“GIOVANNI” the LOCAL HERO OF RED BULL SEA TO SKY
There are plenty of local people from Kemer Enduro Club working hard all year long to organize the Red Bull Sea to Sky race and the racetrack.
But there is this one guy, RBS2S wouldn’t be the same without him! Giovanni!
Gio, lives in Antalya/Kemer and he is the secret power behind the curtains of RBS2S! He gives support to riders so that they can continue to race! Funny conversations between the riders, their mechanics and Gio makes the atmosphere more joyful! Don’t worry, you may be the next person to be attacked with his words!
In Paddock, I could catch him briefly and asked some questions;
- What is the story of your Nickname “Giovanni“instead of Ahmet Aktaş?
A customer back in 1997 gave me this Nickname, he thought I look like a character called Giovanni in an Italian TV After that, everybody called me Giovanni. It is easier to remember and pronounce “Gio” for foreigners.
- You are almost as famous as pro riders, you help people even when they don’t use your service professionally, with no charge, creating practical solutions to their problems. This makes you unique and indispensable. This is obvious, but what RBS2S means to you?
RBS2S is held by our Kemer club in our country, in our city, in our homeland. So it is not only an organization, it is kind of hosting guests in your home. The riders are not customers, they are our guests.
- Graham Jarvis, Jonny Walker, Alfredo Gomez, Wade Young and all other Pros have close relations with you. They even ask questions about the racetrack to you as a mechanics. Different team members trust you and your knowledge. Even Jarvis’s mechanic Damo and Jonny’s mechanic Sebastian are participating to your funny discussions and jokes! This is not that common, how do you do that ?
First two years of RBS2S I provided mechanical service to Jarvis. This was a chance to show and prove myself. In both years Jarvis won the race. Jonny’s old mechanics Julian honored me by saying “You are the winner of this year”. Every year in RBS2S race I learn more and more from all of them, my experience increases. I think our good relation with them is based on trust and sincerity.
- Especially Extreme Enduro is a very expensive sport. It is amazing to see the queues in front of your tent, before and after the race when motorcycles are back to Paddock. I think the magic is that you create maximum solutions for minimum prices to any kind of malfunctions. This increases the loyalty to your experience. What do you think?
Between 1996 – 2007 I worked in an Enduro tour company as mechanic. You never know when a problem will arouse. On mountain hills where no road can reach. Creating fast solutions with limited sources was my only chance to survive. Now I use this unique experience in RBS2S.
- Watching your friendship with Andy Noakley is so funny, you taught him all curses and profanity in Turkish, he shouldn’t use!! Would you describe Noakley from your point of view?
Master’s curses and profanity is absorbed by the apprentice, helps the master psychologically and takes his stress away. I needed an apprentice!!!
- I’m pretty sure you have some suggestions to next year’s riders?
I suggest to book now for next year’s mechanical service! We are running out of stock! 🙂 [email protected]
photo credit: Robert Lynn