I am fortunate enough once again to have the best motorhome driver /personal assistant in the paddock - Chris Jentzen, better known as the Captain. Sam and I have known Chris for many years and he is a great friend to us both. Chris used to accompany his cousin, Scotty Russell, on all of his travels and this year Chris is actually celebrating his tenth year in World Superbikes!
Not only is Chris great at his job but he is a constant source of amusement too. At Misano I organised for him to have a "pillion" ride on one of the sidecar outfits. First I had to loan him a helmet, no problem there, but I left him to borrow the rest of the equipment himself. Me, Carl and Michaela were all there in pitlane to witness the whole event and were giving him a really hard time about his leathers... they were about ten sizes too big for him! Chris was getting a bit anxious, either because we were giving him such a hard time or because he was waiting for some tuition on how to be a good "monkey". All he got told as the outfit sreamed into pitlane was to get on, in kneeling position, and hang on. That was it!! The Captain thought he was in for a moderate lap, to show him some horsepower and braking power of the machine but was in for a big surprise... the tyres were up to temp from a previous outing so when the guy approached the pit entrance just as Captain thought he was being dropped off, the guy turned around, gave him the thumbs up and then gassed it! Chris reckoned by then he was really holding on tight, with arm pump half way through the lap as he held on for dear life. Having been a bit disappointed to see the pit entrance after the first lap it was a welcome sight after the second although he did later confess that he would have given the thumbs up for flying lap number 2 if he'd had the chance. I asked him how it was... he said "Damn'd Fun"! It was only afterwards that they gave him instructions on all the moves, positions and hand and foot grabs.
All in all I reckon he made a good "monkey"!!!!
