Entering Monza-mode

I’m just (re)packing the bags for Monza, one of the craziest SBK rounds on the calendar, the other being Imola – yes, Italy is the common denominator here, with the races held in the Bel Paese attracting more fans, sponsors and media than we see anywhere else. This means my boys Carlos and Ayrton have a pretty busy schedule with a variety of interviews, photoshoots, sponsor events, and the list goes on…

The weather wasn’t exactly cooperative at Monza last season and, having just checked a forecast, it could be similarly dodgy this year – we’ve had a lot of thunderstorms in the last few days which is the last thing we want on a track that never seems to dry out :-(  

I’m heading up there tomorrow afternoon so that I wake up on Thursday already in ‘Monza-mode’, less of a shock to the system that way, hehe. Once we get past Monza I’ll be able to look forward to enjoying a few days of R&R at my parents place in the UK, catching up with some old friends before heading on to Donington which should be a veritable walk in the park compared to the coming weekend’s round.

I’ll do my best to post more regularly from here on in as I know I’ve been slack recently. Monza reports coming up shortly!

Today’s news from Jerez…

Team SBK Ducati Alstare completes a positive two-day test at Jerez

Jerez (Spain), Wednesday 17^th April 2013: Team SBK Ducati Alstare has today concluded an encouraging two-day test session at the Jerez circuit in Spain.

Having travelled directly from MotorLand Aragon after Round 2 of the world championship last Sunday, the team’s riders Carlos Checa and Ayrton Badovini worked hard with their technicians as they concentrated on refining the set-up of their 1199 Panigale bikes. In very warm conditions (32˚C approx), with track temperatures in the region of 55˚C, the team had time to test all of the solutions available in terms of bike set-up, focusing particularly on identifying settings and improving traction, in preparation for upcoming races.

Carlos Checa: ‘These were two very important days that we used to better understand the bike’s reactions. The weather helped us this time too. We worked on different solutions for both the front and rear setting and in the end I’m happy with what we were able to get done. We’ve found a set-up that I like and this is important in order to have a good base from which to start at Assen.’

Ayrton Badovini: ‘This test was key and allowed us to work on the bike and improve sensation. We’ve worked particularly on traction, to sharpen the bike on used tyres and maintain constant grip, which was my main problem at Aragon. We’ve tried different solution and collected information that will be useful at Assen. I’m pleased with the work we’ve completed and look forward to next week’s races.’

Team SBK Ducati Alstare will be back on track next week at Assen (26-28 April) for the third round of the 2013 World Superbike Championship.

Ready for the off…

And my bags are packed once more… I’m really looking forward to getting back to the tracks - Aragon here we come! I even saw a forecast that shows sun for the coming days – fingers crossed it’s correct as it feels as though I haven’t seen sun for a very long time…

Here’s hoping for some great racing come Sunday, and a good turn-out for what is Carlos’ home race. The problem with Aragon is it’s not exactly centrally located – guests coming from Barcelona have to travel about 200km to the track. Anyway, here’s what Carlos and Ayrton have to say in the run up, thankfully both are feeling much stronger and are ready to roll:

Carlos Checa:
‘Physically speaking I’m more or less OK. I still can’t really go cycling or running but I’ve been training at the gym and don’t expect to have any real trouble riding the bike. I feel strong from a mental point of view too, I’m ready for the next races.
Until we’re there on track I can’t really make predictions. We’ll start with our base set-up and then, once I’m on the bike we’ll see what we need to do – it always depends on the conditions, levels of grip, the tyres and their consumption… I was in Aragón last week to see the development team that was testing; they worked a lot on the electronics, that are working well, and with the antispin. We can’t do those kind of tests during a race weekend as they’re time-consuming and we only have one bike of course, so the work that they’ve done during testing should give us some useful information, useful parameters. In Aragón I hope to be able to continue to improve, both in terms of the bike and myself.’

Ayrton Badovini:
‘At the gym I’ve concentrated on working on my upper body and my arms because I can still do very little as far as my legs are concerned. At the start it was very risky to put weight on my foot and so I was on crutches until a few days ago. Now I can walk quite well, and navigate stairs etc. but I don’t yet have full mobility of my foot. I’ve worked with the Clinica Mobile staff, we’ve tried putting on my boot, assuming the riding position and nothing really hurt so I don’t expect to have any real problems riding – it shouldn’t be too bad on the footpeg.
Regarding Aragón, it’s a track that I enjoy. In this case it’s an advantage for me that it’s not a very physical track, so I have chance to rest a bit, and that it fortunately won’t be very hot. We still have the issue of the two straights of course so we’ll be working to compensate for that, but I’m feeling positive.’

Are we there yet…?

I enjoyed a little catch up on the phone with  my boys Carlos and Ayrton this morning. Both are feeling a lot better and looking forward to riding at Aragon next week. Ayrton still doesn’t have complete mobility in his injured foot but he can walk and is confident that getting back on the bike won’t pose too much of a problem… I hope Carlos is ready for the media event too – it’s a kart race

As they were in his neck of the woods, Carlos went along to see what Ducati’s test team was getting up to at Aragon this week. He didn’t ride (as it’s against regulations – Aragon is not Ducati Alstare’s designated ‘test track’) but reports that a lot of work was completed there, especially regarding electronics, and so this data may prove useful during next week’s race weekend…

I personally cannot wait to get to the track next week. ‘Are we there yet?!’ Having missed the opening round due to ill health, the winter has felt endless (not helped by the terrible weather - what happened to spring?!) and so I’m looking forward to the hustle and bustle of paddock life. In the meantime I think this weekend will be spent at home – with racing going on at Losail, Mugello and Brands I’m spoilt for choice as to what to watch!

