Page 12 of Heart of the Race

THREE

The breadth of what I had to learn staggered me. The places we went in the off-season before the official start of the MotoGP calendar left me dizzy. Those races were not, strictly speaking, legal. Our trip to the Atlas Mountains was terrifying, and learning from Aidric that the race wasn’t sanctioned by anyone confused me. But apparently the money was good because of the threat of imminent peril.

Varro was looking for a wild-card spot before the racing season began, and if he got it, more cash would be needed to maintain the bikes and pay a larger staff.

The year before, after his injury, Varro lost his premier-class status when he failed to collect enough points to keep it. So even though he was riding a Honda RC213V—a 1000cc bike—over the Stelvio Pass in the eastern Alps in Italy (where we were right after Christmas), he would not be riding it once the official racing season started unless he could win the wild-card spot. Currently he was in the Moto2 class, which meant he was racing a 600cc bike.

“I’m lost,” I admitted to Aidric as I stood with him two weeks later on the Guoliang Tunnel Road in China.

“There is MotoGP and Moto2 and Moto3.”

“I got that part.”

“Well, Varro needs the FIM/Dorna to nominate him as the one wild-card entry for the MotoGP class at each Grand Prix.”

“Who?”

“FIM is the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme.”

“And Dorna?”

“Dorna Sports is the company which administrates MotoGP.”

“Okay.”

He waited.

“So it could be a different guy each time, right?”

“That they nominate at the Grand Prix?” he checked, and I nodded. “Aye.”

“But if Varro wins, it stands to reason that they would pick him again and again?”

“Yes.”

“And his backup plan is to run in the Moto2.”

“Don’t say it like Moto2 is not⁠—”

“Yeah, okay.” I was trying to wrap my brain around everything. “Now explain about the bikes.”

“Well, like I said, Varro used to ride for Quad Ducati, so he had a bike made by the manufacturer. But since he lost his sponsorship, now we’re runnin’ a satellite bike, which means that the bike itself is still basically factory, but Honda doesn’t sponsor us.”

“And what about those guys with the CRT bikes?”

“That’s a team that claims special status because they race bikes that are modified.”

“And your bike isn’t?”

“It’s more than one bike, mate.”

Of course it was. “How come he doesn’t ride a Ducati anymore?”

“When Varro had his accident in Jerez, and then again in Mugello last year, he just couldn’t keep coming back in time to race.”

“Which was why he was doing the Isle of Man TT when he got hurt again,” I summarized.

Quick nod from him to confirm.