First I feel I must apologise. The supersport race on Sunday was very boring in comparison with rounds 1-5 and it was all my fault. I cleared off without considering that I would turn the race into a procession, but after battling to the flag at every single round this season I wanted an easy one. I didn’t exactly get what I wanted though as Cal chased me all race long which stopped me from letting up until the last few laps. We were setting some mighty lap times if I don’t mind saying so myself as we opened up a 15 second gap on the rest of the field. It’s 2006 all over again!
I must admit I was a little scared going to South Africa. I’d heard that you shouldn’t stop at traffic lights after dark so when I checked online and seen that the sunset at 5.30 I began to worry! But, I really enjoyed my time in SA and met a lot of nice people. Our waiter in our restaurant of choice had ‘Old Man’ on his name tag as that’s what his name translates to. How could you not adore someone with a name like Old Man?? And I had one great coffee after another whereas I normally stay clear of the stuff outside of Spain and Italy.
On track things were dandy. I qualified on the front row despite a timing cock-up from the organisers which dropped me from 2nd to 3rd on the grid. In the race I took the lead on lap two and never looked back, I didn’t even pull a tear-off! The only thing I did was alter the traction control setting twice as the tyre went off. I was in the zone and kept my head down til I seen a guy waving a black and white flag at me. That victory was the first for bike 1 as I’d raced every other on bike 2. She performed in her debut race!
Brains and I are working hard to get every inch out of this chassis and we’re learning more and more about what makes it go round corners. Ohlins have thrown some good ideas at us and although we’re limited to what we can change in the supersport category we’re really beginning to make this bike work. We’ve got to keep moving forward as Yamaha have a great package and Cal’s riding hard.
The day after the race we all headed to a safari park. Driving around with lions trying to open your door wasn’t exactly my idea of fun, it’s the most scared I’ve been for sometime. Check out the photo of the lion with its teeth around the door handle, that’s just not cricket. It was a hell of an experience nontheless. We seen lions, giraffes, cheetahs, and stripy horses known as zebras, but nothing beat the meerkat. He was the coolest little dude in the world, even if he wasn’t wearing a red robe like in the comparethemarket.com ad.
I’m leaving for California in the morning where I will stay with Josh Hayes for four days ahead of the next round in Salt Lake City. Should be fun cycling in sunshine, we may pop down to Glen Helen for the first round of the AMA motocross as well which would be real cool.
Off to the States I go!
Eugene
