After three years with Aprilia Germany, I felt it was time for some new surroundings and to see what else was possible. I had mixed fortune at Aprilia Germany due to various reasons, so now I think that this opportunity is going to be my best chance in GPs so far.
My bike is a semi-factory Aprilia, and supposed to be similar to that which the factory bikes were last year. At the moment, I think it’s too early too say whether that is going to be true because it’s only talk, but I’ll find out for sure at my first test. It would be nice though……….. so fingers crossed!
For sure, my bike will be closer to the factory bikes than what I have been on before, and the objective for the season is to be fighting in amongst the factory bikes and to try and win the IRTA Cup for the non-factory bikes. Testing has not been confirmed yet, but the bikes are being delivered at the start of next week and we may have a test before the end of the month, which would be an ideal shakedown.
This winter, I’ve kept myself busy by dabbling in all the usual off-season fun. I’ve been riding mini MX bikes a lot and I did my first proper enduro in November, which was a killer! It was a 2.5 hour one-man enduro in the snow-covered Welsh hills and I don’t think it could have been much harder for a first time enduro amateur! There were bogs which came up past the foot pegs and, as I hadn’t ridden an MX bike for at least two months prior to the race, I wasn’t exactly ‘MX bike fit’ to say the least! I finished, however, and my quickest lap wasn’t too far away from the best in my class, but I had a few too many big crashes and took a couple of 5-10 minute ‘arm pump curing breaks’ which damaged my result. I finished up in eighth so it wasn’t too bad. I’d like to do another one, but the season is getting a bit too close now and I could quite easily injure myself!
