Packed room, proud family and a legend in his corner; Jacob Roulstone’s next chapter starts
Saturday evening 21 March, the Conca D’oro function centre in Sydney’s Riverwood finally saw the culmination of months of hard work by the Roulstone family – and their ever-expanding wider ‘family’ of friends, fans and supporters – as the Master & The Apprentice fundraiser event kicked off in spectacular fashion.
The standing ovation that guest of honour Mick Doohan and star-of-the-show Jacob Roulstone received as they entered the glittering ballroom set the tone for the night. And the highlights of the evening were every bit as amazing as the incredible items up for auction to raise funds for the next step in Jacob’s motorcycling career and potential return to MotoGP.
Moto podcaster Tug McClutchin (AKA former Motorcycle NSW chief David Cooke) hosted informal interviews with Jacob, then Mick, then the two of them together as they answered questions from him (and from guests) about their careers, their plans for the future, and everything from their favourite bikes of all time to what it really, truly takes to perform at the highest level in a rapidly evolving sport.
Among the memorabilia up for grabs during the evening were treasures donated by some of the biggest names in racing – and Jacob even parted with a few personal favourites (like a signed and framed race-worn knee slider given to him by Marc Marquez). But the item he said he would never let go was actually parked out in the lobby: the first dirt bike he started his career trajectory on. Meanwhile Mick, true gentleman that he is, even took on the chin an audience question about his “gruff and grumpy” demeanour (how else do you become our greatest ever racer without a next-level sense of focus and determination?). His presence alone as one of the busiest men on the planet showed just how much he wanted to be there to support Jacob. In fact, as the festivities wound down at around midnight, five-times 500cc world champion Mick was already late for a meeting with some Canberra pollies; that didn’t prevent him answering endless questions from fans, signing memorabilia (immediately tripling their value) and posing for pics with everyone in attendance.
For my money, though, the true star of the show was Leah Roulstone – Jacob’s mum. Aside from the unbelievable task of pulling the evening together in the first place, she divided her time on the night between greeting guests, making sure everything was running smoothly, taking to the stage to parade auction items, delivering a flawless and gracious thankyou speech and basically just being everywhere, all at once, for everyone.
As she now resumes her role of manager/personal assistant (and, sure, mother) to Jacob, I for one believe he is one of the most fortunate future stars out there on the racing circuit.
Over to you now, Jacob. Big boots to fill. But clearly with the backing and support of a very proud family, and a nation of very raucous fans desperate to see the No.12 back in the spotlight.
