Brought up to be a MotoGP star

I'm curious. Were any of you PowerSlide members in here brought up in a 'racing family', parents grooming you hoping one day you'll become a MotoGP star? Every MotoGP racer's got a story to tell............... usually it's about the family packing their gears in a little trailer going from places to places racing at club level events, spending what little money they've saved in little Jimmy's future college fund hoping to get notice and slowly climb up the ladder and one day becoming a success.



I think those that HAVE been there and at least tried can appreciate each racer who has made it to the top, whether they be backmarkers or front-runners because everyone on the grid has a story to tell. RESPECT for all.

SuperShinya56 said:

I'm curious. Were any of you PowerSlide members in here brought up in a 'racing family', parents grooming you hoping one day you'll become a MotoGP star? Every MotoGP racer's got a story to tell............... usually it's about the family packing their gears in a little trailer going from places to places racing at club level events, spending what little money they've saved in little Jimmy's future college fund hoping to get notice and slowly climb up the ladder and one day becoming a success.



I think those that HAVE been there and at least tried can appreciate each racer who has made it to the top, whether they be backmarkers or front-runners because everyone on the grid has a story to tell. RESPECT for all.

Click to expand...

In a way I was kind of. My dad had me on dirt bikes when I was pretty young (7). I didn't go very far with it though. My parents split when I was still pretty young so racing kinda went on the back burner for a while. It wasn't till I was in high school that I started racing again this time on road courses with my '03 ZX6R636 that I bought with the money I saved from working on dairy farms. I spent my summers doing ama amateur races and whatever track days I could find on the west coast. I pretty much was a bum living out of my truck for those summers living off of what money I had saved and what little money I may have made from racing. I had fun met a lot of great people I hope to start racing again once my contract with the army is up at the end of next year. I returned the ninja back to its street status after a nice little wreck that put me through the windscreen here's what it looks like now that my brother in law has taken it off my hands

Reading this made me think. Where the .... is noodles ??

Ok after due consideration:



From birth I doubt anyone would think "I want a GP racing progeny" ......



As a Toddler ........ nup.



But after a few years on a bike and winning everything in sight ala Stoner, I guess you have to decide whether or not it is worth the risk.



My kids rode bikes and raced, but in all honesty I didn't want them doing it too much, which is odd cos my dad never seemed real "encouraging" but he did help when needed ....... kinda like I felt with my kids, though as a kid I was bike mad. I wanted them to enjoy it but not make it their job ( and there have been 5 generations now of my family on bikes ..... all thinking much the same ) but we have always had "academic" options too ...... so who knows if your dad sees the option is working at a pretty menial job day in day out ........ again it would be worth it.



To be honest I also don't think he most natural "cream" riders ever go on to top level racing. I remember a few guys who just did it for fun, and they were phenomenons. Folk would try and persuade them into doing more rounds etc. or to take up a ride but meh they didn't want that life. The most natural guy I have ever seen just wanted to finish his apprenticeship, then when he did .... he found girls ...... that did him in



Stoner was one type of case, I know the Brits claim he began in their series but he was already a phenomenon before his parent took him their, they made their decision based on his performance alone. I don't think Stoners dad was big in racing at all.



Rossi is another case, not sure how he did as a kid, but his dad was exGP therefore would have had bith contacts and the impetus to see his son in the game.



Other riders may have other stories ?



eg. Spies, anyone know Spies background?

BarryMachine said:

Ok after due consideration:



From birth I doubt anyone would think "I want a GP racing progeny" ......



As a Toddler ........ nup.



But after a few years on a bike and winning everything in sight ala Stoner, I guess you have to decide whether or not it is worth the risk.



My kids rode bikes and raced, but in all honesty I didn't want them doing it too much, which is odd cos my dad never seemed real "encouraging" but he did help when needed ....... kinda like I felt with my kids, though as a kid I was bike mad. I wanted them to enjoy it but not make it their job ( and there have been 5 generations now of my family on bikes ..... all thinking much the same ) but we have always had "academic" options too ...... so who knows if your dad sees the option is working at a pretty menial job day in day out ........ again it would be worth it.



To be honest I also don't think he most natural "cream" riders ever go on to top level racing. I remember a few guys who just did it for fun, and they were phenomenons. Folk would try and persuade them into doing more rounds etc. or to take up a ride but meh they didn't want that life. The most natural guy I have ever seen just wanted to finish his apprenticeship, then when he did .... he found girls ...... that did him in

Stoner was one type of case, I know the Brits claim he began in their series but he was already a phenomenon before his parent took him their, they made their decision based on his performance alone. I don't think Stoners dad was big in racing at all.



Rossi is another case, not sure how he did as a kid, but his dad was exGP therefore would have had bith contacts and the impetus to see his son in the game.



Other riders may have other stories ?



eg. Spies, anyone know Spies background?

Click to expand...

Here is the best I could find on Spies My link

As far as Rossi goes I know he started racing karts at a very young age and dabbled in a little bit of dirtbike racing as a young kid. Vale came to a decision making point when it was time to move up into the next level of kart racing it was so expensive for him to move up as a privateer that he had to make a decision since it was his parents that were paying for everything at the time. He had to choose between bikes or karts. A friend of his had recently bought if I remember correctly an Aprilia 125 race bike and Vale asked if he could test it out. He enjoyed it so much that he made his decision. His father Graziano former 250 GP champion called an old friend (Claudio Lusuardi) that ran one of the Cagiva teams and got him a position riding one of their bikes. Contrary to popular belief Vale was not good off the start he crashed A LOT but, learned a lot more every time he rode. In his book "what if I had never tried?" Vale claims his mother (Stefania) like many other mothers didn't like him racing due to safety concerns. Here is more in depth information On Rossi' background My link

I didn't come from a racing background and we never really watched any motor sports on TV but my dad used to watch the odd F1 race and sometimes I'd sit down and watch a little bit of it. Then as I got older my brother was into Moto GP and he got me into it, since then I've been really into it, albeit not so much over the past couple of years but I'm going to start watching it again as the GF does enjoy watching it too and next year my aim is to attend the British GP.