Aussie teen Kelso gunning for Moto3™ top rookie honour
Tuesday, 26 April 2022
Kelso wants to emerge as the best of the new crop of teenagers.
Australian Moto3™ rider Joel Kelso has his sights set on winning the Rookie of the Year award in his first season as a full-time rider in the world championship.
The 18-year-old, who grew up in Darwin, competed in four Moto3™ races last year as a replacement rider before inking a full-time contract with the CIP Green Power Team riding a KTM and is one of seven riders competing on the world stage for the first time in 2022.
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Speaking on the latest episode of the Australian Grand Prix's In the Fast Lane podcast, Kelso said emerging as the best of the new crop of teenagers taking the first steps in their world championship journeys is a realistic goal.
"It's definitely possible and it's something that I'm aiming for," Kelso said after finishing a season-best ninth in last Sunday's Portuguese Grand Prix.
"I need to find a base setting that really works for me, I'm one rider who really works off a good feeling with the bike. If we can find that good base setting, I think we can improve from there.
"I think we can do it, I really do believe that. It's a long season and there's massive points up for grabs, and we're now back in Europe, tracks where I've beaten the (other) rookies before."
Kelso is one of three Australian riders on the world championship scene this year along with compatriots Jack Miller and Remy Gardner in MotoGP™, and is Australia's first Moto3™ full-time rider since Miller and Arthur Sissis competed in the class in 2014. He's already looking ahead to the return of the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island in October after a three-year absence from the calendar.
"Back to Australia, it will be incredible. It'll be a hectic weekend, everyone is already excited now and we're still months away. The people from Darwin should book out a plane and come down together,” Kelso said.
"The pressure will be there, and you have to deliver the result, but it should be really good to be back at Phillip Island. I can't wait to get back down there."
The podcast is available on Spotify, Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts platforms.
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