More froth & bluster from Mr P!
Hi everyone, did I tell you that I got engaged? I’ve been ‘courting’ for 13 years (or stepping out?) and thought I’d better before I got left on the shelf. I did always say I’d never get married again and that if I ever thought about it, I would just go find some random person who didn’t like me and give them a house. That’ll be cheaper and easier in the long run!
But on to racing matters, and I was gutted to miss the WSB round at Aragon, as the racing was terrific. Poor old Chaz Davies, that crash of his on the penultimate lap of race one looked horrible, I’m amazed he didn’t break anything. And this after losing so much practice time. How he got pole position astounds me, they must have filled him full of hot chillies and let him loose!
The way he was braking into that final turn was amazing. Ducati say he’s the latest and hardest braking rider they have, including in MotoGP. He was clearly on the limit due to lack of set-up. His crash was such a bummer, but I was stoked for him to win the next day.
Jonny Rea is so sorted though, he knows what he needs to do, but kudos to him for still trying to win, he didn’t really need to. For WSB that’s four brilliant races from six, and up next is Assen, which I’m missing again, sadly, as I’m already due to do the Bike For Life event. Lastly with WSB, what the hell is going on with Eugene Laverty and that team? It’s weird, they should be further up there, not being beaten by Leandro Mercado on last year’s RSV. Is it a team thing? Shaun Muir’s lot work hard, of course they do, but after last year’s fluff-up with BMW you’d have thought the factory Aprilia gig would sort them out. Time will tell.
World Supersport is also utter carnage. It’s such an entertaining class, as was the return of the British Supersport class too. I do like Taz Mackenzie, he’s a right little fighter, wild and wonderful. It was easily the best race of the day at Donington but also gratifying to see the Superbikes out. I was chuffed for Leon Haslam though, with Shane Byrne out at Donny, he’s got a decent head-start on him.
I was as pleased at Richard Cooper’s Superstock win on the new Suzuki GSX-R1000R to be honest. I reckon Suzuki may get more out of their bike winning in the stock class, than they would in BSB. Here’s a bike with a few tweaks from the shop, a brand new one, that can win right off the bat. That’s got to be important to their marketing campaign, along with the proddy TT and other Superstock series, too.
Let’s not forget MotoGP either, and though we had a bit of polly-prissy-pants worrying over a couple of damp corners, we ended up with a pretty good race. We’re all keen on safety, but I’ve always thought riders shouldn’t decide what happens in races, it’s like the lunatics running the asylum. But well done Maverick Vinales, and to Rossi too for getting on the podium, the old dog! Gawd knows what happened with Jorge Lorenzo on the Ducati, they must be wondering what on earth they’ve done!
I did some riding at the Barry Sheene Festival and it was good to get out on bikes before my endurance race in May. I did have an amazing day though, where Mick Doohan picked me up in his helicopter, then we got Casey Stoner, then Mark Webber and Adrian Newey, then we went for lunch. Talk about dining with racing gentry! I do love Stoner, he’s such a great bloke when he’s relaxed. He’s still intense about his riding though, he never liked the GP wings but getting him back on-board as tester is the best thing Ducati have done.
Lastly, I haven’t done anything stupid this month, but Jeremy McWilliams is in big trouble! He wrote nasty, horrible things on my helmet, and put condoms on the arms of my leathers! Okay, I may have stuffed condoms and shite in his boots, so I may have started it, but this just isn’t on Jezza! Watch out!