First and foremost congratulations to Scott Redding for his brilliant victory at
Donington. I watched a replay of the race yesterday and what he did was very spectacular.
I'm very happy for him but now I've got to concentrate on my job and make sure I'm on that top step of the podium before our summer break which means winning at Assen in Holland this Saturday or at the Sachsenring in Germany in a couple of weeks time.
I can't pretend I'm not disappointed with my tenth place at Donington because I am. The weekend just did not go the way I expected at my home event. That's racing and sometimes things just do not go the way they are supposed to.
We lost a lot of valuable setting up time because of the rain on Saturday and then the strong winds made the set-up a bit of a gamble for the race on Sunday. My two crashes on Saturday morning were down to the weather.
The first crash came as a bit of a shock and made me realise you have to concentrate 100 per cent in those slippery conditions. The grip has improved at Donington but it's still slick in places which I found to my cost. The second crash gave my injured leg a good bashing and the television pictures of me crawling away did not make great viewing, I was crawling while still checking if I was OK because I was scared other bikes might crash and slide into me. Once I'd crawled out of danger I was able to stand up but it was a bit of a horror movie.
I made a decent start in the race from 11th place on the grid and was up to fifth but things were just not right and I couldn't stay with the leaders.
On that first lap I was able to weave through the pack from that third row and was fifth by the time we'd reached the Old Hairpin which is less than half a lap. I was up for it but the lack of set-up time for the team and then the wind meant it was not going to be my day.
I always try to take something positive from a disappointing result.
Everybody is working flat out to sort out our problems. I'm sitting down with my team on Wednesday in Holland for a really good chat about everything and as always they are working flat out to get our problems sorted.
