Horrendously overdue blog inc HM Plant debut....

Hey guys and girls, i'm so sorry that i haven't added a Blog in ages, to be honest with you it's been that long that i forgot my username and password etc and had to have it all resent in order to add this blog!!!

Not that i'm trying to make excuses but Twitter has made my life so much easier in terms of updating you all with little bits and pieces that i'm up to and i hope you enjoy reading my Tweets on the home page of shakey.com!!

I'm not even going to bother trying to do a full update with everything that's gone on since last November when i last posted as A i've probably forgotten half the stuff already and B i'd probably be sat here for about three weeks typing which i don't really fancy!!!

I guess then the place to start is the beginning, ie the beginning of my 2011 season, as you will definitely already know i signed this year for the current British Superbike Champions HM Plant Honda to ride a 2011 spec Fireblade, to be honest with you the whole thing really excites me for a number of reasons, 1 because obviously the team is the top team in BSB, 2, i loved my old privateer Stobart Honda back in 2007so the chance to ride the Official bike is mega, 3, there's so many people out there that think i can onlypossibly ride a Ducati and this is a great chance for me to prove them wrong, there will be no team pecking order with Kiyo and i getting identical bikes, to be honest the list of reasons goes on and on but the bottom line is that my 1st run out on the bike was last week, we had a 3 day open track test at Calafat, a day off then 2 days at Cartagena although the latter was to be run in sessions.

Starting with Calafat then and 1st impressions, SSSSSSSSSS********************TTTTTTTTT the bike felt fast, to be fair 5 months off or whatever it was since Magny Cours and the only thing with two wheels i'd ridden was a bicycle so the bike was going to feel quick but the fact that when we got on track there were really strong crosswinds blowing us practically off the start finish straight didn't help at all, obviously being a 4 cylinder the Honda makes it's power in a totally different way to what i've been used to for the last three years, the power feels real strong and gets stronger the higher the rpm soi'd exit each of the hairpins get on the gas the power would get stronger and stronger, lift the front wheel and quite literally the front would get practically blown from underneath me by the wind, i came in after my first 6 or 7 lap exit absolutely knackered, i've never had to fight so hard just to try to keep a bike pointing in the right direction, it wasn't anything to do with fitness i was just so so tense trying to keep the thing upright, it made the guys chuckle when i came backand commented on it anyway!!! :-)

My crew chief Chris taking notes, as soon as i do this it wheelies!!!! ;-)

The first couple of exits were spent riding the bike with no electronic aids whatsoever so the thing was pretty raw and aggressive but a combination of me figuring out how to hustle the thing round better and starting to use a clutch again on corner entry got things going better before we started to turn on the electronics.

Once on we actually had a lot of work to do with the electronics, the team have changed a couple of bits and pieces over the winter which meant everything needed resetting and calibrating, this would end up being something that we simply couldn't get to the bottom of whilst over in Spain, the guys realised fairly earlyon that we had some electrical dramas and a few calls back to the UK couldn't really do a great deal to fix our problems, being an open pitlane format we had plenty of time to come in and out and make changes at our leisure however i was keen to not try to change the bike too much if at all as last year it was obvious the team knew how to get one of these bikes going round the track well so me trying to turn it into what i've been used to wasn't the way forward. It became apparent from both myself and Kiyo early on that we were having big problems corner entry wise and also with the throttle connection, the difficult thing for me was not knowing how good or bad the bike was when it was working so i just kept my head down and rode as well as i could around the problems we were having, that said, the fact i felt stuck at about 80% effort because anymore caused bigproblems, after just one day i went something likea second and a bit quicker than i'd been after 3 days there in 2008 so things weren't all bad!!!

Early on in my 1st days riding!!!

On the 2nd day we made a few changes to the bike chassis wise, we found some good information and made some progress from apex to corner exit but it had a detrimental effect on corner entry which due to the dramas we were already having in that department meant we ended up reverting back. I knocked at least another half a second or so off of the day before's lap time and was really looking forward to getting out on the third and final day to see how much quicker we could go, i felt confident that despite our problems i'd end up at least 2 seconds a lap quicker than '08 but crap weather 1st thing which eventually turned to rain meant we had to abandon the 3rd day which was a real shame, nevertheless i couldn't wait to get back on the bike at Cartagena, we knew we couldn't fix our problems but it would give me a good chance to see how the bike worked from one track to another!!

