BECOMING the best on the South African motorcycle circuit and then moving onto the big dream of racing abroad, is what made Luka Gaspar the motorcycle enthusiast he is today.
“I knew since the age of two that I wanted to race motorcycles,” said Gaspar. “I was always watching the races on TV from that age and up until today racing fascinates me and I want to carry on becoming the best in my class in the country. I would like to go faster and build up my bucket of experience as much as possible and then go overseas to try and get a contract there to race.”
The South African Motorbike Festival will take place from May 25 to 27 at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit and it is a good opportunity for anyone interested to watch the young Gaspar racing and get a good idea of his skills.
He will be racing in the Super 600cc race on Friday in order to qualify for race one and two on Saturday. This race will be a qualifying race for the championship in order to accumulate points in his division.
In 2018, he will be competing in the Northern Regions Racing Super 600 class and the Superbike Short Circuit Racing (SMX) class. He is the youngest competitor in both classes at just 16 years of age. In 2015, he was invited to the Red Bull Rookie trials in Spain, it was a fantastic experience but unfortunately he was not selected for the Red Bull Rookies Cup.
He has been racing circuit motorcycles since 2009 when he started on pocket bikes at the age of eight.
“I vividly remember his first ever race day. There were five heats in the Junior A category, which was open to air-cooled 3.5 HP pocket bikes, Luka managed to finish well in all the races,” said his dad, Ricardo, who gives him all the support he needs to fulfill his dream.
“It was on this day that I thought to myself that this kid must have something special, after all, he was competing against other children that had experience racing and he was on a borrowed CAG.”
Since then, he has continued to impress in every series that he has competed in. There have been good times and bad, the worst being a serious accident on August 18, 2012, while competing on an NSF 100. He was hit by another competitor leaving him with a broken leg and bleeding on the brain which necessitated an induced coma for five days. Even during this dark period, Luka managed to impress.
“I won’t elaborate. Suffice to say that it was Luka’s courage and determination that helped me overcome my personal fears,” said Ricardo. His mother, Liza, and sister, Mia, are both vivid supporters of him.
Gaspar didn’t race until January 2013 when he entered club racing at the Redstar Raceway (the same track that he had the accident) on the NSF 100. He had an amazing race during which he was jostling for the lead with two other very determined and capable competitors, managing to emerge victorious which caused the spectators to give him a standing ovation as many of them were aware of his accident.
His achievements over the past years in the various classes are as follows:
2009 – Third in Junior A pocket bikes (3.5HP)
2010 – Third in Junior C pocket bikes (4.5HP)
2010 – Second in Junior D pocket bikes (9HP)
2011 – First in Junior D pocket bikes (9HP)
2011 – Moto SA Rider of the Year
2012 – First in Junior E pocket bikes (11HP)
2013 – Second in Junior E pocket bikes (11HP), championship interrupted because of a trip to Holland with the NSF 100.
2014 – First in Moto SA CBR150 Cup
2014 – Second in Minimoto Open Class (15HP)
2015 – First in Moto SA CBR150 Cup
2015 – Third in NRR 250 Cup
2016 – First in Moto SA CBR150 Cup
2017 – Third in Superbike Short Circuit Racing Supermotard (SM1) class
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