Nikolas Lazos: The 13-yr-old motorcycling prodigy riding his way to the top
Source: NEOS KOSMOS
Young motorcyclist Nikolas Lazos has made waves in the MotoGP world, breaking through in the sport at a speed almost as fast as what he reaches on the bike, and the youngster is determined to keep riding until he is the best in the world.
Nikolas has achieved plenty in the sport since starting up while he was in Grade 5 at school, with 2024 proving to be quite an important step forward for him.
“I got my first ever podium finish last year. I finished in the top three of the ASBK Oceania Junior Cup. That was my favourite moment in racing so far,” Nikolas told Neos Kosmos.
“That was really pleasing as the previous year I was coming last in every single race and then, all of a sudden, in the first round of the next year I was already at the front.”
The motorcyclist with roots from Evia is now stepping up to the R3 series this year after a few years at the 150 level, and he will even represent Australia in the Yamaha R3 BLU CRU Asia-Pacific Championship 2025.
It will not be his first time racing for his country after participating in a race last year that pitted the five best Australian kid racers against the five best from New Zealand, with Nikolas and his teammates emerging victorious.
“It is a lot of pressure because there are a lot of people watching you all the time,” the youngster said.
Nikolas admitted there are many challenges that come with racing, a big one being the lack of awareness of it from his classmates.
“He is doing a sport that no one understands at his school,” Nikolas’ father Con said.
“We found that with a lot of kids who do road racing or go kart racing, they are seen as a bit different because they are not doing the standard sport.”
Nikolas’ father elaborated that the increased social media and TV presence of his son can also sometimes lead to other kids trying to bring him down.
“When someone is actually trying to achieve something at the highest level, you got to go through these little battles with everyday people not involved in that world,” he said.
The 13-year-old’s racing career has required lots of effort and sacrifice with him now in the midst of transitioning to homeschooling due to his demanding schedule.
He spends a lot of time on the road, travelling to and from events, committing long hours to compete in the sport.
“Last Friday, I had to get up at 4.30am to drive eight and a half hours to Sydney and then race that day. It was a night event so by the time I finished racing and left the track it was around 11pm,” Nikolas said as an example of his schedule.
In addition to racing, the youngster also engages in other forms of exercise like swimming, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai and Taekwondo, amounting to roughly three hours of fitness a day.
Nikolas even represented Australia in a Jiu Jitsu competition last year featuring kids from across Oceania in which he won.
His father explained all his kids have grown up familiar with martial arts through his business, and so are no strangers to competition and hard work.
“When it came to the motorbike racing, it was like a natural step to transfer the same skills he learned in the martial arts right across to that,” he said.
Lazos confirmed his son is now going all in on racing, and Nikolas stated he has many goals for this year, among which is to win the Asia Pacific R3 Cup.
“That is one of my main goals because if I can win that, I get to go to the World R3 Cup and have two years paid for,” Nikolas said.
When asked about his ultimate dream, he said with sincerity:
“I want to be the best in the world in MotorGP.”
Even with that grand ambition, he concluded by saying: “I just want to make the Greeks proud”.
The original article: belongs to NEOS KOSMOS .
