OFFICIAL PROGRAMME
Another religious person in the paddock is Toprak Razgatlioglu ( Pata Yamaha by Brixx ) who as a devout Muslim also prays before taking to his bike to compete . Otherwise , he has no other particular rituals or routines . Michael Ruben Rinaldi ( Aruba . it Racing – Ducati ) and Alvaro Bautista also just have a particular way to put on boots and gloves , while Razgatlioglu ’ s 2021 team-mate Andrea Locatelli almost always wears , what he himself describes as ‘ crazy socks ’. Jonas Folger and Tom Sykes are both ‘ Music Men .’ When Jonas puts his leathers on he listens to music while doing his stretching in the motorhome , goes to the box to meet the team and then listens to music again while going through laps of the track in his head before he goes out . And he is always a right-glove-on-first man . And he always tightens and checks his helmet strap five times , not once . “ If I do not do that I feel a little strange ,” he says . But what music does he listen to , I can hear you ask ? Eminem , techno and house music , mostly . Sykes uses his MP3 sunglasses on the grid , simply to drown out the noise of the tyre warmer generators , the grid chatter , and so on . His favourite tunes are varied - a couple of Eminem tracks , one from Rhianna , Mumford and sons , Guns ’ n ’ Roses , Metallica . “ Just for me to not listen too much to what is going on all around me ,” said Sykes . As far as true superstitions are concerned Sykes has definite feelings . “ Nothing to me stands out - we are in the wrong game to be superstitious . I always promised myself not to be superstitious because
That ’ s about the only thing , but doesn ’ t have to do with luck .
in motorsport with that mindset if you just didn ’ t do something right and step out onto that bike - if you are superstitious - it is going to play against you ,” said Sykes , a veteran of well over 300 WorldSBK races . He does not get into the final transition to ‘ race Tom ’ from ‘ non-race Tom ’ until the warm-up lap . “ That is me switching over to ‘ game-mode ’” said Sykes . Other riders are there before they even leave the garage . Eugene Laverty ( RC Squadra Corse BMW ), simply because of his nationality , is said to have ‘ the luck of the Irish ’. A four leaf clover in the UK and the Irish Shamrock in general are both seen as good luck symbols , but for Laverty he was of the opposite opinion as a youngster . “ I ’ m not superstitious nowadays but I was in my younger days ,” he said . “ Back then I was convinced that Irish lucky charms were unlucky for me so I refused to have anything to do with them ! However , I knocked it all on the head when it was beginning to interfere with my racing .” Laverty , maybe more than anybody else , explains how any professional racer nowadays uses routine , not ritual or superstition , to simple make that transition from the external world to the highly focused one on the racetrack . “ Routine is key to prevent nerves from creeping in ,” he explained . “ I arrive in the box ten minutes before getting on my bike , take a few minutes to discuss the plan with my crew chief and electronics engineer , then begin putting my ear plugs in with five minutes to go . My left glove goes on before my right but again that ’ s just routine , not superstition . I stand up from my chair and walk to my bike almost on autopilot ready to go to work without an ounce of nerves . That ’ s the power of the subconscious mind .”
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