15-year old Cayden Roberts sets his sights on Spain
He’s 15 years old, but King Price Xtreme’s Cayden Robert is a young man with 1 goal: Winning as many races as possible and this time he went as far as going to Spain, to take a shot at being selected for the 2024 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, in Guadix, Spain.
He’s only been racing for 6 years but is already showing signs of becoming a formidable talent. He finished strongly in the 2020 NSF Championship, leading 4 of the last 5 races, and counts podium finishes on his NSF100 at Zwartkops and his 150 at the Redstar Raceway among the highlights of his short career. His aim for this year, under the guidance of team lead Clint Seller, the 9-time SA superbike champion, is to fight for titles. ‘I want to be in the top 3, if not winning the entire championship,’ he says bluntly. As was the case last year, Roberts is racing in the 150 Cup in the SA Short Circuit Series this year while also competing on a KTM 390 in the MRSSA Racing Championship.
When asked about his experience in Spain, this is what he had to say, “What an experience I’ve had. My first session went well, and I progressively got faster ending up in the top 4 in my group. At this Selection Event each rider gets two 20-minute sessions on the bike to prove that they deserve a place in the Red Bull Rookies Cup Championship of 2024. I went in hard from the beginning and improved my lap times lap after lap. I got off the bike after my second session very happy with my performance and improvement. I unfortunately was not selected this time. I am however so grateful for the experience and the opportunity though. The journey to this point has been an incredible one and I can’t say ‘thank you’ enough to all the people that have been involved in getting me to this point.”
Now that he’s back home, this is his first year on the KTM 390, so he’ll be spending time focusing on learning the bike and adapting his racing style while trying to gun for a few podiums. As part of this, you’ll find this scholar riding his bicycle when he's not racing motorbikes. And, once his homework and training are done, you’ll probably find him playing MotoGP on his PlayStation as he reaches for his dreams of racing against the world’s best 1 day.
As his journey continues, he is now more motivated than ever to work hard and come back strong next year. Remember the name.
