Loris Veneman (17): Superbike World Championship / Supersport World Championship 300 career goal

For many years, Barry Veneman himself was one of the best motorcycle pilots in the Netherlands. At Magny-Cours 2008, the now 47-year-old achieved his best finish in the World Supersport Championship with second place on a Suzuki GSX-R600. In 2001 he even rode a season in the 500cc World Championship with the Honda NSR. Veneman made his last appearance at World Championship level in the 2011 World Superbike Championship, when he replaced the injured James Toseland at the BMW Italia meeting in Assen and at least scored three points in the first race.

After retirement, the family man managed the youth work of the Dutch association, which produced a two-time 300cc world champion in Jeffrey Buis. Today Veneman only supports his son Loris.

The youngster was aiming for a career in the GP paddock, but has been racing in the Supersport 300 World Championship since 2023. “I sat down with my son and told him, ‘We have to stop thinking about Moto3’. “That’s how his dream ended,” the Dutchman said in an interview. and SPEEDWEEK.com. “Everybody’s dream is the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup and Moto3, then Moto2 and finally MotoGP. I understand all that. But to ride in the Rookies Cup, you have to ride in Spain. But if you want to ride in Spain, you need at least 100,000 euros a year. Not everyone can afford that.”

The 17-year-old Loris was the Dutch champion in the NSF100 Cup and entered the Northern Talent Cup (NTC) in 2020. The NTC is a talent development series organized by Dorna and the successor to the ADAC Junior Cup. It allows three pilots to advance to the Rookies Cup each year.

“Promotion to the Rookies Cup didn’t work out,” Veneman regretted. “I thought about what we can do with our sponsors. Do you go to Spain with a lot of money and maybe get a place in Moto2? Or do we take a different route – with the 300 Supersport World Championship, the 600cc World Championship and then the Superbike World Championship? This is cheap, but also very popular. In the end we said: ‘We want to be in front of the World Championship’ – whether it’s in the Supersport World Championship or Moto3 is not so important. This is a very difficult decision. Many people tell you: ‘ You have to go to Moto3 and a lot of development programs’. But the chances of getting in there are very small.”