What a fantastic week! It just so happened to coincide with my first proper rest period in quite some time, I give myself ten days off from training and it was an insight into how much time Id have on my hands if I was a lazy-assed racer!  Believe me, there’s more of them out there than you’d think.  Here I found myself with an extra 25 hours on my hands and not the slightest idea of what I was going to do with the time!

My flight to the London Red Bull X Fighters was at midday on Saturday so once my friends heard that I was at home on Friday night they set about kidnapping me.  The last time I was on a night out with the boys was in March following my debut World Championship race win so it was due.  I was sat with a biscuit and brew happily watching the Tour of Ireland on TV when my friend Tubman called and said he’d sent Brian to come pick me up.  No way out of that one then!  I was happy he did in the end as we had great craic out in Belfast.

The X Fighters didn’t fail to deliver as expected, the Battersea Powerstation backdrop was amazing!  Mat Rebeaud landed short on a backflip right infront of us which was pretty scary but he walked away.  The afterparty proved to be a late ‘un; I had a good laugh with Johnny Rea, Keith Amor, and Scott Redding doing some frontflips into our makeshift foam pit… long story!

I returned home and set about restarting my training regime on Tuesday morning.  I thought a nice 40km cycle would ease me back in but that all changed when I checked on Twitter and seen that Lance Armstrong had invited anyone and everyone to a group ride in Dublin!  I loaded my bike into the back of the van and drove 300km to Phoenix Park to ride with the great man.  More than 1000 cyclists turned up but I fought my way to the front alongside Lance and rode the 90 minutes with him.  It was something I will remember for as long as I live, a very surreal event.  I have a picture of myself cycling in the pack with him which will feature in the upcoming Irish Racer magazine alongside my monthly column.

Like I said, not a bad seven days!

Eugene

With a month’s break in the World Supersport racing calendar Parkalgar Honda’s Eugene Laverty has had some time to himself, before heading back to the action at the Nurburgring on the 6th September.

Race fans will have spotted Eugene on the grid at Brands Hatch British Superbikes with his brother John. He said: “I went to Brands Hatch for the BSB weekend and got value for money with a race on Saturday as well as on Sunday. John went well there which was nice to see. My girlfriend Pippa has been working in London so I went there and did some site seeing as well as a spot of training. It was good as I could finish training and then we could go out to the theatre in the evening.”

In preparation for the next round the Parkalgar Honda team has taken in a track day at the Nurburgring to let Eugene find his way round. There was a lot of traffic on the famous circuit but it means Eugene isn’t going there with zero track knowledge. His team-mate Miguel Pria has already raced at the Nurburgring so did not attend the test.

Eugene explained: “It is a difficult track as it is so bumpy and there are a lot of bumps off-line too. The more laps you do the more you can learn about it. I’ve now got two weekends off before we go there in September. We should do well there, Cal’s Yamaha will be strong but we will be fighting for the win.”

Eugene is now heading back to his native Ireland before returning to London to see the Red Bull X-Fighters. He has been training hard and intends to take a well deserved week off to recover before starting the build up to the Nurburgring.

The 11th round of the World Supersport championship will take place at the Nurburgring on the 4th - 6th September.

I’m back home for a couple of days after a week in London with Pippa. I enjoyed my time there running and swimming in the day while Pippa was at work. We went to the theatre one evening to watch We Will Rock You which was pretty cool. At the weekend we properly got our tourist caps on and visited The Tower of London on Saturday and then Hampton Court on Sunday.

I left London on Monday to fly to Germany for a track day at Nurburgring. I’d never ridden the circuit before so the team got me out there to learn the circuit ahead of the next round of the championship. It was a bit dangerous with the likes of myself, Crutchlow, Sofuolgu and Pitt out there with guys on big touring bikes! Some guys could ride ok but then there were riders lapping 30 seconds slower than us so we’d come upon them so fast that it was scary. Nevertheless I did what I went there to do and that was learn my way around the track.

After the test Simon took me for a lap round the old Nurburgring in the hire car.  That place is just plain crazy, anyone can pay 20 Euros and give it hell for!  I’m convinced a jacked up teenager could arrive in a cop car, put a twenty on the counter and they’d show him the way to the circuit entrance.  Buses and all sorts are on the 20km track along with guys on Fireblades, absolute madness.

The British round of the Red Bull X Fighters is coming up on Saturday so I’ll be back on a tin budgie to London again. I just know the event will be amazing, I’ve been to the X Fighters in Madrid and also in Ireland two years ago but the setting at Battersea Power Station is set to be the best yet. The Tour of Ireland is on this weekend and both Lance Armstrong and Mark Cavendish will be competing so I’d have loved to have been able to go watch but you can’t be two places at once!

Ba bye,

Eugene

There’s three things I’ve read recently that aren’t true. One is that I’ve ruled out Moto2 for next season, I never said that. Another is that Cal Crutchlow has dominated World Supersport this season, that’s incorrect. A wise man once said that you’re only as good as your last race, never was there a truer word spoken. The other thing was that Rockin’ Robin slotted into 35th position in the list of Michael Jackson’s greatest songs, that’s clearly not true! Surely it should be in the top ten.

Let’s get back to the Moto2 subject. What I said was that I’m in no rush back, meaning that I’m not just going to jump at the first opportunity to return to that paddock. My original intention was to sidestep to the World Supersport Championship and show that I was capable of winning races then return to GPs on a winning package. So far half the job is done, now all I need is the latter to fall into place. It could be 2010; however, I’m prepared to wait until 2011 if that’s what it takes. All any man wants from life is to be shown the respect he deserves, that’s why I need to go back.

We had a tough time at Brno, we never quite found the right chassis setting for the race. It certainly didn’t help matters when I threw it down the road three times! Yamaha had tested there previously and we can’t afford to be giving them headstarts like that. Cal won’t have any advantage heading into the final four races which should mean it’ll be a good fight between the two of us for the title.

It’s amazing how it’s went from “Cal Crutchlow and Eugene Laverty have dominated World Supersport this season” to just “Cal Crutchlow has dominated World Supersport this season”! I find it pretty funny because it’ll change right back once I pick up a win in the next few rounds. Cal is riding great and he’s getting the most out of the Yamaha so we have our work cut out, there’s no doubt about that.

I’m at Brands Hatch this weekend watching the British Superbikes then I’ll be spending the next week in London along with Pippa. My five week break is packed full of duties and activities, which isn’t altogether a bad thing, so it’ll be back to racing before we know it!

I’m off to practice my Cockney accent, see ya.

Eugene

Have you ever wondered what goes on in the Parkalgar garage on a race weekend? Find out in this month’s issue of Fast Bikes Magazines. Seven pages jam packed with a day to day account of what happened behind the scenes this year at Donington Park - what you didn’t get to see on Eurosport. From setting up the garage all the way through to the reaction of Eugene’s team as he battles his way through the race. Get your copy now or miss out. Available on shelf until 26th August.

Eugene speaks with Jim Race of MotoGPod on latest episode #189 “here comes silly season”. listen to the in-depth interview http://www.motogpod.com/episode/episode-189-here-comes-silly-season