Our warm-up was wet, I was running in the engine and it was running a bit cold so was coughing and spluttering a bit but the chassis felt good in the conditions which was the most important thing. The rain stopped in our session so the track started to dry when the 125s and
MotoGP went out. As we were the first race of the day we were the first to see how the track was and it was fully dry.
I was pretty nervous before the race - the better I qualify the more nervous I get - so I usually try to have a power nap and listen to music in the back of the team truck which eases the nerves. Before I have a nap I also go through the first lap of the race in my head, going through possible scenarios and just getting myself prepared and after I feel a bit calmer. My mum also tells me I was looking pale in the morning!
My start wasn’t very good. I didn’t lose a great deal, just one place to Ballerini which I soon gained back, but it wasn‘t a good start at all. I only had factory bikes in front of me and Takahashi was holding me up a lot. The Honda was good on the brakes but he could run no corner speed so he was extremely difficult to pass.
Also he had good punch off the turns with the factory Honda and I couldn’t get close enough at the end of the straight to outbrake him. Debon passed me after about 5 laps and it was pretty much the same deal with him but he was a little bit faster than Takahashi. Very good on the brakes, using the Honda’s stability but no corner speed so if I wanted to pass then I had to be very brave and go deep.
I followed Debon for a lap and then passed him back but hit him slightly because I had to take a few risks to pass him. The group was quite big with me, Guintoli, Debon, Takahashi, Smrz, Locatelli and Ballerini for some part of the race, it was a big fight all of the race - but the pace wasn’t very fast and the annoying thing was I felt faster than everybody in the group, apart from Guintoli who was running a similar speed to me.
