Bryan Staring at Hidden Valley ASBK - Image by Andrew Gosling

Staring with Bryan Staring, July 2017

By Bike Review • 7 years ago

Jul
2017

With so much racing experience in a vast array of championships, with different motorcycles, teams and level of equipment and resources, it has recently dawned on me as to what gives me a kick about competition.

I’ve also realised that ‘competition’ is the key word in the following story. Because it isn’t that I only get a buzz from racing a motorcycle, I can appreciate many different sports, especially the ones I practice weekly. Motocross training, bicycle races and even a tough exam can give me a buzz.

Bryan Staring at Hidden Valley ASBK – Image by Andrew Gosling

The key element in competition is intensity. There can be any number of reasons why the intensity rises in competition, pressure from different influences, the importance of the result, meeting the expectation of sponsors, teams and supporters or it might simply be that you want to beat your best friend, which can cause extreme intensity.

The reason this intensity is appealing is because it puts me in a period of complex concentration, otherwise known as ‘The Zone’. I’m starting to understand that this zone is the meaning to my existence. It’s why I enjoy the activities I do and why I challenge myself, why I prepare myself for competition, why the physical torture of a sporting event can be considered fun.

I love being in the zone. The activity is irrelevant, the significant factor is the intensity of this zone, how much adrenaline will my body produce, how much pain will I inflict on myself, how much I can inflict on my competition and how much can they handle. If forces instantaneous decisions, making very calculated choices in a fraction of a second, hesitate and the opportunity has passed.

In motorcycling if you don’t have the required tools, you can’t arrive deep enough in this zone. This affects results more than anything. If you need to ride with caution or the focus in elsewhere, you’re a passenger on the bike. Racing in the zone is a result of confidence. My new CBR1000RR SP2 put me back in ‘The Zone’. We’re only just getting to know each other and she’s already a pleasure to ride.

Bryan Staring at Hidden Valley ASBK – Image by Andrew Gosling

The latest round of the ASBK championship in Darwin last weekend was a small return to form for me. My ASBK season to date hasn’t gone at all to plan. However, this new bike has given me a fighting chance, and fight is what I intend to do. Anyone with years of racing experience will understand how difficult it can be to race a new motorcycle for the first time, it is such a credit to my Crankt Protein Honda racing team that we arrived at Darwin with a motorcycle that I hadn’t ridden in racing form, and achieved a podium result in our first attempt.

My team mate Troy was one position ahead of me in second and as a team we had an unbelievable result. My experience has shown me that ride-by-wire can be a rider’s worst nightmare. Too many electronic rider aids can be exactly the opposite if they’re not functioning correctly.

Troy Herfoss, Josh Waters and Bryan Staring on the podium at Hidden Valley – Image by Andrew Gosling

Usually only after advanced technicians have adjusted the software the bike plays the game as intended. It’s why new motorcycles can often be slower than their predeceasing models. This isn’t the case with the racing electronics on the new SP2. I couldn’t believe how great the software package was even in my first laps. I was confident on this bike from lap 2 of Thursday practice in Darwin.

Three rounds remain in the ASBK championship not including the GP at Phillip Island, we have one month off until our next official ASBK test at Morgan Park, a circuit that gains a lot of vocal attention from the riders. I’ve not seen or ridden the circuit yet, although I’m looking forward to the challenge of something diverse. The race is scheduled for late August and gives me a great excuse to get back to the Gold Coast for some much missed cycling with some old friends.