With two disappointing Motorland Aragon race results after opening his second WorldSBK championship account, Aruba Ducati rider Scott Redding found his fortune changed by his own strong decision to go on slick tyres for the final race of the weekend.

The track had been wet, everybody on the grid was unsure, and most went for the perfectly sound choices of intermediates. Redding, looking to recover points and championship position - even at this early stage - knew he had to fo for it in the final race and he won by almost ten seconds as a result.

Game on, despite a fourth in race one and then an eighth in Sunday morning’s ten lap sprint. His choice of wets in the sprint was a mistake in hindsight, as he started well but had to slow as the riders on inters went past.

“This morning was, let’s say 70 per cent team, 30 per cent me,” explained Reddingto bikesportnewscom. “You can imagine we weren’t happy after the race, so then everyone came to the decision that the rider needs to make the choice. Easier said than done!

"I was on the grid and first they said go out with intermediate. So I made two sighting laps with intermediate. I think, fuck me, it’s wet. Then I thought, it’s not so bad. Maybe we go with it. I was on the grid. Tension was building. Everyone changing tyres, everyone talking. Is it going to rain, is it not?

"Tyres out, tyres in, suspension out. I’m thinking, what do I do here? The choice is what makes your result, and you don’t know what the other guys. So do the other guys have slicks or do the other guys have intermediates? I don't know. I was there and I thought, I’ve done two times intermediate in my career, and it’s cost me a result.

"One podium in MotoGP in Sachsenring by two laps, and it cost me in BSB at Brands Hatch. I was sitting there thinking, fuck, fuck, fuck. I went, put the slicks. Slick rear. Put the slick rear, put the slick front. I said, fuck it. Just do it, and that’s it. Let’s just go. I went on for the warmup lap and I thought, this is the one. Just don’t rain and we’re good.”

It turned out that way for him, as he now nestles in third place in the championship behind Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes. Seventeen points adrift, not a potential 27 or worse. It was a tricky race in places, of course as iffy changing conditions always decide.
 
“Started the race, and there was a couple of areas with wet patches. Going onto the back straight where Gerloff almost crashed with Jonny, it was quite wet,” said Redding. “A big slide the first lap and I thought, ‘You need to take it easy.’ It will come to you, but don’t let them get too far.

"Then I started to find my rhythm, but we had a rain setting in the bike. We didn’t have time to change to dry settings. It was full rain with dry tyres. That’s why you got to a rhythm and then you had to kind of stay stable. The only mistakes that could be made was me.

"I had a bike that I’m not really used to riding a wet setting with dry tyres so I was braking and sometimes I was like, why am I not stopping? Come back. But I feel really slow, so I was just trying to be smooth. It was nice to have a gap so then I didn’t have stress.

"I could just kind of manage and not take a risk because you had to really stay in the lines. As soon as you’d go off it was so slippery. In the end we got the win. Good for me. Good for the team. But of course Jonny was second. Always how it goes. Even with a bike underneath his bike he still manages to stay up and come on and finish second.

"That’s just the way the ball rolls at the moment. I’m happy to get the weekend beyond because it was not plain sailing. It was an up-and-down weekend for us. I hope going on to Estoril that we can smooth that out a little bit, find our footing and make good progress.”

The importance of saving his opening weekend with a brave tyre choice and then a perfect completion was clear, as he was well behind Rea after the morning Superpole race.

There’s pressure but what the fuck can you? That’s where I’m at. For this weekend it has been quite difficult. It’s just not been my weekend. I just said, fuck it. Sometimes that’s when you make the right decisions because you go without thinking. You just say, what have I got to lose? I need to make points.

"If I go with the intermediate, I’m going to suffer more than them because I’m heavier. So I might as well just go with the slick and try. Again, it’s a gamble. If it started raining I would have been in trouble. I just put my balls on the tank and said, this has to happen. We got a win, but I didn’t get as many points back that I needed. But at least we got some points back.

We as a team feel better because after the Superpole race everyone was a bit upset with each other because it was a little bit lost why this was happening. This just lifts everyone up a little bit. Let’s put it behind us. We’ll move on to Estoril, and then hopefully we can have a smooth weekend, feel good and build our confidence.”

Redding’s choice of slicks was at variance with almost everybody else, as he found out on the grid.

“When they all pulled the tyre warmers off and I looked round and they were all looking at me shaking their head. I thought, yeah, tell me about it. That’s the exact thing that happened at Brands Hatch. Everyone pulled their warmers off. They were all with wets. The track was wet. The starting line is on an angle.

"Everyone is looking at me shaking. I thought, I’ve seen this before. When I looked back and I saw intermediate, intermediate, I thought, shit. I thought, I’ve fucked it again. But then when we did the sighting lap I just thought, I’ve got it. Don’t do nothing stupid. Don’t try to rush. Don’t try to make a show. Just stay there, make a rhythm, let it dry a bid, and then go. That’s what I did.”

In the end, Redding’s final say in his tyre choice worked out well, but even his own guys were sceptical.

“Yeah. They all just looked at me and said, make your decision. We fucked it up before. We don’t want to make the mistake, which I fully understand. When I said put slicks the eyebrows raised like, what’s he doing now? But we did it and it worked. I hate this condition because the tyre is what makes the result. It worked and I don't want to have to do that again for a while.”

How much did Redding need to win? Just race and see how it goes.
 
“Going into this race, I literally was like, it will be what it will be. There was no pressure. There was too much shit going on, too much like this before. Let’s just get on the grid, get your head down, don’t think about it, and come on top. So I’m happy with that. It feels shit because it doesn’t feel like you’ve won a race. There’s no fans and that. You’re riding round. It feels like you’re on testing. Just riding, no fans, no atmosphere.”