KEY POINTS:
Is this a dream job or what? If you're a 29-year-old Kiwi motocross enthusiast and you get the chance to work your passage by being a mechanic for a factory motocross team, what do you do? You take the offer don't you?
That's what Nelson's Adam Lithgow did earlier this year. Lithgow was at the weekend's Irish GP at Moneyglass, near Belfast, working as mechanic for an English GP star, Team Molson Kawasaki's Tom Church. "I was working in a bike shop in London," said Lithgow. "I started going to motocross GPs, just to watch, and decided this was the life for me. I pestered the right guys and eventually found myself a job as a GP mechanic.
"Actually, just by telling them I was a New Zealander seemed to open doors for me. Kiwis have a good reputation in world motocross, not just as top riders but as hard-working mechanics.
"And, yes, it is hard work. But I love it. Just being here is fantastic. Look at all the people, the atmosphere, the excitement."
The pits at the Irish GP seemed to be teeming with Kiwis. Another New Zealander, also from Nelson, Kurtis Bandy, is also working as a mechanic.
Bandy was right-hand man for Roger Shenton, and mechanic for Belgium's Ken de Dycker, the world No 9.
"It's great," enthused Bandy, who is actually an apprentice builder by trade. "Ken's a neat guy and speaks English okay but it's a bit like talking to the big Russian guy in the Rocky movies."
