Happy Christmas!!!!

Well guys and girls, time for a super quick check in with you all, really and truly it was simply to say that i’d like to wish you all a very happy Christmas, i hope you had a great day, got all the presents you wanted, i know i did!!!! No peace for the wicked this end though, straight back into training tomorrow, got to do something to work off the Christmas dinner Petra cooked us today, i tell you something if Carling did Christmas dinners lol…

Anyway, as i said, hope you all had a great day and lets look forward to a great 2014, talk to you all soon, enjoy the rest of your breaks, Shakey #67 

Signed, sealed, now to deliver!!!!

I'm so so happy to be typing this Blog, I'm actually starting it sat on a plane on route to the Czech Republic as this is about the first chance I've had to sit down for five minutes as I've had a bit of a hectic few days lately but more about that in a minute!!

Things work wise have been all a bit up in the air lately, I've known what I wanted to do for a long long time and fortunately for me I'm in a very fortunate position where my boss Paul Bird simply said I want you to stay riding for me but we'll work out the details once the MotoGP side of things is boxed off, you may remember a while back I said that I might have some news straight after Valencia, well, that was what it was all about, as it turns out it's taken this long for the PBM and I'm guessing Aprilia job to sort itself out but as I said I knew all along Paul had my back so it was all cool as far as I was concerned, there were the usual calls from other teams wanting me for BSB but my first priority and loyalty was to Paul and PBM so those jobs steadily got taken by others.

We'd known for a while that as a team we needed to get out to Spain to test before Christmas, in fact it was something that the team were fairly adamant about, for 2014 BSB is switching to 17 inch wheels to follow WSB and we knew that the wheels had quite an effect of the bikes handling so it was important to get out to try them and get a feel for what they did to my bike.

It's funny you know having a couple of months or whatever it's been since the last race at Brands off how initially you feel a tiny bit rusty, Cartagena isn't the type of track that you get a chance to ease yourself into either, you get about a 4 or 5 second rest up the start finish straight but the rest of the lap is either on the side of the tyre or changing direction so it's pretty physical and relentless, it'd be a great track on a 600 or something but a super bike takes a bit of wrestling around there!!! We spent a few laps getting comfortable around the track again and getting up to speed again which to be honest happened pretty damn quick then after a few exits we fired in the new 17 inch wheels and got to work on getting the bike working good with them, in some respects they were real good but in others I was surprised how similar they were to the outgoing 16.5's, I'm not going to say too much about the differences but I think I can safely say that lap records should be getting broken again next season, especially if my time by the end of the test compared to my time there after 3 days of riding earlier in the year is anything to go by and when I tell you that we lost about 45 minutes of running on the final day due to a technical problem thus not giving me the chance to go for a proper all out lap time I think things will be real good!!

After the test I only got a day or so at home before packing our bags ready to head to Czech Republic to go to see the in laws, this was supposed to be a real relaxing trip with Petra and I even planning a sneaky day and night together in Prague as we enjoyed it there so much last year, however the minute we got to the in laws Petra's sisters boyfriend said casually oh, I've entered a running race on Saturday, it's 10km's and should be pretty good, knowing I hadn't run since early March I said can anyone enter, secretly hoping he'd say no it's a club thing but he said yes for sure so before we'd even got settled in we'd been entered....

Yesterday, we woke up, kept hearing it'll be fine blah blah blah, got in the car with him and a friend, drove to the race and about 2 km from the entrance we started dropping down a big hill, unbeknown to us this was part of the course, as we approached it seemed the closer we got to the parking and starting area the steeper this hill was getting, knowing I'd not run in such a long time I was like Martin, is this some sort of joke, he was like, actually no, I was expecting it to be quite like this, anyway, to cut a long story short, we started went up and up and up, levelled off, dropped down a slight slope then I looked up in front of me and saw the leaders running up a massive flight of steps up into a big church that stood perched on top of a hill, I thought you're shitting me, first run back and this is happening, what made it worse was the fact that I knew we had to do 2 laps, it was hard enough getting up it first time round, god knows what lap 2 was going to be like!!!!

Eventually the 2nd lap passed and heading down towards the finish line I passed a group I'd been chasing for a fair while, not that it meant anything but I was chuffed, then with about 100 odd meters to go I started hearing big thudding footsteps behind me, I thought no, don't be thinking about passing me back, this one guy came past me and as we turned the last turn with about 50 meters to go we both got faster and faster, I gave it absolutely everything and literally just pipped him to the line, I thought you cheeky b word, fancy trying to pip me that close to the finish, mind you I did practically throw up crossing the line, I can honestly say hand on heart I tried lol!!!

I waited for a bit then saw Petra coming towards e end of her race, she did the 10km course too and ended up having a sprint finish with some guy who she too pipped, she actually finished 3rd in her class so I was well proud of her because when I say that was a tough race I really mean it!!

Today we're off to Prague, Petra and i stayed there for 3 days last year and loved it so we're going again, lunchtime we have a coach, we'll get to Prague around 3 then I've booked us a real nice hotel right in the middle of the city near Wenceslas square tonight then a full day of kicking back tomorrow, I'm really looking forward to it!!!

Right I'm gonna check out now, talk to you guys soon, take it easy, Shakey #67

 "

Quick catch up!!!

Thought I'd take this opportunity to fire you guys a quick Blog, admittedly there's not a great deal to report right now but I guess a quick catch up anyway won't do any harm!!

Since the season finale back at brands things have been fairly quiet in my little world! we had a trip to Spain for half term which was supposed to be a week off just chilling but ended up turning into a cycling mission, it was nice though in the time that I wasn't on the push bike to really just relax, enjoy my family and enjoy life in general, the fact that the last day in October was 28 degrees and we spent a couple of hours catching rays by the pool helped too lol!!!

I've been hoping to make an announcement for a bit now regarding my plans for 2014, there was a chance I'd be able to do so straight after the final MOTO GP round at Valencia but there's been a few delays, it's not a drama though, I'm fairly certain that everything needed is in place and it's only a matter of time before I can say.

Myself and a good mate of mine brought ourselves some enduro bikes recently and managed to get out on them at a place called Enduroland the other weekend, it's funny you know, we both brought the trickest enduro bikes out there, myself a 300 2 stroke and Wag a 450 4 stroke, both 6 day limited edition ones so they look properly cool, I spent 20 odd minutes running mine in on the road the night before, then we rocked up Sunday morning, unloaded these pristine brand new bikes, rode for about an hour and a half over the course of about 3 hours then loaded back into the van two bikes that looked absolutely nothing like they did when we arrived!! I had such a fun day, it was my first time back on an off road bike in about 2 years and for pretty much the whole week after I was a bit stiff and sore, I'm not sure what hurt the most though, my body form all the silly little crashes I had or my stomach from all the giggling and laughing I was doing riding watching my pals slipping, sliding and falling about all over the place, it truly was a great day and I'm pleased I brought the bike, I even went to the trouble of jet washing it afterwards to see if it was still my bike under all the mud and crap lol, it's at my local dealer now though getting a full fettle up so it should be brand new by the time I collect it from there, I can't wait to get back out on it!!

Talking of the week after that day it was an interesting one for me, I went to see two different personal trainers as I'm right on the case for 2014, I know that if I just do what I normally do I'll start the season in good shape but I want to start next year in the best shape ever so it was important to enlist some help!!, Monday morning after the enduro riding I went over to Tunbridge wells for a bit of a fitness test with one of the guys, feeling like I'd been run over by a truck I guess the results were never going to be outstanding but I was pretty happy in all fairness with the way I performed, knowing myself that I've done next to nothing since Assen because of crashes etc I guess this was the worst I was ever likely to be some improvements should come fairly quickly!!

At the end of the week I went up to Kensington to see an other guy and did a work out with him too and that's the route I'm going to follow from here on in so hopefully well definitely we'll be seeing some big gains from the word go, funnily enough I'm sat on the train to Victoria now typing this on route to another torture session lol!!!!

Another pretty cool thing that's happened recently was getting to meet HRH Prince William up at the NEC show, it ended up being a bit of a mission to get it sorted with the organisers of the show claiming they couldn't help at all but then somehow managing to get Bradley Smith an arranged meeting but hey, what goes around and all that, fortunately for me the guys at Ducati UK are good people and the boss there managed to swing it for me, made the introduction and away we went, the Prince I can tell you is a very cool guy, we chatted a bit about Ducati's, riding in general and touched on racing then he wondered off for his look around the stand so that was an absolute honour and I'd like to say a big thanks to Tim Macabee from Ducati for sorting it for me!!

Next week we're off to the Czech Repuplic for just under a week which will be really nice, I love going there because it's so relaxing for me, don't get me wrong I'll be doing a bit of running to keep on top of things but 90% of the time it's kick back and relax! I'm hoping that Petra and I can disappear up to Prague for a day and a night too, I love at city and really enjoyed the three days we had there last year.

Whilst we're over there our dog's off to boot camp, not literally, I took her the other day over to a guy in Tunbridge wells who does residential training for dogs, she's having a two week stay there and basically should come back a far more balanced, calm and obedient dog, at least that's the theory lol, not only that it works well time wise with us going away.

Right, not much further to go now so I'm going to sign off, I'll be catching up with you guys as soon as I can make an announcement which hopefully will be soon, take care guys and girls, Shakey #67 

FINALLY,the Brands Hatch finale!!!

I'm not going to lie, I started typing this Blog during the brands hatch weekend! I got all the way though to qualifying maybe whilst I was there keeping it up to date so I wouldn't have so much left to do once the season finished but then the races happened and I just couldn't bring myself to finish it until now...

What a difference 12 months makes.. That may sound like a bit of a strange way to start a Blog but it's exactly, and I mean exactly what I thought as I turned in to the main entrance at Brands hatch on Thursday afternoon.

Now that difference, it wasn't that I entered through the paddock entrance the year before it was the massive difference to my approach this year compared to last, no, I didn't brake late, hand brake turn into the track lol before you start thinking what on earth is he on about!!

