16-year-old Elena Myers to ride Suzuki MotoGP bike

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP has invited 16-year-old AMA Supersport race winner Elena Myers to ride its GSV-R at Valencia, following the final MotoGP event of the 2010 season.

The offer was made after Myers was invited to tour the Rizla Suzuki pit garage during the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca last weekend (pictured).

"We saw that she was doing quite well over here on her Suzuki," said Tim Walpole, Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Press and PR Officer. "So we thought she might like to come by the box and get to meet the guys and have a look at how we do things."

"It blows my mind that people like that are kind of looking at me and the AMA stuff," said Myers, who rides for the Lucas Oil Roadracingworld.com RMR Suzuki team. "To get this opportunity is a once in a lifetime kind of thing."

When Myers arrived in Rizla Suzuki's garage, she was introduced to MotoGP racer Loris Capirossi, who asked a lot of questions about her racing and invited her to sit on the GSV-R.

"It felt really small," said Myers, "but everything, all the bars and levers and pegs were exactly where I wanted it. I was like, 'I could ride this thing right out of here.'

"It was really cool, especially talking to Capirossi. I have a lot of respect for the guy but even more now that I've talked to him. I thought he was a really down-to-earth guy. Talking to him was just crazy, to say the least."

Myers also met Rizla Suzuki's MotoGP rookie Alvaro Bautista, who explained what all the switches and buttons on the GSV-R's handlebars and dashboard did.

After Myers chatted with Bautista, it was time for the Rizla Suzuki crew to start the warm-up procedure on one of Capirossi's machines, and they allowed Myers' assistance to blip the throttle of the 240-horsepower beast.

"It was like a 125 almost with the way the rpm went up so fast," said Myers. "Any movement of the throttle made the revs jump so fast. I'm just speechless about the whole thing."

While she was visiting the Suzuki garage, a couple of different team staffers asked Myers if she would like to ride one of the GSV-R racebikes some time, and she thought they were joking.

But team manager Paul Denning then made it clear that he would like to give her an opportunity to do some laps on one of the bikes, after the season-ending grand prix in Spain.

Denning explained that it wouldn't be a 'test' as such, just a chance for Myers to ride a MotoGP bike.

"If I could ride it that would just be the most insane thing ever, even if it was for just a couple of laps. I'm just speechless about it, it's so crazy," said Myers.

"It was all pretty overwhelming, but that's where I want to be some day," she added. "And this just makes me want it even more now. I'm going to be motivated no matter what, but seeing what this is all like makes me want it even more."