barrygrussell
Senior Member
Some of Moto3 Production's brightest ready to go...
A personal view, originally published on my own blog, Under the Helmet, and not to be confused with the views of the FMSCT
The MotoGP mid-season break between the Laguna Seca and Brno rounds is the busiest time in the year for team managers and sponsors as they jostle their riders around for the following season.
While headlines and rumours focus on which of the established stars will stay or move, arguably the most important work is being done at the junior level, where decisions are made about which of the 15-20 year-old emerging stars should be given the ultimate break and moved up into the world championships. For 2012 that means who will be racing in Moto3, the 250cc four-stroke single engined class that will replace the 125cc two-strokes that seem to have been around forever. With growing international awareness of Thailand’s pool of racing talent, MotoGP teams have been fishing here for potential superstars. The FMSCT’s Moto3 Production series, launched this season, is the obvious place for them to look, with the brightest riders pitched against each other on evenly matched machinery.
It is a real exercise in stakeholder management. Not only do you have to prise the youngsters away from the existing teams who have nurtured them in national championships, you have to find sponsors to foot the bill. And it’s not a small price to pay, with estimated costs of running a rider in a good Moto3 team at up to 300,000 euros (13m baht) for a single season. Top manufacturers like Honda may well agree to push their favoured riders through, with the help of other sponsors, but however it goes, it is a big ask from a local subsidiary’s annual racing budget and decisions are not taken lightly. Make no mistake, of all the issues, this is the Big Daddy.
Then there are family and personal considerations. The opportunities come by definition at a crucial point in the rider’s education when most discussions revolve around which universities to go to rather than betting the house on the son or daughter going through to become a successful professional racer. Parental approval cannot be taken for granted and the best you can hope for in most cases if you is that the family will agree to postpone higher education until they see whether their offspring can make it in motorcycle racing.
Cultural issues are important too. While Caucasian riders can slot in relatively easily to the existing MotoGP circus, language, climate and food are a shock to Asian hopefuls. The sparse numbers of Asians in MotoGP, particularly from outside of Japan, bear witness to this. After a promising 2010, Thailand’s ‘Feem’ Ratthapark Wilairot has faded to the rear of the Moto2 field in 2011. While Feem has had his own personal pre-season traumas 0f bereavement and serious injury to deal with, the popular 22 year-old has shown none of the flashes of brilliance we saw earlier in his career. With no signs of improvement as races tick by, speculation is increasing that something is missing for him in Spain, where his Stop and Go (SAG) team is based.
Technical expertise is often overlooked when the focus is on rider talent, but raising the level of motorcycle racing also means improving mechanical preparation and understanding of how to translate rider feedback into improving the set-up of a racing motorcycle. It is this rather than raw ability that reveal the biggest gaps when international racers and technicians stop by to race at or visit race tracks in Thailand. Sending mechanics could also reduce the culture shock that young riders experience when they are spending long periods away from home in the pressure cooker environment of MotoGP.
As an adviser to the FMSCT, I have been pleasantly surprised by the sensitivity with which these issues are being handled by all concerned and hope we will soon hear that one or more new Thai riders and mechanics will be striking out for glory at the pinnacle of world motorcycle racing in 2012.
