TEAM-HATES! PART TWO
It's a rule of thumb in racing that you have to beat your team-mate. And to beat him (or her) you must employ every method at your disposal…After all, all is fair in love, war and motorcycle racing, right?
It makes sense to have two riders in a team: it aids machine development, gives the sponsors more bang for their buck and gives two bites at the podium placings and overall championship. But – as we said last issue – when you have two riders on the same (or very similar) bikes, it all becomes painfully obvious who's best.
Suddenly the number one person to beat becomes your team-mate and – while we said ‘same or similar’ bikes – of course internal politics can also blur the lines as to just how similar the bikes are, or not. Motorcycle racing is full of stories where ‘number one’ riders would pull rank and get all the best bits for their bikes, meaning that the machines weren’t actually that similar, even if they looked identical…
And of course having a team-mate in itself kinda flies in the face of that ruthless streak of selfishness that runs through the very core of the best motorcycle racers. It’s also why some racers seem to gravitate to and thrive in a single rider team environment. Many racers don’t ‘play well’ with others but if they have to, they will try and get the bloke on the other side of the garage in his pocket asap…
One way is to out-psych your team-mate. Triple World Champ Wayne Rainey would do his all to beat his team-mate,
