Rider hit with 17-hour penalty while on FaceTime to his mother
The unusual story of a worried mother during a prestigious race
The motorcycle racing off-season has thrown up a bizarre under-the-radar tale.
A dirt bike rider completed an infamously gruelling race while constantly FaceTiming his worried mother.
“I wanted to race the Baja 1000 so badly, but my mom won’t let me because I have Type 1 diabetes,” Ben Hunter explained.
“She said the only way I could race is if I was live streaming the whole time.”
And that’s exactly what he did.
Hunter turned up with a Starlink Mini taped to his helmet, hooked up to a power supply.
His mother was live streamed on FaceTime while taped to his body.
The Baja 1000 is one of the most prestigious off-road motorsports event in the world, held on the Baja California Peninsula.
So Hunter’s attempt to placate his mother’s concerns were admirable.
But on the sporting side he did not fare too well.
Hunter incurred a 17-hour time penalty, according to Motosprint, after taking an “unallowed path”.
It led to an official disqualification from the race.
And, presumably a telling-off from his mother who watched every moment.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
