Not forgotten – Jono Porter

The year is 2003 and Queensland’s Jono Porter is slumped in a chair as he starts an interview with AMCN’s Ken Wootton on the main stage at the Sydney Motorcycle Show, Darling Harbour. Appearing a little tired, Porter is nevertheless engaging, reflective and lucid. For 20 minutes, 22-year-old Porter – the first rider in the world to perform a back-flip on a four-stroke ‒ talks about the pressures of being a professional motorcycle racer, combining MX/SX and FMX, and dealing with the huge expectations he places on himself to come up with latest freestyle trick. On the flipside, he hints at his big plans for the future and the rewards that could come his way. He strokes his recently broken wrist while he stares at it, saying he has a race in Wollongong coming up – another weekend he will be riding injured. He wasn’t complaining. His deposition was real and raw. The moment was worth preserving, for motorcycle racers are not usually deep or reflective about what they do. If they talked too much about the risks and the pressures, maybe they wouldn’t do it.

A year later, Jono Porter’s life ended in a crash at a national motocross race at Coolum, Queensland. He was just 23. It was a bitter and cruel loss, the passing of a supremely dedicated and soulful young man way before his time. It was obviously an enormous tragedy for his family and friends, but they can be comforted somewhat in the knowledge that Jono’s legacy lives on, as does his legend.

“I knew nothing about motorcycles until I met Jono,” says Kain Saul, FMX high flyer and the first man to do a backflip on a Harley. “My mum told me that a new family had moved to town (Gladstone), a couple of doors down from us. Jono’s mum worked with my mum, and although he was a few years older and I was only into BMX, Jono took me under his wing and taught me about motorcycles.”

Jono’s generosity to his friends knew no bounds. “I was always borrowing bikes because I didn’t have one of my own, so Jono leant me a 2002 Suzuki RMZ250. Come Christmas that year, my mum bought me some knew riding gear. I was wondering why I was getting this great stuff when I didn’t have a bike. After a while, Jono piped up and said, ‘Kain, you know that RMZ250 you’ve been riding? Mate, that’s now yours.’ I was totally blown away at how generous he was and how much he cared about our friendship.

“I owe everything I’ve achieved to the inspiration that Jono gave me, so his memory, what he stood for and what he did, will never be forgotten,” says Kain, who has battled injury in recent years. “He was the best in the world at what he did and if he was around today, he’d still be the best.” Kain talks about the grand plans that Jono had for FMX. He also gives his take on Travis Pastrana – the man credited for successfully morphing FMX into a rolling roadshow that takes in other extreme action genres.

“I meet people and sometimes we start talking about Jono, and they say, ‘Yeah, Jono. He was Australia’s Pastrana’. And I say, ‘No, Pastrana is America’s Jono’.”

“When Jono was growing up, Glenn Bell was his hero,” says Jono’s dad, Doug Porter. “Glenn’s attitude to racing, his all-round professionalism, really struck a chord with Jono as a young rider, and I guess you could say he was role model for him.”

Doug believes Jono was a pioneer of FMX in Australia. Blake ‘Bilko’ Williams, Cam Sinclair, Robbie Maddison and Kain Saul have all benefitted from the foundations Jono laid for the sport 16 years ago. “Jono worked tirelessly with Motorcycling Australia to set down the regulations for FMX, to secure insurance for FMX events across Australia. Jono knew the sport was going nowhere without insurance and did all he could to help.” And he was barely out of his teens at the time.

Reflecting back on Jono’s incredible determination, Doug says he cannot claim any credit for lighting the unforgettable fire. “That side of Jono was nothing to do with me – that was all Jono.”

When Dough is told that Kain Saul reckons Travis Pastrana is the Jono of America, and that Jono could’ve built something as big as Pastrana or bigger, Doug takes off his sunglasses and fixes his sad, blue eyes on me, and says, “Yeah … we had plans.”

The Jono Porter Award is presented to the annual winner of the Australian FMX Title.

DARRYL FLACK