Talented Australian Broc Parkes enters his fourth season with the German-based Yamaha squad, focused on winning the title after a fruitful 2007 season.

The 25-year-old from Hunter Valley in the New South Wales region of Australia is a protégé of former world champion Wayne Gardner, who has guided Broc's career from an early age. The 'Boy from the Bush' has been hooked on bike racing from an early age, starting out on dirt-track bikes at the age of six and going on to win an incredible 45 Australian national titles as a youngster (as well as 90 state titles in dirt track and three junior speedway championships).

Broc's winning run continued when he moved into road racing at the age of 16. In fact in 1998 - his first year on the tarmac - Broc won every championship he entered. The Australian national title came in 1999, when he also made a wild-card appearance at the Australian 125cc Grand Prix.

For 2000 Broc moved to Japan and raced in the X-Formula championship for large capacity four-strokes, winning twice and finishing third in the championship. That was followed by two years as a privateer in the World Superbike Championship, where an under-funded team meant he could only show glimpses of his undoubted ability.

In 2003 Broc switched to World Supersport only for his team to withdraw mid-season due to a lack of funds. His performances had however allowed him to show his talent and he linked up with a top team for 2004. Parkes showed great speed and maturity throughout the 2004 season, ending the year second only to his dominant team-mate Karl Muggeridge in the final standings.

Broc made an initially difficult switch to Yamaha in 2005 as he struggled to adapt to the previous model R6 but both Parkes and the Yamaha Motor Germany squad kept their faith and worked hard to make the combination work. Second place at the team's home race was the breakthrough and a win at the season-ending Magny-Cours race the ultimate reward. Broc looked good to challenge for the 2006 title until a crash at Assen saw him hospitalised with critical injuries, although remarkably the tough little Aussie was back on the bike for the last two races of the year – scoring a third place at Magny-Cours to retain fourth in the final championship table.

2007 was an equally dramatic year for Broc – having started the season well, he crashed in practice at Donington and broke his collar bone. Yet only two weeks later he was back on the bike at Assen, although it took a few races for Parkes to get back on form. The latter part of the season was one positive step after another as Parkes fought for race wins and finished the season second in the championship.

For 2008 Parkes has his sights set on just one thing – winning the World Supersport Championship Having been the bridesmaid in 2007 he is determined to bring home the title trophy, both for himself and for Yamaha.