It was my first visit to Guadix so when it was wet in the morning I put in quite a few laps to get dialled into the circuit. After lunch it dried up and everyone was out on circuit. I got up to speed fairly quickly and we began making some progress with the set up of the bike, I was doing similar times to Johnny and Rutter (the other Dunlop runners) in the afternoon which was only a few tenths of Kiyo. I got 4 laps behind Kiyo and was able to see were HRC had an advantage on us so hopefully we can bridge that small gap for the next test. Kiyo was quickest from Johnny, Harris, Rutter then me.
I was happy considering it was my first day at the circuit and everyone else had been their before. Rutter said he was trying to catch me at one stage and he was struggling to make any time so that pleased me considering he holds the lap record around there from last year. I got to try some of the better spec Dunlops too and they were quite impressive so if I can get good results early on I should have access to the better rubber and hopefully I will keep it going throughout the season.
I was first on track the next morning, it was very cold and before I had completed 10 laps it began to rain. With the rain not relenting I headed for the airport early to try and make it back for the Irish Racer awards. The organisers done a top job and got things sorted for me to get back. I flew from Granada to Barcelona, then Barcelona to Dublin, and then I got chauffeured to the Ramada hotel in Belfast just in time to pick up the main award of Irish Motorcyclist of the year, which I was chuffed about. I brought back the leathers that I had just got out of that morning for the charity auction. I’d like to thank everyone who voted for me though, it was a top night!
![Michael Laverty [Pic credit: Gavan Caldwell]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/180805.jpg)
