He sits thoughtfully at the table and looks at a very special memorabilia. It is a helmet belonging to Jason Dupasquier (†19), the Swiss motorbike talent who had a tragic accident a year ago next Monday. The dedication scrawled on the visor reads “Many thanks boss Stef for the 2020 season!!” and comes from Dupasquier himself.
The helmet was a gift after his World Cup debut season, “Boss Stef” is Stefan Kirsch (59). The man sitting at the table in a corner of his workshop was the young Swiss’ chief mechanic. The closest reference person at the race track. But the collaboration ended abruptly in Mugello at the end of May 2021.
“With the anniversary approaching, it’s coming back more strongly that Jason is no longer around. Unfortunately, we can’t turn back time,” says Kirsch and sighs deeply. “I just want to remember him positively.” And as a likeable young guy who, after his debut year without points, heeded Kirsch’s relentless analysis, entered his second year as if transformed and scored in all five GPs up to Mugello in 2021.
Lots of memorabilia in the workshop
When Blick visits Kirsch at home in Oberbergkirchen, Germany, an idyllic town in Upper Bavaria, various memorabilia of the late talent from Sorens FR immediately come to mind.
Helmet, autograph cards, many pictures. In the workshop, a poster is stuck directly above the workbench, and a motorbike fairing with the start number 50 hangs in a corner. Kirsch says: “I deliberately keep these things close by. I can’t pretend he never existed.”
Kirsch hopes that Dupasquier will not be forgotten in public and therefore, with the blessing of Jason’s parents, talks openly about the worst day in Swiss motorbike history.
The death of the 19-year-old also turned Kirsch’s life upside down. The Bavarian had previously worked in GP sport for 30 years. But he stopped at the end of last season. “You know that something like this can happen in this sport. But you suppress it. The Jason incident gave me a lot to think about. But the realignment of the team didn’t suit me either. I’ll also be 60 this year, so I don’t always have to get on the plane anymore. Now I earn my money differently.”
Kirsch accompanied Jason to the hospital
You have to know that most GP mechanics are not permanently employed, they are often freelance jobs. Kirsch was already working as a freelance motorbike mech before he retired from the GP. He now runs his own motorbike shop, where he works a lot on vintage motorbikes, overhauls engines and also manufactures mechanical components for all kinds of customers himself.
Kirsch does not like to think back to the dark hours in Mugello. Shaking his head, he explains that after the horrific fall in the paddock, absurd false information about Dupasquier’s condition was floating around, saying he was conscious.
This is very serious. Kirsch accompanies the Swiss in the helicopter to the hospital in Florence: “It was natural for me to take care of my driver even in this situation. They’re still almost children, so you need someone to accompany you.”
More about Jason Dupasquier († 19)
At some point, Dupasquier’s parents also arrive in Tuscany. Apart from a short detour to his hotel, Kirsch stays with his parents. Even when there is no more hope: “In this situation I couldn’t just turn my back on them.”
The news of the death reaches the paddock in the middle of the race day, but the start is still going on. But in the days after the disaster in the Prüstel racing team, Kirsch suggested that Dupasquier’s motorcycle not be occupied again immediately. “To act as if nothing had happened would have been morally wrong towards the family.”
Kirsch only follows the Grands Prix on TV. Sometimes, however, the passionate cyclist prefers a bike tour and only watches the races in the evening. Watching the Mugello GP this Sunday will be particularly emotional.