Chaz Davies
Our WSB superstar has a busy month.
Hello there, how are we all? Are any of you reading those that I managed to meet at the Ducati trackday after we raced at Donington? It was a great day and we had a lot of fun. I particularly loved the Police liveried Panigale, I know a few scoundrels around my way who’d get a shock to see that in their mirrors!
Following that, it was time to start the long trek to Sepang in Malaysia, somewhere I’ve not been for a good long while to race. I actually delayed leaving just so I could watch the MotoGP race at Mugello and it turned out to be a good call, it was the best one for years! It was at the same time that the TT was on, and of course we lost another buddy, Karl Harris, on the island. RIP mate.
Life goes on, of course, and in Malaysia it was as bloody hot as it usually is. You know you’ve got a sweat on when you’re needing an extra hole in your belt within a day, the place is crazy like that. Anyone watching over the weekend will have also noticed my new lid design by the Starline guys. Don’t know about you, but I love it. It was for a Sepang special, but I may just keep it.
Sepang circuit was also how I expected it be, which was bloody slippery. We were fighting for edge grip from the off. It seemed like it would be OK for five laps and then it just vanished. Worse yet is that we were struggling harder than anyone else there. It does happen in high temperatures to us, both me and my team-mate, and frankly the effort the guys put into fixing this could easily have been measured in the amount of sweat they shed. We would have filled a few pools I’m sure!
The races didn’t quite go to plan because of the issues though, so me and James headed into the local China town for a bit of retail therapy before flying home. The challenge was to buy each other a special travel outfit for the journey back, but for no more than 100 Ringgits, which is about a score. Let’s just say one of us had smokin’ Bob Marley on our chest, the other a huge tiger...
One thing that came out of Sepang was the spat between Tom Sykes and Loris Baz, after Loris took him out into turn two. He got some grief for it, but I’ll admit I took him out once last year in Australia. It was my fault entirely. I crashed on a cold rear tyre and as he was next to me I collected him. I thought I’d be in a ruck after we stopped rolling around the gravel, but he said ‘it’s racing’ and that was that. He was a man about it, anyway.
It was good to get back home for a brief spell, but it seems to fly by and in no time we were at Misano – the show rolls on. It was also when Italy got knocked out of the World Cup, so for a while there were a lot of sad Italians about the place. Not that you’d have known looking in our garage though, the boys were flat out and barely noticed. Qualifying was a bit pants, leading the third row, and while some riders had obviously taken some brave pills on race day we eventually got fourth in the first race. Yeah, I binned it in race two, loaded the front too much and away she went. It just shows we still have work to do. To that end I thought a bit of luggage theft was in order, although that actually meant taking Troy Corser’s bag back home with me by accident. Sorry cobber!
I took Baz out last year, but he was a man about it all...”