It’s a 7,899-mile flight there and the same back. Ian Dublin travels from Malaysia for every race. The trip from Kuala Lumpur via Dubai to Frankfurt takes 18 hours, but the effort is worth it for the 17-year-old to be able to race in the IDM Supersport 600. “He needs experience on the motorcycle. We chose the IDM because the tracks are safe. We had also considered the BSB, but that seemed a bit too risky to us,” says his father. Dublin is already familiar with the IDM race tracks. Last year, he was entered in the Yamaha R6 Dunlop Cup. His unorthodox riding style so far hasn’t always been conducive to success, but the youngster stayed on track. His ultimate goal: the Supersport 600 World Championship. He can now focus entirely on his career. Dublin has finished college and, as a professional, is fully dedicated to training and racing. In Malaysia, he also races on a Yamaha in the 600cc class as part of the Superbike Championship. Instead of racing with the number “29” as he does in Germany, he races with the exact opposite number, “92,” at home. Together with the six IDM events, Dublin will have competed in 22 races by the end of the year.
For Ian Dublin, each race in the IDM Supersport 600 series means traveling halfway around the world. Text: Anke Wieczorek, Photo: Dino Eisele