McLaren races to Spain
Kris (second from right) and his father, Craig McLaren (right) are thrilled Kris has been offered a ride by Ben Reid, owner of the Spanish based Australian Moto2 team Ben Reid Performance Racing (BRP).
KRIS McLaren is riding high after a dream offer to race in the Spanish Moto2 Championship next year.
The spotlight will now be on Leongatha-based McLaren, who has been working hard racing up through the ranks and making a huge leap from the Australian Superbikes championships to racing as a wildcard entry against some of the world’s best in the Moto2 at the Phillip Island track during the Australian Moto GP.
McLaren was picked up by the Spanish-based Aussie Moto2 team, BRP Racing and impressed owner Ben Reid with the speeds he was able to achieve in the Moto2 event at the Island on a motorcycle that had its share of problems.
Talking to The Star last Friday, the cool as a cucumber McLaren said, “it is an amazing opportunity.”
“Ben is a great bloke and said he could iron out any of my problems,” he said.
Not at all fazed with the prospect of racing in a foreign country at such spine tingling speeds, McLaren said, “I just can’t wait to race and to go the fastest I can.”
“We start testing in Spain in March and at home we will be testing at Phillip Island and Eastern Creek, Sydney and racing starts in Spain in April and runs through till November,” he said.
“I will be based in Barcelona and race all round Spain. The Spanish Moto2 Championship attracts huge crowds; some 60,000 to 100,000 can be expected at each of the seven rounds.”
This is where dreams are made or shattered, where only the toughest and most focused riders survive, with most riders enduring multiple crashes along the way.
McLaren said the Moto2 is the stepping stone to the elite MotoGP and the winner of the Spanish Moto2 series will get to compete the following year in the MotoGP.
For the gutsy McLaren, the sky is the limit and he is determined to give it his best, now he has the chance.
McLaren will have his work cut out balancing work with dad Craig at his Leongatha Body Repairs business and flying to and from Spain for racing.
There is also the question of sponsorship and the fact the McLarens have just had to fork out some $55,000 for the Moto2 bike he raced at Phillip Island that would normally cost more than $164,000.
“Ben gave me a really good deal, but I have to sell my two Superbikes and we really do need sponsorship and that is something we are still chasing,” said McLaren.
News of McLaren’s rise in the motorcycle racing ranks has shot him into the media spotlight and he has been busy with interviews. He is thrilled there will be a good spread in the next edition of the Australian Motorcycle magazine.
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