Christian Iddon

Old man Iddon had a few wise words for young Max...

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We were recently coaching at Mallory Park late on a Tuesday afternoon when my teammate Max Cook nonchalantly came over to say that he had literally just been called up by the Mlav Moto3 team to race in the Silverstone GP event.

I was just about to congratulate him on this incredible appointment when he went on to explain that he had only gone and turned it down! My face dropped in disbelief, and it did so for two reasons. The first was he was asked in the first place - he hasn't ridden a Moto3 bike in, like, four years and is now far more used to high-powered, heavy superbikes. The second was because he actually went and said no. “Why on earth would you turn that down?” I asked, and I got a load of excuses that, although they had some substance, in my mind at least, the negatives did not outweigh the positives of such an opportunity.

This conversation (which continued... and I'll get to that) got me thinking about chances I've had that I either haven’t taken up or ones that were taken from me. There are two very distinct ones that come to mind. The first of these was when I was in World Supersport on the new MV Agusta 675. I had a two-year contract with the team, and we were developing the machine ready for the next few years of competition. I was totally green at the time, and I don’t think it ever really dawned on me what an opportunity I had, or (and not trying to blow smoke up my own arse) just how well I was doing on it!