Going round in circles…

I’m sure the systems in Italy are getting more and more complicated as time goes on, or maybe it’s that I’m becoming less and less patient, but let’s see what the non-Italians reading this think about my recent attempts to get some simple medical tests done.

So my doctor tells me I need some follow up tests after some recent health trouble. She writes me a list of what I need but tells me I need to take this to my GP who will fill out the form needed to book the tests. So I go to my GP a couple of days later and she happily does that for me and then I take the little red form to the pharmacy, where – please note –  I have always gone to book similar appointments in the past. ‘No, I’m sorry, we can’t make this kind of appointment for you here’ they tell me, even though they’ve done so in the past – I’m told the system’s changed. So I’m sent to the local CUP – a kind of bookings office for specialist medical visits where you take a ticket and sit and wait your turn. It’s shut over Easter of course but I finally get there today, wait my turn, get to the counter and after some deliberation the woman tells me that: ‘No, I’m sorry, we can’t make this kind of appointment for you here’. I apparently need to book in an office next door, but it’s closed, and these guys in the CUP don’t know when that office is next open… So they give me a phone number for some central office in a totally different town, telling me to call them tomorrow and ask how I should go about booking my appointment…

You couldn’t make this kind of stuff up if you tried! Needless to say, I’m considering ripping the forms up and doing without the tests altogether – GGRRRRR.

A weekend in Malta…

Today’s news from the Island…

An unlucky first day for Team SBK Ducati Alstare at Phillip Island

Phillip Island (Australia), Friday 22 February 2013: Team SBK Ducati Alstare faced various challenges in today’s opening sessions of the 2013 World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island. Although conditions at the Australian track were almost perfect during today’s free practice and first qualifying sessions, with sunshine and very little wind, both Carlos Checa and Ayrton Badovini suffered crashes during the practice which made afternoon qualifying all the more difficult for the pair.

In the first free practice session of the 2013 season, Checa made a solid start on board his 1199 Panigale but a highside fifteen minutes from the end of the session, in which he took a blow to the head and the foot, meant he lost valuable track time. His best lap, a 1’32.1 recorded early on in the session, put him in final ninth position.

On the other side of the garage Badovini, still suffering some pain after last week’s crash, was able to complete eight laps before he too was the victim of a small crash just minutes before Carlos. Coming just a few days after his previous crash, the incident definitely didn’t facilitate matters; Ayrton closed the practice with a best time of 1’33.0, registered earlier on.

Qualifying was therefore not an easy business for either rider. The session started well for Carlos who, ten minutes in, scored a 1’32.0 which positioned him temporarily third. Unfortunately he then started to feel dizzy and so took the decision,together with the team, to sit out the second half of the session, meaning that he closed twelfth thanks to the time set in the early stages. Ayrton too was forced to take things easy and save energy for tomorrow and Sunday; he recorded a best of 1’32.5 this afternoon which put him in final sixteenth position.

Carlos Checa: ‘I was looking forward to today and improving the bike after the official tests, but things didn’t turn out how I wanted. This morning, after only seven laps, I crashed exiting Siberia. It was one of the biggest highsides of my career and I think I went up a long way before hitting the track. I was lucky not to break anything but I hurt my left shoulder and my right foot, which is a bit of a problem because I use the rear brake quite a bit – to control wheelies and settle the bike going into turns. The crash ended the session for me, but fortunately I was able to get out in the afternoon, put in some laps and get a time. Once again, I completed seven laps and ended 12th fastest overall.

It was a shame because, up until the crash, we had been heading in the right direction with the bike once more. We’d changed the set-up just before the crash, but we’ll have to look at the telemetry before we draw any conclusions. In the afternoon we went back to the original set-up – the one we’d used in testing – to make sure of a decent lap time. I’m sorry for all the work I’ve caused the mechanics, but hopefully I will feel better tomorrow morning and we can get back to improving the bike.’

Ayrton Badovini: ‘The last thing I wanted today was another crash, but that’s what happened! I banged my right foot and later, when I took my leathers off, the ankle was pretty swollen. Before the crash, which happened at the last corner (so it was pretty fast!), I could manage the left turns OK, but the right-handers were causing me some problems. I was finding it difficult to push hard in the right turns. So, if we can improve the set-up of the bike for right-handers, it will make my job a bit easier. At the moment I feel a bit destroyed, but I’m sure I will feel better after a good night’s sleep and some massages.’

Francis Batta, Team SBK Ducati Alstare’s owner: ‘I feel sorry for the mechanics, who have had to work hard to repair the damage. After his performance in the unofficial tests, we were looking forward to seeing what Carlos could do with the bike today. Unfortunately, he crashed after seven laps and that meant he couldn’t push hard in the afternoon session. We knew that Ayrton’s condition would prevent him from riding as hard as he would normally. His condition really needs at least ten days to heal properly. At the moment he is struggling after about six laps, but he is determined to do the best he can. Not a great day, but we have to be thankful that no bones have been broken and hope for better luck on Saturday and Sunday.’

TIMES (Qualifying): 1. Fabrizio (Aprilia) 1’31.3; 2. Laverty (Aprilia) 1’31.3 ; 3. Melandri (BMW) 1’31.5; 4. Camier (Suzuki) 1’31.6; 5. Davies (Aprilia) 1’31.6; 6. Haslam (Honda) 1’31.6; 7. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1’31.7; 8. Giugliano (Aprilia) 1’31.7; 9. Guintoli (Aprilia) 1’31.8; 10. Rea (Honda) 1’31.8…. 12. Checa (Ducati Alstare) 1’32.0…. 16. Badovini (Ducati Alstare) 1’32.5