It’s not where I want, or expect to be - or for that matter know where I can be. After the race I realised that the engine was costing me more than I probably thought it was. After scanning over the timing sheets I saw that I was consistently between 10-14kph down on top speed compared to those in front and behind me. At first I thought this was probably because I never had a consistent slipstream, but then I looked at my team-mate’s speeds and he hadn’t had a slipstream either.
I’m keeping my chin up because at the moment it can only get better. There is a lot of things that need to be worked on and unfortunately we’ve got no testing planned but that doesn‘t mean it can‘t get better. I’m at home now for a couple of weeks before the Turkish GP in which I‘ll be riding my bicycle, minibike, supermoto and anything else I can find that consists of two-wheels and a set of handlebars!
I had my joint best result at Turkey last year and it’s an awesome track so I hope that we can start to pick it up from there. The team have gone back to Italy now and they are going to make me some different foot rest hangars and try to modify the seat/sub-frame of the Aprilia and take it back another 20-30mm just to give me a bit more room. It’s not going to be easy to do because it is fully carbon but they are a pretty clever bunch so I’m sure they’ll sort something out!
Finally I have to say thanks to the team and especially my mechanics, Luca Montenari aka Mountain boy (Montenari apparently translates to mountain boy in English). His brother Nicola aka Turbo because he is absolutely flat out 24/7 and Alessandro aka Ninja because he’s a bit of a Kawasaki fan! They are working hard at the moment changing the bike around session after session and have not yet seen any results - which I hope to bring them soon.
Also thanks to everyone else for their continued support and to those who appreciate what we’re up against.
Chaz#57!
