I would have to say, though, that it was possibly the closest I have come to crashing without actually crashing, so I had to back the pace off a bit. I knew Clementi was behind me and I thought that I could hold him off until the end. But on the last lap I ran wide and he got past, I had a go back and ran off the track, and that allowed two other guys through. I probably should have just let Clementi have eleventh but the day I start letting guys through is the day it's time to go home.
Race two started well and I was gapping the group behind but at - ace a sensor failed which caused the bike to lose speed - as I said before I never seem to leave Assen on Sunday night happy.
After Assen we headed up to Hamburg for a couple of nights before heading to Germany for the next round at Lausitzring. Hamburg has completely thrown a different light on the Germany that I have seen in the past. It seemed to be a really cool place to be and hang out. One night we caught a cab down to a beach bar on the side of the River Elbe. And after the taxi ride we were ready for a few drinks!
I have never been in a taxi with a vodka-drinking, cigar-smoking driver who won't let you wind the windows down to get rid of the stench in case SHE gets sick. To top that off when our PR guy got her excited her hands hardly touched the steering wheel and at one point I thought the car must be driving itself. Although I was impressed as Neil seemed to have way with women over 65.
It was good to go back to Lausitzring after having tested there the month before, mainly because it was a track where we had had problems with chatter and it really confirmed for me that we are well and truly over this issue which gave me confidence to really start setting the bike up how I like it.
