Teenage Motorcycle Racers (Part 4/8)

[MOTORCYCLE ENGINE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[INTERPOSING VOICES]

FRANKIE GILLIM: Most of the kids' real close friends were,
I mean, their best friends were racers.

HAYDEN GILLIM: This race, me and Mathew qualified crap.
Together, he qualified 19th, I qualified 22nd.
MATHEW SCHOLTZ: I mean, we all come out to race, so we all
love the same thing.
So everything's good.
We're all mates.
HAYDEN GILLIM: Him and Sturla and Jake, we're all buds and
we're all pretty close off the track.
And we can all cheer each other up and make jokes and
everything all day long, and then once we get onto the
racetrack, we're kind of like a team.

HAYDEN GILLIM: As in, Pen Islands?
MATHEW SCHOLTZ: Pen Islands.
[SPEAKING JAPANESE]

MARC GAGNE: He's not here to make friends.
He's said that for years.
I don't come to races to make friends.
I can make friends any time.
I come here to do my job and try to win a race.
So considering where we are, we don't know the tracks, we
know very few people over here, we don't know the
language, so he's got to grasp every little bit of
information he can gather and then try to apply it in a very
short amount of time.

PETER CLIFFORD: The Rookies Cup is simple and all race
weekends are pretty much the same.
We start with a free non-qualifying session, where
the guys can just go out, get the feel of the bike.
And then we have two qualifying periods, both half
an hour each, and it's their best lap time from either of
those two sessions that gives them their grid position.

HAYDEN GILLIM: I went faster, I don't know if I did better.

As soon as my dad gets in here, he'll tell me.

JAKE GAGNE: Felt pretty good.
The bike was working good.
It was a bit windy.
I think I ended up sixth on the grid for tomorrow's race
so I'm happy.
Hayden Gillim was 22nd and Benny Solis was 23rd.
BENNY SOLIS: I don't know, Jake's been doing really good.
But I feel like I should be up there with him. 'Cause last
year, I was always with him.
Most of the time, I was in front, and towards the end he
was right there with me.
HAYDEN GILLIM: Last year I raced some of these guys, and
I was up front with them, and then this year just haven't
been able to get the bike put together, and haven't been
able to put together any results.
And I've only got, like, 10 points out of possible 75.
KEVIN SCHWANTZ: One of the most difficult things as a
rider is coming here and trying to stay focused without
getting frustrated with yourself.
You look at your lap time, you're 2 seconds or 3 seconds
behind the leaders, that seems like an eternity as a rider.
You're working with 13- to 16-year-old kids.
It's another scenario that throws a big curve ball into
everything, 'cause some kids mentally are really strong,
and some kids, just the slightest little excuse they
can think of, then their attitude goes out the window
and their focus is gone and they don't even really want to
go riding anymore.
DANNY WALKER: You don't make excuses.
Everybody from second on down has excuses
on why I'm not winning.
First guy, you got none.
I'm good.
From second, oh I've got a ton of excuses
on why I'm not there.
But Hayden realistically is just too
big, he grew too much.
FRANKIE GILLIM: At 125, it's about like in America.
You've got to be jockey size.
And Hayden's not a jockey.
They know he has ability from last year, and AMA, and then
when he came over here during the rider's club.
He had the pole at Valencia.
GUSTL AUINGER: It's very hard for the boys.
I can understand this very much because
they want to win races.
But every result have some reason.

FRANKIE GILLIM: The only thing I ever really say to him
before a race is that I love him, and to go have fun.
Fire it up.
[MOTORCYCLE ENGINES REVVING]

PETER CLIFFORD: So Fagerhaug goes for the lead.
Beautiful move from the [INAUDIBLE].
And absolutely superb stuff, totally unhurried.
Just slides past there.
That [INAUDIBLE]
coming down to the [INAUDIBLE].
It's Fagerhaug that leads, it's Marino that
is in second place.
Absolutely superb stuff.
There's what?
There's eight, 10 guys there crossing the line together.
And this time it's Gagne that leads from Kent, Fagerhaug,
Marino, Kristiansson, Hiura, Hook, and Kornfeil.

Fagerhaug is making his escape.
He started the lap with 8/10 of a second advantage.
It's already, I think, gone out of effect, and once it
gets past a second, it is really hard to pull back.
Kornfeil goes up the inside of Gagne.
But the advantage now that Fagerhaug has
over Kent is 1 second.

Fagerhaug thrashes across the line.
Well, what an absolutely superb race.
And there is Daijiro Hiura, the Japanese
who finished second.
Brilliant ride from him.
And what a good ride from Jake Gagne.
MARC GAGNE: He just did well, man.
He's running right where he should be, led for a few laps,
so he did awesome, more than I could expect.
JAKE GAGNE: Towards the end, it came down
just to the last corner.
And I just made some mistakes in the middle of the race, and
it kind of caught me, but happy to be on the podium.
PETER CLIFFORD: Daijiro Hiura in second place.
[BAND PLAYING]
DAIJIRO HIURA: Yes.

Maybe shoes.

Second.
Yes.
Thank you.

DANNY WALKER: Seen so many parents where the kid's not
having a good day and they jump on them and they're
yelling at them.
I'm like, dude, there's guys making $2, $3, $4 million a
year that have bad days.
Have you never, as a professional,
ever had a bad day?
If he doesn't have that inner, burning, driving desire to
pass the guy or be better or go faster, then you can't
develop that.
FRANKIE GILLIM: 12th.
You did good.
We dropped, again.
HAYDEN GILLIM: I was braking, then, like, 30 seconds later,
they brake and just freaking hit everybody
and run off the track.
And then, freaking, they wouldn't slow down.
Finished 12th, so it was OK.
It wasn't amazing, but starting from 22nd it was
pretty good.
For some reason, I am horrible in qualifying and then come
back and get OK positions.
FRANKIE GILLIM: We're just a day late and a dollar short
every time so far.
We just gotta get up to pace quicker.
This'll be the last time you'll see me.
-Really?
FRANKIE GILLIM: I'm out.
I don't have no time left to get off.
-That was good stuff.
FRANKIE GILLIM: Yeah, it was.
I mean, We improved a whole bunch.
-Hot out there.

MARC GAGNE: It's not about the money or the fame necessarily.
In my eyes, and I'm sure his, it's about going and doing the
best you possibly can.
And if the best you can takes you to the top, then more
power to you 'cause you did a great job.
You know, as a dad, I knew he could be there all the time,
so I say hail to the Americans.
Podium--
it's all good.

HAYDEN GILLIM: At first it was just about having fun, and
travel around the world, and make lot of friends.
Now it's gotten more about money and everything else.
But I try and focus on just having fun.
FRANKIE GILLIM: I guess this year, he's having to persevere
through struggling on the bike.
He's never had to before.
It's always been natural.
And here, natural ability's only going to get you so far.
And then from there, you've got to have knowledge,
maturity in what you're trying to do.
On the track, off the track, try to put it all together to
become one whole.