Well I guess there's not too much to talk about from Silverstone. I was lucky enough to get pole with my Friday time, because on Saturday I didn't improve after firing myself down the road after about 8 minutes. So during the rest of the Saturday qualifying I was sweating beads watching everybody getting closer and closer to my time. I tried to improve, but my other bike had an experimental setup which wasn't quite as good as my bike which was laying on its side down the back some where! So I took the prize for being a tin ass as well as the prize for a stupid mistake so early in the session.

This time my BREIL watch was to find his home on the wrist of the team manager! You know what it's like; I gotta try and keep my job for next year! 

As for the race I wasn't to be so lucky, Foret returned the favour from qualifying and got to the line a fly shit before me. But I'm really happy to take second cause it extended my championship lead by a little more.

On Monday after the race we headed down to Blue Water Shopping Centre! It's always been a bit of a tradition to check out a flick and grab a feed there. When we arrived it was straight to Nando's! This chicken rules, I went a little over board with the piri piri though! My lips were burning for hours! It was then time to head into see a flick. We decided to watch "The Day After Tomorrow" and we even went for the full high rollers seats, I think it's called Top Class or something! Not sure why! After the flick it was time to roll across the Audio Visual Services which is where we'll leave the bus until Brands Hatch, it's over by Biggin Hill somewhere. Not long after we arrived Jo turned up to take us out for an Indian. This was the fanciest curry house I've ever seen, the food was so good and typically we all ate about 3 times the legal limit..!

The next morning it was an early flight back to Isabelle's house for a couple of day's and try to work off our day of eating.

We decided to head up to Assen for the weekend and watch the TT; the funny part was I forgot that the race is always on Saturday. I arrived on Thursday arvo but Isabelle didn't get in until Friday night so she was just in time to catch the race on Saturday.

So it was pretty cool to catch up with some of the boys and check out what's new and what's goen on. I got a bit of an ear bashing about how crap they thought the WSB Championship is and how great it was here! But I soon set them straight, as the racing is as exciting as ever, the crowd figures are still solid and growing and it seems as though all the other manufactures are keen to return. (So there)!!!!!!!!

So Sunday was now a free day, we decided to start heading south by car. We were keen on checking out the World MX GP in Belgium, well I was keen especially as we nearly drove passed it. So I dropped Roger Harvey a line who was my old team Boss who is now taking care of Honda's MX involvement. Roger dial us in with a couple of passes which was really cool considering we only called one hour before we were to arrive. It's been so long since I've been to a Moto Cross event the last time I through my leg over a proper race bike was in 1993. These guys are heroes! The track had rocks the size of house bricks, actually they were house bricks. It was awesome to come and watch these boys duke it out at the highest level. It definitely gave me some inspiration to get my ass into gear and work a bit more on my fitness. Hopefully I can get to watch another MX GP before the season is over.

The coming weekend was to be the (Züri-Fest) Zurich Festival, which only happens every 4 years and it was also to be a Honda Netherlands promotional weekend in Assen. As per normal we tried to cram as much as possible in and do both! The plan was; do Zurich Friday night catch an early flight Saturday morning, get to the track by about 10:30 and spend the rest of the weekend at Assen with the team and Honda Netherlands. This plan was only good in theory. Because it ended in a complete disaster! After a night of not too much sleep a delayed plane trip about five different trains I arrived at the circuit at about 1.30 pm, slightly embarrassed! I then had about 20 minutes to find my riding gear, get dressed and just catch the last session for the day.

The next day everyone who had the new CBR1000 was invited to Assen for some track time some schooling if wanted and a BBQ. Unfortunately we had disaster on the weather front. This didn't seem to worry the boys too much, still as keen as ever to get out on the track. It was actually hailing at one point!

Fortunately at the end of the day the weather seemed to have lifted and the sun was out in full force. This meant it was time to hit the track. Then Kate have built this special limited edition 200 hp road going version of the CBR1000, trick brakes, forks, shock etc. etc... So I got the chance to take unsuspecting victims around the track with them on the back. This was more fun than I'd expected right up until one of my passengers slid down into my seat while we were braking and squashed the old family jewels! An urgent pit stop was then required to catch my breath and shake the girls out! Then it was time for a huge BBQ for everyone, there was about 12 grills and enough meat to sink a ship. Just like home!

The next day I hitched a lift with the team to the airport, they were on their way to Laguna Seca. So that worked out perfect, I didn't have to get back on that bloody train. And it was definitely time to escape from all the rain and dry out.

C ya

Karl