‘Maybe, my mind works differently’
HOW TO UNDERSTAND WHAT GOES ON INSIDE THE brain of a successful motorcycle racer? It’s not easy, but this wee tale may help.
I’m going to start by asking you to imagine you are a top superbike racer and you’re leading the world championship by a nice margin with a few races to go. All you need to wrap up the title is a few decent finishes — no need to try killing yourself for another win.
In this race, there’s a young hotshot ahead of you, riding out of his skin, apparently willing to risk full-body sacrifice to score his first WSB victory.
What do you do?
Do you go after him, risking a crash that will lose you a load of points and possibly leave you injured? Or do you tell yourself that discretion is the better part of valour, that a certain 20 points is better than gambling 25 points against zero points?
Any normal mortal would, I think, take option two.
Which is why normal mortals don’t win six World Superbike championships.
‘Maybe, my mind works differently, but when I have a good points gap, it’s easier to take more risks, because it doesn’t matter if I win the championship by one point
