No rest!
By TMX Archives on 11th Mar 04
NO SOONER had I landed than my trusty mobile kicked into life, the voice on the line reminding me that the Irish Racer awards dinner was on within a matter of hours of me arriving into Dublin Airport from the USA.So feeling jet-lagged and NO SOONER had I landed than my trusty mobile kicked into life, the voice on the line reminding me that the Irish Racer awards dinner was on within a matter of hours of me arriving into Dublin Airport from the USA.So feeling jet-lagged and wearing the customary penguin suit, Amy and myself were in a taxi and heading off to one of the swankiest hotels in Ireland for what turned out to be the Irish Oscars of motorcycle sport.Unknown to me, my boss Harry Ainsworth had also made the trip which was a pleasant surprise. But as I'd only just arrived home I hadn't had a chance to tell him the story about my bike falling out of a pick-up truck in California - so cheers to the BBC's Stephen Watson for breaking the news to Harry for me. It got quite a laugh.It was a fantastic night and definitely what we needed to lift the profile of motorcycling but I was so glad to get home to my bed. I was knackered and completely drained of energy. There were people there that I wanted to talk to but I just never got the chance. I even felt bad that Harry had made the trip and I didn't get to be a proper host to him but that's just the nature of the game I suppose.For the next few days I didn't go riding at all, just worked hard in the gym. Then Nick Moores came over and the weather was so good we rode every day for another week. To get to ride your bike in Ireland in February is pretty much unheard of - unless you're into mud-plugging - so when the sun was shining we went out testing.Donamana, Desertmartin and Tinkerhill, we rode them all. We also got a run out at Phil McCullough's new track outside Ballymoney - the soil is brilliant and the circuit has the potential to be a premier race venue in the future.I was on both the Onfire and MRA stand at Billy Nut's Ulster Motorcycle Show at St George's Market in Belfast. I signed a few posters and had an interview with big George McCann which was interesting.Next on the pre-season schedule was the Dublin Motorcycle and Scooter Show and it was packed, I was working with Bridgestone and even took part in the Iron Man competition - basically, to participate you had to stand with your arms out like a scarecrow and they put Bridgestone tyres on each arm.Sounds easy but after a minute or so another tyre would be added. I did pretty well but was never going to win as some of those big farmer guys looked like they could have given their tractors a day off and pulled the ploughs themselves.A quick bite of food with Kevin from Red Bull and Fro's Steve Dagger and it was a plane hop across the pond for round one of the KWSMX series at Matchams Park. The AMCA and youth riders raced on Saturday and the track rode well. I was well impressed and was looking forward to having a good run out come Sunday morning. But the organisers had levelled the circuit to my disappointment as I was actually looking forward to racing on a rough track.The reason for this became quickly apparent. The ground was frozen solid and having riders fall on a frozen rutted track wouldn't have been a clever thing to do - so it was a good call in the interests of rider safety.In moto one I had a crap start. It was a concrete startgate and while it was the same for everyone I misjudged it and was roosted out of the gate - I think I finished about fifth or sixth. Not a great start to the day .In moto two I got not such a bad start but tangled with a few riders, stalled twice and then crashed into a back-marker. At that point I thought enough of this ***t so I waited until the leader came around to see just how my speed was. Josh won the race and I had no problem catching him or running the pace so while I wasn't too happy with the race result I know that my speed is okay.If I thought that I was already having a crap day it was about to get worse. After driving to the airport like I'd stolen the hire car I missed the last flight home by just five minutes. Pleased I most certainly was not!Following a drive to Birmingham and an over-priced room for just a few hours sleep I caught the early flight and by Monday morning I was home. Amy made it to work on time and I sat down with a cup of tea to ponder the weekend.It's more important to do the pre-season races than it is to actually win them. You can practice all you want but it will not replicate race conditions. The starts, the roost, the adrenaline - it's a different world away from practice. Remember last year when Pichon won the first three GPs and Everts wasn't even mentioned in the same sentence by the press? But by the end of the season Everts was hailed the king of motocross while Pichon was looking for a job!It's a long way to October and the end of the season and with three GPs back-to-back it's worth remembering that you can't win a world championship in the first three rounds - but you could lose it!So the game starts for real at Canada Heights on March 14.Until next month...Words By Gordon Crockard