John Reynolds: The Autobiography - Book review by Maggie Woods

“The inspirational story of one of the
most popular motorcycle racers of
the modern era, John Reynolds, and
his personal battle against adversity,
is documented in the page-turning
John Reynolds: The Autobiography...”

HAVING SPENT 35 YEARS RACING MOTORCYCLES — winning six British Championship titles and making his mark in World Superbikes and 500cc Grand Prix racing in the process — John Reynolds retired, following life-threatening injuries in an horrific 140mph crash.

That was Friday, 7 October, 2005. And now, nearly three years on and at the age of 37, he has fully recovered and says that he wouldn't change anything in his life — including the injuries. John Reynolds: The Autobiography is a tribute to John's skill and his tenacity and is an inspiration to everyone — particularly those who have had their career cut short by an accident — and not just those who love and follow motorcycle racing.

The book is written by John with Jason McClean and has a foreword by Paul Denning (Team Manager, Suzuki BSB, 1997-2004; Team Manager, Suzuki Grand Prix, 2005 onwards). John looks back over his life and writes candidly about every aspect of growing up to become a motorcycle superstar and keeping his feet firmly on the ground.

When John was just ten months old his father built him a three-wheeler and he progressed to a new three-wheeler at the age of five — putting it through its paces with an astonishing knowledge that he'd never been taught. At the age of seven his father built him a motocross-style bike and on his eighth birthday John got his first race bike.

Perhaps racing is in John's genes, because his father had dabbled with racing years before and had damaged his knee in a crash at Cadwell Park; but it certainly seems as if John was born to race.

At the age of 12, he'd won the British Schoolboy Motocross championship and Kawasaki sponsored him by giving him a bike with some spares. His meeting some time later with Ron Haslam, and the advice given by him, stands out in his memory.

In John Reynolds: The Autobiography, John looks back to 1989 when Kawasaki asked him to race in the TT on the Isle of Man, where he came up against living legends like Steve Hislop and Carl Fogarty and how — once he'd won his first race — he was driven by a fear of losing.

With sixteen pages of colour and black-and-white photographs, the book details John's heroes, the rivals he respects, the jokes played on him, his proudest moments, his favourite bikes, how he values his fans and how he dealt with his injuries and the consequences. He talks about his friends in racing and how Jonathan Palmer's intervention got him back to England for treatment after a 150mph crash in Valencia.

Career Highlights are detailed fully from 1986 through to 2005, when he ended the season after the Brands Hatch crash ninth overall with 139 points. Brands Hatch, he says, is still his favourite circuit and his Mecca — he got his only career WSB victory there in 2000, on a Ducati — even though it was the circuit on which he ended his career.

At speeds approaching 200mph John lived — and almost died — for his love of motorbikes and racing. (Coincidentally, his father had a dice with death at the age of just 18 months when he fell into a sheep dip on the family farm but was fortunately found in time.)

From the high points of life as a racer and a loving husband and father to the desperate lows of his final season and the life-threatening crash that ended his career, John Reynolds gives the reader a fascinating insight into competing in one of the hardest and most unforgiving sports in the world.

• John Reynolds: The Autobiography, by John Reynolds with Jason McClean is out now in paperback at an RRP of �7.99. ISBN: 978 1 84425 671 6.

"John Reynolds: The Autobiography is a tribute to John's skill and his tenacity and is an inspiration to everyone — particularly those who have had their career cut short by an accident — and not just those who love and follow motorcycle racing" — Maggie Woods, MotorBar

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