VOL. 51 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 16, 2014 P207
the sport would stay where it
is. Right now, the opportunities
are growing and that's thanks to
Monster. It's a big company and
a household name and people
know it. If Monster is involved in
Speedway, people are like, "If
Monster is involved in Speed-
way, there must be something in
that." What's happening is with
that kind of support, Speedway
is creating heroes. Also, Junior
Speedway is on the rise. Without
the kids there is no future.
Describe the Speedway life-
style. How do you guys travel
and make a living bouncing from
place to place?
I think Speedway is the only
sport in the world where you can
ride in so many different leagues
and in so many different counties
at the same time. One day you're
my teammate and the next day
I'm riding against you. I can ride
in a league in Poland and ride in
a league in Sweden and ride in
a league in England if I want to.
I can also be in the Grand Prix
series. Over there in Europe you
probably ride, at least, 40 match-
es a year in just a league. Add 20
to 22 matches in Poland and 20
to 22 matches in Sweden and an-
other 12 races in the Grand Prix
World Championship and you're
probably… add in everything else
and you're probably doing over
120 races in five and half months.
That's a lot of racing in a short
time. That pretty much tells you
that you're living on the road,
you're living in hotels and you're
living on airplanes. You're not
seeing your own bed very often
and probably not eating very
good, either. It's very unique and
probably crazy in some instanc-
es. When you're young and up-
and-coming, you look at it like,
"Who cares? I can sleep when
I'm dead." I've cut down my rac-
ing schedule to where I'm prob-
ably doing 75 events a year. I joke
around that I'm now a part-time
Speedway racer.
Can you describe the physical-
ity of racing a Speedway bike?
You don't want to be too overly
powerful on the bike. You don't
want to be too thick and you
don't want to be too stiff. It's
more about finesses and good
balance. You need to be light on
the bike as much as you can. If
you're heavy and stiff and you're
moving around too much, you're
putting pressure on the bike that
doesn't need to be there. You
need to go with the bike and
try to make the bike follow the
ground. As we call it, you're try-
ing to "grab the ground." You're
trying to manipulate that fine line
of having enough wheelspin that
you can make it around the cor-
ner without too much wheelspin
to where you're going forward
fast enough. It's pretty unique.
Our own traction control is on
the throttle and your body moving
around on the bike.
Has the technology within the
sport changed or evolved much
in the past 10 years?
We're still not allowed to have
any sort of computer operated
ignition systems and there is no
Battling with the kids keeps him
young - (left to right) Hancock,
Tai Woffinden, Chris Holder and
Darcy Ward.
