Well, my wonderful wife has had her breast cancer operation and the outcome looks to be far better than we could have hoped for. The specialist is confident that all the cancer has been removed, but more to the point, he also reports that the lymph node taken at the same time shows no sign of cancer which means that it has been caught early and has not yet had the time to spread. Full pathology results will be in later in the week but, so far, everything is looking positive. She’ll be home from work this week as she recovers from what was, still, a major operation, and already she’s showing signs of improvement. Thanks again to all of you who have sent their thoughts and prayers to us at this very stressful time.
In motorcycling news, now that the season is over, the copywriters are struggling for news. Valentino Rossi had another successful rallying hit-out last weekend, finishing second in the event and giving out the strongest message yet that he will end up in this sport full-time when his road racing days are over.
The FIM has confirmed that the Sachsenring circuit in Germany is back on the GP calendar from next year. There were fears that the round would be lost due to financial uncertainties, but they have been resolved.
In industry news, Triumph has announced that sales are up as are profits, by 7% to be precise. Somebody must be doing something right.
The private test for some of the WSBK teams went well at Portimao for the BMW team (but they always over-state how well the bike is going) and not so good for the new Crescent Suzuki squad who battled front brake and electronics issues throughout the 3 day test. Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes reportedly broke the existing lap record, but, then again, as I said in another place, NEVER take ANY notice of testing times, EVER.
Dr Costa has denied some reported rumours that he is going into semi-retirement from the Clinica Mobile next year. I’m sure the riders will be breathing a sigh of relief over that.
The 8 hour race is on at PI this weekend, not that anyone would have noticed. Only 25 entries and most, except the official Suzuki team, made up of privateers. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the only way that we’re going to get proper endurance racing back on the agenda here in Australia is to go back to a strict, Production-only formula that worked so well for the Castrol.