Basically the difference is, 12 months ago, I'd left Silverstone, had a small points lead but almost drove myself cuckoo thinking so so much about everything to do with BSB, sleepless nights, I had a few, constant day dreams, they never stopped, time in the gym was spent wondering or hoping should I say that none of my competitors were training as hard, I wanted it and I wanted it bad but almost too bad as it completely engulfed my life, I was snappy, on edge and not at all happy, pressure which some people talk about in these situations was so heavy that when the saying he looks like he's got the weight of the world on his shoulders, I felt like I had the whole bloody galaxy on mine!!!

This year after Silverstone I left there in a good place, don't get me wrong I left on crutches which was far from ideal but I left there happy, really happy and let's be honest 1 point lead or 10 it didn't really matter, it was always going to be way too close to call so leaving Silverstone I left BSB full stop behind and got on with my life, I spent a lot of time going to physio, a lot of time with my family and a lot of time keeping a very watchful eye on our new puppy who obviously required lots and lots of attention, my body wasn't in a good place in terms of pain from the Assen and  Silverstone crashes but my head, that was cool, getting back to the entrance to Brands hatch now and what that 10 days did for me was make me almost talk to myself or think out loud as I drove into the entrance  "right then, that was a nice break, I guess this is where the Showdown starts" I said or thought at least with a smile on my face and I felt remarkably fresh and happy as I waited for the barrier to go up to let me in!!

From there on in the afternoon turned into a bit of a blur, tv, radio and photos etc saw the afternoon disappear in a flash, roll on Friday!!

Typically, and I mean typically Friday morning conditions were crap, I don't know if mother natures had some sort of BSB vendetta going on but it feels like just about every single first session we've had this year has start either wet or damp, like most with conditions being neither here nor there I sat out most of the session and literally did 2 or 3 laps at then end just to bed in a set of brake pads, talk about productive...not!!!!

For the afternoon session things finally started to dry up, conditions were ok, still a couple of tiny bits that were damp but the track was generally dry, my bike was working good, we obviously had our data from the brands hatch round in August but at the same time things have moved on a little since then too, we made a few little changes to the setting we started on throughout the session and towards the end threw a new pair of tyres at the job and despite a scrappy lap I did a time only 0.3 off of my qualifying time in August and was the only rider in the 1.25's 4 10th's clear of the rest, needless to say there was still a bit of work to be done but it was certainly a good start to what we hoped would be a dry weekend...

Unfortunately Mother Nature decided once again that it would be a good time to intervene, Saturday morning conditions were crap again, we went out and did some laps in order to have a direction by the time qualifying came around, the session went ok but I couldn't help but wish that things would dry out for qualifying..

Throughout qualifying it seemed the track was constantly changing and a combination of bright sun in places onto soaking wet tarmac made things even more tricky, we constantly throughout all three sessions had to change the bike to suit and eventually had a decent enough setting that enabled me to qualify on the front row of the grid in P2 which I was pretty happy about to say the least!! 

Being a triple header weekend it seemed like no time whatsoever before we were ling up on the grid for race one, the conditions were horrible, it seemed that the one thing that nobody from the organisers, the fans, the teams or riders wanted was going to happen, there was a very strong chance that the championship after all the great racing we'd had could potentially be decided by a correct tyre choice.

As the lights went out I got a good start and lead into turn one, immediately I lost a place to Josh, I thought this was going to suit us better sitting in behind him and I just thought you crack on, to basically cut a long story short I ended up third, basically when the track was wet the bike was good but as conditions started drying up as the race went on the bike kind of went away from me, sitting in the post race press conference it was interesting listening to Josh and Alex, it seems Josh was in a similar situation to me, when the track was real wet his bike was great as was mine but as the track dried out a bit we both started to struggle, Alex however was the opposite, he sat behind me for the majority of the race initially struggling but as the track dried out his bike setting started working better, with a few laps to go he passed me and at that point in time there wasn't anything left in the locker to fight him with.... 

For morning warm up the next day we made some pretty big changes to the bike, fortunately it was proper wet unlike the day before so it was a good chance to find a proper wet setting, I ended that session P1 by nearly a second so whilst I was hoping it was going to be dry I guess full wet wouldn't be so bad either!

Typically the weather messed about, nearly drying up, the sun even making the odd appearance then it would pour hard for a few minutes and ruin everything again.

I started race 2 from 3rd place so still on the front row and again got another good start, conditions this time were, how can I say, a bit more sketchy, to the point that I actually went out on the sighting lap on intermediate tyres because I figured that if the rain held off towards the end of the race they'd come into their own, the only trouble was on the sighting lap the track was still pretty wet in places and intermediate tyres are basically slick ie dry tyres with a few cuts in them so you can probably imagine what that did grip wise lol, I sat on the grid to the last possible minute trying to make a tyre decision, if the rain held off maybe inters would work but if it rained again which looked fairly likely you'd be snookered, oh well, not like this race was important!!! In the end I semi gambled and went wet front intermediate rear, let's suck it and see....

Mother Nature or mother F****r as I was aptly naming her at the time was once again playing her part in between races, why on earth she couldn't just take a day off and leave the sunshine with us I'll never know!!

Once again I got a good start and lead into turn one, I was pretty steady on the way in and got passed fairly quickly by Josh, the 1st laps were awful, I mean awful, it was pretty much all I could do to stay on the bike, I got a sign on my pit board saying Lowes out and couldn't believe it, I was going backwards pretty rapidly and every section of the track was a battle, I felt like a cross between a blind man, a man with no feeling in his arms and hands and a complete circuit rookie riding around, I'd already dropped to 8th when half way around Druids the rear of the bike came round on me and this time there was no way of saving it and down I went, do you know what though at that point whilst I was obviously very annoyed I wasn't bothered, all I could think and I mean all I could think was please god let the last race be dry, let us battle head to head, I want to win this thing and sketchy conditions or a correct tyre choice shouldn't determine the outcome of what's been either way a fantastic season of racing....

So then, the final race of the year, rules definitely worked against me BIG TIME, Alex who crashed on the opening lap and never even set a lap time was 8th on the grid but with me being so useless in the 2nd race I was starting on the 7th row, they might just as well have put me back in Swanley lol, ironically Nori was back there too, the two of us sandwiched Jenny Tinmouth on the grid!!!

My prayers weren't answered at all weather wise. Again, the track was pretty wet, again a change of setting to try to get the best of both worlds from the bike, a bike that would hopefully be good if it stayed properly wet but wouldn't fall to pieces if it went damp rather than full wet, this was it baby, let's do this!!

Sitting there at the back of the grid I never had the slightest element of doubt, in fact if anything I was super positive, I wanted this 4th title and sure it wasn't going to be easy from where I was on the grid but hey if BSB was meant to be easy then you'd be able to collect tokens and post of for the title, I knew I had to just keep my nose clean for the 1st lap then make up as much time as possible as soon as possible, I had to beat Alex and Alex had to beat me, whoever did, well, you do the maths!! The lights went out and we were away, I got a good initial launch and was steady up into and through Paddock, I'd made quite a few places already but there was quite a lot of spray, I took no notice whatsoever of the riders I was passing, through the spray I just kept looking for that Blue number 22, rider after rider I kept passing and eventually I could see him in a bunch, lap after lap I got closer, my pace was real good and I was feeling confident, eventually I passed him and I thought to myself right concentrate, concentrate like you never concentrated before, come on, let's do this, a few laps later for the first time in the whole race I looked at my pit board and it said P2, it dawned on me then that the difference in points between 2nd and 3rd would make me champion, I never even knew we were that far up the order, I was thinking there would be another group further up the track, despite lapping faster and faster I wasn't breaking Alex, my pitboard just kept reading +0 Lowes, I had there horrible thoughts about Saturdays race where he sat behind then pulled the pin at the end, I knew though that I was doing all I could and concentrated on not making any mistakes, with a couple of laps to go Alex came past, at that point a question from a journalist after Saturdays race "if that was the last race on Sunday to determine the championship could you or would you have tried to go with Alex?" My answer, "what do you think in a very disgruntled tone, do you think I'd give it way!!!???"

Alex did up the pace but so did I, so much in fact that the pair of us lapped over a second a lap faster than eventual winner Josh Brooke's, I was on Alex and was far from done, on the last couple of laps we WERE both on the ABSOLUTE LIMIT, Alex was making tiny mistakes and so was I, I had a plan for the last lap, I knew where I could be strong but going up into Druids I got in a tiny bit hot and for a fraction of a second I lost the front and went slightly wide meaning I couldn't get back on the gas, my plan was still to have a to out  the back of the track, I pushed really hard, in fact a little too hard into Surtees to make up some of the time I'd lost at Druids and again went a tiny bit wide, eventually Alex had enough to hold it together over the line and that was it, my dream 4th title gone.

I stopped with him at the bottom of Paddock hill to congratulate him and the 1st thing he said was Sorry!!! I laughed with him and said fair play mate, hats off, you did it today and I'm proud of you, I rode back to the pits gutted, absolutely gutted, if given this whole year my absolute all and a sketchy final day saw all that hard work go out of the window, I couldn't care less if I was 2nd or 10th, I f I haven't won I simply don't care. 

My team were great in park ferme, I apologised and told them I truly couldn't have done more and my crew chief replied, mate, we couldn't have asked for more, great job.

I'd like to now thank everyone that's been involved this year, naming you all will put another 20 minutes on this already month or so overdue blog but you all know who you are! I'm actually going  to sign off now! I'll fire up another Blog real soon, I promise, it's no excuse for this one being so late but it actually broke me finally typing this, I'm sat in a Costa thinking I can't believe I've finally finished this Blog, I've had little stabs at it ever since the season finished but every time I did I couldn't bring myself to type the bit about losing the title, here, finally it is, thanks everyone for taking the time to read it and despite scoring the most points again this year sorry to all my fans for not bringing home the prize, I can promise you hand on heart I tried!!!!

Take it easy guys and girls, talk to you soon Shakey #67 

Silverstone!!!

Believe it or not I couldn't wait for Silverstone to come around, it's strange though because whilst I was so so keen to get there as soon as humanly possible to get back on track I was also trying to slow down going as much as possible too as physio and getting back into training after the crash took a little bit more than I'd expected, don't get me wrong, I drove up feeling almost new but living day to day and racing a superbike are quite different lol!!!

