The Trouble with Teammates

“I was going to make it…or I wasn’t,” was how King Kenny Roberts summed up one of his Grand Prix victories in the late seventies.

The three-time 500GP world champion knew the importance of momentum and psychology on a race track better than anyone, and knew that at times, riders need to take a win it or bin it mentality.

That mentality was at the front everyone’s minds as they watched last weekend’s Czech WorldSBK round, where the importance of coming out on top of an internal team battle bubbled under the surface.

On Saturday, Jonathan Rea claimed his 60th career victory, but on Sunday the tensions of four years at Kawasaki overflowed.

Since joining Kawasaki at the start of the 2015 season, Jonathan Rea has amassed three titles and 45 victories.

He was able to assert himself on the Kawasaki Racing Team from the outset, and his success has made KRT gravitate towards him at the expense of his teammate, Tom Sykes.

The 2013 WorldSBK champion has been outshone and outpaced, and on Sunday the tensions boiled over. After numerous on track incidents during the course of their tenure as teammates, at Brno it led to a crash.

Having come close to contact on the opening lap of Race 2, within minutes they clashed again, and Rea was left in the gravel and with his rage clear for all to see, as the triple world champion tried to overtake Sykes on the way through one of the many “S bends” of Brno.

Rea’s momentum from making the move forced his bike wide and on to a dirty track, which allowed Sykes to retake the position.

It was a Czech classic of tit–for-tat that’s been seen many times at this track. The only problem was that the momentum of both bikes left them on a trajectory towards the same piece of track. Contact was inevitable, but it was a racing incident.

Talking to people within the Kawasaki squad, it was clear that the divisions that we’ve seen in recent years have seen a split grow into a chasm.

Whether it is between the riders or engineers, it’s clear that there is a distinct divide within the garage. It’s inevitable that this divide would occur though.

It is very difficult to win a world championship without having a specific mentality and the mindset that you are the best out there.

For three and a half years, Sykes has been beaten round the head with his teammate’s success. It will gnaw away at any rider and affect them, but for a champion, it’s even more pronounced.

In this incident, there should be no blame on either rider, but over the years a clash such as this has been in the making. The ill feelings within Kawasaki boiled over on Sunday, and the reactions afterwards displayed the rawness of their relationship.

In contrast to this, Yamaha has been able to enjoy as harmonious a relationship as possible with teammates.

Just as at Kawasaki, neither Alex Lowes nor Michael van der Mark want to be beaten by the other. Having seen the Dutchman do the double last time out, the pressure was on Lowes to deliver his first career victory.

The win-it-or-bin-it mentality would have been at the front of their minds again in Race 2. As the action unfolded, it was clear to see how much Lowes wanted this victory. He dug deep in the closing stages to grind out a consistent pace, which allowed him to pull away from his teammate.

Riders in that position know that momentum is crucial, and if you are beaten by your teammate again, suddenly the team starts to gravitate towards the other side of the garage.

It’s very easy to feel that you are being left in the cold. Tensions start to build and a harmonious team becomes fractured very quickly. It was crucial for Lowes to claim the 25 points to maintain balance within the team.

At the end of a long 18-lap race, the Englishman took the flag with a confident and commanding win. With three wins from four races for Yamaha, the Japanese manufacturer has proven its potential in 2018, and each win has proved unique and deserved.

In Britain, Lowes was one of the first to congratulate Van der Mark for his success, and that favor was returned in Brno.

To finish first, first you have to finish. If you can’t finish first, finish in front of your teammate is the racing creed.

Intra-team rivalry is tough to manage because tensions will inevitably overflow from time to time. Racers are a rare breed with a unique mindset.

If they’re not winning there’s a reason for it. If their teammate is winning, there’s a reason for it. Yamaha has managed to manage the ambitions of their riders, but in Brno we saw that Kawasaki has a struggle on their hands.

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