Mahmoud Tannir is a former UAE Sportbike champion; Sport360 will be following his attempts to regain his title with Honda this season.
Every time I’m on the track I want to win. It’s simple as that. There’s nothing less an athlete or team should aim for but the satisfaction of winning. My team, Honda, has been successful finishing second in the past, so now it’s time to aim for victory.
This weekend sees Round Two of this year’s Championship and I’m feeling comfortable despite the calf injury I sustained last month. Even with the occasional discomfort, I want to win and I'm determined to give it my best shot. It’s going to be difficult because of the circumstances but everything is possible.
When I go out on to the track on Friday, I’ll talk to myself. I do this to try and relax my mind; it relieves the stress and allows me to go faster. If I have a nice morning on Friday it will set me up well for the qualifiers and the race itself on Saturday.
Superstition plays quite a major role in my routine – I’ve always been a superstitious person. Before getting on the bike, I like to put my right hand glove on before my left hand glove. I always wear different gloves – red for my right, and white for my left.
Then I stand in front of the bike and kneel down a little bit. It’s like whispering between me and the bike. A little pep talk before I go out and give everything for my team. It gives me the last bit of confidence.
A lot of work has been done in the lead up to this week’s race, which has allowed me to gather more confidence. Race week is always interesting. We set up at the track on Thursday morning and put our branding up on the pit box. Then we talk a bit about what kind of strategy we want to go for this weekend depending on the tack layout.
The only problem is the track condition. Before practice on Thursday, I walked around the track and the cars practicing for the Porsche Cup have laid quite a lot of rubber. Sometimes it’s difficult for superbikes to race on a surface with rubber as it can make the bike quite unstable.
Ian, my crew chief, always has an important impact and gave me some advice to try different levels of pressure for the tyres this week. The beauty of race week is the preparation that goes in to adapt a winning strategy. It’s an opportunity to see what’s working and what needs to be improved. I've been pleased with the practice sessions and everything looking great for the team.
Things change a lot on track so we tend to play with tyre pressure and suspension levels during race week. It’s a chance to iron out problems so they don’t affect us on race day.
Thursday, for example, was used to assess the injury. If I’m sitting on the bike my calf doesn’t bother me, but when I walk, I stretch so it feels bad. It’s one main area that bothers me. When I transition side to side, shifting down mostly with my bike and the gears, then it can be a little painful.
I want to win really badly this weekend. I know I’m very fit. There are differentiations with how success can be achieved. The mind plays an integral factor. I believe it’s 75 percent in your head and 25 percent between you and the bike and the technical aspects of the sport. I try to remind myself I can win races.
Abdulaziz Binladin is the reigning champion here. He’s a very experienced guy and he’s quick. I enjoy battling with him and I hope on Saturday I can challenge him to the end. Being up on that podium inspires me and I'm aiming to be there again this weekend.
