On the eve of the 2016 TT, Conor Cummins talks in regards to the win that may define his career and why he's willing to put all of it at the line.

Don't call Conor Cummins a madman. You would be hard pressed to search out a more laidback, likeable character, but as one of the crucial world's best motorcycle road racers and a 10-year veteran of the Isle of Man TT, Cummins is used to having his sanity questioned. And he's getting a little bored with it. 'It annoys me,' says Cummins every week before the beginning of this year's TT, 'but I DON'T BELIEVE people do it intentionally, they simply don't understand what we do.'

What Cummins does is race motorbikes flat-out around road circuits just like the TT within the Isle of Man - 37.73 miles referred to as the Snaefell Mountain Course and one of the crucial world's most unforgiving sporting arenas. The TT doesn't offer run-offs and gravel traps, but trees, walls and homes. The margin for error is infinitesimal and riders can - and do - pay without equal price. 

Cummins was some of the lucky ones, coming back to the game just nine months after a horrific crash within the Senior TT Race in 2010 left him with multiple breaks, a dislocated knee and ligament damage. 

Quitting the game wasn't on his mind though. 'It wasn't going to be a mental decision, it was going to be a physical one,' says Cummins. 'My injuries were that bad there have been some uncertainties. My head was in gear but when your body doesn't allow it there's nothing you'll do.'

The portion of riskThe crash featured within the superb documentary Towards the Edge, which was marketed with the tagline, 'Just because you're breathing doesn't suggest you're alive.' For many people it was their first glimpse of the TT and watching a race could be a very visceral experience, something Cummins appreciates. 

'From the skin looking in you'll be able to totally understand the reaction you get,' he says. 'But together it's like, hang on, we are not monkeys, we all know what we're doing. People must think we're being forced to do it with a gun to our head. We make choices as people do. It's like playing poker, you select to either play this hand or not. Obviously there's still a component of risk but you've made the verdict. For somebody to mention it's madness or that you are mental, I mean you are taking it at the chin but actually, no I'm not, removed from it. Every decision we make, split second decisions, are calculated and that i love it.'

The passion is real. 'We wish to bring the development to the masses,' says Cummins. 'There's the security brigade who're quite happy to leap at the bandwagon and say that is madness and may be banned, but there's danger in every walk of life. You'll be able to collapse the steps! It bloody angers me when people say it will be banned. It's just an insult really.' 

Oil within the bloodRoad racing is in his DNA. His dad, Billy Cummins, contested the TT himself and continues to be racing on the age 53. Conor was born during TT week in 1986 and turned professional in 2006. 'There are a couple of different paths you'll be able to soak up bike racing and i have chosen a unique one to most,' says Cummins. 'The pure road race is a distinct segment thing, not many choose people do it.' 

Cummins started on circuits but soon realised that without big money backers he'd never make it. The street offered him an opportunity to succeed along with his racing ability alone. 'Because I'd grown up with TT and racing at the road, that candle kept getting brighter and brighter,' he says. 'The more I raced I realised it was time to modify over to pure roads and it is a decision I've not regretted once.'

He says he was inspired by the TT racers he watched when he was young and that his greatest achievement was his first TT podium in 2009. 'That was a standout moment for me, coming from the Isle of Man,' says Cummins. 'I've gone from watching the races from a grassy bank to being up at the podium on the best event within the world.' 

Cummins remains to be searching for his first TT win though. And, in a shock move only a fortnight before the 2016 TT he announced he was switching teams, from Jackson Racing to Padgetts Honda. Cummins will now contest the Supersport and Superstock classes with Padgetts and continue to race the Superbike and Senior with the Honda Racing factory team. 

'I wish to win races and be competitive and i have got to do what's right for me,' says Cummins. 'I'm a ticking clock and you've got to make a majority of these decisions to assist your career and that is what I've done. I NEED to move and win races. Road racing is a really dangerous sport, especially at the TT course, and everything should be right.' 

Running on adrenalineSwitching bikes this late is a difficult proposition but Cummins cites the support of his sponsors, friends and team. 'They're the folk that truly matter they usually wouldn't be doing it in the event that they didn't believe in me,' he says. 'I'm really grateful to everyone involved, my sponsor PokerStars, and Honda. I'm really fortunate I HAVE two great teams behind me now that experience given me the tools that I MUST go on and do a role. Hopefully I WILL repay them with some bloody wins!'

One man who's no stranger to winning is Cummins' racing partner at Honda, John McGuiness. He won the PokerStars Senior race last year, setting a brand new outright lap record and equaling Mike Hailwood's all-time record of 7 Senior wins. With 23 TT victories he's now just three off Joey Dunlop's all-time record. There is not even a touch of jealousy though. 'We get on really well,' says Cummins. 'It can be bad if we didn't. I DO KNOW his wife and children and all of us get on. You want that as it gets really stressful around race time.' 

And with race time approaching is that this going to be Cummins' year? 'I hope so,' he says. 'I feel good and i am going into TT week now with some really great tackle. My intention is to win races. It might be nice if I won the PokerStars race, that is the one. The Superbike races are unbelievable too however the Seniors is the one.' 

Cummins says that every one the exertions have been done and that he'll do nothing within the build-up to the TT but relax. That kickback might even involve a game of poker at the present time after Cummins was introduced to the sport through PokerStars, who've been very long time supporters of the TT. PokerStars started sponsoring Cummins in 2008 and he's now played in some big tournaments, similar to the PokerStars sponsored UKIPT event at the Isle of Man. For a person who's used to experiencing the adrenaline highs of clinging to his bike at an ordinary speed of 130mph though, Cummins wasn't expecting the jolt that poker had in store for him. 

'Being perfectly honest, the primary hand that i ever won, the adrenaline rush I got was massive - and I mean massive,' Cummins says. 'I felt on top of the arena. It was quite a surreal experience. I USED TO BE just sat there with cards in my hand, and that i mean that with essentially the most respect on this planet... I COULD NOT believe it.'

And race day itself? 'I'll just sit there being a nervous wreck,' he jokes, before quickly adding, 'no, actually I'm quite calm. Obviously under the skin I'm just a little nervous but that's good as it focuses the mind.' 

He acknowledges that he is going to must push himself even further to assert the win for you to define his career. 'I think the limits have become pushed every year,' he says. 'You've only got to have a look at the speeds. We're just laying it at the line on every occasion we exit there. I FEEL you need to. There's just one thing that's certain within the TT and that is the reason once you throw your leg over the bike you are going to attempt to go as fast as you can.'

The 2016 TT runs May 28 - June 10 within the Isle of Man. Race week starts Saturday, 4 June and the PokerStars Senior TT Race takes places on Friday, 10 June. 

Interested in poker but do not know or remember tips on how to play? Drop in at Poker School Online's five-minute tutorial. 

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com]