Foggy Petronas Racing rider Steve Martin has been in the thick of the action from a front row start at Valencia to a difficult time at Monza. He has still found time for some cycling between his busy race schedule. He tells all in his exclusive Crash.net column.
I’m still waiting for the sun to come out here in my apartment and it’s too cold for me to go out side so I thought I would keep you guys up to date with the latest events over the last month or so.
I spent a couple of weeks in Australia after the race at Phillip Island tidying up all the loose ends that you need to do before heading to Europe for nine months. We arrived in Europe the day before the Valencia test so I had a bit of jet lag when I first arrived.
My crew chief Bazz asked me if it would be better to arrive a few days earlier to get over the jet lag but I told him that this way I felt better every day and go faster every day which always looks better on the time sheets.
At the test we ran two different engine configurations back to back, our standard one and one with more torque and less top end. In the end it was a little disappointing to discover that our standard engine was the best but at least now we know. The test wasn’t without its ups or downs for me as I crashed twice and both times pretty hard highsides.
The first crash was due a slippery substance escaping and it was the first crash I have had since my operation and although no one likes to crash in a way it settled my nerves to know that I can bounce like I used to. On the final day I had just started a long run and before I knew it I was going over the handlebars again and was lucky not to hurt myself to much. That lap was the last I rode at the test but I was happy with our results.
The first week back at the apartment in Italy was spent going through the bulging letter box and paying loads of phone and electricity bills that we had not worried about, but all is back on line now.
