The search for Australia’s next MotoGP star was on in earnest over the Grand Prix weekend at Phillip Island as Casey Stoner completed his fairytale swansong.
Four Australian teenage riders took part in a networking program organised by the recently formed high performance motorcycle academy, motoDNA, spending the weekend embedded in a variety of the top MotoGP operations.
Selected from their performances in the recent Red Bull rookie tryouts in Spain, 14-year-olds Troy Guenther, Tayla Relph and Lawson Walters and 13-year-old Nic Limington were given an insight into their potential futures as MotoGP stars.
MotoDNA head Mark McVeigh believes that the program can help provide a strong platform for the continuation of Australia’s highly successful history in world motorcycle racing.
“We are happy to be able to give something back to a sport which, as our name suggests, is in our DNA,” he said.
“We have the ideal people in our team such as former Grand Prix riders Kevin Magee and Mark Willis who are motoDNA coaches and mentors for these young kids, and between us all we have an extensive network of motorcycle road racing contacts throughout MotoGP.
“These junior events are the building blocks to our foundation which we will launch next year.”