SS Sportswagon
07-08-2006, 06:38 PM
FORMER world motorcycle champion Mick Doohan will face court in Darwin tomorrow charged over a fracas at a strip club.
Doohan, 41, of the Gold Coast, has been charged with assaulting a bouncer at Darwin's Honeypot Club early on Saturday.
Northern Territory police refused to confirm Doohan was involved, but said a 41-year-old man arrested at 3am on Saturday morning had been charged with assault and failing to leave licensed premises.
"(He was) bailed to appear tomorrow in the Darwin Magistrates' Court," a police spokeswoman said.
Doohan's publicist Mike Porter said he had received legal advice not to comment on the alleged incident, saying only that "certain processes are in place".
Doohan, a five-times 500cc world champion, took out the title every year between 1994 and 1998.
He was forced to retire from racing in 1999 when he suffered massive injuries in a crash in Spain.
A friend of Doohan's, former heavyweight boxer Joe Bugner, says the bike champion's alleged clash with a bouncer is out of character.
"Under the pressures that Mick went through in his racing days, he knows how to control himself and this is totally out of character," Bugner said.
"Strip club, or whatever club it is, I mean leave the man alone. He is who he is, and he is one of the most recognised racing bike riders in the history of the world."
Doohan, 41, of the Gold Coast, has been charged with assaulting a bouncer at Darwin's Honeypot Club early on Saturday.
Northern Territory police refused to confirm Doohan was involved, but said a 41-year-old man arrested at 3am on Saturday morning had been charged with assault and failing to leave licensed premises.
"(He was) bailed to appear tomorrow in the Darwin Magistrates' Court," a police spokeswoman said.
Doohan's publicist Mike Porter said he had received legal advice not to comment on the alleged incident, saying only that "certain processes are in place".
Doohan, a five-times 500cc world champion, took out the title every year between 1994 and 1998.
He was forced to retire from racing in 1999 when he suffered massive injuries in a crash in Spain.
A friend of Doohan's, former heavyweight boxer Joe Bugner, says the bike champion's alleged clash with a bouncer is out of character.
"Under the pressures that Mick went through in his racing days, he knows how to control himself and this is totally out of character," Bugner said.
"Strip club, or whatever club it is, I mean leave the man alone. He is who he is, and he is one of the most recognised racing bike riders in the history of the world."