Ding ding, round 1!!!!

Well, lets start this blog by being totally honest, today (race day) was never going to be two race wins starting from 18th on the grid was it.....

Taking a step back to friday though was a different matter, testing down here had gone fantastically well despite losing the last two and a half hours of monday due to bike problems but anyway i felt we were in great shape for the upcoming races. Fridays morning session past without any dramas and for provisional qualifying things were going great, i was P4 so provisional front row but in the last 4 minutes i hit the track to test another rear tyre which should've easily allowed me to improve, the tyre immediately had a bit of chatter but i figured i only had enough time for 1 if not two laps at the most so i thought it'l be fine for those so i pulled the pin, everything was ok until the fast left that builds up speed to the last left one of the most important corners on the circuit, i got on the gas and all was good but as i was lifting up the bike went sideways so violently that immediately i thought oh shit, this is really gonna hurt, mark my words, it did!!!!!

Saturday was a complete disaster, i felt real sore and stiff riding but anyway i felt like i was going real good, that was where the problem was though, i felt about 3 seconds a lap faster but was actually about 2 seconds a lap off my normal race times, bear in mind that my test time was a 1.31.6 on a race tyre yet pole position was a 1.31.2 and that will give you an idea of the kind of pace i had!!!! I actually got knocked out in the 1st superpole having used a qualifying tyre which i was actually 2 10ths slower on than a race tyre and my best time was a 1.32.8, totally crap but like i said that felt like a 1.27!!! I was really struggling to comprehend how fast i'd been and how confident i'd felt before the crash only to find myself wobbling around like i needed L plates!!!!!

Today as i said just didn't go my way at all, in the first race knowing that i'd started from so far back i was a little over keen to make up positions and paid the price by running straight on at the hairpin, i eventually got back on track and got a pretty good rhythm going to catch Neukirchner and Sykes but i eventually finished 14th which i put my hands up for, i was too keen in the early laps and paid the price but roll on race two i thought, totally different mind set, Shakey's back, let's have it!!!

The second race was a little bit more settled, i got a tiny bit held up in the first few laps but eventually i got going ok and was running in 10th, the Johnny Rea came past down the straight and i thought right, there's my target, i could see up front we were catching Crutchlow, Toseland and Corser and i thought ok we started 18th, they started front row, if we catch them for this weekend i'll be happy enough with that, in the end we caught them ok but when we did johnny immediately passed Cal and i got stuck, right i thought, just be patient, there's a good top 10 finish here, with about 2 or 3 laps to go Max Biaggi passed me and i was like b*****ks, that wasn't meant to happen, anyway the four of us got in a right battle but unfortunately i just didn't have the speed to pass Cal, i was more than confident in myself and my rhythm but the problem was i got sucked into their rhythm and that's where it went wrong, Leon Camier passed me and i thought i don't believe this, fortunately i managed to pass him back at turn two but then he flew back passed again towards the end of the lap, i crossed the line P12 which i'm not at all happy about but at the end of the day i think we're back on it, fully, i'm happy with my riding just disappointed with my positions, i ended up battling with guys that will win races this year and i truly believe i'm one of them again now, it could be worse, last year i never finished a single race!!!!

I'd like to say a massive thank you and sorry to my team, i crashed twice this weekend, one massive and one small one this morning, the boys did a good job, i gave them 110% and that's all they ever ask for, they know we will be strong, our time will come, i'm absolutely delighted for Carlos, Genesio (the team owner) and Carlos's side of the garage for his amazing win, he told me after that it was the best race of his life where his bike and everything around him was perfect, like i said i'm made up for them all, i hope that at the next races it's me giving everyone something to cheer about, fingers crossed and full gas, ciao, Shakey #67

An action shot over the top of Lukey heights

Exiting Siberia full gas!!!!

