{"id":41313,"date":"2015-07-15T16:07:03","date_gmt":"2015-07-15T15:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.influx.co.uk\/?p=41313"},"modified":"2023-08-11T10:54:44","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T09:54:44","slug":"tai-woffinden-chasing-the-dirt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/bikes\/tai-woffinden-chasing-the-dirt\/","title":{"rendered":"Tai Woffinden: Chasing the Dirt"},"content":{"rendered":"

I got into speedway when I was really young. The thing I enjoy most about the sport is the Adrenaline.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m riding a 500 cc bike with no brakes and I\u2019m trying to ride the bike as fast as I can. That\u2019s what keeps me going. It might look simple but in fact speedway is one of the most complex motor sports because you’re trying to deal with the wheel spinning. In every other motor sport you\u2019re trying to get the power down to the ground. We don\u2019t have any traction control on these bikes. We don\u2019t have any technology to help us. It\u2019s just about you and your sensitivity and your skill. That\u2019s what I love so much about speedway.<\/p>\n

\"Tai<\/a><\/figure>\n

Because of this, the sport doesn\u2019t compare to anything. I\u2019ve had mates who are high level superbike riders and motocross riders who, after a few laps of the speedway track, can\u2019t stress enough how awkward, uncomfortable speedway is. I think I put my success in this difficult sport to simple hard work. When we first came back to England to live when I was in my teens, we had nothing. We lived in a caravan, trying to race anywhere and everywhere we could. Now I\u2019ve got two houses and nice cars and things have changed for us. I\u2019ve achieved these things because of all the hard work I\u2019ve had to put in. It makes you appreciate everything that much more when you start like this. Now I can have most things that I want and it feels that much sweeter.<\/p>\n

\"Tai<\/a><\/figure>\n

That is why winning is important for me. If you\u2019re not winning, then times are tough. When everything is working then everything seems so easy. When it\u2019s not, it\u2019s so hard. There doesn\u2019t seem to be any in-between. Whether it\u2019s mechanical problems or problems with your bike or you\u2019re not focussed enough, you\u2019re not eating properly, you\u2019re not training enough, everything seems out of shape. There are so many different aspects of things that can go right, and an equal number of things that can go wrong. It\u2019s a thousand piece puzzle. If you want to be the best you\u2019ve got to have every single piece in place.<\/p>\n

Being British champion three years in a row is awesome. Winning the hat-trick at Wolverhampton in June was another step towards becoming better, improving myself. I planned to take that on to the British GP at the Millennium Stadium on July 4, but unfortunately though and I really enjoyed the weekend, it didn\u2019t go right for me on the night. That race meeting was the biggest by far on the event calendar. It\u2019s an amazing atmosphere; it\u2019s a whole different level to any other event I\u2019ve been to. Seeing the amazing crowds in Cardiff, both on the street and in the stadium, tells me that it\u2019s possible for Speedway to get back to being as popular as it was in the 1970s & 1980s.<\/p>\n

\"Tai's<\/a><\/figure>\n

I\u2019m pretty chilled out before a race. Having my fianc\u00e9e Faye around is brilliant. Because of her personality she calms me down, though I\u2019m pretty chilled out generally. If I am in a bad mood she\u2019ll get me out of it. I\u2019m not sure if that\u2019s because of my upbringing in Western Australia, but we used to go surfing all the time. Then I\u2019d race, and then I\u2019d watch the clock to see when it was time to go surfing again. When you drop into the wave and you\u2019re sitting in the barrel and you\u2019re carving up and down in there it\u2019s so smooth and you haven’t got to think about anything, it\u2019s just happening there, right in the here and now, that\u2019s where I\u2019m at now on the track.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not thinking about anything else but riding to the best of my ability.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\t