RIDEFAST DECEMBER 2021
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WHO IS<br />
DORREN LOUREIRO?<br />
Well we have all heard of brothers Brad<br />
and Darren Binder, Sheridan ‘Shez Show’<br />
Morais and more recently of Steven<br />
Odendaal, Cam Petersen, Matthew<br />
Scholtz and many more. South Africa<br />
has an extremely rich history of motorcycle<br />
racing success internationally with<br />
a surprising amount riders competing<br />
and have competed in the international<br />
arena over the years. Think of names like<br />
Paddy Driver, Kork Ballington, brothers<br />
Jon and Peter Ekerold, the Petersen<br />
brothers, Les van Breda and the list goes<br />
and sadly we here very little about them<br />
on our radio and TV stations because<br />
they are not playing with balls. And the<br />
same is true for young, up and coming<br />
new talent and being out of the public<br />
eye they battle to get sponsorships and<br />
go race overseas and are basically reliant<br />
on the goodwill of family and friends. We<br />
have to ask how much talent are we losing<br />
in this arena because of these guys<br />
and girls going unnoticed and not being<br />
able to afford to go race where they will<br />
get noticed.<br />
Well, luckily for us Dorren Loureiro has<br />
parents that are completely supportive<br />
and passionate about his racing career<br />
and fortunately do have the means<br />
to send him overseas to go race and<br />
get noticed. Dorren has raced in the<br />
same team with 6 time World superbike<br />
champion, Jonathan Rea. As her team<br />
mate, he was instrumental in helping Ana<br />
Carrasco take her first championship win<br />
in WSBK Supersport 300 in 2018 and<br />
become the first lady to beat all the guys<br />
in the male dominated sport of motorcycle<br />
racing . He is mates with Tom Sykes<br />
and is managed by Spanish Supersport<br />
Champion and old WSBK racer, now<br />
retired mostly, David Salom, (Fuentes<br />
to be technically correct), and regularly<br />
rubs shoulders with WSBK elite and is<br />
becoming a well-known and well liked<br />
personality in the paddock.<br />
We got to spend an hour or to chatting<br />
with him and just finding out a bit more<br />
about this unassuming, humble lad from<br />
Kempton Park…<br />
Our hometown and base for our offices,<br />
which already makes him a Good Guy in<br />
our eyes.<br />
Doz, what was it like being in a team with<br />
WSBK champions of the likes of Johnny<br />
Rea and Tom Sykes, did you get to<br />
spend much time with them?<br />
So, I got to spend every breakfast,<br />
lunch and dinner with them in the same<br />
hospitality suite, the same everything…<br />
so I got to speak to him, (Johnny Rea), a<br />
little bit. The difference between Rea and<br />
Sykes is that Rea is all business, he is<br />
there to race only, he doesn’t speak to a<br />
lot of people, and is completely focused<br />
on his job.<br />
Sykes is very… like… friendly, talks to<br />
anyone and everyone. I mean like, if you<br />
get an autograph from Sykes he will have<br />
a conversation with you, maybe a 10<br />
minute conversation. With Sykes I could<br />
even do a track walk with him and get<br />
pointers from if I needed to. He was more<br />
of a mentor to myself and the rest of the<br />
28 <strong>RIDEFAST</strong> MAGAZINE <strong>DECEMBER</strong> <strong>2021</strong>
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