British Super Bikes Dan Linfoot - Dan The Man
We met up and coming BSB star Dan Linfoot at TopGear Superstore and gave him some interview practice. Dan had driven down from Yorkshire to Bexhill for a couple of hours’ appearance and was then heading straight back up North for more testing. There’s a lot expected of top racers by their sponsors and teams, not just on the track, and it was a pleasure to chat to such an amenable young man.
How did you get to this point in your racing career? In 2003 I started club racing.
I was in the New Era Superteens. In 2004 and 2005 I raced in the British GP125 Championship. Following that I had a season in 250 GP in the World Championship.
I didn’t have a lot of success, but it was great experience. I left the team in 2007 for European Superstock 600. I was 5th in the championship and won 3 races. After that came the chance to work with Rob Mac at Motorpoint Yamaha in British Superbikes. What’s a realistic ambition for you and what are you aiming for this year?
World Superbikes is the place to be at the moment. This season I would be looking for top six places with a few podiums. What’s it like riding with some of the world’s top racing stars?
It’s great mixing with racers who have done it all, like Kagayama.
I followed him round Brands in the first round. He was very loose!
Do you have any superstitions or pre-race routines? Not really, I am ok before racing in that I can sleep, but I tend to wake up early on race day. If I make a mistake, I will go over it again and again in my head. What do you do to keep in trim for racing? A lot of cycling and gym work. You need good core body strength for the superbikes. Do you fancy riding on the road? Not particularly, it’s too dangerous! But I will get my licence through a Yamaha riding scheme.
Is your bike competitive? Pretty good, it’s Camier’s from last season minus a few bits. How do you deal with seeing mates having bad accidents and injuries, does it affect you? You can’t afford to let it get to you. If you did, you couldn’t race at the same level. You just have to get on and do your own job. BSB bikes these days have an array of electronic settings that can be altered during the race, do you use these much? Not much while racing, just to find the best set up in practice. I prefer to not depend too much on the electronics and feel the grip of the tyres. What’s Rob like when you crash one of his bikes?
It depends if it’s my fault and why the crash happened! He’s ok if there was nothing you could do about it, it’s part of racing. www.robmacracing.com for latest news on Dan’s season.