Bryan’s Staring Interview | Past, pain, future…

Bryan stares

Racing is a strange mistress. It can hug you and you can sometimes feel like the King of the world. In the next case, she might kick you in the stomach so hard that you fall to the ground with a terrible thud.

For Bryan Staring, 2022 could be described as the year where his mistress smiled at him for most of the year, but then missed the biggest hit until the championship year was over. When the dust had settled, all was quiet and then he was told he had no rides.

The frantic scramble began when it looked like all the slots were filled but Patrick Li threw Bryan a lifeline after Anthony West left the MotoGO team.

Over the past couple of weeks, it has been rumored that Staring has signed with MotoGO, but although he did ride and race bikes at the Hartwell club ring over the weekend, until Sunday afternoon, he hadn’t committed. anything and insisted to anyone who had the courtesy to ask him that he certainly didn’t sign.

Bryan finished third last year at ASBK in a Desmo Sport Ducati, his most successful season in years.

Staring has won national titles in the 125 GP, Supersport and Superbike classes. The only rider to do so. Bryan also tasted success in the 2011 and 2012 Superstock World Championships, coming very close to that title in 2012. Leading the chase into the final round at Magny Cours, he was hooked. extreme conditions, typical of French racing, and crashed. He managed to get ahead in last place and dashed across the pitch to take fourth place overall. Yes, racing is a cruel mistress.

Bryan also completed a season in MotoGP in 2013 on the FTR Honda in the non-competitive CRT second tier, but made his name in the books with 14th place in Catalunya.

From there, he made his way back to the WSBK, first at the top in 2014 in a Kawasaki with Team Grellini before returning to Superstock for 2015 and 16, but that year was disastrous after he He broke his leg during an MX training session. accident. So it went back to Australia, where he joined the Honda team alongside Troy Herfoss for 2017, where he replaced Jamie Stauffer who had left.

Then came another team change in 2018, featuring Kelvin Reilly on BC Performace Kawasaki on Dunlop tyres. I was there for four seasons

You could tell he’d circled the block once or twice and now it looks like he’s going around again.

MCNews.com.au caught up with the Staring at the Hartwell meeting over the weekend.

Mark Bracks: Bryan Staring, it’s great to see you cycling again, is it fun to cycle again?

Bryan stared: “Yeah, I enjoyed my days back on the track, I wasn’t really sure about it – not quite sure either – I basically thought I had the last race of my career, so I don’t expect it to be. This. So I’m glad I went back and it’s right that I won’t come back unless I do.

“So really this weekend was just a test for me, to see that this is what I want, where I want to be and what I want to do. I think it went pretty well, everyone worked together really well and I can see some potential with the package we have. That gives me a little more warmth to commit to moving on.“

Bracksy: So you’re going to do that?

Bryan stared: “Yes, I will line up.”

Bracksy: After talking to you over the weekend…

Stare: “The truth is, I wanted to come here to figure out if this was worth doing and it took a few days anyway, but I think it’s.”

Bracksy: When did you make that decision.

Stare: “I don’t know of a time, certainly, not on the first day, but over the last few days I’ve had enough faith in the people here and I think they have enough faith in me, that they I may have a crack at it.

“I guess the track is one of the hardest places to achieve happiness after a lifetime of trying to achieve, because there is always pressure to do well and the desire to do well, which is really high. So it’s hard, it usually doesn’t go the way you want at the racetrack, and that’s why it’s not always the most exciting place, on tough days. Anyway, those are good days that make up for it all, and I think we’ll have a few of them. So that’s why I’m so happy to be back.”

Bracksy: Like the proportions, not so much for Desmosport Ducati, because it’s a proven pack, but goes back a few years to the days of Kawasaki. When you first started with that, can you recall your thoughts on that, compared to how you feel now, after a few sessions of using the Yamaha?

Stare: “Honestly, they all compare, just because the Ducati package is on paper more competitive, which is not true. Last year when we got here, it took me a whole week to basically finish the lap time I just finished, in a few days.

“So it doesn’t matter which team is putting together the bike, when you come here and start over, the workload seems the same, or always has been, in my opinion.

“Then what resources does the team have and if they have the material they need to figure out some solution to the problems you face along the way, whether it’s just the suspension part or the kit. engine parts or management engine parts, knowledge, experience among employees, all these things that you need to compete in ASBK.

“It is not easy to have a team that can put together a motorcycle capable of leading the Australian championship, it is a very difficult task. That’s why there were only a few people at the front. Can we do it? I don’t know, am I happy to try? Absolute.”

Bracksy: Jonesy told me after Darwin last year, when he had that dice on Ducati and Yamaha, he said according to you, he could understand why it was so hard to drive a Ducati, because as he said ‘ I look where I want the Yamaha to go, where do I have to fight it on Ducati’, now that you’ve jumped on this issue, do you have a similar view on that?

Stare: “Yes I think so. The point is he’s right, every bike has strong characteristics.

“I was able to know where on the track where the men in the Yamaha could pass me, where and how they would have passed if they had passed this lap last year. I understood what attributes the Yamaha had, and where those people could do it, and I could see that my bike, too, had the same characteristics as what the factory guys had was there last year, racing with them.

“That’s ingrained in the engine characteristics, the chassis performance, not all of it down to the people who tune the suspension. The bikes have personality and they do different things well. Jonesy is right, maybe my experience is a little different, in that I mean what the strengths are, but that’s true for everyone..”

Bracksy: Coming to this now, one of your stipulations to be here is to get some satellite team support from Yamaha, so not all Patrick and Radar have to do it all. .

Stare: “Absolutely, I’m ready to walk, I won’t say I’ve given up on the sport but I’m ready...”

Bracksy: You were pretty disappointed, and I can totally sympathize with you…

Stare: “I feel depressed – I don’t expect to be where I am and don’t think I deserve it. But racing has nothing to do with what you deserve, it’s just about what you get yourself.“

Bracksy: But you’ve had a great year.

Stare: “Yeah, I’ve had a great year in the past and ended up in worse positions. Basically, I would only go back and drive if there was a manufacturer behind the racers.

“Because there are many different types of motorcycles I could have ridden, but without the appreciation and respect for the riders at the front of the series, taking risks to achieve results that The producer, the team and the sponsor wanted, For me, to completely reduce my worth and value as a driver who has the ability to stand on the podium, especially the podium at the end of the championship. Enemies are immoral, and I’d rather sit on the sidelines than have other manufacturers lower their prices.”

Bracksy: How many people approach you?

Stare: “Only one couple.”

Bracksy: I know Kelvin said he approached you.

Stare: “Just a couple, it’s not like there are millions of teams here to choose from. Yamaha is completely behind this series, even though they have problems with it. I would say that basically, Yamaha is completely behind the sport and certainly the racers, and I don’t think many other manufacturers can say the same..”

Bracksy: You had a pretty good track record with Yamaha, if I remember correctly.

Stare: “Years passed, now I have relationships with most of the manufacturers, yes. This suit I wear since 2008, 15 years old, have a lot of good memories.”

Bracksy: It still fits!

Stare: “If anything it is a bit loose. There are so many great memories in this suit. In 2009 it had a very successful season.”

Bracksy: Thanks for your time.

ASBK Calendar 2023