Imagine, father or mother of a child between 4 and 8 years old, that your child asks you to be a motorcycle racer. That tells him "I want to be like Marc Márquez", as he happened to one of the protagonists of this story. Start to tremble. You must have a bomb-proof heart, because suffering will accompany you for the rest of your child's sporting life, and a well-stocked wallet, or wealthy friends or relatives, because this life at full throttle is bloodletting...
“Motor sport is very expensive, and speed bikes, what else”. It is the mantra that welcomes the world of two wheels. This is how it has always been.
The invoice is already shot up: the basic material –boots, overalls, helmet and gloves–, from 800 to 1,000 euros (more, the better the quality); the federative license, essential to train and compete, 184 euros in Catalonia (up to 214 in the cadet category, 14-15 years); the purchase of the first bike, a 40cc Polini for beginners from 6 to 9 years old, about 2,000 euros (the later 110cc and 160cc Ohvales go for about 4,500 euros); and training sessions (court rental, 20, 30, 40 euros per session...).
That is, without considering transfers and other expenses (spare parts, repairs, fuel), an introductory course is easily put at no less than 3,500 euros. The Catalan Motorcycling Federation cushions the blow by giving away the jumpsuit to riders aged 7 to 14 (Promovelocitat 1 and 2), and by subsidizing the payment of the licenses to the champions.
Even so, and despite the fact that "in recent years the costs to run are getting out of control", an increase of 10% this 2022, according to the driver manager Anscari Nadal, the grids of the races of the training categories are usually nourished. Motorcycling licenses at the basic age (from 4 to 16 years old) rise to 1,418 those granted by the Spanish Federation (RFME) and to 823 those of the Catalan Federation, the pioneer in training. Data that does not distinguish between speed disciplines (asphalt) and off-road disciplines (trial, enduro, motocross).
It is the speed that takes the cake, the most expensive and the most selective. The filter starts soon. Only 150 riders compete in the RFME Minispeed Cup of Spain (from 6 to 12 years old), although each territorial organization organizes its own championships. In those of the Catalana, 65 pilots compete in the tournaments of the Catalan Cup of Promovelocitat, from 4 to 16 years old, in karting circuits. From 4 to 6, the minimum age to compete, they are only allowed to race with electric motorcycles, the PromoRACC Elèctrica.
"It is between 4 and 8 when children start in motor competition," they explain from the FCM. And it was at that age, 4 years old, when Kristian Daniel jr. He met Marc Márquez in person at the Austin circuit, during the 2013 GP of the Americas, and decided that he would be a professional driver. “Dad, I want to be like Marc,” Kristian Jr. told him. to his father, also called Kristian, a computer salesman from Los Angeles, who had no choice but to start looking for funds because the American 50cc races fell short for his boy, he won everything, and he had to grow .
The logical leap if he wanted to be something in motorcycles was, one, to put himself in the hands of a manager -and Anscari Nadal appeared there-, and two, to move to Europe, preferably to Spain or Italy, the cradle of competition and teams, such as so many others have done. So the entire Daniel family moved to Barcelona, to a house in Santa Eulàlia de Ronçana, where he has lived for five years, to push Kristian into his dream.
“We quit jobs in Los Angeles and changed our lives. It was difficult for us to find work here”, explains Kristian senior, who works as a software salesperson for a company in Barcelona, while the mother, Ivelina, was placed as director of customer service at Google. “We have had to sacrifice a lot of money – I don't like to look at how much – time with the family and a life in the US,” says Daniel.
His 13-year-old pilot son has ridden his second season in the European Talent Cup (he was 27th out of 50), a launching competition for riders aged 13 to 17, the bottom rung of the Moto3 Junior World Championship, within the FIM -CEV. A course in this category costs between 70,000 and 100,000 euros. “If you're lucky, the sponsors pay you half of the party; the rest must be provided by the family”, details the manager, Anscari Nadal, who believed in the potential of KDJR –as the boy calls himself–, and was guided by his nose: Kristian could be “the first black world champion, the Hamilton of motorcycles”. Bet on him, she looks for support and equipment.
Mr. Daniel takes it with patience and realism. “It scares us a lot. In the Talent they get to 230 km/h with only 13 years. It is difficult for a father. He is delighted, he is very responsible and mature. We don't pressure you; we will be behind as long as he wants”, comments the parent, who considers himself lucky because the sponsors are responding “and luckily we have not had to sell the house”.
A bad experience that many families have had to go through, who have been forced to sell properties, ask for credits or borrow money from relatives, and cut quality of life, vacations included, so that the child continues piloting. "Many have to give it up because they cannot bear the growing economic cost," explains Anscari Nadal.
The investment is exponential as steps are climbed towards the top, the MotoGP World Championship: 100,000 for running the European Talent Cup, 220,000 for the Junior Moto3 World Championship or 240,000 for the Moto2 European Championship... “And add 25,000 euros more for training , assistant, physical trainer, physiotherapist... That's why so many fall by the wayside."
One of those who came close was Marco Morelli, a 15-year-old Argentinian driver who will run the Red Bull Rookies Cup next season, one of the most prestigious preludes to the big World Cup. He has been one of the 8 selected among 140 applicants in the European tests in Italy. However, the young resident of L'Ametlla del Vallès (Barcelona) saw his talent blocked due to a money problem: this 2022 he has not been able to compete because a sponsor fell out. "Just when he was going to make his debut in the Moto3 Junior World Championship, in July, when he turned 15, the team's sponsor, Skull Rider, withdrew, and Marco was left without racing," explains his father, Bruno Morelli.
The accounts did not come out: going from the Talent Cup that ran to the Junior World Cup meant doubling the budget, from 90,000 to 200,000 euros, plus 100,000 to train. “If there is no support it becomes very complicated. You always have to put money, more and more. We had a large part of the budget covered with sponsorships, 75%. And what they didn't cover us... well, he juggled, people who help you", explains the father, who prefers not to account for what he has spent/invested in his boy, who started at 4 and has been giving gas for 11 years .
“The 20,000 euros for the first year are nothing; Now you don't even spend that to train. Everything is very expensive. You are getting help, but you need more hours of training, a physical trainer, a physiotherapist, a sports psychologist... For a normal family it is very complicated, ”says Bruno Morelli, who works as a salesperson at Henkel, and the mother, as a hairdresser. "We are not wealthy people." It's time to sacrifice.
“You run out of vacations, you change them to go to the circuits in a van, to campsites. And you sacrifice a lot of time, take him to train, travel…”, says Morelli, who with the entry into the Rookies sees some light. “The hope is that Marco arrives. He is privileged to be among the eight new entrants. It's up to him to seize the opportunity." And maybe then all the efforts and sacrifices start to make sense.