On the Thursday before the event the organisers treated Alex, James and myself to another play in the Nissan GTR's around the track and I have to say it was something I was looking forward to, bearing in mind that the track was wet I could not believe how hard you could drive the things, the grip was unreal and the whole thing while it only last about 15 minutes or so was good fun!!

Things got off to a bit of an iffy start on Friday morning, I was laying in bed sparko when I kind of wore a bit to what sounded like someone sand blasting the motorhome roof, as I came around more I realised it was raining HARD, all I could think was can we not have just one completely dry race weekend this year!!

Fridays first session was of course wet, a few guys went out initially but we sat the session out until the last 20 minutes as the lap times weren't great anyway, I ended up doing just 5 pr 6 laps for two reasons mainly, 1st I had a brand new bike because the other was written off at Assen and 2nd If I didn't ride and Sunday we got rain there'd be no more wet practice as the morning session was wet, the bike felt fine as a bike but our wet setting wasn't very good so I just did the laps and got a feel for the track knowing what we'd need to change but not doing it with 5 minutes or so to go in the session.

Fortunately the afternoon session whilst not perfect was pretty much dry, that gave us a chance to get some dry laps in, lap times weren't especially spectacular but with a few damp patches here and there and the fact it was only Friday afternoon I didn't want to be firing the bike at the scenery when the rest of the weekend was forecast dry!!

Saturday morning however, well thats a whole new story, the track was dry but pretty cool temperature wise, I waited a few minutes before heading out and as soon as the boys improved on their lap times from the previous day I headed out, my bike immediately felt much better than the day before, so much better in fact that my first flying lap was something like 1.5 or 2 seconds a lap faster!!, that fast in fact that when my lap time popped up on my dash I almost had to do a double take!!,my next lap was a bit off but then I was straight back into good lap times, I was +1.5 seconds per lap on everyone else and consistent too, but then, then it all went wrong, I approached the complex on another real good lap got through the left, perfect, accelerate out, perfect,close the throttle into Luffield then peel in, the next thing I know I'm in a whole world of pain laying in the gravel trap, basically as I chopped the throttle and flicked the bike in the rear of the bike decided to try to overtake the front then gripped flicking me HIGH over the high side and into the gravel, t not what you need!!!

Somehow straight after the crash I found myself instantly in the medical centre but from there on in the world seemed to hit the fast forward button, initially I didn't feel terrible, don't get me wrong I was hurt but seemed to have things under control but then, then I tried to stand up and put weight on my right leg, that's when it hit me, maybe like one of those taser gun things, a shock of lightning up through my groin and into my spine, it completely done me the 1st time it hit, the most intense sharp short pain ever, sat normally I couldn't really feel it, but my foot down again and BANG, there it was, this wasn't cool!!

Eventually after x rays etc on my pelvis and spine the medics after me pleading agreed to let me qualify, that fast forward thing I mentioned saw the pleading happen about 30 minutes before qualifying!!

My first qualifying lap was something else, I've never felt so useless on a bike, so sore, so tight, so painful just to move, fortunately though Q1 and 2 went ok, then I just had to bite the screen for the final effort and managed to produce a lap fast enough to qualify P2, I think it's fair to say that was a pretty good effort!!!

After savage amounts of physio, a half hour session on my turbo trainer and a hot bath in one of the team guys hotel room I got my head down for the night but the morning wasn't good, straight back to physio before morning warm up, just two or three laps in the warm up session then another load of physio and before I knew it I was sat on the grid ready for the start of race 1..

I managed a good start of P2 and lead through the Sthil power award, Alex as I fully expected passed me going into Stowe at the end of the back straight which for me was perfect, I know he has real good pace around that place so if I concentrated hard and tried to forget about how much I was hurting then I hoped I'd be able to go with him and maybe get dragged away from the rest of the guys, there was a point about half way maybe through the race where I started loosing a bit of concentration and making the odd mistake, I was starting to struggle on the bike, moving around and being mobile enough to catch slides or move my body into whatever positions necessary was getting hard, I couldn't help but think I CANNOT give up on this, this is a championship on the line here, fortunately for me whilst Alex was setting a bloody good pace I was able to go with him, that did eventually drag us both away from the rest and as soon as I saw his bike starting to move and slide about a bit I thought I'm gonna be there or thereabouts for this race, all of a sudden it was like a dose of painkiller in me!! That last lap was mega, Alex and I passed each other a couple of times then on the run to the line I got alongside him, we went through the final turn side by side, 5th gear pinned but I knew when not if my rear tyre spun I'd clip him so I had to roll slightly in order to not potentially take us both out and with that I lost to him by a 10th of a second, a result, a race, a finish that given the circumstances I was over the moon with, having watched him for a lot of laps I knew where we needed to improve my bike too so it was, podium, debrief, dinner, physio, power nap, race two! 

Having somehow got the fastest lap in race one I started the 2nd race from Pole position, I got another great start, lead for a lap or 2, got passed by Alex, then back into the lead, then passed by Alex, then back to the lead, it seemed to me that my bike was slightly better due to the settings changes and after a few initial laps of discomfort I seemed to settle in real good, this time we made more of a race of things and I was really enjoying myself, my bike was working great it was just that Alex's strong points seemed to be my weak points and vice versa so when he pulled on me he pulled big then I had to work real hard to get back on him, I lead a bit towards the end of the race and knew it was going to be tough, having made a mistake on the last lap of the first race I really wanted the 2nd one to be better but both of us were on the limit, both having moments everywhere and before I knew it we were back I to Luffield and heading towards the final corner with Alex leading and protecting his line, I thought I'm gonna have to pull something pretty special to win it from here, then Alex dived into the final turn fairly tight to block me so I hung out, hit a late apex pinned to the throttle stop in 5th gear, spun a bit, lifted the bike and managed to JUST pip Alex to the line by 0.0012 of a second but the funny thing was as I Pulled the move I was so excited, so happy that I almost knew it'd got it, I celebrated immediately because to be honest it was such a big move that even if I hadn't won I was over the moon with my effort!!

Sure enough on the slowdown lap I saw I had the win, and saw the margin, I was ecstatic, as I rode back along the Brooklands straight I stopped to thank all the medics and physio staff that had done so so much for me since Saturday morning then as I got to Luffield the crowd erupted, I was so so happy and if you were amongst them then please accept my gratitude for all your support over the weekend.

I really gave it my all to try to keep this thing going, Brands is gonna be tough but if I have as much fun riding as the two showdown rounds we've had so far then you guys are in for a big treat if you're coming to the finale!!

For now though it's gonna be some full on physio sessions to try to get myself back in the best shape possible before brands hatch, hopefully see you there! take it easy guys and girls! Shakey #67

Assen.. Let the games begin!!!!!

Well... He we are, the show down.. It's funny you know because having been on both the good and the bad sides of the showdown I'm actually feeling remarkably relaxed this time around, I guess that looking at it realistically I had a decent lead in the normal part of the championship and that's been recently whittled down a little but as it stands I now have just a 6 point lead in the championship because of my podium credits so I simply have to treat these next three rounds exactly as I have the rest of the rounds so far this year, work hard on Friday, ride fast on Saturday for a good grid spot then try to win races on the Sunday, simples!!!!

We had a test on the Wednesday before Assen at Snetterton, a track that for one reason or another doesn't seem to suit our bike so well and despite the track being really slippery for some unknown reason it was a good chance to test and try things that you just wouldn't want to risk trying in a 40 minute BSB session, I managed about 8 laps around there with my new team mate Nori Haga and both of us got through a rake of stuff.

Typically moving forward Friday morning was a bit damp to start, I actually missed the first 15 minutes or so of the session as the lap times were way off what they should've been so we sat and waited, when I finally got out the track was pretty much dry so work started from en on in. I really like the Assen circuit, it's great fun to ride, fortunately my bike felt pretty good, I knew we would need to improve a bit in some key areas but for a first free practice it was steady away!!

For the afternoon the team had made some changes to the bike, basically in the morning session the bike was great on the front end but running wide on corner exit and in the afternoon we over compensated a little and the bike felt a bit nervous on the front but the rear felt solid so the thing held a line like its life depended on it, however been so solid I lost a lot of side grip and feeling from the rear tyre so Saturday morning would see some more changes!!!  

To say that Saturday free practice went well is a bit of an understatement, my first flying lap put me P1 then the following lap I went half a second faster again, the changes the team had made to the bike had definitely improved it, I'd found a second a lap overnight and felt really comfy doing the times, in fact I managed an 8 or 9 lap run all I'm the 37's so I was made up with life, I lead the whole session but after pitting to make some small changes I had a problem with the bike and had to sit out the final 8 minutes of the session while the boys fixed it but it was all good!!

Qualifying went really well, we were still making changes to the bike all the way through the sessions and in Q3 the important one I came round after my first flying lap and did a 1.36.6, I was chuffed to bits with that having qualified last year on a 1.38.3, I had a stab at another lap but made a mistake exiting the hairpin and whilst it was still a 36 it was slightly slower, Alex managed an incredible lap, 2 or 3 tenths quicker than me so fair play to him for that but having seen my race rhythm earlier in the day then qualifying a close 2nd to Alex I was in a very good frame of mind to say the least!!!

We knew that from qualifying we could still improve the bike a little bit so we tried a different setting in morning warm up but somewhat typically for us while the bike was better for me in certain areas and indeed the main area that we made the changes for in the first place namely braking and corner entry stability it quite dramatically affected the bike in a big way in other areas which meant that the negatives unfortunately outweighed the positives about 70/30% so it would be back to qualifying's settings for race 1!!!

As has been the case pretty much all year I got a good start as the lights went out, I did however slightly mess up my braking for turn 1 allowing Alex to nip up the inside, that pushed me a tiny bit wide and I lost another place, quickly however I got it all together and settled in nicely!! 

