Remy Gardner, son of Australian racing legend Wayne Gardner is set to make his international road racing debut representing Australia at the Honda NSF100 Cup European Final in Albacete, Spain on 22-24 October.

The Honda NSF100 is a small race bike designed to introduce young riders from 9-13 years-old to road racing, with Honda NSF100 Championships currently running in many countries including Belgium, Finland, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, South Africa and Japan.

Committed to its support of junior riders and racing, Honda Australia continues to help develop future racing stars and was keen to provide a talented local rider the chance to compete on world stage at Albacete, with the next generation Gardner a standout candidate.

Hoping to continue in his father’s footsteps, 12-year-old Remy is delighted by the opportunity to represent Honda Australia in this major international event, where he will join other young riders from around the world to race NSF100 machines.

“I’m so excited and I can’t wait until the race. Hopefully it will be a good learning experience for me, and it will be good to see what the competition is like over in Europe,” Remy Gardner said.

“I’ve been dreaming of going to Spain to race for a few years and finally that dream has come true thanks to Honda.”

Remy already has three years of dirt track racing under his belt; a background that his father believes is a huge advantage in any racing career. But unlike many of his European counterparts, Remy is still too young to race road bikes in NSW.

As a result, Wayne has been giving both of his sons, Remy and younger brother Luca, training on various road circuits for the past 18 months. While they train mainly at Marulan, NSW, Gardner Snr purposely takes them to ride a number of other tracks in order to provide different environments.

“I’ve been considering opportunities for Remy to do some road racing in Spain for a few years now, but I wanted to make sure he had good grounding on the dirt, which provides solid bike control skills,” Wayne Gardner said.

“Now, with the training he’s been doing on tar, his corner speed has improved and skills from both disciplines are coming together to produce a good, safe, well-rounded rider.

“The chance to represent Honda Australia in the NSF100 Mini Moto race has come at a great time in Remy’s development, and I believe he’ll not only represent Australia well, but will come away with some fantastic lessons learned.

“He’ll be competing against many riders who run in a national series on these bikes, so it’s going to be tough, but such an incredible opportunity.”

Among his international rivals will be 12-year-old Luca Marini, half brother of Valentino Rossi, who competes in the Italian NSF100 Championship.

While most entrants, like Marini, will be leading riders from national NSF100 championships, the one-off weekend of competition will be Remy’s first time aboard a Honda NSF100.

However, Gardner Junior has raced larger, more powerful Honda machines on dirt and has been training on tar with Moriwaki 80’s which are also bigger, taller and more powerful than he’ll be racing in Spain.

All NSF100 motorcycles used in the event will be provided by Honda Italy and prepared by a professional team to give competing riders a top level race experience.

For Remy, the Albacete event will be a fantastic opportunity to gauge the level of his racing in comparison to the European riders, who start their road racing careers very young.

“I’ve been training on road race bikes whenever I can and racing dirt track in Australia, and hopefully that’s paid off to help me compete against the world’s best competition,” Remy Gardner added.

The very proud Gardner family will all be trackside in Spain to support Remy, as the next generation Gardner takes to the international stage in the Honda NSF100 Cup European Final.