It was so disheartening on Sunday to watch the other riders’ race past me and disappear after I’d led the way from the start of the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic at Brno but I promise you there was nothing I could do. At the end, the best I could have hoped for was that sixth place to retain my seventh place in the World Championship.
The race was always going to be a lottery after so much rain in practice and qualifying. The set-up of the bike in the dry had to be a gamble but after we’d led the morning warm-up we were very confident.
I made a great start from the front row of the grid and led for a couple until the others found their feet and raced past me. They were lapping half a second faster than me and every time I tried to stay with them I was in trouble getting the bike to stop and turn.
One thing I’ve learned this season in this situation is to not make any mistakes and ride your own steady race. That’s exactly what I did and picked up some valuable points which after the problems with the weather resulting in lack of dry track time was the best we could do – not that I’m happy about it.
Brno is a great track and there were nearly 150,000 people there on Sunday but the weather left a lot to be desired. The new track surface was dirty on Friday morning and it rained in the afternoon. It rained on Saturday morning and there was little point going out in the afternoon, once again on the wet track.
