OFFICIAL PROGRAMME
God helps you to find the right people to achieve your goal .” Finance for racing is always a tough ask unless you have backers , which made progress difficult at times . “ Yeah , It was always difficult ,” said Rinaldi . “ When you don ’ t have money , it ’ s always difficult . Since racing minibikes you had to race with the same bike always , old pieces . You cannot train as the other kids can do . You need a lot of sacrifice . I find when I was a kid in the low series , some small sponsors that come from my hometown , but we ’ re talking about really low money . Just something to help my parents .” Rinaldi , it is already evident , came through to factory WorldSBK status in an unconventional way . No academies or fast-tracking inside a ‘ system ’ but even now as he is beginning to enjoy some of the benefits of being a successful racer he still knows the value of a Euro . For one simple reason many people reading this will identify with . “ Yeah , my parents work ,” he said . “ My mother worked . My father works in a company that makes paper , so he ’ s a worker in the factory . My mother was in a company that cleans houses or factories . Normal jobs with a normal salary . But this gave to me the value of money . I can really understand how difficult it is for a normal family to arrive at the end of the month .” Despite all this family support , it was not enough to progress at a crucial stage . “ At twelve , thirteen years old it was just to have enough money to put the gasoline into the camper van , and arrive to the track because I didn ’ t have nothing . My family , everything they had they gave to me . For
sure , my dad said , I have a family . I built a house in twenty years . I cannot sell my house for racing . This is totally normal . I always understood that . So this is why when I was racing I for sure enjoyed , but for sure in one part of me I knew that it was only one chance , always . You don ’ t have many trains to catch . You have just one train . You can take it and you have to give 120 % always . I arrived at one point when I was in the STK600 championship that I raced the first year with a team that doesn ’ t want money , but was a middle team . The bike wasn ’ t so good to fight for the win , so I found the people that were sponsoring another rider . I came to him because I knew he helped some riders and I just said to him , “ If you want , I ’ m able to come to your company and start working , but give me the chance to go in a good team because I think I deserve more than this .” The race after that was the last race of the year , he came to me and he said , “ You go home , and on Tuesday you start working in my company .” It ’ s not too big but is a company . Satim is the name . They repair machines that work metal . So , I came home . I was 18 . I said to my parents , “ Tomorrow I leave home . I go to this place that was two hours from my house .” It ’ s in the centre of Italy . I started working there and they said , “ You think this is your life ? You think you need a chance ? Go for it . We trust you . Working helps you . It gives you work .” So I started working eight hours a day , and I haven ’ t time for training but I already knew I had a good bike . So on the weekends I trained , but not as a pro .
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