Phillip Island test, day 1

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

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

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

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