After a few laps I started to make some moves and eventually I found myself at the front, I felt real comfortable at the pace I was running and although I had +0 on my pit board I figured there was no point driving myself mad and using up my rear tyre trying to brake away as no matter what lap times I was doing I wasn't making any head way in that respect, Alex came past me eventually and I sat behind him realising he didn't seem to be able to go any faster so I passed him back, then with a lap and a half to go he passed me again so I thought right, it's on now!!! We had so much fun on that last lap and must have passed each other ten times, it was great, the only problem was he ran up the inside of me at the penultimate turn and in turn ran a bit wide which left me no opportunity to pass straight back again so after trying to get a run on him though the final chicane I ended up second. 

For race two we had a little bit of a plan, no major changes just a few little tweaks to hopefully improve the bike just a little, as the lights went out this time I got a great start AND never messed up my braking into turn 1, I lead past the Sthil power award board too which is good as I'm currently leading that little challenge, funny how a £500 power tools voucher can get you all excited isn't it lol!!!

I lead for the first lap or so then Alex came past but I soon re passed him and the scene was set for another Assen battle, unfortunately though on lap 4 Alex attempted a run on me up the inside at the FAST turn 15 but the gap just wasn't there and he hit the side of my bike at the back so hard that it literally knocked me straight off the bike at 270km/h according to the data on my bike, now as strange as this might sound literally the instant it happened all I could think about was John Hopkins and Toni Elias who both crashed at that exact same spot and both broke their legs badly, I was literally sliding along thinking slow down, slow down, needless to say I eventually hit the gravel, rolled over what felt like 20 times and eventually came to a stop, now obviously at this point I didn't even know what had happened, there were no other bikes there, no other riders yet I knew I must've been hit because I certainly hadn't made a mistake..

Eventually I ended up in the medical centre and heard what actually happened, i already felt like I'd been run over by about four trucks, slugged it out for 12 rounds with Mike Tyson and knew I'd hurt my left leg which as well as being as dead as a dodo had a cut across the back of it, I couldn't see the race anywhere and heard that Alex won and I thought oh no, 24 points, that shit's gonna be tough to pull back but then some guys from my team and my wife came in saying the incident was under investigation, so I'm laying there in the medical centre and the next thing I know the phone rings in there and a medic says it's Stuart Higgs, BSB series director, he says are you ok, to which I replied not really, what happened he said, I replied you tell me!! He replied the incident's under investigation and when you're done in the med centre we all need a meeting, ok I said and that was that..

Myself, my team guys and Alex and some of his team guys along with Stuart, a data logging man, a load of CCTV, some on bike footage then sat down and to cut a long story short went though everything and the final outcome as you'll already know was Alex was excluded from the result, I was neither hoping nor wanting that to be pushed from my side but obviously it keeps my championship alive, I'm now thinking of nothing other than getting myself fixed up and coming back stronger for Silverstone, I genuinely believe Alex when he said he made a mistake, his data logging shows it and without gloating I'm happy about still being in front, now however we have to put all of that behind us and hope for more luck at Silverstone and Brands hatch because I certainly didn't come this far to give up on a 4th BSB title now, everything's crossed now that I'll be as fit and strong as ever when I line up for Silverstone's races, here's hoping we can jump back up on that top step of the podium...... TWICE!!!

Take it easy guys and girls, Shakey #67

Donington park!!

It seemed like a long old time ago since my winless round back at Cadwell park and I'm not gonna lie that winless round was a statistic that I wanted to put to bed as soon as possible, Donington though would be an interesting round as I never got to race there last year because of the shoulder injury at Cadwell so we'd have to wait to see what this year brings!!

The start didn't exactly get off to a flyer, as you will have probably seen on the news there was a MASSIVE 120 odd car pile up right near my house and it threw the surrounding areas into absolute turmoil, I'd planned to leave mid morning, head to Milton Keynes to see the guys at Corley cycles and meet up with a good mate for a coffee then get to Donington, to for a bit of a cycle for a couple of hours or so then drop into race weekend mode, with the accident though that all got thrown clean out the window and I never even got to Donington until around 6pm then it was straight into a Eurosport interview then straight out to dinner with the team and the guys from K Tech!!!

Having arrived in like 29 degrees temperature in shorts I was a bit disappointed to wake Friday morning to the sound of pouring rain, it was that bad in the morning that we never even bothered getting changed into leathers and just watched the session which was a bit of a non event to be honest, it was so frustrating because I just wanted to get out and get riding!!

Things didn't look a whole lot better for the afternoon session but quite a few of the boys headed out onto the track so I left it until about 15 minutes from the end of the session and headed out for a look, initially the bike felt dreadful, Donington however is notoriously slippery in the wet so with that in mind I did a lap or two to bed in some new brake pads then popped back into the pits to make some changes, unfortunately with the time we had left there was no time to make a big enough change as I felt we were quite a long way off setting wise and because of it I was having to ride to about 50 odd % of my wet riding ability but the small change was ever so slightly better so I improved a tiny bit riding wise and finished only 1.4 off of the front which considering how useless I felt I was pretty happy with!!

As you can probably imagine waking Saturday morning to sun shine and a dry track I was in a pretty good mood and really looking forward to getting out on track, free practice 3 actually went really really well, I used one pair of tyres to check race distance duration and for the majority of the session I remained half a second faster than everybody else, right in the dying minutes a bunch of guys fired in a new pair of tyres dropping me to P3 but I was feeling really good and really positive about our performance.

Throughout the qualifying sessions we made a few more little steps with the bike and in all fairness what I asked the team and K tech for they gave me its just that in doing so for the final session when I knew what time I was capable of the changes we made basically just made my bike a little bit too unpredictable, sure, we increased rear grip which was an area we needed to improve but in doing so I felt a step behind the bike the whole time and ultimately it cost me, I was happy enough with P4 thinking that's a front row that'll do only to find out that the organisers have now made Donington for some unknown reason a 3 bike per row grid, I get it at places like Cadwell and Knockhill but Donington... REALLY?????

The other thing which really annoyed me was not making the lap time I thought I had in me but hey, there's no points or podium credits for qualifying so lets get morning warm up out of the way and see what the races bring!!  

Saturday evening we sat down with the team and K tech to make a plan for the following day, we knew we needed to make a step with the bike and it wasn't going to be a click or two of compression or rebound damping so after going through the data together and me explaining my feelings we formulated a cunning plan...

Morning warm up went ok, not great but ok, our bike is quite sensitive to change and typically when we throw something new at it we need time to balance things and maintain the new positives whilst improving any negatives, after warm up k tech and the boys In my team sat down and then came up with a big plan, let me tell you when your crew chief says before the 1st race "right this race day is now going to be one big test" you know they've gone big lol!!!

I got a great start of the 2nd row and slotted straight into 3rd, exiting turn one I went under James Ellison into the top of Craner curves and as soon as I did I thought crikey I'm committed now, I hope these bloody changes work!!!

Fortunately yes was the answer to that question!!, after a few laps getting to grips with the differences the bike just seemed to get better and better and it was almost like I was some sort of novice trying to learn, understand and push the limits as the race wore on, after about 6 or 7 laps I'd found a real good rhythm and had worked out exactly what was what, I knew my strengths and I knew also where I wasn't so good, towards the end of the race with a lap to go I decided to try to make my move, I got into Coppice real good, got turned but then had a big slide being a bit over eager on the throttle so I knew it was all going to come down to the last lap, I lined up for exactly the same manoeuvre, got in good, got turned good, got on the gas good, got a mega run through third gear, just started thinking yes this is gonna work, shifted to 4th and bang, a false neutral, a word beginning with B and ending in ollocks came out rather loud and it was all I could do from there on in to get to the line in 2nd, I was real happy though and definitely had a big smile on my face, believe it or not after a long debrief with my team including the K tech guys I left them to make a plan and was really looking forward to race two!!

For race two the boys had once again made some changes, it's funny you know the whole trust thing, you see if I'd explained my feelings on the bike to myself and came up with the conclusion that my boys did I would have thought no don't be silly but seeing as we'd made such a big improvement since morning warm up I figured I'd just roll with it!!

I got a great start once again and to be honest I could pretty much get away with just saying I went bloody fast, half a second a lap faster than I qualified and 3 or 4 10th"s faster than my best in race 1, I stayed in 2nd pretty much the whole race, managed to pass Alex who lead the whole race on the last lap, get passed back then nearly drag him to the line but ended up 2nd again, that'll pretty much cover it lol!!

To be perfectly honest I was made up after the two races, we weren't in good shape after warm up so I'd like to thank my suspension guys Chris and Nash from K tech, my crew chief Johnny, Keith's crew chief Brains and the teams data guy Angus for all their hard work, I'm gutted I couldn't win one for them but it wasn't for a lack of trying, the boys did great and whilst I'm never happy to not win I've never been happier with two seconds, we earns them that weekend and achieved them through nothing other than hard work and determination!!

Now it's onwards and upwards, the show down is here and my championship lead has been cut due to podium credits to just 6 points, we've got to now treat each race weekend as we have all year, work hard and try to win, 6 points means f all and seems cruel after 3/4's of the season being so successful but it is what it is, I can't wait to get going again now!!!!! Thanks so much for all your support all weekend, it means a lot, take it easy guys and girls, Shakey #67   

Cadwell park

Well for some reason things didn't get off to a very good start where Cadwell park was concerned, mind you the brunt of that was purely down to getting a few bits and pieces boxed off at home before I left and the rest was purely down to the bank holiday traffic, to be honest I'm not really sure what this bank holiday is for but after my trip up I'm guessing it's for national drive like an idiot day or maybe national stay in the outside lane at no more than 55mph, who knows, maybe one of you guys reading this can fill me in and bring me up to speed on what it's really for lol!!! 

Anyway, enough already, we're here now and that's all that matters, Friday night was quite amusing, we always go out for dinner in the evening but usually there isn't a fun fair at the track and when we got back to the circuit myself and my crew chief did a reverse bungee jump, he was so funny, screaming for about 60% of the time we were on it, I liked it that much that I had another go straight after with my team mate Keith lol!!

Somewhat typically the first session of the weekend was hampered by wet weather which was far from ideal as we have some stuff we need to try to test, as it was we went out to try the bike in the wet, we haven't actually done that many wet laps this year so now was as good a time as any, the session went well despite a couple of little moments and a not ideal feeling from the front of the bike but the biggest problem came when I pulled back into the pits.....

