In the final part of his latest exclusive column for Crash.net, former 250GP rider Chaz Davies explains exactly what it was like to make his MotoGP race debut on one of the most daunting tracks on the calendar......
Getting off the MotoGP bike after qualifying, it was almost straight into the Supersport race. I was feeling good about it even though I was tired from the all the riding in both classes. I was confident from the morning's session that, if I could get away well, I could hang with the front group, depending on how my front tyre would hold up. My start was definitely far from what I had hoped for though.
I got away fairly well, but then the front wheel creep up on me a couple of times, so I lost time - and a fair few positions - trying to keep it on the ground. On the first lap, I made some decent headway and finished the lap in tenth. On lap two, I worked up to seventh, but had almost a two-second gap in front to the next group. I set my sights on that group and focused on reeling them in but, on lap four, I got cramp in my hamstring. It was agony, I took my foot off the peg and tried to stretch it out whilst trying not to lose time on the group of four in front - but it’s basically impossible! I lost 1.5secs that lap making it pretty much impossible to catch anybody. I was having to be slightly careful about when getting on the brakes because if I tensed to much then the cramp was coming straight back. That meant my lap times weren’t brilliant but, at the same time, they weren’t too bad, a few tenths a lap off where they should have been.
I started to gap the group behind me and could also see the group in front getting bigger. On lap six, Josh Hayes had a bit of a controversial coming together with Roger Hayden, which put Josh on the floor and promoted me to sixth. I was concentrating on maintaining my position but, on lap eleven, the bike died exiting the final corner. I checked to see if I had hit any switches accidentally, but that was not the case. I looked behind to see a huge cloud of smoke and quickly got off the racing line. That was my race over.