Phillip Island test, day 2

Bit slow updating this i know but anyway but late than never ha ha!!! Day 2 then, well, i'm both happy and unhappy with the overall results, you see in the morning we worked with one type of tyre size as the track was much cooler due to both overnight rain which actually cut our 1st session down from 2 and a half hours to just an hour plus the weather was much cooler in the morning. It would appear there's going to be a couple of possibilities tyre wise and each will depend heavily on the track temperature, we boxed off the cooler temperature tyre in the first session and had a really really good run going about half a second faster than everyone until right at the very end of the session when Michel Fabrizio pipped me by less than a 10th of a second, the two of us remaining well clear of the rest of the field, things had really gone to plan so i was really looking forward to trying the bigger tyre in the afternoon. All things being equal the afternoon session should've been equally as good however as we are fitting new engines for the actual races the bike i had been using was up to mileage so we had to ride the spare bike, this in itself shouldn't be a problem however we had a problem with the bike that meant i probably completed about 15 laps at the most, probably not even that, it's a bit of a shame really as we still had plenty of work to do and a number of things to test with the different tyre but the guys identified the problem after the session and it was fairly terminal, fortunately we have new engines for the upcoming weekend like i said and at the race weekend everyone will be in the same boat tyre wise so we'll keep our fingers crossed, continue working hard from friday until sunday evening and hope that we come away with two strong finishes, i'm very happy generally with the way all three of our tests have gone and can't wait now to start racing....Shakey #67

An action shot from the test, more to follow soon!!!!

Phillip Island test, day 1

Hey guys and girls, hope you're well, just thought i'd bring you up to date on the days proceedings here in Australia where i've had my 1st day of testing. The weather here started out a fair bit cooler than it's been for the past couple of days but true to form it definitely warmed up this afternoon!!! This mornings 2 and a half hour session went ok, it was weird in a way because my guys told me 1st thing just go out and do 5 laps, 4 quite steady because you have a new engine then push a little on the last one, ok i thought, no problem, 4 steady laps cruising around taking in the scenery being quite gentle with the bike and then on the final lap i pushed a bit harder, the problem was that i arrived at all the corners much faster so made a right mess of the lap but when i came in i'd gone P2, bloody hell i thought, this is going to be a walk in the park, ha ha!!!

After that things went down hill a little, we had a few things that we needed to try and worked our way though them before ending the session kind of uncomfortable but about half a second off in 6th place so not the end of the world.

For the afternoon session we had a plan of attack, we had some things to confirm set up wise and a few bits and pieces to back to back test before we could start to push but we worked through them no problem and with about half an hour or so of the session remaining we put some new tyres in and with the bike feeling real good now i went P1 where i stayed until the last 5 minutes or so before finally ending the afternoon session P4. Carlos did a fantastic lap and went 0.4 clear of everybody, god knows where that came from but fair play, i'm feeling much happier after this afternoon session as i know full well we're here on standard tyres yet all the factory teams have development stuff so for me to be realistically .3 of a second off the factory guys i'm really pleased. We've got another days riding tomorrow in which i need to test a few more settings although the forecast is looking decidedly dodgy with a 70% chance of rain which to be honest i could do without right now, i think or at least i hope with another half a day to a day we'll be there or thereabouts, the big big bonus for me is that next weekend everyone will be back on the same tyres so we'll see where we're really at then, right, that's enough for tonight, i'm off for a shower then bed, early start tomorrow as we're out on track at 9am....... Take it easy Shakey #67

More proper pics to come as soon as they're available!!!

Here we go!!!!

Well guys and girls this is it, it seems like just five minutes ago in some ways that we finished riding at the last race in Portimao but whilst the breaks been nice i'm raring to go now!!! Today started with a real early start and a 2 and a half hour drive to Praque airport, that passed without any problems, then we met up with Midlife who brought me down some of my S.I.S energy drink that had been delivered to mums dumped the stuff in our bags then we dumped all our baggage at Gatwick before heading off into London to go to do a recording at the kiss FM studios, the trip there turned into an absolute bloody nightmare and it pretty much worked out that we could of flown from Praque to London and half way back in the time it took us to get from Gatwick to West London, i wasn't impressed i don't mind telling you!!!! Once there i had to do a recording for a promotion that my personal sponsors Express insurance are doing, i don't know if the recording's going onto their website or purely for radio use but you may get to here it if you go onto expressinsurance.co.uk!!!!

