I have to admit on the starting line I knew it was my race to lose to someone else; luckily a good start in both races saw me take control of things pretty early on. In the second race I was surprised to see Andrew Pitt get ahead of me into the first corner but I quickly dispatched with him and went about securing a nice little lead.
The track temperature was playing havoc with grip, it was a lot hotter in the second race and loads of us lost grip towards the end. Luckily it was the same for all of us and I had a nice comfortable lead by this time in the race so I just rolled of with a few laps to go - I didn't want to risk doing something stupid like falling off!
I'm really looking forward to Monza now, it is the home of Ducati so they are going to really be strong there. I don't know whether they are going to manage to beat me, but Vermeulen on the Honda seems to be getting stronger at every race. I think they are going to be the ones to watch behind me and Yukio.
Monza is a strange place, we tested there recently and now have a bonza set-up for the race, but saying that the final turn, Ascari, can be good if you're able to slipstream down the start – finish straight. I've seen people go from fifth or sixth on the final turn and take a win so hopefully in the race everyone will be well behind me!
I have to admit the bike isn't fully developed yet, its probably running 90% of its full potential. It is a great feeling knowing that there is still more to come from the bike, especially as so any others are still developing too.
The pre-season testing we did made sure we came out of the box in a really strong position, to the surprise of our competitors! We've just got to make sure we stay ahead of the game, which I'm absolutely positive we can do.
But the proof is in the results and I plan to win every race of the rest of the season, so lets see what happens.
See you at Monza!
Troy
