"For Sunday I wanted to keep the bike exactly the same. Its not very often I can say that I’m completely happy with the chassis set-up but something seemed to be working so I decided not to change anything. The weather was also on our side, unlike last year when it was almost torrential rain. Phillip Island is one of the nicest circuits to ride when the sun’s out because for one all you can see around you is the sea and secondly it’s quite a different circuit to any other and really enjoyable to ride.
"For warm-up, as usual, I ran in pistons for the first 4 laps and also had to run with a full tank of fuel to check it wouldn’t completely throw the chassis settings out for the race. I noticed the full tank was actually making quite a difference to the front end of the bike as it can do on some circuits.
"I had more chattering and also braking down the steep hill into MG corner with the extra weight of the fuel the front suspension now felt like it was hitting rock bottom and it was then pushing me wide. I stopped in the pits and we stiffened up the front suspension a bit but the chattering came worse.
"As I came down the steep hill into MG I had a glance at the big screen trackside TV and I thought it said there was 5 minutes of the session left and thought I had plenty of time to make a change and would be able to get 2 more laps in. I soon realised that I had cocked up because when I stopped in the box I looked at the TV and it said 14 seconds!
"After the session my chassis mechanic and I discussed where we should go with the set-up and decided to take it back to how it was the day before as I knew it was somewhere near even if I did have a small bit of chattering.
"Before the race I did what I did in Malaysia and pictured exactly what I needed to do in the first few laps, providing I get away well the plan was don’t get stuck and queue up behind anyone. If there’s a gap go for it….and it worked.
