MOTORCYCLING: Cranwell teenager spends week training with MotoGP world champion Marquez

Thirteen-year-old Jack was selected last October as one of only two UK riders to train with Marquez for five days, all expenses paid, but was unfortunate to suffer a crash which left him with a punctured lung, ending his training.

Marquez was a great help to Jack and his parents and invited him to return again this year for another chance to train with the world champion.

The event is open to just 20 applicants aged 10-13 years worldwide and organised by the Allianz laps for life motor camp, and is a charitable event to help awareness for Alzheimer’s. Jack was excited to be coached by one of his favourite riders and was the only rider representing Great Britain.

When he arrived he was met by Mark and Alex Marquez who remembered him from last year and greeted him by name and asked if he was fully recovered from his crash on his previous visit. He was made very welcome and felt like he was part of the family.

Jack took part in a lot of motocross training and also what they call flat track with the right and left corners. They were unable to open the dirt track due to dangerous conditions because of heavy rain earlier in week, which was unfortunate for Jack as that’s the sort of surface he is used to when racing at home.

There were 16 young riders from Spain, one from Germany, one from Italy, one from France and Jack from the UK. Despite the language barrier, they all mixed in well and were all very friendly. They all rode brand new 2017 KTM 85cc and 65cc for motocross and Honda 110cc for flat track.

Marc gave the Spanish boys a bit more attention as he knows them all personally and watches them all racing every week when possible, but he did spend considerable time with Jack, as did Alex Marquez.

The boys all had a special treat during their stay when they were taken to Marc’s museum in Lleida to see all the bikes and trophies won over the last few years.

Jack thoroughly enjoyed his time in Spain and said: “I have learnt so much and made some great friends; the language barrier may have got in the way a little but we all got on great. The whole experience has been amazing and I will never forget being trained by Marc and Alex Marquez and Jose Martinez. I have a lovely memento of my visit as I have Marc’s shirt as well.”

Jack has not been idle since his return home as he took in a day of Supermoto at Fulbeck kart track on his pit bike and made a vast improvement on speed from his first outing. It was then back to Scunthorpe speedway track at the weekend.

He said: “I didnt go quite as well as I wanted as the track was very wet and rutty and I also had a crash, but managed to get back on the bike. I was about to get back up to third but encountered a problem with the bike on the last lap.

“However, the pit bike races went well I got two second places and five wins, doing enough to win the overall adult pit bike class. And picking up some good points for the championship.”