"I was having parties in BSB, it blew people’s minds" – Scott Redding

Scott Redding has joked he was ‘blowing people’s minds’ by having late night parties in the British Superbike Championship paddock the day before he’d come out and be winning races and ultimately the title.

The former MotoGP rider, who will step up to the WorldSBK Championship in 2020 with the Aruba.it Ducati team, says he was eager to enjoy his renewed success after spending several years becoming disillusioned by motorcycle racing on uncompetitive MotoGP machinery.

As such, Redding admits he could ‘be himself’ by holding parties in the MotoGP paddock and still get the results come Sunday.

“When I went to BSB it was blowing people’s minds,” he told the official WorldSBK website in an interview. “I was staying out late at night, having parties in the motorhome, everyone having fun, dancing around – and winning the next day! People couldn’t get their heads around it!

“Last year was so clear, I could be myself and still get results. I don’t want to change that. I want to show people how you can be and still be successful.”

Whether he is able to maintain the same kind of lifestyle at WorldSBK remains to be seen, but Redding insists he is committed, as demonstrated by his return from injury in 2019.

“I do work hard, I still train. I broke ligaments in my leg last January; one month out. After three days training, I broke my femur. The team said: ‘you ain’t much use to us, see you later’, but I went: ‘hold up, I’ll be back for the first test’. It was in three weeks, but I didn’t care. Doctors said I needed 8-9 weeks. I didn’t have 8-9 weeks! I needed three weeks to be back. That was my mindset. I could only just about walk, but I could do it.”

Redding also gave his new Ducati counterpart Chaz Davies a sincere thumbs up, labelling him as a ‘good team-mate… unlike the ‘d***head team-mates’ he’s had in the past (mentioning no names).

“I’ve had some d***head teammates and I’ve had some good teammates. It’s one of those things. Off-track, we can be civil; if I beat you, shake my hand and say, ‘well done’, because if you beat me, I’ll do the same. Some riders can’t do that, and we don’t get along well, but most of my teammates have been, within range, pretty okay.”