Shinya Nakano took time out from his testing schedule at
Jerez last weekend to make a personal donation to
MotoGP's favourite charity -
Riders for Health.
The Japanese racer handed a cheque to Randy Mamola for 5000 Euros for the UK-based organisation.
"Every year I like to do something for charity and Riders for Health is the motorcycle racers' favourite charity," said the 29-year-old. "Every year I support the 'Day of Champions' at
Donington Park, but this year I wanted to do something extra, which is why I made this donation. I think it's so important what
Riders for Health does, using motorcycles to help people less fortunate than ourselves."
Ex-500cc grand prix star Mamola was one of the original driving forces behind the charity.
"It's important that riders like Shinya get involved in
Riders for Health," declared the American. "Motorcycle racing is our sport, I've been involved since I was 12 and other racers like Shinya have been involved since they were younger.
Riders for Health is the charity of motorcycling, the manufacturers support it, the riders support it, so for Shinya to do this and make this donation is very important to us. Shinya is a good guy and this year I think he'll do very well with Konica Minolta Honda."
Riders for Health currently helps 11 million people across Africa receive basic healthcare. For the last 15 years Riders has worked on the problem of delivering healthcare to remote parts of the African continent using motorcycles. The self-funded organisation obtains financial support from events at motorcycle races.
Riders currently has three national programmes working on the African continent in Gambia, Zimbabwe and Nigeria. Two smaller programmes are also underway in Kenya and Tanzania.