Basically to cut a long story short, a few days ago I leant into one of our cars and took my daughter out but I immediately swung her straight up in the air above my head and the instant she went up something went in my back, I gently carried her in and explained what happened and after a couple of days as good as forgot all about it, now though I'd done a 10 or so lap run in the wet, pulled into the pits, swung my leg to get off the bike and completely locked up, eventually I got off but I don't know if you've ever had the same thing where you try to straighten up but every time you lift up you literally can't get a breath, not ideal!!

We called it a day for the rest of the session and headed to the circuit physio's to try to get loosened off and to be honest it initially didn't have anywhere near the affect I was hoping it would, I was in a bit of a bad place!!

As the afternoon wore on some tablets and the Physio had me feeling a bit better, the afternoon track session was dry and to be honest I figured that just getting to the end of the session would be a massive improvement on last year lol, the bike was working pretty good in the dry so we stuck at it out there on one set of tyres to ensure taking them over race distance, a couple of guys fired a new set of tyres at their bikes towards the end of the session so we dropped from 2nd down to 4th but it's all cool.

We knew we could improve the bike going into the final free practice and we had a good plan, I started the session with a new pair of front forks that had a completely different setting in compared to my usual ones and despite the track having quite a few damp ish patches from the overnight rain I immediately improved my time from the day before, the bike was a definite overall improvement but as is so often the case the setting needed some work on it to get the most out of it so I came in and the boys made a change which to be fair made things a little worse so one final quick fix saw us end the session P2 to Alex who'd tested here last week or whenever it was so it wasn't all bad.

Qualifying ended up going pretty good to be fair, we were still chasing set up all the way through with the new forks and stuff and trying different rear shocks etc, we kind of got it all sorted or so we thought then Q2 we seemed to struggle for grip a bit, we put it down to a possibly iffy rear tyre and cracked on for Q3 and despite earning a decent and somewhat important 2nd I was very disappointed with my lap time and felt we had a much better lap in us, maybe it wasn't the rear tyre then was the conclusion....

Race day came and with it so did some decent track temperature, I went into race one feeling pretty good, we knew Alex was going to be strong and fully expected him to try to go the second the lights went out but as the did and he did I got on the back of him and just sat there, I love watch Alex riding apart from obviously when the chequered flag's about to come out lol and Cadwell was no different, Alex set a real steady pace, and with that pace I saw him having the odd little moment here and there and I was sat behind at like 80% thinking this is absolutely perfect, to be honest the only thing that would have made Ot slightly better would be +1 or something on my board so I knew it was just he and I but unfortunately due to the pace my board said pretty much the whole race +0, after sitting there and conjuring up a cunning plan I decided to leave it till four or five laps from the end then try to pull the pin and go, the only problem with my plan that I'd underestimated however was that Alex had the same plan so there we were 5 laps from the end doing high 1.28's on cruise control and when I went to go we start knocking the best part of a second of a lap off the times for the final four laps, the concerning thing for me was how my bike reacted to that speed difference so after collecting 2nd to Alex I had a chat with the boys for a plan for race 2!!

With some slightly different settings in the bike that my crew chief was as good as certain would give me a race winning package I lined up on the 2nd row in P5, my problem had been that I'd sat behind Alex and made no effort for a fast lap so I got a bit caught out and ended up on row 2..

I'm not going to drag on about race 2, I got a decent start but it all went to pot from there, 2 or 3 corners in I realised I had a problem with the bike, basically the setting was great but the only variable wasn't, I must've got a bit of a duff rear tyre because I got dropped by the front 4, finished 4th because of Josh's crash and the rear tyre looked like it hadn't done 5 laps let alone an 18 lap scrap around Cadwell park, I was so unhappy as you can probably imagine, I tried so so hard in that race too, I just didn't have any feeling for what was happening underneath me, fortunately though when the team got the bike back they down loaded the data and could see immediately that the tyre was the problem so whilst it was incredibly annoying the only blessing was that it happened now and not in the showdown because at Cadwell it cost me 3 podium credits at the most but in the showdown that would have been 12 points... a BIG difference!!!

I'm now really looking forward to getting to Donington, Cadwell has been the first round all year that I didn't win at least one race so hopefully we'll get that little glitch ironed out there!! Take it easy guys and girls, Shakey #67

 

Oulton park 2 2013...

Two or three weeks isn't really that long an amount of time is it,that's all it had been since we last raced at Brands hatch but in that space of time quite a bit has happened. First and foremost we as family Byrne got a couple of weeks away in Spain, it was meant to be a holiday but wit the showdown looming around the corner I took my bicycle to ensure I got some training done too, 8 rides and just over 500 miles later I'm actually pretty relieved to come racing just to get a bit of a rest lol!!!!

Oulton park then, a triple header, a cool track, hopefully some small improvements to our bike, some good training done, all to play for!!

Typically here the first session started wet, fortunately right at the end of the session it dried out, I got about 5 or 6 laps in and everything felt there or thereabouts, we ended the session fastest without taking any risks and had some data to look at going forward so all good.

The afternoon session was dry, because we'd done so little an amount of laps in first practice we started the session on the used tyres, I got in a decent enough rhythm early on and sat behind Kiyo for a few laps as we circulated together, we'd made some changes to the bike since the first session and whilst some points were ok some weren't quite so good, after doing near on race distance I got the in board and came in to talk to the guys, a small change was made again and a pretty big change engine management wise and off I went again, the bike immediately felt much stronger power wise, it actually isn't or wasn't but the feeling was good, with my tyres scrubbed i got my head down to push on, Alex at that point had half a second or so on me, my first flyer was going great, the bike felt good, I had Michael Rutter about three seconds up the track to chase down but about halfway through my lap another rider pulled in behind Michael and blocked my lap completely, the positive thing about it was I ended up matching Alex's time on my 6th lap so it was all good, I knew after the engine changes we'd made we needed to take another step for Saturday morning but. I felt really positive with the changes made and couldn't wait to start riding the following day!!  

Friday evening a I got out for a bit of a cycle around the track which was fun, only 20 odd miles just to spin my legs a bit, I hadn't ridden my bicycle since Monday because of travelling so it was nice to get out albeit only for an hour!!  

I'm pleased to say that the changes we made seemed to be a step in the right direction, the bike was working really well and I was enjoying riding it, qualifying went pretty good, I'm never much of a Pole man as I've said many a time before my aim is always to get on the front row and that we did, I also managed to lap a quarter of a second faster than I had back in may which was a good step but the really pleasing thing was the fact I was less than a 10th of a second off of Alex who claimed Pole so P2 for the afternoons race it was then!!

With this weekend being a triple header with so many points, podium credits and a very strong realistic chance of cementing our place in the showdown it was important to use my head, I got a great start when the lights went out and settled in well over the first few laps, eventually I got onto the back of James Ellison who was leading and hats off to him he was setting a really fast pace, I was riding around the whole time thinking of Brands a couple of weeks ago when James sat on my back wheel all race long, I was more than comfortable on his wheel but there were places he was strong and places I was but unfortunately mine came immediately after his so he'd open a gap then I'd close it, the whole race I was on his wheel thinking I need to pass but all I kept doing was catching right back up to him and simply couldn't put my bike in a position to pass so P2 it was..

My lap time in that race qualified me on Pole for the 1st of the two races the following day and with morning warm up passing without any dramas we were back on the grid before we knew it!!

I had a plan for race 2, that plan was to get out front and try to stay there, initially Alex lead and stayed there for a good few laps but once I got in to the lead I managed to keep it all the way to the flag despite a fair bit of pressure from the guys behind and in doing so I took my 50th all time BSB win, when I arrived in the podium area the organisers had two big banners, funnily enough one with a five and one with a zero with loads of pics on so that was a lovely touch!!

For the final race of the day I knew things were going to be difficult, we were all on a really similar pace and were all fast in particular sections of the circuit, I once again got to the front and lead for the majority of the race however this time I lead at a consistently faster pace, it was weird in a way because although my pace was faster I wasn't trying any harder, at one point with about 3 or 4 laps to go I had +.3 on my board, I was trying to maintain my pace riding my lines etc then Josh came underneath me at turn one, some bloody .3 I thought, I managed to pass him straight back but not long after he was back through again, whilst I could live with his pace it looked like he'd done the perfect job of conserving his tyre because whilst his bike was no faster he just had that little bit more initial grip than me that was punching him off the turns real good, in the end it was enough and another P2 for me, that's two races that weekend lost by a 10th of a second each!!!!

Upon reflection I'm pretty happy with the weekend though, we definitely made some good steps, steps that we can build on with the a rapid solicitors Kawasaki, we know what we need to do to improve too, it's not like we're where we are and don't know which way to turn, I'm happy too because we just completed round 7 of the championship and in my opinion that's the first time all year I've genuinely been beaten, not that I want to get beat, don't get me wrong for that I'm gutted but its testament to the job we've done as a team so far that it's not happened until now and as I said we know what we need to do to improve so its all good.

I said it on TV and I'm going to take a minute to say it again now, I'd like to dedicate that 50th win which is a bit of a milestone to my boss Paul Bird, I haven't counted how many but I can assure you a pretty big percentage of those wins have been down to the bikes, team and support Paul's put into my career, big thanks Birdman!!!

Now it's onwards and upwards, at the beginning of this season I hoped to achieve the big 5 0 this year, now I've done it and there's still five rounds to go, fingers crossed we'll be able to add a good few more wins to that tally and hopefully the small matter of a record breaking 4th BSB title.... Now that, would make me happy!!!

Take it easy guys and girls... See you at Cadwell Shakey #67      

Brands hatch GP

I think it's fair to say after Snetterton that both myself and the Rapid solicitors Kawasaki team knew there was work needed going forward, he we were coming off the back of a not so good weekend for us thinking wow, what happened there, basically we discovered that speed wise any top speed advantage we used to have had been negated and not only that despite a test day and a race weekend we couldn't get the feeling we wants from the front end of the bike, like I said, work was needed!!!

