Neave twins .................................. 112 Tim is looking forward to get out on the GSX-R1000 Superstock bike as soon as he can.
Whilst the weather’s been crap, I’ve been busy renovating a property on the farm, which has been fun and something a bit different to the usual jobs, but I’ve not been able to stop thinking about when I can next get out on a bike. I’ve been doing a bit of trials riding, including a school at Inch Perfect Trials in Clitheroe, which was ace, and some Flat Tracking on the minibike over at the Champions Flattrack School. I’ve wanted to get out on the MX bike too, but everywhere is too wet!
But the time has finally come, and I’m writing this on the way down to Cartagena for three days of testing with No Limits Racing. I won’t be riding the actual Hawk Racing Suzuki that I’ll be racing in British Superstock this season, but Steady, my old mate and sponsor, has had a new Gixxer 1000 built that’s identical to the one I’ll be racing for them, so we are taking that down. We also plan on doing some of the No Limits Endurance championship together on it! Top spanner man Fred has pulled out all the stops to get this bike built in time, so fair play to him, not to mention everyone else that has helped us get the bike ready – we have had some mega help from a lot of brilliant people. Last weekend I spent a bit of time with Steve Hicken, the Hawk Racing boss, when we went to get Steady’s bike sorted. They have gone to town with my race bike so I feel like I’m in a good place with everything.
I did look at doing the official BSB test at Jerez with the Hawk lads, but the tracktime alone was too expensive so we thought better of it – if all goes to plan there is plenty to go at in the UK before we get to the first round of the season; we have got a test at Mallory Park planned, we’re doing the official BSB test at Silverstone and then I’m racing at the first round of EMRA at Mallory with the team, just to get my head back into racing mode. That should be enough!
I’m hoping while I’m away my twin brother, Tom, will pull his finger out and start working a bit harder. He’s spent that long nursing an injury that his hands have started to go all soft and I think even he’s forgotten what he’s supposed to have hurt. Every time I drive past the house he has got his feet up on the sofa! We’ve not done a lot of training together this season, which makes a change, and we’ve both had a slightly different approach and training programme, so it’ll be interesting when we get to round one. I know he is going to be fast on his ‘Factory Honda’, but there’s going to be a lot of fast guys out there and I plan on being one of them.
The first thing I thought after last season was that I wanted to be on a Suzuki for 2020, and I have ended up with the best Suzuki ride on the grid. The season starts now, and it’s going to be a good one.