Photos copyright © MotorBikesToday.com 2008

Friday - First Practice

With the new suspension fitted thanks to Richard at Ohlins GB along with a new quickshifter thanks to Gareth at HM Quickshifters, I was really looking forward to getting out and going forward form Valencia.

The bike felt a lot smoother and more stable on turn in, but was running wide and not inspiring much confidence in the front end, plus a somewhat damp surface on the circuit wasn’t the easiest of conditions to deal with. A few quick adjustments to the rear shock solved most of the running wide problems, but the front was still not how I wanted, feeling far too soft.

Three turns of preload were added to the front to enable me to brake harder and later and also run higher corner speed. It helped, but was a turn too heavy, and thus I reverted to just two extra turns.

I managed to get in one flying lap when the track was reasonably dry, and it was a fairly improved time from the previous laps, and faster than I had managed last season, by just a couple of tenths.

Friday - First Qualifying.

A few extra tweaks to the rear shock and a new ride height setting were the big changes made for the first qualifying session. A small gearing change to help pull through the gears faster through the back section was also done as revving out wouldn’t be a problem for us.

I focused on just pushing at every turn on every lap, and slowly but surely started to improve my lap times with each tour of the 4.5km long circuit. Turning later and harder and standing up on the gas earlier and applying the throttle sooner were the main focus points. I was trying to brake later and harder also, but this area proved to show little improvement as I was already late on the anchors pretty much everywhere!

A small off and excursion down into the middle chicane was the only major moment I had all session, and I returned to the pits soon after for new rubber and a quick adjustment to the front of the bike. I was fighting to turn the bike and keep upright as the front was severely overloading and tucking mid turn, especially on the slower, tighter turns at the start of the lap.

With new tyres the problem persisted, but with only three flyers I managed to knock another second off my previous best, despite having no tow. I tried a few different lines and turn in points but with the front end not wanting to go where I needed it a major improvement in lap time was never going to happen.

Saturday - Second Practice.

After the problems from the previous afternoon the team raised the front of the bike and also made some rebounded damping changes, in hope of more traction and drive through the slow bends, and more stability mid turn from the front.

Out on track the bike felt much better, smoother, faster and easier to ride. I was only able to get one out lap and one flying lap as the heavens decided to open just as I entered the final section of the course. I immediately entered the pits as the two riders in front of me jumped off!

We softened both ends of the bike to aid grip and traction in the wet conditions, but it still took four laps to get some heat and grip into the tyres, but my confidence grew and grew with each tour of the circuit. The lap times were dropping by around 2 to 3 seconds a lap which was a real positive sign.

Saturday - Second Qualifying

Thankfully it was dry for second qualifying, and with the new front end settings I was a lot happier and confident that the bike would be good enough for us to improve the lap time from the previous sessions.

Straight away the time I had done in the previous session was bettered, and I felt a lot faster, although the rear of the bike was very unstable. It was sliding all over the place and I was out of the seat at every turn, while the whole bike was still doing a two wheel drift! It was a big problem on the slower corners, where the hard acceleration was very unsettling.

I nipped into the pits and put a new rear into the bike, thinking this would cure the problem. It didn’t. The bike was still going sideways rather than forwards, and although I made a huge improvement in time, it was through pure balls that I actually went anywhere! I was power-sliding out of all the turns, and although it was looking good, it wasn’t the fastest way, and I was fighting the bike all the way.

My session was ended early when I had a hug high-side out of the final chicane, and landed with all my weight on my right arm, popping my shoulder out of place. How I stayed on two wheels I’ll never know, but I was on the grass when I got back upright and the pain seared through my right arm at such a rate I had to tour it back to the paddock.

We needed more grip from the rear before we were going to go any faster, initial throttle made the bike step out and when upright it just smokes the rear and leaves big black lines. Once we get this sorted I’m sure we’ll start going forward.

Sunday - Race

We got the bike fairly well sorted during warm up, but my shoulder was still proving to be a problem, so although I was pushing I couldn’t really go full out. I got it strapped more heavily for the race however and was certain it would be better.

I had a couple of plans ready for the opening few turns, fortunately I only needed to put the first one in to action, that was to just go in fairly wide and hold my line through the whole of the first complex. I managed this with the obligatory elbows-out-fairing-bashing, all the way through!

I made a few places up by the end of the lap and told myself just to hang on to the group ahead for as long as possible and hoped my shoulder would hang in there. The first few laps were awesome, the bike felt good, I was holding a great pace and was starting to get into a rhythm. I was able to hold my line properly and get on the gas early for the first time all weekend, and I felt confident with the front of the bike and was able to put it where I wanted. But no sooner had I started to get going and my shoulder suddenly just went and the pain became apparent.