Onwards and upwards though, both the team and myself stepped it up in between the two races, we changed the front forks back to our old ones and the boys spent a whole load of time on the dyno trying different engine specs and working on the mapping etc, on my part I got a fair bit of training done although that didn't go entirely to plan, cycling 90km's Monday, 80 on Tuesday I set of Wednesday morning for a real steady little recovery ride just to spin my legs over, got less than half a mile from my house and without going into too much detail got semi taken out, it wasn't massive it did leave me with a big gash up my left arm and elbow, something I could've definitely done without but hey, it could've been far far worse!!

On to Brands hatch then, for Friday we only had one session and that wasn't until 3pm or something, to be honest I was a bit gutted as Thursday had been my sons last day at nursery and he had a little party and a play he was in for leaving on the Friday, typically that started at 2pm so I couldn't be there risking getting stuck in traffic on route here and end up missing the 1st session, that wouldn't have been cool!! I'm no fan of the Indy circuit at Brands to be honest but the one good thing about a 45 second lap is that you get up to speed real fast and can get a lot of work done in a short space of time, something we definitely needed to do!!!

The guys had made some changes to the bike from Snetterton, we'd changed back to our old front forks and various other chassis changes were made, to be honest I wasn't really feeling it, I was expecting all my problems to be gone, we worked hard throughout the session and made some progress but knew we'd have to sit down and work out a plan for the first assault on the GP circuit the following day, and that, it what we did!!

Immediately on Saturday we had a much better feeling from the bike, I was fast and consistent too, we were chipping away from then on in and ended the session P1 half a second clear of the rest.

Session 2 went equally well, again small step by step improvements saw us top the time sheets again and a long run on the tyres confirmed race pace wise we were looking pretty strong so that pleased me.

Into qualifying we went and we were still just chipping away, making small improvements here and there to get the bike better, I never drove myself too mad in Q1 only completing 4 laps as an electronic change to our engine braking wasn't working at all, the lap time was poor and we ended up P4 but it was all cool, more changes for Q2 would sort that!!

Q2 we did on the same used tyres as Q1 so it was no surprise that despite going a bit faster we dropped to 5th, the bike felt better and that was all that mattered, whilst there's no points for Pole it's a front row that counts I was looking forward to having a go in Q3 on new tyres...

Q3 went.... Good!! We'd made one final change, a stiffer front fork spring as the extra forces being put through the bike were welding the forks to the bottom of the travel and causing a fair bit of instability on hard braking, the change thankfully was Really really good, I knew on my warm up lap I'd be able to push harder, I eventually pushed just hard enough taking Pole position by just over a tenth from Alex Lowes although to be honest I almost wished there was one more session as the change we made to the front was so good it was almost as if the rear of the bike couldn't keep up, so one more little change to the rear and I'm certain we could go faster still!!

In morning warm up we tried a different spec of rear shock to help with the problems from Q3 and had a steady ride around on used tyres, I rode out on my warm up lap and had a clear track in front of me so I pushed hard for my first flier, the bike felt a little different but I completed the lap and thought that felt good but then I looked at the lap time and though hmm maybe not, I had a bit of a go again trying to suss things out and got a bit faster, once I got up to speed things felt fine and I ended up 2nd a 10th off of Josh so all good.

Race one then, it's fair to say I had a plan, the lights went out and I got a great start, lead into turn 1, Alex passed me down into bottom bend but I passed him straight back, he en passed me into Surtees so I thought, right ok, you lead for a bit then, that suits me, I sat happily behind him for a few laps and then Josh came past, I was cool with that too, Josh passed Alex and after a few laps got a tiny bit of a gap, I re passed Alex and caught back to Josh and at that point I saw on my pit board +.3 I figured if Josh and I maintained that or extended the lead I'd sit behind Josh for a few more laps and take it from there, next thing I know Alex came back passed, by now there were 6-7 laps left so I decided to get to the front and try to push on at my own pace and try to break them both, I passed Alex then lined up Josh at the end of the back straight, I dived up the inside to take the lead but no sooner had I got to the front I lost the front, literally, a big 120 odd mph get off which destroyed the bike, I couldn't believe it, it wasn't like I ran in there thinking oh no, I've over done this, far from it in fact, the team certainly had their work cut out for me to make race 2 as the damage definitely wasn't going to polish it, that's for sure!!

I heard on tv something which really annoyed me, basically being questioned for falling down and asking if it was going to see me crack now as the others were catching up etc, "what will this do to Shakey's head now?" I'll show you what it will do I thought to myself!!!!!

Amazingly the guys got the bike built back up in time for race two, I was starting race 2 in P4 which due to the camber on the inside of the track at the bottom there isn't ideal, anyway, I got a great start as the lights went out and once again lead into turn one, being so disappointed with the crash in race one I knew I needed a good race, especially with the fact we had a couple of weeks off after then straight into a triple header at Oulton park, the course car came out due to an accident and seeing as how nobody had tried to pass before it despite the fact I was maintaining a fairly steady pace as soon as the car went in I went for it lapping probably just over half a second or so a lap faster, despite this my pit board continued to say +.0 so I thought oh well this is it then, I knew it was James Ellison behind me and figured if he tried to make a move and lap faster I'd try to go with him but as it was I managed to hold the lead and took the win, I was chuffed to bits with the team for all their hard work, that victory was for them!!

After the bitter disappointment of race one turning things around the way we did for race two was great, we know that as a team we have work to do and I'm more than prepared to taking training to the next level in order to have no question marks whatsoever with myself, however whilst I didn't wish it on the team after race two when the boys had totally rebuilt the bike the organisers stripped all the top 5 bikes to properly measure the chassis's to check everything was legal and mine was one of the bikes that got checked and guess what, it passed, perhaps that'll shut up some of the idiots in the paddock who are convinced anyone that wins must be cheating!!!!

Moving on now, Oulton park next as I said earlier, a triple header, that's 75 points and nine podium credits up for grabs, hopefully we'll be taking more than a chunk of those, until then guys and girls... Enjoy the sunshine ;-) Shakey #67

Snetterton.... Frustration and Elation!!!!

It has to be said that after getting the opportunity to test at Snetterton last week ahead of this weekends BSB round I was really looking forward to getting back to the track and getting back on my bike to continue the work we'd started.

The test itself didn't exactly go to plan in some ways, don't get me wrong a test's a test and that's what you should use it for but when pretty much the whole BSB grid is out things inevitably start to get competitive!!!

We had a good plan for the test, a schedule we needed to work from and to, basically starting with some stuff we learnt at Knockhill then working towards last years set up and trying some new spec K Tech front forks.

As a team we've been making good progress with the bike this year and the new forks were something that had me quite excited, unfortunately however about a million red flags throughout the day saw our schedule go a little bit south, we did however get the chance to fire the new forks in right at the end of the day and the results were interesting, they were much better in some areas but worse in others, work in progress I think we'll call them!!!

To start the first session on the race weekend we stuck with the new forks, at the end of the day these are going to be a step forwards so wasting a session on the old ones didn't make a lot of sense, unfortunately for me though despite having plenty of time to go over all the data from testing and starting with a different setting in them the new forks were still giving me a bit of grief, we ended the session however after a few changes in P2 just a 10th off of Alex and he and I were nearly a second quicker than the rest so it wasn't a total drama!!

For the afternoon session we made some more changes, the team worked real hard and we started to make a bit of headway, I still wasn't happy and felt we had lots more work to do, it wasn't so much a problem of the bike doing this or that but more that I felt like I had much more to give than the bike would allow and as soon as I tried to push on it just brought on uncertainty and a lack of feel, I basically wanted to ride it like I stole it rather than wobbling around on the thing like its my pride and joy which I don't even want to splat a fly on the front of!!! We ended session two well, a new pair of tyres saw us go P1 by just under 0.6 of a second but as I said I knew I wanted and needed more!!!

We made some changes overnight to try to cure some of our problems, a gearing change and some geometry changes and we found a better feeling, I did over race distance on used tyres and my rhythm was still good, we still had a little bit of work to do but the fact I was now pulling an extra 3 bar of front brake pressure was an indication that I was starting to feel more comfortable and be able to push the front harder, I actually went a bit faster too in that session but Alex pipped me by 2 100ths of a second, the pair of us 6 10ths faster than the rest!!

Qualifying Saturday afternoon turned into a bit of a nightmare, the first two sessions were not what we were looking for, we were constantly changing the bike to try to get a better feeling from the front but seemed to be chasing moving goal posts, every time we made a little change a variable, a tyre, the track temperature, traffic or something else seemed to hamper us, I was actually hoping after two bad sessions that it would be 3rd time lucky in the final session, however despite my fastest time of the weekend I was still a bit off what I hoped and thought I'd be able to do and my final lap got blocked by another rider so 2nd it was! Front row's a front row though so I was happy enough.

We had a few changes that we wanted to test for the morning warm up session after sitting down after qualifying and going through the data but morning warm ups track temperature was only 32 degrees track temperature so we'd have to wait to see what conditions the races brought and with temperatures forecast to rocket we were in for a tough old day...

Unfortunately for me time had run out, we'd tried a soft bike, a hard bike, a long bike, a short bike and just about every permutation of the lot of them and nothing we'd done had given us the feeling we were looking for going into the races, there was only one thing left to try... Something I hadn't tried in just over two seasons, the harder front Pirelli tyre, I really wasn't happy about this, really wasn't happy but he track temperature was getting higher and higher and the data showed that the reason I'd been struggling all through practice and qualifying was that basically the front tyre was getting seriously squashed with the amount of load I was trying to put through it and that was why I couldn't get any feel from it, basically it just wasn't consistent.

I went out on the sighting lap with the harder front in and came straight back into pit lane to get an extra lap on it, before taking to the grid, my crew chief asked me "what do you want to do?" What could I say, in effect this was the only variable we hadn't tried, I had to give it a go didn't I...

My confidence was far from high when on the warm up lap at about 50-60% of my normal pace I flicked the bike into Oggies and completely lost the front and nearly went down, I thought to myself Christ if this happens at that pace what's it going to be like next time through here at race pace... I guess I'd soon find out!!!

