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SBK, Scott Redding, Aruba-Ducati’s new rider: “Parties, fun, dancing – and then win the next day!"”

Scott speaks: "I don't want to appear what I’m not; I want to show that you can win without being a robot"

SBK: Scott Redding, Aruba-Ducati’s new rider: “Parties, fun, dancing – and then win the next day!"”

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Strange as it might seem, Scott Redding will be a World Superbike rookie on the Ducati Panigale V4 this coming season. With the departure of Alvaro Bautista, who joined Honda, the British rider will have the task of showing what he and the red bike are capable of after last season's triumph in BSB. Dumped from MotoGP, back home in the UK Scott had an opportunity to relaunch his career, and he did it so well that he has now become a factory rider in World Superbike.

Just a few days before the Jerez tests, the new Aruba rider has been speaking about himself to the official WSBK website, taking stock of these years on the track and not only. Redding comes back to Ducati after winning at home, even though the start of this latest adventure was certainly not an easy one going back one year ago: “I broke ligaments in my leg last January; one month out,” he remembers. “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.”

For sure, Scott is a genuine character, who doesn’t mince his words and is a straight talker. On social media he is particularly active and doesn’t like to keep a low profile: “People would say that I should vlog, that I’m a character Scott continues in the interview - 80% [of what I do] I can’t show you! People want to see that. I’m trying to show to people that you don’t have to be this square robot, that can’t do anything to be successful.”

With the Panigale V4 he will have the task of making his and the Ducati fans dream of success, as he did in BSB. It was a unique environment, one that Scott remembers with affection: “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!”

Just don’t ask him to be what he's not: “I don’t want to change that. I want to show people how you can be and still be successful.”

In the Aruba team, the British rider will have a new teammate to share the box with, namely Chaz Davies: “I’ve known him for a few years. I used to race on his kart track when I was younger” he revealed. “He used to hand trophies out to me! We get along really well. I really like the kid, he’s down-to-earth, normal, no ego. I can’t say a bad word about him at all.”

Scott will also want everyone to follow his on-track performance, just like on social media, where his fans follow him with interest: “With the vlogs, it’s probably that mix of hunger/anger of not being able to show myself in MotoGP.”

As well as loving motorcycles, a passion for boxing also flows in his blood: “When I finished racing in 2018, there was a big part of me that thought, if I don’t race, I want to try and make it was a professional boxer. I can’t do the two, so I just do it for fun.”

Translated by Julian Thomas

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