I think this is a pretty cool shot, nearly got my knee down too!!! ;-)

The good thing about the Cartagena test was that a few of the teams had been there 2 days before we got on track so it should give us a good indication lap times wise where we'd need to be, there was as always plenty of talk about who'd done what after how many laps etc but we were up to speed pretty much immediately, after 9 or 10 laps i'd already matched the teams best lap from the year before, then to make things even better despite the kind of 80% effort problem we were still experiencing i went from the 1.35.1 the team managed in 2010 to a 1.33.5 on a new pair of race tyres.

One of my first exits at Cartagena, didn't take long to get up to speed there!!!

For the second day we stuck with the tyres from the day before for the first 2 or 3 sessions and tried pretty much in vein to help our electrical problems, i tested a couple of different front fork settings too but once again everything we were trying to do and achieve was basically a different way of fixing the basic problem which we couldn't really do anything with which was pretty frustrating, we never even bothered running the soft rear tyre that all the other boys used at the end of the final day as i didn't see the point unless i could give 100%, however, at the same time whilst it was frustrating it kind of bodes pretty well for the upcoming season, the team are as good as 99% certain they can fix the electrics once they get the bikes back to Louth and we have a couple of UK test's lined up before the season starts so all should be good!!!

We're back home now for a few days before heading up to the UK, it will give me some time to get some training in and sort out a few bits and pieces, we've also got a scan and some blood tests to get done before we leave to see how baby number 2's doing, i'm well excited about another child, i see it as a win win situation for me, i've got my little boy which i always dreamed of, now, if i have a girl fantastic but if we have another boy then it's all good too, double the amount of toys that dad will HAVE to assist playing with :-)!!!!!!

Right, i think that's about enough for now, i've been typing this for god knows how long already!!, Thanks for reading and i promise to update thisa bit more often from here on in, take it easy everyone, Shakey #67

4th gear here on the HM plant Honda Fireblade!!

It's all been going on!!!

Hey guys and girls, sorry for another big delay in sending you a blog but in fairness i've had a fair bit on my plate just lately!! I don't really know where to start to be honest, in my last blog it was that time of year where everybody's talking and things are starting to happen regarding the following season but for me things were ticking along fairly steady, i think i mentioned last time my win win situation as i saw it, basically i may have got to stay in WSB with a good team which would've been real cool but if it didn't happen i had some mega options in BSB which would give me a really strong chance at fighting for another title or two back in the UK, well, as it turned out the good option i wanted in WSB went and the best option in BSB became a goer so that was that job done, HM Plant Honda it is for 2011 then!!

As i said win win situation, it actually feels kind of strange in a way because in recent years in BSB it was always going to be either HM Plant Honda or Airwaves Ducati as they were that were going to compete for the title, the two teams were both seemingly at another level and with Airwaves Ducati not being around anymore HM Plant was the logical choice, sure there's some real good teams out there now that may have stepped right up and bridged the gap but i'm more than happy with my choice and can't wait to get going, it's almost like the perfect wedding present.......

Speaking of which, last Thursday Petra and i finally tied the knot and got married, we had a mega day and an even better party that night, everything went absolutely perfect and i'm both extremely happy and proud to be able to call her finally my wife, i'll try to get some pics up on the site in the near future to show you all, she really did look like a princess and as for our son, well, he may only be two years old but he lit up the dance floor, he had everyone in stitches, i'm almost convinced somebody slipped a little bit of red bull or something into him, i've never seen anything like it :-)!!!!

We're kicking back in the Uk for a little bit longer, i had to go to a big Honda dealer conference the other day and have to go to the NEC show this sunday which will be cool, monday i think i'm collecting my new motocross bike from the team and that's the first chance i'll get to take a look at my new Fireblade for next year, i'm so excited i might take a pair of leathers and a helmet to see if they'll let me ride it around the car park for a bit ha ha ha, then at some point that week i'd like to actually go home for a bit, i can't wait to ride my new CRF250, i really enjoyed my last one a couple of years ago, i'll take it home for a bit then early next year bring it back to the UK so that i can leave it with my mates then i can come over to go riding with them and get them to prepare it ready for the next time we're going out, i'm not that good with all the cleaning and prep work, i just love riding the things!!!

Right for now i'm going to crack on, off out for dinner tonight with one of my cousins and her husband which will be highly amusing so i need to get moving, talk to you all soon, Shakey#67

Finally, a HM Plant Honda rider, team gear that fits on route ;-)

Chilling!!

Hey guys and girls, how are you all?, not a great deal to report to be honest, as you will of probably seen if you follow me on Twitter we're back home now for a few weeks, i've managed to catch a bit of a bug and now have a real sore throat as well as feeling pretty lethargic which is a bit of a bummer, hopefully it'll pass real quick!!

