The morning started well with a bright blue sky. First practice wasn’t bad either, I went 3 second faster than yesterday but still 2 off my time from last year. The changes we mad to the bike have helped with the turning problem but have made the rear very unstable especially on the brakes. For the second free practice we altered the rear to half way between last night and this morning. This improved things but I only completed 4 laps so no chance to improve my time.

Jure qualifying session was first then mine and third was to be Stefano. Jure improved his time to drop into the high 49’s. I headed out for a 5 laps just familiarise myself with the bike and get a feel before putting a new rear tyre in. A quick stop for a tyre and a little more rear rebound and I was off again. The changes to the suspension helped control the rear through the fast direction changes and on the brakes. I managed one flying lap before my throttle cable snapped half way around the circuit. With a little paddling I coasted as far as I could, then the last 100 yards I had to push back into pit lane. By chance one of the team was waiting there; he pushed me back to the pit box. With only 5 minutes left of the session I had to call it a day leaving me frustrated and no real improvement in my time.

Night practice was cancelled due to torrential rain and thunder storms. Oh well at least I stayed dry.

 Bol live timing

All the best demon

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My trip to Magny Cours started at 7am so I could be at Dover in time for he 10 o’clock ferry. Whilst I was waiting in the queue I bumped in to a former team mate Warwick Nowland who now rides for my 2007 team. The whole journey was pretty straight forward with no horrors on the M25 and notorious peripherique. I arrived at the hotel around 6 ish, jumped in the shower then headed off to meet my new team mate Jure from Slovinia for a spot of dinner.

 I woke this morning to the sound of rain! Not good, my last outing in the rain ended with two broken fingers. Even though I go well in the rain, for a 24 hour is the last thing I want as you get very wet.

 By the time our session started at 13:30 the track had dried enough for slicks but seemed to lack grip due to the rain the past few days. Some parts for the track hold moisture and can catch you out so I took it easy for the first few laps. We have a few problems to solve tomorrow, first of all the bike is difficult to turn in and through the chicanes and fast direction changes this really shows up. The second seems to be when you open the throttle mid turn the bike runs wide so exiting the fast 5th & 6th gear turns makes us hold back a lose time. All in in all it was a productive 2 hours for the whole team.

I have my fingers crossed for tomorrow to be dry as we have free practice, 1st qualifying and night practice.

 Take care all the best demon….

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