After running in new pistons I stayed out to get used to the shortness of the bike. It would sacrifice getting tucked in, because my elbows were sticking out, but I think this is a minor problem with the size of the Aprilia fairing. It was difficult to get a real idea of how good the change was because it was so windy. Not only was it windy but it was never the same for two laps in a row which made it interesting! My gearbox had not been altered and there was a headwind up the start/finish straight. I felt like I was doing about 30mph flat in top when Smrz came by! He was doing about 15kph faster!
I decided to keep the shortened bars for the race; there wasn’t a great deal of difference so it wasn’t going to hurt. I went into the race with a view of 'try my best and see what happens'.
My start was so-so; I got away about even with the rest of the pack. For the first few laps I was struggling to hang on to a group of about five riders in front of me. I really wanted to be fighting with somebody and make a good race of it but I was losing about half a second a lap. On the second lap one of the Italian riders passed me like I was stood still at the end of the start-finish straight. He must have come by at about 10kph faster and I was in the slipstream of the guy in front. I thought that was a bit too much but kept my head down for the next 18 laps.
Again, like
Jerez, it was a very lonely race. I broke away from those behind me but got broken by those in front as well. My gearbox had been altered to cope with the wind but the engine wasn’t pulling well. It felt flat on top and was only probably a little bit out on the carburetion settings, which is all it takes on Aprilia’s, and was costing a lot with all the wind. I crossed the line disappointed in 17th.
