We started the season strong but I think it was because we had done some winter testing. A few of the other teams were a bit behind the ball, now they’ve picked it up and they are a bit ahead of us. We haven’t really improved the bikes much since the season started and now we are in a bit of a hole and we are struggling to get the best out of the machine so it is a bit frustrating. I’ve just got to get on with it and try and get the best results I can. It is tough as there are a lot of good bikes out there at the moment and good riders so if you are lacking in one area at all you’ll just get swamped.
It has definitely been a tough season this year after last year being my rookie year and with the same bike at this stage of the season I was grabbing rostrums before I got hurt. I was expecting a lot more this year, but the machinery that has come in this year with the three factory Hondas, the two factory Ducatis and the Rizla bikes are pretty impressive. It has just put us on the back foot a bit against them and I don’t really know what the answer is to compete with them with the package we’ve got.
This year has seen a lot of the younger guys coming through, I don’t consider myself old but it is guys like my younger brother Eugene and Jonathan Rea who have really come to the fore. Everyone is looking to them and for me it has been a really frustrating year as I know I am capable of a lot more and it has just not come together. I just have to see what I can do, as I said in my last interview, I’d like to get on a competitive bike next year because I know what I am capable of on the right machine, I could definitely win races.
