Suzuki's Garry Taylor: Roll on Jerez.

"We have just received our new race transporter and are getting it ready to go to Jerez. Getting it ready means filling it with more than 10 tonnes of equipment that has to be taken out of boxes after being flown to Japan and South Africa and then finding new homes for it all in the truck.

The truck has been designed by our logisitcs and spare parts co-ordinator, Glynn Redmile, and it is taking a lot of time to get everything on-board, it's all a bit hectic here this week - especially considering we took delivery of the truck later than expected.

The truck was built by Connestega, the same firm that built the last one. It lasted 10-years, so hopefully this one will as well and we won't have to repeat the procedure anytime soon.

The truck leaves for Jerez on Saturday, but I'm just back from South Africa and the second round. We came away with a seventh and a 10th place and it was a bit of a strange weekend.

Sete was the lap record holder but the first 10 riders all qualified under the lap record which is amazing. Both riders made a good starting the race but Sete was punted off the track at turn four or five and lost a lot of ground. But then he was lapping in the mid to high 6's which would have been good enough for third place if he hadn't been unlucky at the start.

Kenny rode a defensive race. He made it very hard for people to pass him - all fairly and in the rules - and managed to hold most of the grid behind him for nearly half the race. But eventually the extra power of the other bikes told and they passed him one by one. He was going to have a go at Alex Criville on the last lap for sixth but Max Biaggi appeared up his inside unexpectedly and that lost the opportunity to retake Alex.

South Africa is a fascinating place. All the nationalities we met were so welcoming to us it was fantastic. I really wish I could have spent a bit more time there.
I managed to pack a lot of experiences in while visiting though. What about the T-shirt I bought at the Montego Bay Oyster Bar that said 'Shuck Me, Suck Me, Eat Me Raw'. I can't show you the picture for that.

The weak value of the local currency in South Africa was astounding as well - a real culture shock. After coming from disease infested Britain, we could buy 400gramme steaks for less than a fiver. Oh, and Warren had a starter called an Absolute Oyster. It turned out to be a shot glass with an oyster at the bottom and a large measure of Absolute Vodka. That's a good way to kick off a dinner party.

Thanks to the weak currency, we managed to hire a light aircraft to get from the race track back to Johannesburg. Kenny, Rochelle and I all took off and no sooner had we left the ground than the most enormous electrical storm surrounded us.

There were no landing lights at the track so we had to continue. It was truly terrifying seeing these huge bolts of lightning surrounding us.

The pilot didn't help either. He basically told us that the plane didn't have any of the safety systems of a commercial aircraft and if a bolt of lightning hit us we would plummet to the ground.

To make matters worse, I recognised the plane when we boarded - it was the same specification and colour as the plane a friend of mine - Brian Kreisky - was killed in during a private flying accident just before Christmas.

We eventually made it, but that isn't an experience I would rush to recommend.

We're off to Jerez next and the whole team is confident of the victory there. We won last year and it's a circuit we know very well. The bike's handling better than ever before, so we can look forward to a good result from both riders."