06/10/2020
As part of the build up to the VisionTrack Michael Laverty Academy we are catching up with riders every day about tips for young riders, this weeks tips come from none other than British and World superbike champion Neil Hodgson .
The question we asked was -
"Racing is tough at any level, but the higher you get the harder it becomes. You have said in the past that you hated loosing so much it became difficult to cope with at times. Looking back what lessons did you learn that got you through those tough days and what advice would you give to youngsters when its not quite going their way on the day?"
Neil
"Id say if you have had a tough day and it hasn’t gone your way, which happens quite a lot in racing its about understanding why. Why has it not gone to plan? Is it your fault? is it the teams fault? or maybe the bikes fault? But one thing you must be for this to work is be brutally honest with yourself. I have seen and heard so many riders crash or struggle over the years and blame everyone and everything apart from themselves, you will never go forward if you cant be honest with yourself.
Once you have worked out where its gone wrong then you can start and put things in place so that it doesn’t happen again, but again, honesty with yourself is the key.
One thing you cannot do after initially analyzing the cause of the poor result or crash is dwell on it. Work out why, put things in place, and then move on. If you feel worked up or stressed on a Monday or the following week then put that energy into your training, instead of letting it bother you, work hard, push yourself as you cannot change what has just happened but you can effect what will happen in the future. Its not an easy question to answer, as its not a one size fits all remedy, but the key to all of this is being completely honest with yourself, if its your fault- then own it."
VisionTrack.com
Michael Laverty
Rich Energy British Mini Bikes Championship
Neil Hodgson 100