By Paul Kelly
redbullindianapolisgp.com
Monday, September 8, 2008
In December 2005, Stevie Bonsey and his father were invited to a dinner and a New Year's Eve party near their Northern California home.
The host of the party was American motorcycle racing legend Kenny Roberts, three-time 500cc World Champion and two-time AMA Flat Track Champion.
Bonsey, then 15, and his father chatted with Roberts, who was looking at the time to help a young American rider. He asked Bonsey, then one of the most promising AMA Flat Track dirt-oval motorcycle racers in the United States, about his goals as a rider.
"I said I want to ride MotoGP," Bonsey said.
That party was Stevie Bonsey's big break, even if he didn't quite know it at the time.
"I knew a little bit about him, but I never really followed road racing," Bonsey said of his prior knowledge of Roberts. "I knew he was dirt track champ. I didn't know much. But yeah, from my dad talking about him and everybody talking about him, I knew he was something special."
That connection with Roberts helped Bonsey make the big leap from the dusty, rough-and-tumble American world of AMA Flat Track dirt-oval racing in 2006 to the precise, international world of MotoGP in 2007, competing in the 125cc category for the Red Bull KTM team.
Bonsey, 18, from Salinas, Calif., moved to the DeGraaf Grand Prix team for the 2008 season, staying in the 125cc class. He will race in the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Sept. 12-14 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
"Basically, he's put me where I'm at," Bonsey said of Roberts. "Without him, I wouldn't be here, to tell you the truth. I'd be in Dirt Track or AMA (road racing). He has the contacts to the KTM team and talked to them for me, and he basically gave them his word to get me where I'm at, so now it's time for me to prove that I can ride."
There's little doubt Bonsey can ride.
He was 14th in the 125cc world championship point standings entering Indianapolis on his No. 51 Aprilia machine, with a best finish of fourth at Portugal. It's steady, mature progress from his rookie season in 2007, where he finished 25th in points with a best finish of 13th.
"I think I'm doing OK for my second year on a 125," Bonsey said. "I'm riding the bike as well as I can. I think I have a lot to learn. It's still new to me.
"I wanted to do better, of course. I've grown up pretty much winning a lot of the races."
Bonsey first put a leg across the seat of a motorcycle at age 4. His father was a former flat-track racer and introduced his young son to the world of two wheels.
It didn't take long for Bonsey to start racing, as he rode his Suzuki JR50 motocross bike only a few times before he started flat track competition, also at age 4.
By the time he was 14, Bonsey was competing in the AMA Flat Track Championship, the elite level of dirt-track oval motorcycle racing in the United States. He won the AMA Sports Dirt Track Horizon Award in 2005 as the most promising young flat track rider in America and followed that by winning the AMA Pro Sport National Hot Shoe title with six victories in 2006.
Bonsey appeared to be headed toward the top of the AMA Flat Track Championship, but the pull of the road already had started to take hold.
"I kind of wanted to be dirt track champion when I was younger," Bonsey said. "I'd never even really watched a road race before. I didn't really have any interest in it. Didn't know what it was about.
"As soon as I got a little bit older, I started realizing there's no money, there's really not a future in dirt track. If I wanted to be a pro racer, I've got to do something besides it. Once I started watching road racing a little bit more, I kind of started getting more into it."
Bonsey's interest in road racing also spiked when fellow American Nicky Hayden jumped from AMA Superbikes to MotoGP in 2003. Like Bonsey, Hayden was a star in the AMA Flat Track Championship, winning AMA Dirt Track Rookie of the Year honors in 1999.
"I was looking at him in dirt track; he was kind of my idol," Bonsey said of Hayden. "Once he went to MotoGP, it made me realize what MotoGP was about, and I started getting into it and thought it was pretty cool. I want to be world champ."
Once Bonsey made contact with Roberts at that fateful New Year's Eve party, Roberts began putting the wheels in motion to move him into road racing.
There were a variety of routes that Roberts mapped for Bonsey. He could stay in the U.S. and compete in AMA road racing before moving to Europe, just like his idol Hayden. Or he could make the huge leap from the comfort zone of American flat-track dirt racing to the alien world and tracks of MotoGP 125cc racing.
Bonsey took the big jump. Not surprising from a guy who said his hobbies include "anything that involves danger."
Roberts helped Bonsey get a MotoGP 125cc test with the KTM team in November 2006 at Jerez, Spain. It was Bonsey's first time ever on a 125cc road-racing bike, and his MotoGP aspirations nearly ended in a gravel trap.
He crashed heavily during the test and suffered a severe finger injury that required surgery back home in America.
"I was kind of nervous," Bonsey said. "I figured I didn't do enough. I only did half a day, which wasn't impressive my first time on a 125. Flew me home, got the surgery. I pretty much thought my chances were blown for riding MotoGP, but they called me back and said they wanted me to come test in Jerez again and test for the season.
Bonsey returned to Europe in late January 2007 and rode well during the test, landing a 125cc world championship ride with the KTM team for the season. He was the latest in a legacy of American dirt-trackers who looked to conquer Grand Prix road racing, a list that includes such legends and past World Champions as Roberts, Hayden, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey and Freddie Spencer.
"Yeah, I think it's kind of cool," Bonsey said of making the transition from dirt to asphalt like the legends. "I think it's even cooler that I'm coming up through 125 because most of them jumped straight from dirt track to MotoGP.
"It's kind of a new way, that I'm an American on a 125, and I'm doing quite well. I'm not doing the best, but I'm doing OK. And then coming up to a 250, I think it's kind of cool. I'll have a lot of experience by the time I get on a MotoGP bike."
Bonsey is the only American in the 125cc class this season, and he's one of only seven Americans ever to score points in the class, which has been part of the World Championship since its inception in 1949. Bonsey's plan is to climb to the 250cc class in 2009 and hopefully race in MotoGP by 2011.
Until that goal is reached, sacrifices will continue to be made. Bonsey isn't the typical 18-year-old kid, working a summer job for minimum wage and then hanging out with friends at night.
"Man, I miss all my friends back at home," Bonsey said. "It's tough. The toughest part is getting used to it and the different culture. It's a different world. It's been a big shock, a big change in my life. I'm trying to adjust the best I can do it. I do want to be home, but I know I've got to do this to be successful in my business.
"I've learned a lot from being on my own, and I think I could give advice to somebody that's following in my footsteps, like the other American kids that are riding."
The same kind of advice that Stevie Bonsey received from an American legend on New Year's Eve 2005.
***
Red Bull Indianapolis GP tickets: Tickets are on sale for the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Sept. 14, 2008.
Three-day tickets can be purchased either online at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com at any time; on the phone by calling (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area or (317) 492-6700 locally between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday; or visiting the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Ticket Office on the first floor of the IMS Administration Building at 4790 W. 16th St. in Indianapolis from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Single-day general admission tickets will be available at the gate Friday, Sept. 12 and Saturday, Sept. 13. The one-day tickets are $10 each Friday and $20 each Saturday. These tickets only can be purchased at the gates with cash.
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