The Italian Job!
By TMX Archives on 8th Feb 05
WELL LIKE I said last month, it's not long till the new season and already my '05 campaign has begun - yep, I'm racing and testing and enjoying every minute.First up was an indoor race at Genova in Italy where I finished second WELL LIKE I said last month, it's not long till the new season and already my '05 campaign has begun - yep, I'm racing and testing and enjoying every minute.First up was an indoor race at Genova in Italy where I finished second to Knighter but - more importantly - I managed to beat my fellow E1 riders quite comfortably without taking any big risks. It was a great event and even better when you've had a decent result. Also important was the fact that I rode a standard bike and discovered that the team won't need to do too much other stuff to it - my suspension was stock and the motor has definitely improved a lot since last year.So after a small celebration it was off to Spain with the rest of the lads for some serious practicing on the hard pack. After another road trip we arrived in Spain to train with new team member Arnau Vilanova. With some things to test we started off at the first track on our list which, as usual, proved to be great and in the middle of nowhere.Testing can be quite time consuming but doing it in Spain has its good points - the fact that we can test and change parts without having to wash the bike every time helps me understand if the changes have worked or not. All-in-all it was a very productive session and we tested suspension, the motor and some other parts and ended up with a set-up that we'll probably use in the first WEC round.So what next? Well, we finished off in Spain, found two more tracks and then headed off home. It's always good to come home and after a few days I was soon back into the swing of things and riding at the Warsop track. This track is where I rode a lot with Jamie Dobb and it's been nearly a year since I was last there - however, it hasn't changed much and even the bad weather couldn't stop the track from being as enjoyable as ever.Right now though I've still got plenty to do and the Fast Eddy race series will be up and running mid-March along with the BEC. As a team we're trying to focus on doing the main championships as with five Fast Eddys, five BECs and nine WECs plus other events the calendar is already getting pretty full and I don't want myself and the lads getting burned out.Well, that's pretty much it other than we've got some French journalist flying out over the next week to do an interview with myself and Vilanova - more about that next month.By Paul Edmondson