As the lights went out I got a bit of an awkward launch and unintentionally veered left slightly, Josh had got a good start too and I happily rolled into turn one behind him in case I pushed the front too hard on the way in and crashed, not exactly my usual battle tactics but I already knew this was going to be a race of attrition and that I needed a few laps to try to figure things out, I'm not going to mince my words or lie, I ABSOLUTELY HATED the race, all 16 laps of it, there wasn't one part of it that I thought, that's better, or, it's not doing that anymore, it was simply right, get it in to the corner, hope, then get out again, I honestly felt like I could only give about 60% of me in that race and that was a little too much, thinking let alone trying to give 61% would have seen me on my ear, basically I sat in 3rd trying hard not to try hard and despite getting a good run on Josh out of the final turn my bike just didn't have to speed to out drag or pass him before the line so 3rd it was.

After the race I was furious, the whole slow down lap I was sitting thinking how crap I'd rode, I was so frustrated though, it's not that I'm a bad loser, I'll finish 2nd, 3rd or 5th even happily as long as I know that I've given 100% but today for that race I just couldn't.

I have to apologise for my post race interview, saying Shit on live TV isn't cool and I know that, all I can do is say sorry and that it's a good job I'd had a whole slow down lap and the rostrum area to calm down a bit otherwise it would have been safer to not even do the interview full stop!!!!!!

A long, get to the bottom of everything debrief followed, I told my team exactly what the problems were and they could see on the data exactly what I was describing so I left them to come up with a plan, headed back to the motorhome, had lunch then my usual half an hour power nap, hopefully that'd make everything better for race 2!!!

For race two the guys came up with a plan, a totally different front fork setting and my usual front tyre, now the rest was up to me, go figure!!!

I hot a good start and lead into turn one from 3rd on the grid then tried rally hard to stay smooth, I pushed hard for a lap or two and had + 0 on my board so I thought right ok, try to save your tyres for a bit and see what happens, the course car then came out for a crash and stayed out for 2 or 3 laps and with 11 or 12 laps left I thought right lets do this, my bike was feeling better, not perfect but better and I had more confidence in the front because of it so I went for it again for a lap or 2 still got + 0 despite a couple of pretty fast laps so once again I just settled right down for three or 4 laps, with 5 laps to go I started to dig in a bit, got to +.3 and thought this could be the brake I needed then with 2 to go it went back down to +.0 by this point all I could do was try to be fast, smooth and hot every apex perfectly to maximise my exit speed, I did just that and rode slightly on the cautious side for the final lap, I made a small mistake going into the final turn and thought no no no, that's it, I've blown it but fortunately I held on to take the win!!!

To say I was happy is a bit of an understatement, I was absolutely elated, it wasn't so much the win, just the fact I could ride better, not perfect but better, that to me is what it's all about, Birdy pays me to race his bike for him yet I felt like the 1st race I was out on my priceless pride and joy that I didn't even want to get a fly splattered on let alone race, I might as well have done that race with one hand behind my back and a set of L plates on, that's how useless I felt and that's why i was so frustrated, I pride myself in giving 100% at everything I do and that's precisely why myself and PBM get on so well, they know I'll always give my all and give theirs in return.

I think it's very fair of me to say now that the little bit of top speed advantage we once had with the Kawasaki over some of the bikes in the field has now been well and truly negated by the others, Josh in particular moaned all year his bikes not fast enough but in race one my biggest problem with him was that despite the fact I could maybe run into tighter corners a little bit quicker I couldn't put myself in a position no matter how hard I tried to be alongside him to carry that speed into making a pass and 5 rounds in isn't the time to be making desperate out of control lunges from 3 or 4 bike lengths behind, the team now need to go and do some homework to try to improve our bike so that we can at least get alongside in order to be able to attempt to pass rather than using any advantage just to catch back up to the bike in front, they know that, I know that and everyone saw that so fingers crossed as I'll be giving 100% training wise between Snetterton and Brands they'll be working the same trying to improve our bike too.

Once again my apologies for the swearing thing on tv, hopefully you now have a better insight into my frustration, fingers crossed now that it's onwards and upwards again, roll on Brands hatch,  I can't wait, take it easy, Shakey #67

Knockhill!!

Knockhill, at one point in the big break we'd just had it felt like it was never going to come around, 5 weeks or so off after just three race weekends came pretty tough, you're just getting back into the swing of things and the next thing you know it's over, however, taking the car to Wolverhampton then collecting the motorhome and cruising up soon knocked the edge of that 5 week break, it's almost like the M6 forgets to stop and just carries on going!!! 

We stopped off at Penrith of the way up to go to see the team and Birdy took a few of us out to dinner which was nice, after that it was back in the motorhome for the last bit of the journey but as we got towards our exit it was closed, a few calls later we were recommended not to take the diversion signs as it went through lots of tiny villages etc so after going up to what felt like John o groats and back we finally arrived at the circuit at about 12-30am in the morning!!!!!

Getting there on the Wednesday night left us all day Thursday to kick back and get sorted so me, my mate Wag and Keith headed into Dunfermline for a bit to get a few bits of shopping etc for the motorhome and more importantly to kick back and have a coffee!!

I think it's pretty fair to say that Friday mornings dry first session didn't exactly go to plan at all, for a start my wife had been rushed in to hospital and was looking at facing yet another operation, fortunately for me i have a top boss and he laid on the use of his helicopter should i need it to rush back down to Kent to be by her side, fortunately for us both friday she managed to avoid an operation, as if that wasn't enough however I knew I'd had a long time off of the bike but things just didn't feel quite right, the bike felt a bit slow and also felt tight, I only managed about 6 or 7 laps before I knew something pretty bad was coming so I decided to park it to not risk any BIG damage so our 1st session left us with a grand total of 7 laps which with the knowledge that a load of teams tested here last week plus that Honda had a two day test her recently definitely put as a little bit on the back foot!!!

The boys worked hard to get the bike sorted for the afternoon and I was real happy that with such a little amount of track time we were immediately on the pace, I ended up about a 10 th of a second off which I was more than happy to settle for, the boys did good, we knew we needed to make a few changes to the bike though as there were areas on the track that I was really struggling with so Friday night we sat down, went through the data and my comments and worked out a good plan to go forwards with.

Typically Saturday mornings session was kind of wet, by that I mean it wasn't fully wet but at the same time it was far from dry, i could have really done with it being dry with the changes we'd made to the bike but having said that in the time that we spent on track I was more than competitive but it ended up being one of those kind of who's bravest across the damp patches on slicks will be fastest, we didn't even bother going out for the last part of the session so dropped down the order a bit but the session wasn't that important so we were cool with that.

Qualifying came as a bit of a surprise, not as in we actually had to do it lol just that after getting through to the final session we fitted new tyres, I went out, did a warm up lap to get some heat into the tyres then I went for it, pushed real hard, hit all my apexs, crossed the line and boom 48.9, I couldn't believe it, I'd gone faster than that on used tyres, it really annoyed me but with no time to come in and change tyres etc i had another stab at it, result, 48.3 YEEEESSSS!!! I cruised it for a lap or two thinking that has to be enough surely, Josh came past and I semi attempted to follow him but I think I'd lost too much temperature out of my tyres as I was all over the place, eventually though despite him getting very close I got the Pole position!!

Warm up came and went without drama but straight after I got a text from my wife saying the doctors had decided they were going to operate on her as she wasn't getting any better and was still in way too much pain, Sod's law said it had to happen on my race day didn't it!!!

Fortunately for me literally about 5 minutes before I put my helmet on to start the sighting lap my phone rung and it was Petra, she must have just come around or been on proper strong painkillers as she didn't really make a great deal of sense but she did say " this is the 1st time in 8 years together I've ever missed a race or not been there for you, my operation went well, now you do well, be safe and call me after the race"

That sent me into the race in a totally different frame of mind, I felt like a massive weight had been lifted off my shoulders, lining up on the grid I was determined to have a good result, as the lights went out I got a good start but so did Josh, perfect I thought, let him lead, I'll follow, he was a tiny bit steady into turn 3 though so I ran up the inside of him, he passed straight back and got his head down so I slotted in behind and thought perfect, I'll watch my pit board for a bit and let a few laps unfold, with about 6 or 7 laps to go the lap times dropped off a bit so I thought now's the time to capitalise, I lined up and made a pass down into the hairpin but I got slightly crossed up on initial braking and had to release a bit to get everything back under control but in doing so I ran in a bit deep, Josh did exactly what I would have done and cut back and we collided on the exit which caught me up a bit and meant I had to shut off a little, I quickly got myself together though and on the following lap I made a good clean pass then got my head down for the remaining laps and opened up a second or so advantage to take the win, after the race I dedicated the win to my wife and figured it would give her something to smile about, we knew we needed to make some small changes to make the bike better for the second race so we sat and chatted about those then I did my usual, have lunch, have a sleep and prepare myself for race 2!!!

With there only being 3 per row on the grid at Knockhill and me getting the 4th fastest lap obviously I had to start from row 2, I always say that if you make it through to the hairpin at the end of the 1st lap then your generally safe but getting that far can sometimes be tricky, if ever I needed a good start this was the time however my bike had other ideas, as I exited the hairpin to line up on the grid I couldn't get the bike into neutral for love nor money, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 1st, over and over, I thought no, this is all I need, I kept trying and trying but it wasn't having any of it, I held the lever in as far as possible and kept thinking please don't drag, please don't drag, as the lights went out I released the clutch and got a mega start, that good I lead into turn one, I surprised even myself lol!!!

Getting such a good start and leading wasn't exactly in the script so I thought right dig in, put some decent laps together and let's see what happens, immediately I was in 48 second laps and I maintained them too which saw a lead start to open on my board, I carried on for about 10-15 laps at that pace and by that point I had a 2.5 second lead which around Knockhill is big, by that point though maintaining such a fast rhythm was taking its toll a tiny bit on the tyres and I started having a couple of little moments, I decided to concentrate on making every lap a low 49 and see where it got me, just a level or two down from all out attack mode, by lap 20 the gap was down to 2 seconds and I knew that if I maintained my pace I'd be safe and still have something in the locker should Josh get too close so that's what I did, stuck at low 49's and took another double win, sure Josh got close but it was kinda cool, calm and collected on my part, I have to admit though I was pretty impressed with him firing out the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap and I wasn't aware he was quite so close but anyway if you win by 0.0001 it's enough and a wins a win regardless so all cool.

