Scooter News Yamaha Tech Awards Kiwi Wins Yamaha Technician Grand Prix
Allen Drysdale Wayne Blackwood from Blackwood Yamaha in New Zealand has become the first Kiwi to win Yamaha Technical Academy’s prestigious Oceania Motorcycle Technician Grand Prix.
The Tech GP is the culmination of two years of YTA training activities aimed at raising the proficiency of all Yamaha technicians in the Oceania market region to ensure customers receive outstanding after-sales service.
The event involves gruelling practical tasks and a tough theoretical test undertaken by a select group of motorcycle service staff at YMA’s headquarters in Sydney.
The 38-year-old Kiwi won the event after a photo finish with Gympie, QLD technician Greg Dodt from Motorcycle Country who finished a close second.
“The training we have been receiving from Yamaha Motor NZ has put us in a great position to score highly in this event and I would like to thank Phil Winter from YMNZ service for his contribution,” explains Wayne, whose 12 year stint at Blackwood Yamaha and
background in road racing and dirt bikes also helped get him over the line. “Plus having attended the Tech GP in 2003 made a lot of difference, because my previous experience allowed me to approach the assessments without being nervous,” he adds.
Having placed second in the 2005 event, Dodt was disappointed to finish runner up again. This was the 40-year-old’s third Tech GP and
Reaching the 2007 Tech GP finals is a great achievement for the 10 Yamaha technicians (blue shirts) he vowed to come back again to have another tilt at the elusive title.
The 10 finalists were selected from over 200 applicants working in Yamaha dealerships across Australia and New Zealand. The finalists arrived at YMA HQ from every region and underwent a computerised theory examination and 10 practical tasks that covered subjects such as fault diagnosis, product knowledge and customer service. Blackwood now goes on to represent Oceania in Yamaha’s World Motorcycle Technician GP in Japan in October.
All finalists were treated to a product orientation day and helicopter flights at Stockton Beach, NSW and were later addressed by Mr Suzuki, the service education planning manager of YMC’s global Motorcycle and ATV service department at a gala dinner.
The next Yamaha Motorcycle Technician Grand Prix will take place in 2009.
Editor’s note:
The Yamaha Motorcycle Technician GP pits the top Yamaha service technicians in the country against each other to find out who is the best of the best. The aim of the event is to recognise and motivate technicians to achieve the goal of exceeding customers after sales service expectations. Please help us achieve this goal by highlighting this event.
The 10 finalists were:
State Name Dealership Town
NSW Alan Shirley Beard Bros MCs Bathurst
NSW Adam Gilmore Beard Bros MCs Bathurst
NZ Wayne Blackwood Blackwood Yamaha Cambridge
NZ Paul Corrin CGM Motorcycles Gisbourne
QLD Greg Dodt Motorcycle Country Gympie
QLD Patrick Taylor Team Moto Northside Enoggera
SA Owen Vernon-Roberts Yamaha Pitmans Adelaide
WA Graeme Cross Pilbara Bikes ‘n’ Boats Port Hedland
VIC Greg Mundy Peter Stevens MCs Geelong
VIC Paul Brunson Frankston Yamaha Melbourne
published 27/08/2007 |