Going into Magny-Cours I was pumped as it is a circuit where I have performed well in the past, but after the highs of Imola, Magny Cours certainly bought us back down to earth.
After the first day I was in sixth and had already managed to improve on the times from last year, lapping quicker on a race tyre than Troy’s pole time of last year. It was quite a complement to the team when the scrutineers said that there were rumours of us having a 1000cc and they wanted to pull the motor down at the end of the weekend.
Unfortunately from the Saturday things started to go a little haywire. My number two bike had been missing intermittently which wasn’t that big of a problem until I literally crashed and burned my number one bike which meant we had to use the number two bike for Superpole.
Sunday was another disaster when in race one I was just getting slower, probably due to an overheating problem. Then in race two I didn’t even make turn one before a desperate rider started trying to make places by cutting people off and causing the famous five bike pile up which put three of us in hospital, thankfully all of us recovering from our injuries.
People are always quick to tell you how dangerous motor racing is yet ironically the accident turned out to be a blessing in disguise, which is why I wanted everyone to know the whole story. Following a week of bed rest after the accident for a bruised kidney, I had an MRI scan to review my injuries. It showed the injured kidney but also a tumour inside it. The doctors gave me the news that the kidney had to come out. Even now I am not sure if it was good or bad news, I suppose it depends on how you look at it. The operation went smoothly and I am recovering well, I am disappointed to have missed the Valencia test but plan to get back on the bike at Qatar for a three day test in December.
