In a twelve-event calendar, he’ll race in Britain – for the British 125cc GP Championship – and in Spain. And the team for which he will race is in itself remarkable. Team KRP was founded and is managed by Mark Keen is supported by Bradley Smith, the extraordinary young man who finished second in the 2009 125cc GP series. So this is the perfect team for ... Dakota Mamola. Dakota is surprisingly comfortable with the fact that his father (himself once most famously a red-headed 15 year old who --35 years ago-- took on the world’s best grand prix riders and beat them) is a racing legend.

Dakota doesn’t want or expect to be Randy Mamola. Someone already did that. Family has become important in the history of racing. Kenny Roberts’ son, Kenny Roberts, won the premier world championship, just like his dad. Graziano Rossi was the most spectacular racer of his generation and his son became pretty spectacular too. Niall Mackenzie, a GP rider who raced with Randy and Kenny and Graziano in those fabulous days and went on to win the British Championship many times also has a racing son – Taylor. And Taylor will race this year in Bradley’s team with ... Dakota. It’s almost too good to be true. But family values for this team means far more than the mere matter of parentage.

Dakota learned from Randy, as Randy learned from his father, Ed, that there is far more to life than racing. And that racing is only fun and only worth doing if you remember all your key values while you are doing it. That means that we can be sure that Dakota will be unfailingly polite (he just can’t help being charming and all-round a great kid) and unfailingly loyal to his team and his sponsors. He knows how important a sponsor is. And Monster Energy already know just what they can expect from this interesting young man – that’s why they signed him. Dakota and his dad will be at the MCN London Excel Motorcycle show this week.

They will be at the Riders for Health auction and they will be delighted to sign autographs. No, really they will. That’s the kind of values they have around the Mamola household. They know who matters in racing. Mark Keen said: ‘Fantastic news for the 125s and racing as a whole. He has a famous family name, but he brings with him his own talent, focus and passion. He’s just a good kid.’ Bradley Smith said: ‘Dakota Mamola joining the KRP team means a lot to me. I am nervous because we have become good friends, but more than anything I am excited because Dakota has great talent and now we’re part of the Mamola history. How exciting is that.’