Moving up!
By TMX Archives on 12th May 05
Spain was the first race on my calendar this month and I flew from Gatwick to Barcelona on the Friday morning just before the race. Spain was the first race on my calendar this month and I flew from Gatwick to Barcelona on the Friday morning just before the race. I did my usual thing on the Friday - just walked the track, had a chat with my mechanic about the bike set-up and stuff and then headed back to the hotel to relax.Saturday's qualifying went well and I finished second in my heat race. Bellpuig is one of my favourite tracks but the track preparation is not the best. The organisers watered it too heavily in places and this made the track very one lined and also made the start more important than ever.This seems to be getting more and more of a problem with each GP we go to - the racing could be so much better if they prepared the tracks properly to create more lines. At the same time though I suppose it's the same for everyone.Race day didn't go as well as I would have liked. Both of my starts were bad and, like I said, the start here was so important. But I was happy with my end result - I finished third on the podium, a result that was very rewarding for me and the team. We've been working really hard with everything so this result was just what we needed.From Spain the team headed on down to Portugal and I flew back home to do some riding before flying back out on the Friday. When I arrived in Portugal I was welcomed with lots of rain but the track was in perfect condition. But we had rain all day on Saturday and the track was muddy for the heat races - I had to go to the LCQ because I made a silly mistake in my heat.The track was still a mess for the first race on Sunday. I crashed on the first lap on one of the step-up jumps after landing on top of Nunny. I rolled the first one to miss a fallen rider but didn't see Nunny on the other side - I thought he was seriously injured but he was okay, I went to see him after the race and he just had a sore leg.I ended up getting 14th by the end. I had a similar start in race two but I didn't crash this time - I just put my head down and worked hard ending up third at the finish. Again I was happy with my riding and happy to have moved from seventh to fourth in the championship. I've lost a few more points to the leaders but it's still early days and my sights are still firmly set on the championship.Apart from travelling to and from the GPs I haven't had much time to do much else. A couple of weeks ago Oakley invited me to one of their launches. It was in a London nightclub where their sponsored rapper Lil John was playing. Some of you may be thinking who is Lil John? Don't worry, I had to ask the same question. It was okay but not really my cup of tea!Namur is my next GP and also the first time I will ride with the new aluminium framed bike in a race (eagle eyed readers will have seen that Swordy was actually mounted on his new ally weapon on the May cover image - Sutty]. I've been testing with it for a few weeks now and I'm very happy with it. It's quite different from my other bike and handles really well on the track.I'm now off to pick up my new camper van - I'll be taking it to all the GPs from now on. I like being able to stay at the tracks, it's much easier and I also have my own space to relax.Well that wraps it up for another month. Good luck with your racing and I hope to see you guys at the Matchams GP.