Sam Muldoon isn’t one to give up easily.
The Cronulla rider will make his Australian Superbike Championship debut next weekend at Phillip Island in round one of the new season.
But it has taken an incredible amount of determination for Muldoon just to make the starting line.
The 29-year-old lost a finger last year racing in the Australasia Formula Extreme Series after a bad crash at the Queensland Raceway midway through the season. Heading into a left-hand turn, the nose of Muldoon’s bike speared into the ground, with his handlebar crushing his hand.
Muldoon eventually made the decision to have the finger amputated – and get back to racing.
It was that strength to fight back from adversity that helped Muldoon land a new sponsor, local Caringbah company Twin Connect.
A chance meeting in the gym ended with the company’s owners offering Muldoon a vital sponsorship which will allow him to compete in the desperately difficult financial side of the sport.
“It’s extremely hard, [the financial side] is a bottomless pit, really,” Muldoon said.
“It was just me and dad doing it and it’s hard to compete against the factory teams and guys with all that experience. Dad is a good engine builder but the top teams are investing so much money into machines. You’ve got to know set ups, there’s so many different variables that equate to a tenth of a second which is the difference between winning and losing.
“It’s hard to make up that difference if you don’t know how. I always felt pretty helpless.
“[The sponsorship has] made it actually possible. I wouldn’t be doing SBK [without Twin Connect].
“[Your dedication] has to be unquestionable. You’re all in or you’re not. If you want to win there’s no shortcuts. [My goal is] to win.”
Next weekend is also a combined event with the Superbike World Championship.