It was a struggle for me to brake hard and turn fast, making the chicanes exceptionally difficult and like torture to my arm and shoulder every lap. The fast sections where the circuit flowed were okay as I could use my legs to help turn the bike, but where I needed to counter-steer was where my problems lay.

I had some great battles with a few guys, and pushed as hard as I could to stay ahead of them or on their tails, and was surprised at how well I coped, despite my fitness not being 100%. I must admit I was glad to get round the last lap. Any more laps and I don’t think I’d have been able to keep hold of the bars!

To come home in 21st, equal to my best result in the class, and gain 12 places from the grid, with my problems, was a real confidence booster. I’m really happy with how the weekend went as the team and I have made some excellent progress and things are starting to look really positive for us. Now I just can’t wait for Monza, a.k.a the cathedral of speed! As long as my shoulder is sorted I reckon we can have a good qualifying and an even better race!

Two short weeks went by after Round One at Valencia and we headed off to the Assen TT Circuit in the Netherlands. Every circuit in the championship this year will be new to me, and every country is another one to add to my list. I was looking forward to Assen, and planning on starting with a clean slate after a very frustrating and disappointing time at Valencia.

We got on a plane Wednesday morning in England and less than an hour later we touched down at Amsterdam airport. I’m finding it a bit surreal that just an hour’s flight away and I’m not only in a different country but a different language and culture. On arriving at the track we assisted with some of the set up and organization of the pits, so we would be ready for scrutineering and rider’s brief on Thursday. The scene over here is very different to Australia, but I’m learning my way around pretty quickly. Here you need pit scooters to get about the area its so big.

I was very keen to get into practice and learn the track. I was also feeling a bit anxious as the last thing I wanted was the problems we had at Valencia, so we started with fairly neutral suspension settings on the bike. Unfortunately I joined the Mist Suzuki team at the 11th hour, so my track time has been very limited and have not had an opportunity to get onto a track between meetings. Anyway UK tracks over the past month have been covered in either snow or rain. I did however get a few flying laps Thursday afternoon on Brendan Roberts rocket ship scooter, and we had turns in cutting laps with some of the other guys!

Friday - First Practice

The first practice at 9 a.m. Friday morning was not much more than a ‘learn the track session’ but at the same time I was trying to find a good feeling with the bike for the first qualifier in the afternoon. I stayed on the track for most of the session and came in only to make a few adjustments.

Friday - First Qualifying

After the session we made some larger geometry changes and hoping that we wouldn’t continue with the suspension problems. We made a little bit of headway with the changes for qualifying, so I stayed out on my old tyres for as long as possible, using the time to adjust to the settings and learn the lengthy track before putting in a new set at the end. I only got a few laps in on fresh rubber so my qualifying position of 31st was not at all desirable, leaving me concerned, as there was a chance of rain for Saturday so this qualifier may have well been where I was going to start the race.

Saturday - Second Practice

After having a good think about the bike Friday night, I needed to get onto the track again and get as much time as I could. Unfortunately this session turned out to be extremely limited. As the bike was being wheeled off the stand, we noticed a fuel leak. This put a big dent in the first part of the short session and just as I jumped on the bike and went to ride off it started raining. By the time we got the wets in and headed onto track, I only had 6 minutes of the 30 minute session left.

Saturday - Second Qualifying

For the qualifier in the afternoon, the circuit was dry, so I was anxious to work with the team to get the most out of the available time on track. I was in and out a fair bit during the session and was able to find a bit of time, by improving the basic setup. In effect, the qualifier was being used as a test session still, so I was trying to think about getting the bike sorted as well as trying to put a lap together. I ended up 28th out of a full 40 rider field. Times are so critical at this level, just a few hundredths’ of a second means numerous positions on the grid.

Sunday - Race

The time had come to get into it and put difficulties aside and push hard for 13 laps of the 4.55km Assen TT circuit. However before that we had one more large suspension change to try to the rear end before the race. Warm up was a less than ideal place to be trying that, but I wanted to attempt to improve things further, hoping we could find time in the race, luckily it helped me so I was keen to run with it.

Shortly after warm up was our race. The crowds were pretty big by then and the atmosphere exciting. I got a great start and quite a few riders parked it in turn 1 so I was lucky to be able to ride around these and move up about 10 positions on the first lap. I tried to make room where I could and push my way through and gain a few more positions on the brakes but I found running high corner speed a problem, which was really hindering us in practice and qualifying so I did what I could and tried to pick off as many people as I could.

I found myself in 16th fairly quickly. One certainty with this class, if you run wide or find yourself out of the seat, you can guarantee that more than one rider will slot their way back past. On one occasion about mid race I had a rather large out of seat moment in turn 2, and slipped back 4 spots!

