Good to be back … testing in Spain
Cartegena Testing report.
Leading up to Cartegena I was excited and a little nervous. I had been off my race bike for 5 months, and thats one hell of a long time!!! We also had the new Pirelli control tyre to deal with but I was nervous to how it would feel having been with Dunlop so long. I also had two new mechanics to work with, and Kevin from Wp was working alongside me plus Andy our new Data log man so we had had to settle in and get to know one another.
I was first out on track the first morning, just to blow the cob webs out and get the first few laps out the way. It made me laugh because the bike felt so fast, I thought I was on Stoners Ducati for a few seconds until my brain got up to speed!!! The first day went ok, I just did plenty of laps and got back into the swing of things. On the second day, I ran my new 2008 Centurion Honda. Obviously there was a few teething problems but the day went well, and the bike seemed good straight away. We made some positive Chassis improvements and the day ended well. We tested for the following morning trying a few things and a race distance before packing up to leave for Guadix.
Guadix Testing report.
It had been two years since I had last been to Guadix and the track looked awesome. The track had changed in two ares and they have done a great job and the weather wasnt bad either! I always enjoy going there as its a friendly atmosphere and your made to feel welcome.
I headed out onto track about 11am to get a feel for the place and it was awesome to ride. Straight away I noticed everything was working a lot better than Cartegena and the tyres were amazing. I honestly think they are close to been the best tyres I’ve riden on. We spent the day getting up to speed and straight away we were doing respectable times. We didnt change too much just spent the day getting track time. One of the things I made sure, was I was doing 10-14 laps at a time, so I could fully understand the tyres and how they work.
The second day and we decided to up our game. I did a lot of laps to understand the tyres and to be fair I enjoyed riding on them. We made a few changes to the chassis and late morning I got to follow Steve Brogan and it was nice to be able to sit behind him comfortably doing good times too. We never used any softer compound tyres I just used harder ones and the times we were doing were still good and in the ball park. Before the day finished I did a race run and did my fastest lap on lap 17 of 17 and the consistancy was mega. I think one of the things this year is going to be saving the tyres and getting the best out of them later in the race. I was very happy with the 5 days testing and where we were at. You may see I havent mentioned times, well at this stage im not too bothered. The object of the test was to get the feel back and get used to the tyres and the new team personal. I was not firing soft tyres in, or going for a mega fast lap,just getting up to speed and once Brands comes and the flag drops, what do they say? The b******t stops!!!!
I was mega happy with the way the team worked together after such a long lay off. We still have a few areas to work on with the bike before the next test at Snett which will improve the overall package and get the 08 bike on the pace. Im happy with myself and how I rode and cant wait to get to Brands. I would just like to say a massive thank you to Paul and Gary, Allan for building the new bikes, I know he’s had some work to do and my two new mechanics for doing a mega job . Also Kev and Andy, It was like a breath of fresh air having them in the team and I would like to welcome them to the team and look forward to working with them through out the season.
Here’s to a good season, Full Gas all year.
James
