cars. So there was nothing different. It was a different world being motorcycles, of course. But we were dealing in the bike space, in any case, on a hire basis. So nothing really stands out that we weren’t expecting.”
And legacy issues such as staffing, IT systems, culture, facilities, any of that needed more work than you expected?
“Systems. Systems were quite antiquated, but we’ve retained those systems for now. Unfortunately, we’ve seen what can happen when you implement a bad system poorly. So we didn’t want to go through that again. So the systems are antiquated, but they’re very robust. We haven’t changed them; but that may change in the future.
“And probably the staffing mentality, we retained the majority of the staff.”
I know you say you’ve got a long history in business, but what surprised you most about the day-to-day operational challenges in this environment?
“Honestly, not a lot. There was no big surprise. Again, we come from a retail background.
“Retail is driven by customers, customer experience, and then staffing. And how do we get those three pieces aligned? Peter Stevens did quite a good job in building some aspects of the business, and there were issues pertaining to customer experience. We have focused on that, and we are getting better day by day. Our team believe in the brand and what we are doing.
“I think we’ve dealt with that pretty rapidly. If we look here at Dandenong, for example, we see a remarkable change; the team are phenomenal. You can’t get two metres within the door before people are introducing themselves and welcoming the customer, welcome to Joe Rascal.”
So overall, there’s not one issue that’s been a much bigger mountain to climb than you envisaged, like one that has proved particularly challenging…?
“Every aspect of the business has had challenges, but every aspect of the business has got its own strengths as well.
“It comes down to, we deal with globally the two best brands. We deal with Harley-Davidson and Ducati. So there are two big ticks straight up. Our team have jumped on board. Our team have embraced what it means to be Joe Rascal.
“It’s about building a strong community for male and female riders, being free and riding motorcycles. “We have incredibly sound support at a global level from both Harley-Davison and Ducati. We were fortunate two weeks ago to be with the COO of Ducati at their Italian factory. We’re in Thailand for the next couple of weeks with the head of manufacturing of Ducati.“A bunch of us were in Milwaukee with Harley Davidson in
September and to be fully supported by Harley Davidson as part of the Moto GP expansion. We’re incredibly fortunate to be supported by the two best brands in the world.”
What are you most proud of achieving so far across the four sites?
“Change in business quickly. We moved from a loss-making business to a break-even business faster than we expected. We expected it to be two months; it happened in three weeks, and then the business moved to relative profitability very quickly.
“And that really came about because the team jumped on board so fast. We explained what we could at the time of what the vision was, and the majority of the team grasped it with both hands.”
Which improvements have made the biggest impact on the customer experience?
“Focusing on the staff, making their day better. Understanding what worked and what didn’t work well for the team, giving them an opportunity to actually have a say in the future.
“And that’s been the biggest change in the operation. And I think the thing that stands out in a lot of customers, if you look at our customer reviews, the customer sentiment historically probably wasn’t overly great, but it’s in a different world now.”
And in workshop efficiency and stock control, have you made any significant improvements there that you think are realising dividends?
“We actually put on a lot of techs. So I think we run 23 technicians now across the group, and growing.
“We have male and female apprentices, young and mature age apprentices across the group. We just hired another female apprentice for Ducati this week.”
Has there been a standout feedback moment from customers or staff that really confirmed you’re on the right track?
“Actually, unrelated to motorcycling as such, we were walking through the US, so at this point it was LA, Charlotte, Tennessee, Milwaukee, Chicago, and the team were wearing these tops (Joe Rascal tees) and having people completely unrelated to motorcycling come up and ask about the brand and asking where they could buy things associated to the brand.
“We had a team off-site yesterday and we had a female tradiee run up to us and say, oh my God, I love this branding. This is amazing. So getting acceptance of the branding, not just in the Harley community or the Ducati community, but getting recognition and acceptance of the branding outside of the motorcycling world.
“And as we expand our product offering into the fashion world and parts world in the next couple of months on a global basis to see that acceptance of the brand happening at such a rapid rate.”
And where does the name come from?
“Made it up. A lot of thought went into it or somewhere between 13 and 15 years ago. We had a business idea. I thought of a name, okay, that name doesn’t suit. And we just waited for the right opportunity.
“And when we had the opportunity to take over this business, when I was asked what we’re naming it and it said Joe Rascal, the first comment I got was, what? Why? And then when we explained what the rascal is, it was, okay, this makes sense.
“And as we’ve evolved the character in our long history of existence (laughs), over the last four months, that character has evolved rapidly.”
