Tribute to one of my childhood heroes

Yesterday an era ended. I don´t really know what to say, so I will just write what I feel. I must have been around eight years old when I watched MotoGP the first time with my grandpa. I don´t know the exact race anymore, but I think it was in the season 2012. What I remember is that one driver caught my attention, the yellow No. 46. I don´t know why especially him probably it was a mixture of my preference for neon yellow as a colour and my love for the Italian sports world. I started to develop a passion for motorsports and talked about it all the time, I probably annoyed my friends who didn´t like MotoGP but I was totally into it. I started dreaming of becoming a professional racer myself. Almost every day I raced with my dad on the bicycle. There is a small street near our house with two nice turns and a parking lot at the end. So, the way to the parking lot was our qualifying and the way back the race.
However, since I got no pocket bike I kind of lost my interest a bit in the following years. It was never gone, it just levelled off a little bit. In the seasons 15, 16 and 17 I watched only a few races and followed the sports more by reading the results the next day. In this time, I got more into football, but that is another story. With my first driving licence coming closer my passion was kind of revived. Finally, the season 18 caught me again and sundays finally were reserved for races again.
After this fourth season of following the sports regularly again something will be different. The man who made my eyes shine when I was a little boy, the man who inspired me to ride motorcycles on my own and the man whom I have to thank for some great memories. Unforgotten the races in the Laguna Seca, Australia, Austin,… especially in the early stage of following MotoGP, when my dad had to wake me up for the race because otherwise I would have been too tired.
 
Maybe for me it especially hard to say goodbye because I missed your greatest times. I wasn´t able to celebrate a championship because I am too young. Even tough you can´t fight for wins anymore it is a joy to watch you racing because this reminds me of some really great times.
 
Grazie di tutto Vale!