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I suppose battling through mud is character-building.
But then so is going without food for a month.
Our weekend at Bosisio Parini will stick in the memory the way the track stuck to the Honda . in big gobs!
It wasn\'t so much torrential rain, as just relentless. It was constant from when we arrived on Friday for this second round of the Assoluti d\'Italia, til late morning Sunday.
It turned the ground into gloop, that kind of soupy, syrupy mud we had at Genk and Grobendonk GPs last year. It gets absolutely everywhere, all over the bike, ruins your riding gear and helmet, clogs your goggles, makes walking in the pits a hazard. Hell for Fabio and the other mechanics who have to work on the bike between rides.
What\'s worse, the Italian lovelies in the pits are all covered up. What are we supposed to look at?
On the track itself these huge lakes formed, in some places from side to side. Huge roosts of water either side of the bike. Spectacular but hard work and a bit scary, you never know what you\'re riding into.
I\'m sure they would have cancelled on the Sunday: the 125s were left sitting on the grid for almost an hour while officials looked long and hard at the track. But the previous round was abandoned in fog and a good crowd had braved some awful conditions so far.
So we all rode. At one stage in mid-race we arrived towards the top of the track to find a whole section cut out! They re-routed us to the next corner over. A bit of a mind-bender, don\'t see that in GPs.
I seemed to handle it OK and the Honda really is very good in all conditions. I had been quickest through practice and in qualifying. They have this unusual system where you qualify Saturday, then do it again Sunday morning to decide grid picks.
Just about then the rain stopped and we saw sunshine (by the end of Sunday, finishing the final race 5.30, we were riding straight into a glaring sunset) and the mud started to clog.
That was end of it for the CR250. The two-stroke just couldn\'t cut it with the big four-strokes in that stuff.
In both motos I got a jump but the thumpers ran me down before turn one. In moto two I came out of the first corner in front but as we lined up in mud half a metre deep heading for the first swimming pool, four-strokes came past either side of me.
One was Kadlecek, the Czech on a Husky who is riding much better now than when he was a teammate for my pal Ben Townley this time last year.
Kad won the day but I was delighted to come away with the lead in this, the all-comers championship of Italy.
I really want to deliver this one to the Berni team, and also to Honda who have watched Yamaha win the title the past seven years in a row.
There have been some illustrious previous champions. My new teammate Andrea Bartolini (great to work with, by the way) has dominated it, winning five times since \'92, the first time on Honda; also Federici, Belometti and the American Vohland who\'s back to GPs and slogged it out with Ben Townley in Belgium at the weekend.
Yamaha is giving it a good shot again with Chiodi, three times world 125 champ, just three points shy of my 78 total.
Don\'t get me wrong about Bosisio. It is really a lovely place up among the lake district in the lower Alps. Driving through the area the views across the lakes would have been stunning, if we\'d been able to see more than 20 metres through the pouring rain. I\'m sure it\'s lovely in summer, quite a few holiday houses around.
But it\'s great to be back in Tuscany at the Maddii complex where early spring has blossom on the trees and hardpack on the tracks. I\'m training and continuing our development testing around here this week so I should be pronto for this weekend\'s third Assoluti round at Castaglione.
Even at last year\'s GP on this track, when it poured Saturday night, we had dust on Sunday. Although it wasn\'t such a joy for the 125s who were out first. (That changes this year we ride first on the 250s, with the 125s last after the 500s.)
Speaking of 125s what a thrill to get a call from Benny who was up in Belgium for the Lommel race used by Pit and quite a few others as sand practice for GP 1 at Valkenswaard.
Bad Benny stuck himself on the podium! Third outright against names like Vohland ain\'t too bad. The kid is getting a bit of a big head, we\'ll never get a helmet to fit him. I\'m sure I had it much tougher when I was 17.
Ben rides round one of the Dutch this weekend more sand and I guess Tinus, Glen and the Big Five Vangani guys will be looking for a repeat. Benny, the pressure is on!
And the injuries continue. I spoke to another of Ben\'s 2001 teammates, my old pal Justin Morris from England. He has dicked a shoulder. Not even his fault. Got taken out by another guy who got cross-rutted coming up a jump. At least that\'s how Boris tells it.
Just has a British Yamaha for the world champs and is racing to be fit for Valkenswaard in a fortnight or so.
It\'s no fun going into a season less than 100 percent. I hear Stefan was off the pace again at Lommel with his arm pump problem . but I\'ll bet he\'s back big and strong to take it to Joel in the GPs. And in our 250 class Fred is right on the pace.
But you do notice even the little things around your body at this time of year. Like fingers. Hardly even give them a thought til you hurt one.
But it\'s noticeable when you come back from the layoff, your fingers ache for a week or two. Even after the US supercross races in January, I felt it when I hit the European MX tracks. In SX you use less pressure on the bars (except in the whoops) whereas outdoor you hang on tight.
I use two fingers on the clutch for starting, one finger for light braking and two for heavy braking.
By the way, thanks for the nice comments from several quarters after I wrote last week. It\'s good to be able to talk to so many people.
I promised to give you my thoughts on championship formats.
Well I see the world supercross champs have become basically the US series of which I rode part in January, lasting til May, and with a couple of (unspecified) European rounds before Christmas. It\'s hard to see that working for a GP rider, I guess any euro guys who want to do it will have to decide between MX and SX.
Then there\'s the SuperMotard, which has its final round in my birthplace New Zealand this year. Maybe I could get out there, ride that, and stay for a little holiday at the end of the year.
The series, organised by our old friend and GP promoter Giuseppe Luongo, basically runs from the end of the GP season to November. There\'s a date clash with the final round of the Assoluti, but if Honda and Berni wanted me to do it ...
As expected there\'s also been a total revamp of MX des Nation rules, partly for television. Trackside fans and TV viewers found it hard to understand who was actually winning.
There are still three riders to a team but they can ride any class of bike (not a 125, 250 and 500 like before). All three are in each race, the top two performances counting. I guess that will affect the way federations choose their teams, we\'ll have to wait and see what Motorcycling NZ decides to do.
For my part I accept the responsibility as top points scorer last year to take a bit of a lead. But I am sad to see pre-qualifying has gone in the past our very pleasing third place last year would have given us auto qual this year, but now we\'re back to square one. Bugger!
However all of that is a long way off. One more Assoluti and we\'re into the GPs. On my birthday next Monday Fabio and I head north to get some practice in the sand.
I hope the weather picks up around Belgium and The Netherlands. I\'ll let you know.
Ciao
Josh #6