You mentioned how important it was to stabilise staff morale across the dealerships. What methods have you put in place to make those improvements?
“So the first thing we did was remove unnecessary reporting lines so each employee has more opportunity to have a voice and an impact. We have a lot of passionate team members, and we want to empower them. When we looked at the overall picture, we understood exactly the reporting lines that we needed. So effectively, between the most junior person and myself, there are two reporting lines. That’s it. We made everybody accountable, but every position is open as well.
“So there’s an open-door policy. There is no head office mentality here that you would find in a corporate world. The typical corporate head office mentality is that the rest of the world is there to serve them.
“We have the philosophy that there are five of us, sorry, there are five of us in the executive function, and everybody in that team knows that their entire existence is to support the frontline team, not the other way around.”
And how different is it managing the Harley dealerships compared to the Ducati dealership?
“My surprise is that the actual 40-45 per cent of the customer base is actually the same. So the guy who likes the Ducati pretty commonly also has a Fat Boy or a Breakout.
“So it’s not that unusual at all. So very similar, very different in the way they approach things. But the branding, while it’s different, the way they function is very, very similar.”
And when did the idea of fielding a Baggers Team first become real for you?
“About five days into owning the dealership…”
Why baggers specifically, rather than doing it with Ducati?
“So we are likely racing with Ducati in 26 or 27. There are still details yet to be worked out, but we will likely field a Ducati team if not in 26 then in 27, perhaps both here and abroad.
“When I heard about the Bagger World Cup, I wanted to understand more.
“Coming from a banking background and private equity, we understand what Liberty Media is doing. If we looked at what they did in Formula One, then we understand exactly why they’re making the play that they have. We saw that as an opportunity to get eyes on the brand.
“We love racing and bagger racing, if anyone’s ever seen bagger racing, it is so much fun. There is just no comprehension of the sound of these machines rolling down the straight at COTA. When people think MotoGP is loud. Wait till you hear these things screaming down the main straight at COTA. It’s a whole other world.
“The opportunity to race with Harley, who have been such good supporters of what we’re doing and embracing our difference within the Harley world, combined with the opportunity of getting eyes on brand, opens us up to 460-ish million views on our brand over the next 12 months.
“So if you look at any brand, a brand has to have a DNA. It has to have a core of who they are. And our core on who we are is performance. So, at the core of everything we do and represent, it’s still performance.
“Our tagline lives true to who we are. ‘Go Joe Rascal fast.’ And that’s about doing things at a rapid rate.”
So with the preparation of the Bagger to race alongside MotoGP, does Harley pretty much take care of all the bike preparation and all the rest of it? Is it sort of a walk-up turnkey?
“Yeah, so it’s a sealed motor, sealed gearbox structure. So it’s very similar to NASCAR. So it’s controlled engines, controlled gearbox, controlled mapping. The bikes are either going to be in the UK or they might live in Spain. I’m not 100 per cent sure yet.
“So as we build out our team, we’ve got our riders, but we also have a high-profile team principal coming on board. And we’ve just signed our first rider, Archie McDonald, an Aussie talent who’s already been competing on the world stage.
“We’ll have the whole team here in January as we test a couple of bikes we are building up here, so Archie can get some practice riding the big bikes.”
What does success look like for you in the race program at the end of year one?
“Winning.
“Archie’s going to surprise a lot of people. I don’t think people realise how many podiums Archie’s going to get.
“We’re quietly confident our boys are going to do well, extremely well.”
Do you foresee further acquisitions or expansion?
“Opportunities that exist. Yep, so we’re looking at a number of opportunities on a global basis at the moment.”
If you could go back to day one of the acquisition, what advice would you give yourself?
“Definitely do it. That’s good. Don’t change anything. Yeah.”
What’s the one question you wish people asked you about the transition, but never do..?
“That’s a hard one… Probably, do you know how much this is going to cost!!!!?”
The Joe Rascal Group has taken on a scale of responsibility few new operators would dare attempt. Still, the early momentum suggests a team determined to reshape how multi-brand dealerships operate in Australia.
From stabilising staff and modernising the customer experience to preparing for a bold entry into the Bagger World Cup alongside MotoGP, to preparing to compete on both the tarmac and the dirt with Ducati, they are certainly having a crack…
As the four dealerships evolve under the new banner and preparations intensify for their 2026 race debut alongside MotoGP, the next 12 months will be defining, not only for the business but for how they plan to leave their mark on the Australian motorcycle industry.
The Joe Rascal journey is perhaps just getting started…
