Photo: Andy McGechan
SLOAN: Anyone can win mate, you try
finishing 33 seconds behind the leader.
BORIS: It would be 33 minutes in my case,
mate. So what did you do after the race? Put
petrol in the bike and pass out on the pit
floor?
SLOAN: I wish, but it couldn’t all be smooth
sailing. We had about 90 mins to turn the
bike around between races, it was 400
degrees, and because we were so far behind
the eight-ball I still had a stack of changes
to make. We chucked a new set of rubber
at it, raced around the pits scrounging up
some fork springs, S/H brake pads from
Team Suzuki, a new chain, gearing and some
leftover Subway from the Next Gen family,
and went to work. The ten-minute call came
around so quick I didn’t get a chance to catch
my breath let along a few Zs.
BORIS: Mmm… left-over Subway. You really
are living the dream, huh? Is there a thing you
do when the race doesn’t go to plan? Do you
dissect whether it’s the bike or you and make
adjustments accordingly? Like, if it’s the bike
do you turn up the pre-load or something?
There’s not much you can do about yourself
though, is there?
SLOAN: Race plan? You give me too much
credit. But for sure, if you are having a
problem you need to evaluate it instantly
and decide if you can continue and ride
through it or if it’s going to be dangerous and
you need to stop. I had a problem in Race
One where a wheel-speed sensor broke.
The electronics depend heavily on these
sensors and in a turn, as a rider, you rely
heavily on the electronics, so when the TC
just stops, hopefully you are prepared. In
Race Two I knew it was broken so I just rode
with that in mind. Other things like the forks
are bottoming, tyre wear, and so on, are all
things you need to continually assess. But
maybe the most challenging thing as a rider
when things don’t go to plan is trying to find
that excuse.
BORIS: Does your crew say things to you
when the first race doesn’t see you on the
top step of the podium? Do they say stuff to
cheer you up for the next race?
SLOAN: We have a nice balance. My father-
in-law says things like, “Great race! You didn’t
crash! Another one like that and we can go
home happy.”
My Dad says: “WTF was that? Open the
throttle, you dork. You’re lucky Mitch crashed.
Did you see my mate, Troy? Oh nah, you were
too far back.”
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KIWI RIDER 79