No news yet on 2011 but rest assured everything's under control so i'm going to spend this weekend chilling and hope to have some news by the middle or the end of next week, i'm in a really good mood regarding next season and feel really upbeat about the whole thing, the reason being the way i see it i'm in a win win situation right now, i still have a possibility or two to remain in World Superbikes which has to be top priority but i'm also talking with all the top teams in British Superbike too so if the WSB doesn't happen then i'm really excited about returning to BSB to try to fight for a title or two, in the ideal world it'd be two as both MacKenzie and now Kiyo have won three to my two so there's all the motivation i need to try to win a couple of titles, as i said earlier hopefully we'll have some more news next week so keep your eyes peeled!! Take it easy, Shakey#67

Updated Magny Cours....

So then, here it is, the final “Race” diary of the 2010 season, unfortunately it’s going to follow a somewhat familiar pattern to all previous one’s this year which is a tiny bit frustrating but here goes anyway!!!

The following day after Imola we dropped Petra at the airport before Reggie and I went on a bit of a road trip up to Zurich, we saw the funniest car you’ve ever seen on the way up through Switzerland, in fact if you follow me on Twitter at @67shakey you would’ve been able to see the picture I posted, the funniest thing was after about an hour had passed since we saw it we pulled into some services and the car was in there, lets just say we better hope there’s not a World War 3 if that car is all the artillery we have in England ;-)!!!

After spending Monday night and pretty much all day Tuesday in Zurich we got back in the motorhome to make a steady start on the trip towards Magny Cours, that ended up turning into an all night affair though as Reg ended up driving all the way to the circuit, the last two hours or so were a little bit of a worry, we used Tom Tom to guide us there and obviously it fails to recognise the fact we’re in a 40ft long motorhome, we followed the directions and the roads and villages etc got smaller and smaller and narrower and narrower, I said to Reg after about an hour at it all we need now is a low bridge, can you imagine that, I would have been fuming ha ha!!!

As ever around this time of the year the paddock was rife with all sorts of gossip about who was going where and typically by the time you’d got from one end of the paddock to the other the story had changed completely which always amuses me!!

Riding wise I’d be lying if I said I dislike the circuit because I don’t it’s just something about the place that I can’t get on with, last year I struggled a bit there but this year I was determined to get on with it and try to work it out, let’s face it, it was the last two races of the year so now was as good a time as ever for a good result!!!

Despite having a much better feeling with the bike than 12 months ago I finished the session a little bit down the order, we were still in the top 5 or 6 but a little bit off and the bike never felt too bad at all, sure there were things we could improve but it wasn’t like we were miles out of the ball park, this theme continued right through all the practice and qualifying sessions but if you saw the results and lap times it was absolutely unbelievable, in one session there was 0.7 of a second covering the top 16 riders, that is just out of this world, no other championship in the world is ever that tight, it’s so cool to be a part of, it’d be even better if I was at the top of the tables though ha ha!!

In Superpole I got straight through the first session using just race tyres which usually bodes well, in the second one initially I went 7^th but by the time I’d got back I’d dropped out of the cut, I decided to use my 2^nd qualifier immediately but unfortunately I entered an empty track and had no option but to do a lap alone with no one to chase, I did a faster lap but ended up missing the cut off by about 2 10^th’s and finished up in 14^th, as I said earlier in this diary, following patterns……

Knowing that I was lining up on the grid for what was to be my final races with Althea I was determined to do a good job, as the lights went out I got quite a good start and made up 5 or 6 places through the first couple of turns, everything was going to plan until sector 3, basically in morning warm up for the Superstock class someone blew an engine in a big way and dropped oil all the way into the fast chicane, it was possible to go inside it or around it but definitely not where I had to go on the first lap, across the top of it, I ran on straight through the chicane but had to really anchor up hard to make it back onto the track through the designated entry road back onto the track so I dropped to last place, F’in great that’s all I need, I managed to get back on track and picked up as many places as I could before the end, I got stuck behind Tom Sykes which was real frustrating as he was like a bit of a road block, parking his Kawasaki in the middle of the track at every corner before firing it out down the straights, I passed him a few times but every time I did he simply out drove me on the exit so I ended up a pretty disappointed 9^th right behind him.

For the second race I was determined to get a better start and to try to get straight in front of Tom, I actually pulled it off too but lost a place to him when I lined up I think Lanzi on the brakes into the hairpin, Tom got in front and it took me a good while to get back passed but this time I finally managed, I then set about chasing down Carlos who was a couple of seconds up the track, I managed to catch him and get passed but ran out of time to do anything else so that was it, 8^th place in my final race of the year, far from a stunning weekend.

