VOLUME 58 ISSUE 7 FEBRUARY 17, 2021 P111
unwilling son to the starting gate.
But how about the willing sons?
What greater support could you
ask?
Motocross Mom on the other
hand? Not unknown. But not so
much.
Want to buy the kid a grand
prix bike? Better run it past the
memsahib first.
Here are some of the argu-
ments that might swing the
decision.
Mainly that if your kid wants
to do dangerous things badly
enough, he'll find a way, so
it's better that it's done under
supervision, with a medical team
standing by.
Then there's the obvious fact
that if you aren't already at a high
level of competition by the time
you're 10, you're unlikely to make
the big time.
By that age, the likes of
Marquez and Rossi (and Rainey
and Lawson etc. before them)
were already seasoned veterans.
The Jesuits were wont to say:
"Give me a child till he is seven
years old, and I will show you the
man." But starting three years
later might still be soon enough
to produce a fully-fledged bike-
racing graduate by the time he
turns 16—old enough for GP
racing.
The counterarguments are ob-
vious. Well, there's just the one,
really. It's damned dangerous.
And mother's job has always
been to keep her little prince
nice and safe. Whether he likes
it or not.
A key element of sporting
success, along with practice, is
determination, so a future cham-
pion will work hard at persuading
reluctant parents and turning
the tide in his favor. Thankfully
for racing, the 2021 elite have
already proved successful at this
task.
A disproportionate number
of current champions and race
winners have come through the
feeder series mentioned above.
These include current MotoGP
champ Mir, and race winners
Binder and Oliveira, to name
just three who cut their teeth in
the Red Bull Rookies series.
Vinales, Rins and Quartararo
meanwhile are among those who
came up via the Spanish CEV
route; Jack Miller another who
raced his future MotoGP rivals
there on the way up.
The likes of Rossi and
Dovizioso predated the growing
plethora of formal training and
selection series, but in recent
years Cal Crutchlow is the only
race winner to have made it into
MotoGP by a different route. Oh
yes, and Danilo Petrucci.
And the hapless parents, who
may or may not have needed
plenty of persuading back when
they were all starting out?
It's hard for any other parent
not to share in the apprehension
of Marc's and Alex's dad Julia
Marquez, faithfully present in the
pits for not just one scary ride at
every GP, but one for each of his
sons. And unforgettable for any
parent who saw the forlorn im-
ages of Paolo Simoncelli waiting
as medical staff fought in vain to
save the life of his son Marco, in
Malaysia in 2011.
The danger has been amelio-
rated in all sorts of ways but will
never go away as long as bike-
to-body collisions can occur. But
the desire, even the need, to
race won't go away either. That
is, in itself, a life-affirming force,
confirmed by Simoncelli Senior's
team ownership in Moto3.
And starting young is, in the
end, the most affirming of all. CN
The counterarguments are
obvious. Well, there's just the one,
really. It's damned dangerous. And
mother's job has always been to
keep her little prince nice and safe.
Whether he likes it or not.