I think that 2nd race was almost like being in imprisoned, I know I wasn't and I'm truly grateful to Paul for laying on his helicopter but the minute I took that chequered flag all I kept thinking was YES, I can get back home now, racing is my life but I was so so desperate to get back to Petra and now the job was done, i thanked all my team for all their hard work all weekend, had a quick shower, sorted the motorhome then Wag and I headed straight to the airport.

Thankfully the hospital allowed me to pay Petra a quick visit despite the fact it was about 12-30am by the time I got there but boy did it feel good to see her, hopefully now with some rest she'll soon be brand new.

Looking ahead now we have a test next week at Snetterton ahead of the race, I'm fairly sure the majority of the paddock will be there too so it's not like it'll be an advantage but I know we have some new stuff to try so I'm really looking forward to that, generally speaking we have some real good tracks coming up so for now let's stay head down, bum up full gas and concentrate hard on marinating the form we've shown so far, for now though, I'm outta here, take it easy, Shakey #67 

Quick Blog for you!!!

I've not exactly been up on these Blog things of late I know, choosing to either Blog after each race or keep you guys and girls updated with what's happening on in Planet Shakey via social media sights like Twitter or Facebook, even the latter of those I'm pretty useless with to be fair lol so I thought to myself whilst I'm sat on the train to London I'll fire out a Blog to kill a bit of time!!

We've been having a bit of a rough time of things lately on Plant Shakey, we were due to spend the whole of our break in Spain but we've been having a few dramas then to top things of my wife got a letter confirming an appointment at hospital for a hysterectomy to be performed, I feel real bad for her because over the past few years we've been doing all we could to help her with some (women's) problems she's been suffering with and despite everything it seems the only way to fix her was this operation, typically Petra she did another 10km running race a couple of days before the operation because her doctor had said fitter people tend to recover quicker lol!!!

The operation really knocked her for six and recovery wasn't helped when she caught a urinary infection whilst in the hospital so she's pretty delicate right now, I've taken up a full on daddy day care roll at the moment which has been pretty full on, in fact it's been that full on I have to get my mum over for a few hours most days so I can get out cycling just to have a rest lol!!!!

On the racing front we had a test up at Cadwell park the other week which went really well, obviously, I never got many laps last year due to the shoulder injury but with one full day on track I more than made up for it completing 90 odd laps throughout the day and as anyone of you who's done a track day there will testify it's pretty damn physical around there, I don't mind confessing to aching a little bit the following day, we've known since the beginning of the year that we have a couple of fundamental problems to fix on the Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki but they're really not the kind of thing you can start changing at a race meeting as usually with everything you change there's always something else that needs fixing so things tend to drag on a bit, we DEFINITELY made some good steps though and got a number of chassis parts tested and have a plan going forwards!!!!

Looking ahead now we've got some races coming up that I'm really looking forward to, Knockhill, Snetterton and Brands hatch GP are all tracks I like and hopefully with the improvements we've made we'll be strong at those as well as the rest of the upcoming races, it's definitely once again a case of slowly slowly catchey monkey, we're building up and building up ready for another full on assault at the Showdown, I know the team have some plans for the bike on the run up to that so it's all good.

Don't know about you guys but I watched both Moto GP and the TT races yesterday, it's kind of scary how they set off in 10 seconds intervals at the TT yet the races (both Moto GP & the TT) look similarly spaced out at the finish!! Don't get me wrong, Moto GP is the pinnacle, the guys are all so so fast and absolute legends but close racing.... What about poor old Valentino too, entering the 3rd corner at the race he's probably been looking forward to more than any he has a collision and gets taken out of the game, that was a shame, I was gutted for him, on the flip side, Cal, what a job he did, another podium, fair play, surely something good has to come for him next season, reeling in the factory Honda at the end of the race, the boy's on it!!

As for the TT, what can you say about that, I really like John McGuiness, a lot, he's a top man who lives for that place so I was gutted he only got a third, I don't mean that as in a third's no good, just finishing around there is an achievement but I know he would of wanted to win that race for his idol whom his bike, leathers and helmet commemorated Joey Dunlop, quite fitting in a way that it was Micheal Dunlop that won it! What about Josh too, 127 odd mph average, bloody hell that's motoring on around there in your first attempt, fair play I say!!!!

Right, this Blog has now gone from a train ride to London, 10 minutes or so before a meeting and I'm now finishing on the train on the way back so for now, enough's enough, talk to you all soon, take it easy, Shakey #67

 

Oulton Park Round 3 2013

As per usual I was really looking forward to going racing heading into the Oulton park round, we managed to get a test in there the week before but only on a track/test day and whilst we ticked a couple of boxes it was difficult to get anything too meaningful done, we did however box off a couple of bits and more importantly we made a plan for the start of the following weekend of what we wanted to test and the schedule for testing them, then, what happens, we get there and I can’t help but ask what is going on with BSB rounds this year… its becoming almost customary to loose a session during the weekend, Oulton park never disappointed on that front, it had been dry then literally about 5 or 10 minutes before the session started for us the heavens opened typically just about enough for wets but with a whole weekend of dry weather forecast quite a few of us opted to stay in the pits.

That wet session kind of put the mockers on our plan because as with anything to do with racing it’s never usually a case of bolt something in and it’s immediately better, generally, you’ll put something in, get some positives and negatives, follow a path to try to improve overall then see where you end up, well, basically we had two paths to follow and not much time to follow either so we opted for the safer one.

In the afternoon session I got out and rode the bike pretty much how I finished up at the test then we bolted in a new spec shock and got to work, it was weird in a way because the modifications to the shock were exactly what I’d asked for back at Thruxton one because of my overall feeling from the bike and two because exactly what I explain when I ride is exactly what the guys see on the data, BUT, and it was a pretty big but, it didn’t feel very good at all initially, sure there was potential but it would require some more work, with that in mind we had a big debrief and talked through things with the team and K Tech and set a plan for the following morning.

Immediately on Sunday morning the bike felt much better, the changes the guys had made were real good, not fixed but much better so we decided to continue on that route.

We made a few more changes throughout the session but our pace was good, I think I did 16 or 17 consecutive 1.36 laps and the next person did 4 so things were looking pretty good but it’s never good to start counting your chickens…unless of course you’re my boss lol!!

Qualifying went pretty good, I’ve never been one to worry about pole positions, don’t get me wrong when they come I’m happy but realistically the first row is perfect, we had a plan, Keith my team mate had been struggling a little over the course of the weekend so I towed him around and through all three sessions, he did well to be fair and ended up P4 for the first race, Alex Lowes did an amazing lap for Pole, I take my hat off to him, that boy can chew the screen for a lap, I was really chuffed with my lap time, ¾’s of a second faster than I managed last year, which, I think is a bloody good jump, and was under the official lap record from when Superbikes had full electronics so wasn’t hanging about!!!

For morning warm up we continued refining the bike a tiny bit just checking that we hadn’t compromised tyre life etc in the interests of one fast lap and all seemed fine, I did a 1.35 in warm up over my laps too so it seemed our pace overall may have been improved too. 

I was pretty nervous as usual for the start of the first race, due to the way I ride in practice and qualifying ie on my own and not trying to follow people race one is always where I find out exactly where we’re at, I got a great start as the lights went out and lead into turn one, Alex shot passed into Island so I thought perfect, lets sit here and see what’s going on, Alex was riding good and his pace was strong but it was about the same as my practice pace so I was feeling pretty good and relaxed, I got to see the areas where my bike was strong and where it was weak which was exactly what I expected so that was ok, I followed him for a good few laps and could see that we were just starting to break the guys behind so I started thinking about where on the track I’d be able to make a pass, I semi lined up a few places, to me it seemed I was quite strong in the 1st and last sectors but Alex was real fast in the 2nd sector, one place I thought I might be able to strike was out of the foulstons chicane, over hill top and down towards Hizzy’s, we ran in towards the chicane and I remember looking at the rear exhaust and swingarm of Alex’s bike and then the next thing I knew I was looking at daisies in the grass after a real weird loss of the front, I wasn’t expecting it at all, indeed the data logging showed no difference in speed, line, lean angle, nothing, very strange and very frustrating too, we’d have our work cut out now for race two….

The boys got the bike fixed up in no time, I guess if there’s a place to crash at Oulton you’d go for there or the entrance to the tight left in the middle of Hizzy’s for minimal damage, I’d had the 2nd fastest lap from race 1 for race 2 so lined up 2nd, I got a mega start as the lights went out and lead for a bit, after a few laps Alex passed me but I could see it wasn’t possible for him to get away and felt more than comfortable sat behind him, I have to confess to being pretty steady through the chicane for the first few laps just to be sure lol!!!

As the race wore on I got back in the lead as I could see that the guys behind were right on us, I pushed to maintain the lap times and at one point about 3 laps from the end I got a tiny bit of a gap but as we went into the last lap my board said +.0 again, that lap I tried real hard to do three things, go fast, be protective and make no mistakes, I kept seeing the race from last year when Josh got me at the final turn so I made a real conscious effort to nail druids and stay right down the final straight, I braked as late as I could without risking running too deep, got the bike stopped and turned then fired it out of the turn towards the finish line and managed to hold on for the win, a perfect way to say sorry to my boys for all their hard work in between the races!!!

I was absolutely made up with the win, it made me real happy, I couldn’t envisage anything worse than going into the long summer break on the back of a bad weekend so to pull it out of the bag was good for us as it keeps the momentum going. I’m really hopeful of a test or two in the break in order for us to work some more on the bike, we know exactly what we need to do and hopefully with some decent weather and a decent track with an open pit lane we can properly getting the Kawasaki turned from a good bike to a great one, I feel there’s a lot of untapped potential there and it’s only going to get stronger so roll on those tests and in some ways these 5 weeks too, I can’t wait to go racing again, next time it’s north of the border for Knockhill, should be good!!! 

Take it easy, 
Shakey #67