So far I’m enjoying South Africa; yesterday we all headed to a huge shopping mall, got lunch and had a mooch around. The only problem was the fact that everything works out twice the price compared to back home so one decided to keep one’s wallet deep inside one’s pocket. We did earmark the cinema for Thursday night though, Bucko and the older generation want to see ‘Star Trek’ whereas I’ve my heart set on ‘I Love You Man’. Good old Simon was steering on the way to the mall and stopped to ask a few coppers for directions. And so they conversed, Simon totally oblivious to the adjacent ‘Crime Scene’ sign. Not that it would have worried him had he spotted it.

What can I say about Monza that hasn’t already been said? I give it my best shot but Cal got away, it was always gonna be tough to keep him in sight but Foret simply handed him the race by vying for 2nd position at every single corner. I’m not too angry with Fabien but I just hope that he learnt a lesson when he watched the race back. At the end of the penultimate lap I lost the front at Parabolica which lost me one second on Foret and Lascorz but I managed to pull it right back before the final turn. I wanted to turn it tight and nip inside them but I got sucked in a little deeper than I wanted which faltered my plan. I had to make do with 4th place which is still good points for my title attempt.

Kyalami is another new track for me. Only the Ten Kate guys have tested here so the majority of the field will have to learn the circuit on Friday as well. We’re learning more and more about what makes this Honda tick so I’m enjoying my riding a lot at the moment. I want another big bagful of points this weekend; the small bags don’t really interest me much, neither do the empty ones!

See ya,

Eugene