Young gets GP opportunity

By John Hopkins

A chance of a lifetime that he thought had slipped away has come back for teenage Canadian road racer Ben Young. And this time he's not letting go.

The Collingwood, ON resident has been invited to ride for the Veloce Aprilia team in the 125cc class of the MotoGP World Championship round in Indianapolis later this year. The team had initially approached Young about the ride late last year, but he was forced to turn it down because he had been accepted into the field for the KTM AMA Red Bull Rookies Cup, which was also slated to run on the Indy schedule.

When that series was cancelled in mid-January it appeared Young had cruelly lost out on two fronts.

However earlier this month the Veloce team came calling again.

"A week past Friday I received an email from Veloce asking to give them a call if we were not attending the Western USGPRU round at High Plains in Denver," said his dad Scott in a June 1 email. "The result of the call came as a total surprise. Veloce Racing again invited Ben as a wild card entry to ride their Aprilia 125, ridden and developed by USGPRU Champion Nobi Iso.

"We as a family are delighted and to be honest still trying to get our heads round the idea. This has been Ben's dream since he was a wee boy. The experience alone will be great for him."

The Scottish-born Young, who will turn 16 later this month, has been racing a Honda with the Nova Scotia-based RAT Racing team of Angus Borland in the USGPRU 125 series this season, riding a bike built by Mark Keene, team owner of British GP125 champion team KRP. But his campaign got off to a rough start at JenningsGP in Forida in early April when he suffered a fifth gear highside. Young was lucky to escape with a dislocated elbow and a broken Growth Plate in his right shoulder, which was pinned.

Three weeks later he had the pin removed and a week after that he was back in USGPRU action at Road America, finishing fourth in 125 action.

Young will get a chance to test his Indy GP mount at JenningsGP in the near future.

"The team are arranging two days testing as the Aprilia will be a totally different riding style than the Honda," his dad explained. "This will give Ben a great opportunity to gain track time and to face his demons of turn three."

The MotoGP event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is scheduled for Aug. 28-30.