Steady Eddy!
By TMX Archives on 12th May 05
This month's column comes directly from myself and not the flying Scotsman - or, should I say at the moment, not-so-flying!Things certainly have been hard this season so far and as I write this column I'm currently lying fourth in the WEC This month's column comes directly from myself and not the flying Scotsman - or, should I say at the moment, not-so-flying!Things certainly have been hard this season so far and as I write this column I'm currently lying fourth in the WEC and second overall in the BEC.For me things aren't too bad other than I might need a little bit more time to test a few things we have. The bikes - 250cc two-stroke and 250cc four-stroke - that I ride are both pretty good this year and it's been difficult to find better set-ups than standard. Anyway, we've made a few small improvements which should help us for next week's WEC in Italy.The first two WEC races went okay and although I didn't set the world on fire I came away with some steady rides. One problem I did come across in Spain was the withdrawal/retirement of young Spanish rider Arnau Vilanova.He lost four minutes on a tight check on the first lap and then on the next lap stopped and said he didn't want to do any more WEC races. At 23 years old and after finishing third last season I can't believe he can throw the towel in that easy - mind you, I think that most of the young ones today are very similar to him.Well, like I said, the results ain't been too bad. I would like to see my other team members showing a little bit more consistency as they all have great speed and talent but to be at the top you need more than just that. I hope that it will all come together for them.On to the BEC and the Brechfa which for most championship riders was a great event. For me, winning the class and finishing second overall was okay - and riding my two-stroke again was also a pleasure. To beat Knighter will be very hard - however, I'm going to keep trying as the championship isn't over yet. He's riding very well and seems to be on a roll as I believe he's unbeaten this season so far. The other team members had mixed fortunes at the Brechfa with Euan finishing seventh and Simon crashing on the third test.We're currently working hard to sort out the venue for the next event in the Fast Eddy race series. Having to re-schedule an event is a real pain - especially for the riders. However, we've nearly confirmed that we can run at Donington with the help of Richard Gee and his team, so hopefully we'll be okay for the race there. I know there's been a lot of talk about this DEFRA situation and I hope that we can all overcome this potential problem.This month I've also been in the Isle Of Man where Honda launched their all-new CRF450X - and what a great time we had. Four days of trail riding and ripping around Knock Froy MX track was truly great fun. The bike did just over 300kms in four days and I had no problems with it.The plan at the moment is to get to Italy, try and podium both days and then try to launch a serious challenge at the fourth round at Spain where, if I'm to take the title, I must be ready to start winning and be consistent from there on in.So that's about it from me for this month. Next month should be a little bit more relaxing as I've just booked a week's holiday in Tenerife with the family (first time in eight years) so until then...