Ok hands up I've gone and got myself in a bit of a pickle here, it's been that long since I've done a Blog that I actually don't know where to start and not only that 2 rounds in to the new season and I've almost forgotten Brands already, I'm gonna do my best he recollect what's been going on in my world over the past few months so hang tight, here we go!!!
I guess that going over now what happened in testing over in Spain seems pretty pointless, as you may or may not recall i tested way back in the end of november last year and got to use the new 17 inch wheels, at a track as tight and twisty as Cartagena that .5 of an inch difference was massive and i remember way back then thinking these wheels really suit my bike and looking forwards to getting back out in the new year, now, fast forward a few months, a good few gym sessions with the personal trainer i’ve entrusted to get me in the best possible shape for this season, fast forwards even more to a whole load of cycling as well as the personal training and end up at a trip to Italy to see my clothing supplier Alpinestars, why i hear you ask, well, after spending the whole winter on a special diet and training full gas i’d dropped a bit of weight, when i say a bit i dropped approximately 4-5 kilos!!!!, What’s that got to do with Alpinestars, well, i last went over to Italy in 2005, my second season in Moto GP so i figured it was high time i went for a remeasure and get this, i’m leaner and fitter now than i was 9 years ago and adjustments had to be made to my suit to make it smaller to fit me better as last years suit o me looked like a shell suit lol!!!!!
Onwards and upwards then and off to Almeria for the official BSB preseason tests, i really enjoy the circuit and was really looking forwards to getting going, we had John McGuiness come over with us to hang out which was cool, he’s such a funny guy and all three evenings were spent laughing our heads off at all the stories of the past, it was almost like the test was a massive team bonding exercise, not that we need to be any tighter because i have a great team anyway but it was work hard all day and relax hard all evening so we had a great time, not only that i went bloody fast, like really fast on the bike too and was consistently fast not just the odd lap here and there on brand new tyres!!!
Straight after Almeria came the first UK test of the year up at Donington park, a semi damp first session meant i never bothered going out but once the track dried up we got some good work done and again we were fast, it was the first test up against all of our competitors and we managed to come out on top which was cool although it was consistency we were looking for not outright lap times so it was a win win situation!!!
Onwards then to the next test, a two day affair at Snetterton, again a test that was semi hampered by the weather, it was really cold so track temperature were really low and the wind on the first day was bad news, the second day though was far better and we managed to once again go real fast, i even managed to beat my own lap record held from the last year of full F.I.M Superbike spec back in 2011 with a 1.47.9, i was pretty chuffed with that i tell you!!!!
Right then, now we’re making progress so let’s move onwards again to round 1!!
Brands hatch, what can i say that i haven’t said before about the place, i love the long circuit but i’m not a fan at all of the short circuit, to me any track we can get around in 45 seconds isn’t big enough, the fact we have 2 30 lap races there, well, that say it all, back markers are always a trauma but hey, it’s still Brands hatch, and ultimately when we’re on the GP circuit it’s one of the coolest tracks on earth, well, to me anyway lol!!!
Practice in the dry had been going well, to be honest with the lap being so short it only takes a few laps before you're up to speed, that combined with the fact that the first round was a four day affair meant that by the time we got to qualifying most of us were going dizzy, well, that’s what you must’ve thought after the absolute crash fest that qualifying became, i know and understand that the organisers have to have a qualifying session and of course there was all kinds of eruptions and press releases after but i still FIRMLY stand my ground that 13 of the top 15 qualifying riders didn’t crash just because we were al trying hard, that is absolute nonsense and after the event is something that Johnathon Palmer has invited me up to the circuit to help to try to resolve, there’s something about the Indy section of the track that makes it almost impossible to stay on your bike, i crashed twice for absolutely no reason, Josh Brookes 3 times and like i said 13 of the top 15 qualifiers all crashed in the same session, that’s got to say something, right???…
Race day then, we knew with the settings that we had for the dry that we would be competitive, myself and Josh seemed to be the two most consistent guys in the dry throughout practice so with Josh starting from Pole and me down in 13th on the 5th row surely an uphill battle would ensue.
I got a decent enough start but i was very keen not to rush and make a mistake trying to make up places, i took no big risks picking my way through the field then going up into Druids i saw Josh had gone down, shortly after i was up into 2nd with Stalker about 2 seconds clear, once through all the traffic i found a real nice rhythm and started reeling Stalker in, i still had about 20 laps to go so figured driving myself mad to catch him quick may have used too much tyres yet the pace i was going i was trying to go easy on them, eventually i got right on Stalkers back wheel and pretty much instantly the red flags came out, at that point i wasn’t sure if it was two thirds race distance so i didn’t know if it was a result or not..
After the race we stopped it was announced there’d be a re start over 12 or 16 laps, i can’t remember which, i’d be starting P2 rather than on the 5th row so it was gonna make life a lot easier, however knowing Stalker and James Ellison would probably run the softer tyre i knew the pace might be stronger so i had to get my head down, i got a good start, got myself into the lead then chipped away to eventually win the 1st race of the year by just under 2 seconds!!
Race 2 came around pretty quick, 30 hard laps were in front of us and with Josh starting 10th and me up the front i knew i’d need to try to get going asap, again i got a decent enough start, eventually i took the lead then reeled of 29 laps and managed to take the double at round one, for sure Josh was closing me down but like i said we held it together to take the double so i was absolutely delighted, the extra bonus was it was my team boss Paul Bird’s birthday on the friday before so it made a nice birthday present for him lol!!!! So then after the perfect start to the season it was now onwards and upwards yet again, this time to Yamaha’s stomping ground, Oulton park…
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