When a rider with 57 podium finishes and 13 victories in MotoGP is willing to give you a tour of the Circuit Ricardo Tormo during qualifying and while future world champion Pecco Bagnaia tries to conquer positions on the starting grid towards the world title… ! Full of fear, but you go. Even if it’s in one scooter at 30 km per hour in a kind of tourist tour for the elderly. “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.” Yes, I know, Randy Mamola, that it must be very annoying for you to go 20 miles per hour instead of going 140 miles per hour on a 550-horsepower Yamaha and taking 20 minutes to turn around. which you used to complete in about 1:28 minutes.
In fact, I’m more afraid of missing the event – in this case Brad Binder falling on my back – than I am of riding on the back of Mr. Monster, the eternal second. Randy Mamola finished second at the world championship four times (1980, 1981, 1984 and 1987) thanks to a talent greater than his own, the “Martian Kenny Roberts”, to whom he owes the nickname Baby Kenny.
Born on November 10, 1959 in San José, California, Randy raced for Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha and Cagiva from 1979 to 1992. He has the status of a MotoGP legend and settled in Barcelona after saying goodbye to the circuits. It does not go unnoticed in the paddock or in the access area for the teams’ trucks, where thousands of guests from the 16 teams collide between more than 80 trucks (each driver has 2 trucks and each team also has a restaurant truck). to the hotel trucks and Michelin garage) in a mix of vanity parade and passion for speed on two wheels.
Mamola returns the affection she receives and has the gift of speech. It is heard in a low tone from someone who has learned that his English must be the English of a Japanese, a Spaniard, an Italian or a Portuguese woman he accompanied on a journey into his past and the almost umbilical connection with Michael Jordan. Almost all stories are tellable, but unpublishable because of this friendship that is bigger than Randy’s own ego. His son, whom he called Dakota, is the current Honda coordinator and even rode with Álex Rins and Álex Márquez, the riders he manages today.
The popularity of Randy, who even raced on the Estoril circuit, although he especially loved racing in Imola and Mugello, is stratospheric even for the parents of Frenchman Fabio Quartararo, the 2021 champion. But not as bad as Valentino Rossi’s. To his friends he is Vale, but to many he is the greatest ever and to many others he is the boss. In addition to being the owner of the VR46 team, he manages the image rights of MotoGP riders.
Rossi went to Valencia for the final race and to determine Di Giannantonio’s future, following the departure of his half-brother Luca Marini from VR46. He took the opportunity to celebrate the title of his student Pecco Bagnaia and the surprising third place of Marco Bezzecchi, the rock star The Italian rider of the VR46, who has shown that he is competitive with a 2022 Ducati since the first race of the season at the Autódromo do Algarve in Portimão – where the Portuguese Grand Prix will be held again on March 24.
One of the privileges of being a guest of Monster Energy, which sponsors champion Bagnaia and is a partner of Rossi’s VR46, in addition to the ride with Randy Mamola and lunch next to Rossi, is to attend the race on the track. In other words: look at the race from the inside. See or try. At the speed of light, and from a distance of three meters away, you feel more than you see…
Reading the circuit and the crashes of the riders in the Moto2 and Moto3 races, I chose the corner where I would expect a decisive touch to transfer the title and almost won the “euromillions”. After the first five laps I started looking for another spot. I had about a minute to get there before the pilots flew through that area again. As soon as I turned around… Wow amounting to 195 thousand votes. Jorge Martín collided with Marc Máquez and said goodbye to his dream of becoming champion. I watched the moment replay on the big screen…frustrated by the botched moment. It was that moment that made Francesco Bagnaia a two-time world champion! A few laps later Joan Mir was a “friend” and fell right in front of me… but that wasn’t the moment!
Source: DN
