It’s great to get back into the swing of things and February turned out to be pretty hectic although enjoyable, apart from jet lag from the long haul flights. I am really glad that that the season is underway again as testing during the winter went well and we were able to get down to some really good times compared to last year - but it was just a matter of waiting to see how much the others had improved.

I had one last weekend free before Qatar and for a change it wasn’t two wheels keeping me interested but sail power and lots of it. We were invited with a group of friends to go sailing on an around the world Volvo 60 racing yacht .Theses machines are every bit as high tech as my Petronas, made completely of carbon, kevlar and stainless steel. They sail twenty-four hours a day when racing and the crew live on freeze dry food for months at a time. We of course only went for the day and had a fully catered lunch.

On the way to Qatar, after a lot of trying, Sandra finally talked me in to a stop over in Dubai which I wasn’t overly keen to do as I feel that when I go racing I go racing and not holidaying, although her argument was that it would help me adjust to the time zone difference coming from Australia. When I saw the hotel I changed my mind as it was absolutely awesome but when the receptionist said we were at the wrong place I thought it looked too good to be true until they took us by boat along a canal to one of the villas with our own twenty-four hour concierge. We only stayed one night but it was definitely worth breaking the journey for.

The season hasn’t started perfectly for us but we are definitely a lot stronger and more reliable than last year which shows in the fact that I’ve finished four out of four of the first races. In Qatar last year we had four DNFs which was a disaster and although we still lack acceleration, this year we turned it around and I managed to qualify ninth and finish both races. Our top end speed seems to have improved and I was able to slip stream people on what would have to be one of the biggest horse power tracks around. The problem I have in the races is getting stuck behind guys that lap slower, holding me up in the corners, but have more acceleration out of the corners.

With hopefully our worst track of the season out of the way I was looking forward to Phillip Island as it is a circuit that really suits our bike. Throughout qualifying I managed to stay in and about the top six or so and it was a great effort by the team to keep me on the right settings at the right time. I tried a qualifying tyre for the first time just before Superpole and did 1.33.4 which gave me some confidence as I had taken it a bit easy so was hoping for a 1.32. I didn’t quite get there but I was pretty happy to be sharing the front row with three World Champions.

In morning warm up with a clear track and race set up I managed to lap quicker than I did in Superpole but once again the races were the frustration of the weekend as I would lose out on the drag race to the first corner and then get stuck behind some one and not be able to pass. I was lapping quite a lot slower compared to what I had been doing but there wasn’t a lot I could do about it.

The positives from the weekend however were that we finished less than 30 seconds from the winner which is a lot closer than we have been for quite a while. The boys have been working hard looking at different ways to get the most acceleration out of the bike off the start. I’m looking forward to the two tests that we have at two of my favourite circuits between now and the next race at Valencia, where we should have some new parts to test.

The weather here in Australia is starting to get colder - an indication that it’s time to be leaving. Another indication is that I have now had a few run-ins with the mobile ATO (Australian Taxation Office). They give them nice blue uniforms and white and blue cars to drive around in with fancy lights on the top collecting road taxes from unsuspecting drivers.

I had my second run-in with the boys in blue last week when my new Beta Rev3 trials bike got nicked from the garage. As it turned out it was one of about eight cars, houses or boats to be knocked over in twenty-four hours in and around our street. I was really p****d off because I had planned to go trials riding with some friends in Gippsland on the weekend. I called the police but they didn’t seem interested in attending even though the thieves had disabled the sensor security light and a wallet was found on the neighbour’s front yard – plenty of finger print opportunities!

With the police’s lack of interest I decided to put up reward notices in the local area and, what do you know, within half an hour of the notices going up I had a call from someone who knew where my bike was! It cost me $1000 bucks but I got my bike back and in time to go trials riding with my mates.

Ironically having got my trials bike back, the next day I was driving down to Gippsland (about three hours from Melbourne) at 7am on a foggy morning with my cruise control set at the speed limit, when I passed the boys in blue in their ATO vehicle. They subsequently did a u-turn and pulled me over for speeding! I tried to explain to them that I had the cruise set and there was no way I was speeding – the response “I’ll book you for not having the numbers correctly displayed on the trailer as well if you want to complain about it”.

The moral of the story is - if you are planning a trip to Australia – feel free to pilfer, steal, rob and nick anything that you want but make sure that you drive the get away vehicle not more than three kilometres over the speed limit or you might get caught!

Until next time

Steve