Having had chance to grab his breath following three GPs in three weekends, rising 250cc star Chaz Davies reviews the second of those events - round fourteen of the 2004 world championship; the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang which saw the 17-year-old take a hard fought ninth placed after a thrilling last lap battle...
"Almost straight after the
MotoGP race had finished on Saturday afternoon in Qatar we left to catch our flight very late that evening to fly firstly to Dubai and then on from Dubai to Kuala Lumpur.
"The first flight from the circuits local airport, Doha was only about an hour long to Dubai and the flight from there to KL was about 6 ½ hours. We arrived in KL early on Sunday morning and started off the day with a bit of a power nap in the hotel room and then spent the rest of the afternoon in and by the pool.
"It was quite funny because normally as soon as we get out of KL airport everybody starts piping up about how hot it is, but after coming straight from Qatar I dont think anybody was going to complain about heat again!
"Like my Team Manager, Dieter Stappert (who has been travelling the world with motor sports for 30+ years) said "I never thought Id ever think of this place as being mild!". He worked in
Formula 1 for many years before bikes and he said that Qatar was definitely the hottest place he had ever been to, which means it had to be hot!
"In the few days we had off before we were back out on the bike I spent most of the time in the hotel swimming pool. My dad was also quite enjoying lazing by the pool because it was giving him a good chance to rest his broken leg. On Monday evening I went into KL city centre with my team-mate, Stiggy and his girlfriend Carolina and got some good bargains from China Town!