I tried to ride consistently knowing where I was having difficulty and managed a 14th place finish. I tried hard as always and despite the setup trouble I’ve had with the Suzuki I feel I’m getting there, obviously the fact that everything over here is new to me makes it harder, but at least we are moving in the right direction. So upwards and onwards from here ! And I hope to achieve my realistic goals in the coming rounds and building confidence as we go.

Although I won’t be able to get to Monza before the next race meeting like many others have been able to do, we do have some testing planned shortly after that, so I expect to get on top of things then.

Before I finish up I’d just like to mention how good it’s been to have a heap of Aussies in the pits. The camaraderie between us is just like being back in Oz, probably even more so now as we’re all so far away from home.

A special thanks to Garry Crilly, John Chiodo and Justine from Monza Imports who have made arrangements for me to get a new AGV helmet delivered to the track within days so I had a European compliant helmet, it’s great to that that type of support from home.

Friday - First Practice

After the testing we had done a couple of weeks ago, I think both Gareth and I were in the same mind set of being able to go straight out and be on the pace. We’d both been happy with the set-up we had and couldn’t wait to get out and get stuck in to things with the entire field.

As soon as I got on track the bike felt completely different. The bike just seemed to be running with everywhere and the front felt very light, with little in the way of feedback. It was an odd feeling so we tried a few clicks here and there to get it settled, but nothing really seemed to do the trick.

We made a couple more changes to get the front to bite into the turns, and we found some decent front end feeling, but we were well off the pace we had done during testing and the bike still wasn’t right.

Friday - First Qualifying

With a few words of advice and changes to the set-up thanks to Andreani the suspensions gurus, I was determined to get back up to the pace I knew I could run. We’d planned how to use the tyres in advance, so that wasn’t a worry, just how long the tyres would last however, that was a different matter all together, one we’d suffer through the weekend.

After a few decent laps I pitted to change the tyres, in then hope of using them during the last fifteen minutes to pull me higher up the grid. The track was feeling different to the morning session, lots more mid turn grip, but a lot less on the exit, making it very hard to get out and on the gas hard. Something we needed due to the front end problems we were encountering.

I managed to string some good times together and put in a much improved time, but I was still having some problems getting into the initial part of the turn, with the bike feeling like it was rising up and going loose. We used the last part of the session to improve bike set up as after six laps, the rear tyre was well and truly past it best state!

Saturday - Second Practice.

A change of springs was the biggest difference to the bike from the previous day, along with a small geometry change on the front end, done by lifting the entire front up, dropping the forks back through the top yoke by 4mm.

It made the bike more stable and more agile, and improved the turn in as well as the rear end grip, but the bike was still running on when entering turns, although to a lesser extent. I tucked in behind Rene Mahr on the KTM for a few laps and it helped me improve my lines in the mid section of the track, especially through the fast flip flop chicane towards the end of the lap. I was now turning later and harder.

Saturday - Second Qualifying.

It was all or nothing for last qualifying. Whatever the problems, whatever the obstacles, I had to just bite the bullet and get the thing out and round the track as fast and as hard as I could. This was the last chance I was going to get to move up the grid.

A few laps just to bed myself into things and then I entered the pits and put the new rubber into the bike. A few quick adjustments by Andreani just to hold the front end down and then it was back out on circuit. One out lap, three hard laps and then in, that was the plan.

The out lap was good with the bike feeling almost spot on, the first flying lap was good and then I decided to really push it on the start of the second fast lap. Turn one was fantastic, perfect line and faster than before, with a bit of a slide that kept going till I braked for turn two, which I got spot on, and then I was met by a wall of riders going really slow and debris everywhere as Matej Smrz had just obliterated his Honda. It stuffed that lap up so I rode into the pits.

I took a quick breather thought about where I had to push it and went back out, but after three quarters of a lap the tyre once again the went off and I had to battle to improve my time. I did but by a tiny margin and I found myself 31st on the grid. Not where I wanted to be. A second would have put me 20th.

Sunday - Race

I had only one plan for the race, to go forward and go forward as fast as I could and get with faster groups higher up the grid. Dive up the inside at turns one, two and three and then just see what happens when we get through from there.

I made a mediocre start, managing to get squeezed a bit too tight and boxed out but gained some places at turns two and three, and then settled in behind a couple of guys down the back straight. I made another place on the brakes at the back hairpin and then settled in an old rival of mine, Marko Rothlaan, with whom I’d had some excellent battles through 2007.

At turn three I slipped past Rothlaan and then fended him off at turns four and five as he tried to retaliate, and then tagged onto the rear of Jonathan Gallina on the ZX10 Kawasaki. I followed him and the group ahead for the rest of the lap, and was right behind Gareth when he decided to take the scenic route at the final turn, taking to the gravel at quite a fair rate of knots!