Now though a couple of days have past, I’m actually feeling pretty chilled at the minute, I’m kinda down that some of the guys are already starting their preparations for 2011 in Magny Cours but I’m actually quite relieved that this season’s over, it’ll sound corny I know but I’m already ready for 2011, I have no idea yet what it’s going to bring but I’m ready regardless, it’s weird because right now I feel free and like a big weight’s off my shoulders I guess you could almost say I’m having a week completely off and away from it all!!!! There’s been plenty of stuff to try to get sorted both racing and non racing wise though so I’ve been pretty busy anyway, as far as the racing thing goes right now I have some possibilities in WSB, options in BSB so I’m off up to Oulton Park Saturday to pursue them and a couple of possibilities elsewhere too which we’re working on so I’ve no doubt something will come together quite soon, you can rest assured I’ll let you guys know exactly what’s happening so all that leaves me to say is a big thank you to all of you who’ve followed me this year, in the words of Vinny Jones or should I say Bullet tooth Tony…It’s been emotional!!!!!!

Big thanks also to my guys in my side of the garage this year, Alberto, Fabrizio, Pino and Luca, you’ve been mega thank you, thanks also to Genesio, to Shoei, Alpinestars, Express insurance, William and the boys at Stobart and finally S.I.S Science in Sport, lets hope we have far more to cheer about next year. Take it easy guys and girls, Shakey #67

Day 1 Magny Cours

Hey guys and girls, just a real quick one, not especially good news to be fair, just finished provisional qualifying and ended up down in P13, sounds like a drama i know but on the upside my last two laps today were the only ones i enjoyed as i struggled to get a good feeling and i made big mistakes on both of those laps anyway, not only that i may well be P13 but i'm only 0.5 second off of pole so it's not all bad, work to do tomorrow but we'll be pushing!! Take it easy, Shakey#67

Faster, faster, faster!!!!

Imola!!

Blimey, just woke up here in Magny Cours, it’s Friday morning which means practice is going to start later and I haven’t even told you about Imola yet, I know what I’m like, if I leave it even a day longer I’ll get myself all in a pickle and start forgetting what happened where so here goes for Imola!!

I like the Imola circuit, I enjoy the layout and looked forward to the race there which by all accounts was a little bit touch and go at some points, the test mid season had gone well there right up until the point when Leon’s bike took a particular fancy to mine so it was all systems go, we started the weekend with one bike set exactly the same as we had the bike in Nurburgring as we’d made a bit of a step there setting wise and the other bike was set exactly how we had it at the test earlier in the year.

The 1^st session went really, really well, I immediately felt comfortable especially on the bike with the test settings in and ran P2 to Carlos right until the last 15 minutes or so, we put our second set of tyres on and went P1 by a good few tenths, I thought that was enough and indeed it was until Carlos did a final flying lap and pipped me by a 10^th again so a good start to the weekend.

We had some more work to do in provisional qualifying, I wanted to try to take the strong points from both bikes and create one real good one, we were once again running right at the front when with about 15-20 minutes to go the boys gave me the BOX sign, we knew where we were and all was ok so I said right lets just give it 5 minutes before we head out, I was confident I could go quite a bit faster but I didn’t want to do it too early and get pipped like I did in the first session, we used that final blast to try a different front tyre which generally works real well but for some reason I pushed real hard and only managed to match my time from earlier in the session, in fairness I didn’t put together the best lap and did get a tiny bit held up but I guess if nothing else it told me that that type of front tyre wasn’t the way forward, I dropped to 5^th I think by the end of the session but I was ok and still felt confident that with the decent front tyre I could’ve improved both time and position wise.

Saturday brought mixed conditions, pretty much everybody sat out the whole morning session, I did literally 1 flying lap on a set of intermediates just to scrub them in case of needing a set for Superpole!!

I’ll go on record saying that Imola has to be THE slipperiest surface I have ever ridden in the wet, for Superpole I went out on a bike set for the wet but it felt like a stiff dry bike, I had no feeling whatsoever, I was amazed that I finished 2^nd in the first session, I felt like I might as well get off and push the bike around, I’d probably of gone quicker!!

