Motorcycle World Champions' Recipe for Success University of Jyväskylä Department
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Nita Korhonen What Makes a Champion? – Motorcycle World Champions' recipe for success University of Jyväskylä Department of Sport Sciences Master´s Thesis Social Sciences of Sport Autumn 2011 UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences Master`s Degree Programme in Sport Science and Management KORHONEN, NITA What Makes a Champion? – Motorcycle World Champions' recipe for success Master´s Thesis, 155 pages (+ appendices 4 pages) Social Sciences of Sport Autumn 2011 ____________________________________________________________________ This thesis explores what are the factors that impact the success in motorcycle racing. The subject is relevant to investigate since there have not been many scientific researches of motorcycle sport and the factors behind the success. Fifty- four motorcycle World Champions and representatives of the six most successful motorcycle sport countries answer to the research question: “What makes a champion in motorcycle sport?” It is also investigated how the society influences the success in motorcycle sport and how the federations and clubs could improve their training programmes. The empirical data was collected by interviewing the experts in the field of elite-level motorcycle sport. The interviews of the World Champions were carried out as structured interviews. The research process was completed by using a mixed method that consisted mostly of qualitative data which was supported by quantitative findings. The information gained from the World Champions was interpreted against societal theories and compared with their cultural and family backgrounds. The results of this thesis show that the main societal factors influencing the success of motorcycle rider are the training possibilities near their home place, a supportive societal environment and previous motorcycle success of the country. The main personal factors influencing the success are competitive personality, passion, flair, good balance and determination of the rider. Key words: motorcycle sport, motorsport, elite-level sport, sport success, cultural and structural factors in sport ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is based on the information gained from the motorcycle World Champions whose names are listed later in this thesis. I would like to thank you all for the time you have spent helping me and sharing the information that has been really important in order to execute this work. This thesis is done for the International Motorcycling Federation FIM. I would like to thank the people helping me most; The CEO of FIM Guy Maitre, HR Manager Brigitte Zufferey, International Technical Commission Coordinator Charles Hennekam, Information Resources Officer Marc Pétrier and Sports Director Ignacio Verneda. The FIM´s Women´s Commission CFM has also provided me with a lot of support and help. I would like to give special thanks to Beaulah Schoeman, Stefy Bau, Susanne Hüttinger, Iris Krämer and Sarah Schilke for their significant help. The CEOs or general secretaries of the most successful federations have been interviewed for this thesis. Thank you Peter Gregory / Great Britain´s Federation, who also did the proof reading of this thesis, Kurt Ljungqvist / Finnish Federation, Stijn Rentmeesters / Belgian Federation, Alberto Rinaldelli / Italian Federation, Andres Somolinos Jr / Spanish Federation and Per Westling / Swedish Federation. Thank you my supervisors and mentors professor Matti Urrila and Dr Hanna Vehmas, as well as researcher Päivi Pirkkalainen and Dr. Tech Pertti Korhonen who have provided me with helpful comments. Finally, thank you Tomi Konttinen, Chief Coach of the Finnish Federation, Ferry Brouwer, Team Manager and owner of Yamaha Classic Racing Team, Sauli Mäkelä, former Chief Coach of the Finnish Federation, Eliane Pscherer, Team Manager and motorcycle racer, Lilamani de Soysa, Youth and Development Manager at European Table Tennis Union, Doctor Monica Lazzarotti, my family and all of you who in one way or another have helped me over the last 1,5 years that I have worked on this thesis. PREFACE When I started to think about the subject for my thesis the first sentence that came into my mind was ”What Makes a Champion”. The fact that the topic of my thesis is from motorcycle world is not coincidence. I have spent all my life within motorcycle sport. My father used to be a professional Road Racing competitor and achieved for example World Championship bronze in 1975. I have been surrounded by motorcycle riders, World Champions and -medallists since I was a child. I have also been fascinated by the sport myself; I tried the bike for the first time when I was about 3 years old, took part in the off-road competition when I was about 5-6 years old and was selected a board member of motorcycle club Konnevesi when I was 17. I have been a sport journalist concentrating in motorsport for years, have written two books about motorsport, and have been a member of Fédération Internationale de Motocyclismes (International Motorcycling Federation) women’s commission since 2006 and a board member of Finnish Motorcycling Federation SML since 2010. The only matter I have regretted is the fact that I have never really tried to compete, I have never found out if I could have succeeded in motorcycle sport. According to some speed reaction competitions I have had extremely good reactivity and according to my driving test supervisor I was a natural talent on handling the motorcycle (I tried a motorcycle for the very first time on my driving test day). Motorcycling has been always a passion to me, I come from the country of motorsport and I have had all the contacts needed around me. But still, how many of these factors come indeed as a heritage from my father, and how many of them are just coincidence? Despite all these qualities needed in racing I could have been really lame motorcycle competitor. Now it is 20 years too late to find out if I could have succeeded or not. But I can still find out what really are the facts that make some people succeed in motorcycle sport. The Sport Science and Management - programme, provided by University of Jyväskylä, has given me an opportunity to investigate this subject scientifically especially from the World Champions point of view. This thesis is also socially significant because the structural and cultural factors influencing the success have been investigated from the perspective of the six most successful motorcycle sport countries. I hope this thesis helps to understand what are the main factors that influence the way to the success. This thesis is written to a person who is aiming to be a top level motorcycle rider, to his or her parents or other supporters and to national federations and motorcycle clubs who want to find out what are the main factors that impact on success in motorcycle sport and how they could improve their training programmes. Even if the main target group are the people already involved in the motorcycle field I hope that I have managed to write and interpret subjects in a way that also a person who is not familiar with the motorcycle sport can understand the sense of the different disciplines and to realize the true nature of this remarkable sport. TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................. 3 PREFACE ............................................................................................................................................... 4 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 8 2 ELITE LEVEL SPORT IN SOCIETY ........................................................................................ 11 3 MOTORCYCLE SPORT IN SOCIETY ...................................................................................... 16 3.1. Fédération IntErnationalE de MotocyclismE ........................................................................ 18 3.2 Road Racing ......................................................................................................................................... 19 3.3 Motocross ............................................................................................................................................. 21 3.4 Trial ......................................................................................................................................................... 22 3.5 Enduro and Cross-Country RalliEs ............................................................................................ 23 3.6 Track Racing ........................................................................................................................................ 25 3.7 WomEn in motorsport .................................................................................................................... 26 3.7.1 WomEn in motorcyclE sport ................................................................................................ 27 3.7.2 WomEn vErsus MEn ................................................................................................................. 29 3.8 Personal factors of motorcyclE rider ........................................................................................ 33 3.8.1 AthlEtE´s pErsonality .............................................................................................................. 33 3.8.2 AthlEtE´s motivation and commitmEnt ..........................................................................