Please click on the above image to view it larger.

After last season’s fantastic Moto3 fight that saw Alex Marquez take the title from Jack Miller at Valencia, what do we have to watch for in 2015?

I for one will have a keen eye on Remy Gardner, the 17-year old son of 1987 500cc World Champion Wayne Gardner.

Though Remy made his first GP appearance at Misano, I saw him for the first time at Phillip Island, when he was a wild card entry with the Team Calvo KTM squad.

Earlier that weekend I’d been impressed by his surfing and easy going manner among other GP riders as a group hit the beach at Phillip Island. Not only was Remy by far the best surfer and the most at ease in the water, he also appeared relaxed and confident among riders with much more experience than he, and even a couple of World Championship titles (Pol Espargaro, Stefan Bradl).

It wasn’t until I saw Remy at Superpresitgio II in December that I had some insight into his racing spirit.

Like his father and other Australian road racers (Doohan, Mayliss, Corser, and Stoner), Remy is an experienced flat tracker. He had some terrible luck in Barcelona, however, and was taken down on several occasions, notably by a very aggressive Alex Marquez while Remy was fighting for the heat lead.

This left both riders on the ground and Remy’s chances of points for the heat result in a similar pile.

Flat track racing isn’t a knitting contest, and there were other heats in order to score points to advance, as Alex managed to do. But Remy’s ill luck wasn’t limited to this occasion, and his disappointment was clear. I suspect that while his road racing wild cards had accompanied tempered expectations, he had every reason to look for a good result on the flat track.

He is only 17, however, and has plenty of time to show his stuff. He’ll ride the 2015 Moto3 championship on Mahindra with the CIP team along side Tatsuki Suzuki. He has already already scored a point thanks to his 15th place at Sepang, again with the Calvo KTM team in 2014.

I think it’s just a matter of some experience to get Remy up toward the front of the Moto3 pack.

Photograph: ©2014 by Scott Jones / PHOTO.GP – All Rights Reserved

Camera Info: Nikon D4 with Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8

[mgallery keyword=”Moto3″]
remy gardner 2015