For the second Superpole the guys softened the bike right off and on the out lap it felt a tiny bit better, by that I mean the suspension actually compressed!! I did the warm up lap then exited the chicane and thought right Superpole 3 here we come, on the run up to turn 1 I noticed waving yellow flags, I entered the chicane and out the corner of my eye I noticed a bike on the exit, I entered the left, changed direction just took a minuscule glance at the stricken rider to make sure he wasn’t in my path and the next thing I knew I was flying through the air towards him, Cal had exactly the same crash, as in the end did many others but he’d got up and managed to ride to the pits, I ran to my bike which at that point was still running, I went to grab the clutch to pick it up but the marshall bench pressed the thing up right before I grabbed the clutch and it stalled the engine, I was fuming. I managed to get a lift bag on the back of a 250 year old Italian on his scooter and to be honest it would’ve been quicker to walk, I got out on the other bike which was set up for the dry and missed the cut for Superpole 3 by nothing, and I nearly had another massive near highside in the process, I wasn’t happy!!!

I really struggled for some reason in morning warm up, the track was still slightly damp particularly in the fast down hill run to the chicane so after a couple of warnings early on I decided that there were no prizes for being fastest in warm up!!!

My start for race 1 was far from ideal and I got a bit humped being on the inside running through the 1^st chicane, I pushed real hard all race but until the fuel load had gone down a bit I found myself really struggling to stop and turn the bike, I ran off track trying to pass Guintoli and lost 4 seconds to him but a good pace in the last half of the race saw me catch and pass him on the last lap or so. The result, 8^th, wasn’t particularly impressive but my pace at the end was real good so all we needed to do was compare the data from the beginning to the end to make some changes to ensure the bike worked the same in the first part of race 2 as it had at the end of race 1, easy a!!!!

I got a slightly better start in race 2 and managed to get through the first chicane a bit better, the race was pretty tight at the front, ok Carlos got the lead and cleared off but the rest of us were close, about half way through Haslam’s bike blew and I was completely blinded, the smoke was so think that I literally couldn’t see a thing, I kept thinking please please don’t let anybody fall in front of me, I might just as well of shut my eyes because I would’ve seen more!!! Fortunately despite running off track we continued on but it broke the group right up, I was left with Lanzi who finished 2^nd in the first race about 3 or 4 seconds up the road and I managed to catch and pass him to take 6^th at the flag.

Obviously reading this now you’ll know that I’m not going to be continuing with the Althea Ducati team, it’s a real shame, the team are going to focus on Carlos who let’s face it has done an awesome job this year and may consider running another rider should one with a big personal backer come along so I’m out, I have a few irons in the fire though and all is not lost, I’m not sure what I’m going to do next year but rest assured as soon as I know you’ll read it right here. Take it ease, Shakey#67

Nothing like using all the track ;-)!!!!

Nurburgring.....

I'm not going to make this the usual full on race report i normally try to do after a race weekend, the reason, i'm frustrated, so, so frustrated with the way things are going right now, i know the saying is you make your own luck but bloody hell give me a break, if that saying's true then i need to find a new recipe for my luck because mine seems to be all bad!!!

I guess in someways the support and comments i get from you guys go some way to makingthings a bit easier to deal with i mean lets face it, i'm riding in a World Championship not a club meeting so to go from pretty much last and come through to 9th and 10th isn't terrible but you need to understand how badly i want to be racing at the sharp end, fighting for podiums etc, that's what's important to me not how many people i manage to pass on my way to a top 10 position, i wasn't out of the top 5 all weekend in Germany, in fact i lead sessions, ran top 3 and generally had a real good podium position pace the WHOLE weekend so to get the results i did all because of a crash that came out of nowhere, aaaarrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh is the only word that springs to mind!!!!!

One thing that was good about the weekend was the fact that we further improved the bikes chassis feeling, in Silverstone we made good progress with the way we had the bike turning and in Germany we made another good step, i'm really hopeful that we'll be able to start with a real good bike in Imola plus we have the setting we got in the test there earlier in the year so it should be all good.

The final real good thing that happened was the lap we did of the Nordschliefe after the race, bloody hell, what an eye opener that was, it turned out quite amusing because with a Fiat Punto we smoked a GSXR 1000 rider , i used him as a bit of a guide in the first instance then through one real tricky part of the circuit we passed him, i'd love to go back there with an instructor and a quick car, the place is awesome!!!

We headed back to the UK monday to collect Zack then the following day we went off home, i'm looking forward to getting some more training in whilst we're here and desperately hoping for a far stronger end to the season, this definitely hasn't been a year to talk about with the grand kids has it, mind you, i haven't got them so it's all good!!! Take it easy and i'll catch up with ya soon, Shakey #67

Hard at it!!

Race two after passing Troy..

How cool is this pic!!!!

Just about to start a highly amusing lap of the Nordschliefe!!!