Motorbiking records now being broken by younger brother
Jaden Hassan has broken more records than he can remember but his younger brother Aaron is hot on his heels and the pair are fast becoming the ones to beat in the motorcycle world.
With 19-year-old Jaden standing at more than 1.9m and 14-year-old Aaron already just shy of that, the brothers make for unlikely champions in a sport where most competitors are built like jockeys.
Jaden started racing on a 125cc when he was 13 as the youngest rider in New Zealand to ever race in that category.
From there he moved up to a 600cc and at the age of 16 he finished fifth in the Superstock championship in his first season.
The Westmere rider has stepped things up a gear this year.
He will now ride a 1000cc superbike for Suzuki.
Last year, Mt Albert student Aaron won the winter series 125 and the 250 prolite championships – walking away with Jaden’s title as the youngest rider to win.
He went on to finish third in the 125 class this season.
A lot of his early success has come from years of watching his brother on the track, Aaron says.
‘‘I’m just learning every time I ride. I want to slowly build up that pace and keep working at it.’’
There is only friendly rivalry between them, Jaden says. ‘‘I’m proud of him. ‘‘I’m still his big brother and always will be.
‘‘I always try to help him as a mentor if he has any problems on the day. I’m never not going to help him so he can’t break my records.’’
Jaden has broken more than just records in his short career.
Last year he fractured an ankle and three bones in his back in a testing accident but was back on his bike just six weeks later to win two races and break lap records.
He was hoping to make a repeat of this speedy recovery after breaking his wrist while qualifying for the second round of the 600cc Supersport championships in Timaru. With Jaden’s arm in a cast and him finding it too difficult to ride, Aaron stepped in and cut off the cast with a steak knife.
Things didn’t quite go to plan with Jaden only managing 12th place and he was forced to pull out of the next one due to the pain.
‘‘As long as I know why I crashed and what happened I want to get straight back on that bike and go just as fast for the next lap,’’ Jaden says.
While Aaron is definitely following his brother and his winning track record, he is a very different rider to the one Jaden was when he started out.
‘‘He’s a very, very mature young rider,’’ Jaden says.
Motorcycling runs in the blood of the Hassan family. The young riders’ father Greg started out racing as a teenager before abandoning the sport only to return to it in his 40s.
He hopes to see both of his sons test their abilities with European campaigns eventually.