Petra and i then got ourselves onto the underground before getting the Gatwick express back to the airport then all we had to do was check in and go right......

Wrong, our Visa's that we had last year expire tomorrow and for some reason the new one's we'd applied for and been granted weren't showing so Emirates couldn't check us in, i immediately got on the phone to my travel agent who said they were done but again Emirates said no....eventually one of their staff called up and got a confirmation number for Petra and i so off we went back to check in and what happened, uh ah, computer says noooooo!!!!

I don't mind admitting that at this point i was starting to get a tiny bit nervous however 10 or 15 minutes later with some kind of government override we finally managed to get it all sorted and got checked in. On a brighter note i'm now sat in the business lounge and just had a lovely sheppards pie and vegetables and finally we can relax, we've got about 40 odd minutes now until we board so for now i'm outta here, i'm gonna do my very best via Twitter and my Blogs to keep you guys and girls 100% up to speed on what's going on so stay tuned ok, Shakey #67!!!

Productive times!!

Hey guys and girls, just another quick message, everything seems to be going to plan, if you remember i stayed home recently rather than travelling straight back to the UK in order to get some training done, i'm feeling really positive about the year ahead and want the 1st races to start with me in tip top condition so this week i've done 4 good days in the gym, 2 runs and two cycle rides, the 2nd of which yesterday went real well, i managed an average speed on my GPS of 20mph which isn't bad going at all. Today, sunday being the day of rest is cool, i'm glad to have a day off but i can't wait to get cracking again tomorrow morning, i'll be hopefully off cycling first thing then back in the gym in the afternoon, we've only got pretty much 5 days left before we have to get sorted and ready to leave for Australia so it's gonna be another full gas week and away we go!!!

Getting a few more miles in the bank yesterday morning......

Nothing to report!!

Not a great deal to report to be honest but I thought I’d give you guys a shout just to say hi!! I’m going to be getting my new Vito back again on Friday and as stupid as it sounds I’m actually really excited about it! After the crash in the old one back in November it seems like ages since we’ve had our own van, the new one should now be fully fettled though, I spoke to Midlife today and he said it’s all ready for collection, mind you he also says he thinks there’s going to be a new Vito coming out around October time so we might be needing to do the big upgrade, I’ll be needing plenty of podiums this year just for the van upgrade!! It sounds daft I know but I can’t imagine us not having a van, it’s perfect for just about everything we need, it takes dogs, motocross bikes, shopping, we even brought my Harley down in the old one and that thing’s 2 meters long and weighs about 2 tonnes!!!, all that with leather seats, car like comfort and economy and the things go like a rocket!! Blimey I’ve just read what I’m typing here and I sound like a Mercedes salesman don’t i?!!!

I’ve had a day off of training today which has been nice, two days running and upper body weights have left me a bit achey, I wasn’t gentle on myself considering I’d not been in the gym for three or four weeks but I’m fully recharged again now and can’t wait until the morning, first thing I want to get out cycling or running, I’ve not made my mind up yet, it kind of depends on the weather then in the afternoon I’ll be off to the gym again back on the case.

I’m just going out in a second to meet up with David Knight, the former World Enduro champion, he’s been down in Spain testing and is on his way back up towards Le Harve so we’ll have a catch up, he won his come back race for KTM at the weekend at the Barcelona indoor Enduro so he’ll be happy with himself, other than that there’s nothing to report so for now I’m gonna checkout, I’ll catch up with you guys soon, take it easy #67

The old van, now the new one should look identical!!