Game on!
By TMX Archives on 9th Feb 04
THE NEW season is here and only an international at Valence in France, the KWS at Matchams Park, the Hawkstone International and round one of the Maxxis Brit champs at Canada Heights separate me from the first GP of 2004. Nick and I have THE NEW season is here and only an international at Valence in France, the KWS at Matchams Park, the Hawkstone International and round one of the Maxxis Brit champs at Canada Heights separate me from the first GP of 2004. Nick and I have just got back from the States and we feel that the time we spent there was well worthwhile. We worked hard testing and riding every day for three weeks and why not - after all, the riding facilities in SoCal are legendary and they get the weather to ride every day of the year.With all the preparation finished for our trip we boarded the British Airways 747. My mate Stewart Bell was the pilot and he got us upgraded to 'Rock Star' first class. Talk about getting off on the right foot.We'd arranged to stay with Alan Knowles from CT Racing. Alan's an ex-ATV racer and runs a successful bikes and parts business. He'd kindly offered us the hospitality of his home and workshop for the first two weeks of our trip. A taxi was summoned at the airport and we were on our way to Alan's ranch while he was down at the customs depot picking up my machine that had winged its way safely across the Atlantic thanks to Ireland Freight Services. All was well in the camp - or so it seemed.You know the phrase 'best laid plans'? Well, we arrived at Alan's to find a distinctly second-hand looking Honda in the back of his pick-up. Basically, Alan was driving his pick-up like he was leaving a crime scene and the crated Honda bounced out. I could tell Nick was impressed - not! Luckily, the damage was merely cosmetic and after a few hours nursing, Nick and baby were fine.Glen Helen and Race Town were the main tracks that we visited most days. The Showa technicians were on hand and were really helpful with settings and advice, as was Team Honda USA manager and racer Eric Kehoe. So the whole trip really worked out well, even given the incident with the bike.Itchie Kawa San is Mr Honda Racing worldwide and I got to spend time with him. We've arranged to meet up in the UK for further testing - he's really into the racing and a nice guy to go with it.Like him or hate him, RC not riding supercross this year has had a negative effect as I discovered after taking in three SX events - two at Anaheim and one in San Diego. Windham is impressive riding a big thumper for SX but Reed is the man to beat.Alan's a keen marksman and he had us down at his local range - an experience that I enjoyed, although I'm a crap shot. Magnums, Desert Eagles - the bigger the better! I must have fired off 1,000 rounds.I also took care of the whole fitness thing and put in some serious mountain bike time. We took off into the mountains one day and had a great old time until later that night we heard about some poor sod who'd got himself eaten by a mountain lion. "You mean bitten?" I said. "No, eaten," was the answer. Not that me or Nick were scared or anything but we bought a proper 'safe trails' map the next day.The prospect of two home GPs this season has me fired up like never before. I'm so focused at the moment I can't wait for it all to start - it's going to be a long hard season but that will drive me on. I'm so pleased that Ireland has been granted a GP. Ken Winstanley and his team have worked hard to secure the event and I believe it will be the single biggest and best thing to help promote our sport in Ireland. For any racer to compete in a home GP is special and the thought of winning a home GP is the sort of thing that dreams are made of - it has the potential to be the greatest day of my racing career to date.On both the mainland and in Ireland I've enjoyed the support of MX fans of all ages and backgrounds and I hope that in 2004 I'll give my fans something to cheer about. You can be sure that I'll be giving it my all on the Isle of Wight and at Ballykelly. As I've said before, if I have Lady Luck on my side I have the backing - both technically and personally - from the people around me so if I can get off the line with the top guys there's no reason why I shouldn't be climbing on the podium at the end of the day.Oh, before I go, I've just got time to say how much I enjoyed the Dublin SX. I thought I was going to be a little rusty since I hadn't seen a bike since October but I was pleasantly surprised.Okay, so the track was a little on the stony and small side but it was the same for everybody and the crowd loved it! On the Friday I chased Kim Ashkenazi down and squeezed past on the last lap for the win. But on the Saturday, after closing Kim down again, I crashed on the last corner as I tried to make a pass. Hey, you win some, you lose some - here's hoping I don't lose too many this season.Until Next MonthBy Gordon Crockard