The next few laps were a bit of a blur with Gallina and myself swapping positions and paint at most of the turns on the track, while we battled to close in on the few riders ahead. I managed to get a small gap, but by the ninth lap my rear tyre was spinning everywhere, and I had to be cautious getting on the gas everywhere, allowing Gallina to close in once again.

The final lap was great fun, swapping positions at every corner with Gallina, getting up close and personal on more than one occasion! I managed to pass him at turn four, only to lose the front and have to hold it up on my knee, allowing him back through, at which point I thought it was all over. But I kept on him through the rest of the lap and just thought id try out-dragging him to the finish. My plan worked perfect, as I managed to get just enough of a tow a whipped past, taking 22nd place in the process.

A climb of 9 places from my starting position, and I was fairly happy, after what was a really difficult weekend for us. We made some great progress however, and the teams looking forward to Assen, which should suit our bikes a lot better! I cant wait for it either!

I’ve been over in England now for a month, and the weather here has been rather brisk with peak temps during the day around 9 degrees. So I was looking forward to heading back to Spain ready to start fresh after my not so successful test. I couldn’t wait to get on the bike. This was my first round at a world event and I knew the pace would be hot straight off the bat and with limited track time I was hoping that with the help of Mike and the team that we could get the bike sorted.

Friday - First Practice

Friday practice was upon us very quickly after the tedious job of scrutinizing the bikes and getting the pits setup and ready to go. There was a lot to take in but with all of Thursday up our sleeves I got to know how things worked, my new team mate Matt was very happy to help and im looking forward to working with him this season.

We headed out with a new suspension combination in the first practice session which I immediately had trouble with, so I was in and out of the pits frequently making adjustments, even though it was only first practice it was an anxious time as I was trying to make use of every minute. With 40 bikes on the track there were a lot of people to contend for a line with! Before I knew it the checkers were out and it was time to pit and debrief with the team what information we had gathered and make changes accordingly.

Friday - First Qualifying

We had a lengthy discussion about where to head however for the second practice/qualifier that afternoon the changes we made didn’t really give us what we were looking for. Once again I can’t stress how hard the team was working to try and get it sorted for me. It’s great to be surrounded by people that want to achieve the best possible result we can come up with. It was a challenging day and used as more of a test session, but sometimes in racing this is how it is and getting things right doesn’t always happen first go.

Saturday - Second Practice & Second Qualifying

Saturdays schedule was somewhat as per Friday. With the first session of the day being practice and the second session the final qualifier. By this time I was getting to know how the team was working and we were all becoming a much tighter group. Getting to know the team is just as important as getting to know the bike really. As we hadn’t made a lot of progress with the bike on Friday I was hoping we could turn that around with some better results with the bikes setup. I realized time was getting slim and we were still having trouble getting everything working as I wanted too. Unfortunately time got the better of us and I ended up in 25th on the grid, less than desirable that’s for sure but Mikes outlook was very positive and the team was still trying everything to find a setting for race day.

Sunday - Race

For me race day came far to early, but nevertheless it was time to do my best with the settings we had come up with. I knew that finishing the race was of absolute importance here. Before the race I was quite stressed and I hadn’t been stressed at a race track for a long time, I wanted like any ride would to have had more time to get everything right but this is the way it is. Mike was very supportive and even 5 minutes before the race we were still discussing settings.

I lined up on the grid hoping that I could get a way to a good start. That way I could at least try and make up some positions before turn 1. I got away well and was 21st at the end of lap 1. My plan was to ride the bike as smoothly as I could and finish the race with making up as many positions as I could. But plans don’t always go the way you hope.

Before the completion or lap 2 I was on the outside of another rider when he ran wide pushing me out with him. I had no choice but to run it straight on into the gravel. I was lucky to keep it up right! The field was still very closely packed at this stage and I rejoined absolutely dead last with the next rider nearly a straight length ahead.

The day was really not going to well for me by this time. I had no choice other than to push on and finish the race and make up what positions I could. I finished a disappointing 31st. It goes to show that racing is not always fun and games and tough weekends happen. Mike and the team gave their best to me and I worked with them getting to know how they operate along the way. I cant thank them enough for giving me their best and I look forward to Assen where I really hope to turn things around and start fresh. I have a great bike that has lot of potential and a great bunch of people trying to achieve the best result along side me.

Thanks as well to Matt, my new team mate who showed me the ropes and got me up to speed with how the European meetings operate. I look forward to reporting back with some good results form Assen!

Photos copyright © MotorBikesToday.com 2008