Amongst the plethora of stuff that I read each day, I came across this link to Randy Mamola’s regular column on the Alpinestars web site Now I have huge respect for this guy, one of the band of great riders to wear the tag, “The best rider never to win a World Championship”. Mamola started road racing when he was 15 years old, competing in the Marlboro Series in New Zealand when he was patently under-age. He was a “works” rider and won a fair share of races into the bargain. But he, like many of his peers, always seemed to change teams at the wrong time and so the coveted title never came his way. He is best remembered for the famous “save” at Misano in 1985 where he wrestled the Honda back onto the track against ALL the odds.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJYtH63EebQ[/youtube]
These days Mamola rides the 2-seater Ducati and gives celebrities and paid dignitaries rides around the circuit at near-racing speeds at each Grand Prix meeting. He also works as a TV commentator for Speed (I believe that’s correct). And, regardless of the fact that he constantly pronounces Ducati as “Jew-cart-ee”, which gets up my nose exceedingly, he always has something perceptive to add to the commentary. So, the above article is one of the best I have read for a long while on what is ailing MotoGP at the moment (and it IS ailing, make no mistake) and I thoroughly recommend it.
Vince says
You may want to have a re-think about your comments on Randy being “patently” under age at the Marlboro Series”. He was breaking no rules by road racing in NZ at the age he was.
Phil Hall says
From what I remember of the time, he was under-age according to NZ road racing rules but was granted an exemption. In any event, to be mixing it with the rest of the riders at 15 was amazing at the time (though it’s almost mandatory in the 125cc class these days!!) Thanks for the info.
Vince says
Randy under an exemption? I was there by chance as a 4 wheel mechanic for Sir Jack at the time and I can assure you there were no exemptions made for the 2 wheel chaps at all. We did ask at one time if we could run our F1 3 litre engine in the Tasman Series and after a loooong meeting they said it would not be fair to Jimmy. We laughed for a long period after that.
Phil Hall says
Well, I sure wasn’t there (though I wish I had seen some of the Marlboro Series races). But I am sure that I read a report in one of the Yank magazines that mentioned it. Thanks for the info, anyway. Those photos of the little, freckly-faced kid on the 125 have certainly gone down in the history books, haven’t they?