No such worries at the Taupo races. The
grids looked rather swell, and the quality
and class of the bikes and the way the pilots
were kitted out was superb. Yep, road racing
is in good heart, from what I can see. There
are young and enthusiastic faces, and my
deep-seated hope for the future is that one
of the fast young faces will create a spark on
the international racing stages.
It’s been a while since we had a Kiwi making
a bit of noise somewhere outside of our
shores. We’ve had some beauts in the past,
including world champions, although these
days the structure of international racing,
and the teams within it, is a little more
complex I daresay. Money and sponsorship
support has always been a component but
I get the feeling it’s a little more involved
these days. Although it also needs to be
noted that if a real, true spark of potential
riding genius were to emerge they would,
surely, be tapped on the shoulder and
handed a pen and contract. It takes real
class to win international accolades and
prizes and if someone were to display all the
essential ingredients to be able to achieve
that then surely they would get a call.
Judging by this year’s MotoGP results a lot
of calls had accordingly been made across
Spain and Italy, but hey, there’s still at least
one Aussie and a couple of Brits in the
great pack... although the American flavour
appears to have dissolved.
So wouldn’t it be great to get a Kiwi out
there and from the way things are looking,
from what I’ve seen and heard, there are
a couple of young faces in our midst with
strong ambitions and expressions of making
a splash.
I would like nothing more than a good
reason to get the passport updated,
and heading to see someone with a Kiwi
embossed on their helmet making a charge
at Assen would be just the reason I’d need.