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Test 1 - Jerez 24/25/26th January

Just a quick update on all the goings on of my first test of the year, last week in Jerez. Me and my Dad went over to Spain early last Sunday morning on a direct flight straight into Jerez airport which is pretty handy because it’s only about 10 minutes from the circuit. After we landed we went straight to the circuit to meet with the team for the first time since Valencia last year. I have exactly the same mechanics as last year, Marco Winter who is Austrian and who has been my mechanic since I have been riding a 250 and Burkhard Does who I had last year as a mechanic for the first year. They are both really good guys. I think that on a race weekend Marco is probably the most nervous person in our team, even more so than the riders! I don’t get to see what he is like when I am racing but from what my parents tell me he can be a bit of a wreck! My chief mechanics are also the same as last year, Stefan Kurfiss as the chief chassis mechanic and Stefan Kirsch as the chief engine mechanic. When we got to the circuit I also met my new team mate for the first time. His name is Martin Cardenas and he is from Columbia. He seems a decent guy and has very little 2-stroke experience. In Columbia he raced motocross for the best part of 10 years until he was about 20 where he switched to road racing on supermoto type bikes on the streets of Columbia. He came over to Spain to contest the Spanish Supersport championship in 2002 and won it last year. There Supersport bikes in Spain are different to what we call a Supersport bike here in the UK. They are allowed to put full slicks on the bikes and also use proper suspension and brakes etc, more towards a Grand Prix bike.

For the first test my bike had exactly the same engine as what we finished last year on as we are still waiting for the updated bits from Aprilia but I had a new chassis from 2003. I was looking forward to trying it because it was going to be interesting to see how much different the 2003 chassis would be from the ‘98 I have been using for the last 2 years.

On the Friday, Saturday and Sunday all of the factory Honda teams were testing at Jerez. This was pretty good because we could get a good comparison to them. The weather for the 3 days that they were testing was apparently very nice, almost 20’C each day. On the Sunday afternoon that we arrived the weather was ideal for testing and some of the Honda riders got down to decent times. Pedrosa was quickest on a 1.42.9 which is the fastest 250 lap ever around there and quite unbelievable! His team mate Aoyama was 2nd on 1.43.8, Lorenzo was 3rd on 1.44.0, Dovisioso was 5th 1.45.5 the same time as his team-mate Takahashi and Barbera did a 1.45.6.

Testing at the same time as me was Casey and Locatelli, De Puniet and Porto, De Angelis and Corsi, Giansanti and Perugini. Most of these riders had already had a end of season test last year in late November at Jerez apart from Corsi, Perugini and the Aspar team. On Monday we didn’t start until about 1 o’clock in the afternoon because the temperature was just too cold. From past experience at Jerez, me and also most other riders know that if the track is just a little bit too cold it seems to be much easier to crash. Casey and I made up a rule that for the 3 days testing if the shadows were out on the track we don’t go out, which meant that we would get about 4 good testing hours in per day, from about 1-5pm.

As always I was pretty nervous about getting on the bike for the first time of the year, up until the back straight that is!! When you don’t ride a 250 for a while you soon remember just how exciting they are. For the first 4 laps I was running in new pistons but it was so tempting just to open it up! Also when you open it up for the first time coming out of the hairpin it hits home just what aggressive little beasts they are! But after 10 or so laps I was used to the power again, quite funny as the fastest thing I‘ve rode all winter is a 110cc mini mx bike! After not being on the bike all winter it never seems to take me too long to get more or less back into the swing of things which I suppose is a good thing. Usually 10-15 laps and I feel right at home again. Obviously the first thing I noticed was the chassis, as soon as I had finished running in and started to open it up a bit I noticed that it felt a bit stiffer. But it really didn’t feel a great deal different to my old chassis, not as different as I thought it would be.

As the day progressed and I started to push it more I noticed that it was easier to get on the right lines with the new chassis. On the old chassis sometimes I would have to tip in earlier to some corners than I wanted too because if I tried to leave the entry any longer I would miss the apex altogether. With the new chassis I could leave the entry that little bit later but still hit the same patch of tarmac that I wanted too. We made a few small changes throughout the day and I was really happy with the bike after day 1. I did a 1.46.3, 3 tenths faster than I had been before at the circuit.

For the second day of testing we made a few small changes to the front suspension to try and soak up what chattering I was getting. Every change we made was pretty much for the better and definitely no worse which is the way we always want it to go! Again we didn’t start until 1 o’clock and even then the weather was very cold. Casey broke the rules and went out before the shadows had disappeared and sure enough he crashed! It seemed like Honda picked the best days for testing as the days we were there, there was a cold spell throughout Spain with really heavy snow in the North. I did a 1.45.4 later in the afternoon which I was very happy with. We then took a break where we changed the cylinders on the bike to the new set we had got. This was the only new engine part that we had got for this test but the rest of the kit is going to come at the IRTA tests in early March. It took about 1 ½ hours to change the cylinders and then I had to run them in for 5 laps. After running in I gave the cylinders a proper test and they seemed to have a little bit more punch off the turns. On my 4th lap I went through the first corner as normal, even slightly slower and the front folded with no warning. The first crash of the year was what I call a ‘good’ crash if there is such a thing. I just slid on my arse and it seemed like it was in slow motion because it was a very slow and un eventful crash which are always the best! I picked the bike up which was slightly damaged, just the normal stuff like fairing and handlebar etc. The crash was quite strange because I wasn’t going particularly quick and I was on line but then my mechanic told me that my front tyre had done 22 laps which is just over race distance and it looked pretty well knackered so I put it down to that. After that we called it a day and dusted everything off ready for the last days testing.

On Wednesday morning/early afternoon the weather was colder than it had been so far. This seemed to provoke a bit more chattering from the bike and it made it a bit more difficult to stay on line as there was little grip on the cold circuit. We played around a bit with settings but nothing made much difference so we went back to the same settings I had done my fastest lap on the day before. When the track temperature was at it’s warmest Giansanti and Corsi took advantage of this and both put in there best lap but we were changing settings in the pit box so we missed that window. Then the clouds came out and the temperature again dropped pretty rapidly. At about 4.30 we put on a fresh set of tyres and I went for a last push of the test where I bettered my lap time of the day before by about ¾ of a tenth. I managed to string quite a decent row of laps together just behind De Puniet. I did a 1.45.8 then a 1.45.4 where I closed on him a bit and then another 1.45.8 and a 1.46.3 where the gap stayed constant. We finished it off at that and because I had gone faster than Giansanti he was back out there within 5 minutes with a fresh set of tyres trying to better my time but did a 1.45.8. It was a good first test and I’m now looking forward to getting the rest of the new engine bits for the IRTA tests because there will be more time to be found with them for sure. After the 3 days testing Casey was fastest with a 1.43.7, then Porto 1.43.8, De Angelis and De Puniet were in the mid 44’s and then it was me with a 1.45.4 and then Giansanti and Corsi about 1 tenth behind that. Perugini wasn’t particularly fast with a 1.47.3 and my team mate went pretty good considering his lack of 2-stroke experience with a 1.47.7.

My next test is on my 18th Birthday on the 9th and 10th of February at Valencia which I look forward too. Between now and then I will be at the Alexandra Palace Motorcycle Show for the early days of this week and will stay at Shakey’s house which should be fun and maybe do a bit of motocross with him. Tonight I have Round 3 at the Dentist. The last time I went, there was still infection under the tooth so they put something down into the tooth top try and kill off all the remaining infection which I hope works because I’m getting sick of dentist drills now!

Chaz#57!!!!!!!