I was horrified to look and see that it has been over two weeks since I updated my blog. Wow, apologies. I can say that, part of the reason is that I have suddenly started getting a lot of casual teaching jobs after trying so hard to get back into the system. It’s great for the budget, especially with the long school break coming up, but it is still physically very tiring.
In motorcycling, things have now started to wind down as the off-season slips into operation. MotoGp completed their last post-season test session with the usual suspects being around about where the usual suspects would be expected to be. Some good times set by some of the “graduates”, special mention being Australia’s Jack Miller who topped the Moto3 sessions in his first run in the “works” KTM squad. Also impressive was Maverick Vinales who topped the Moto2 sessions in his first ride since winning the Moto3 championship.
WSBK tested at Kyalami ahead of the announcement that the circus would be returning to South Africa after a long break. The “works” Kawasaki squad was impressive, but Leon Haslam had a bad fire in his Honda that necessitated a lot of work by the mechanics to get him back on track.
MotoGp world champion, Marc finishes of the year having been named “Rider of the Year” to nobody’s great surprise.
However, the last few weeks have been dotted with tragedy as well as triumph. KTM “works” rider, Kurt Casolli died while competing in the famous Baja 1000 desert race in Southern California. Apparently Kurt hit an animal (probably a cow) while travelling at high speed on a remote part of the course and died before help could reach him. Early reports that he was a victim of a man-made booby trap were later discounted, fortunately, however, the fact that booby-trapping of the course is taking place is very worrying.
Then, last weekend, former Grand Prix rider, Doriano Romboni, died as a result of injuries received in a SuperMoto event. Ironically, the event was being held in honour of the late Marco Simoncelli.
As noted above, I have been really busy, not only with school but also with speedway. Summer means speedway and, as well as my duties at Nowra Speedway, I seem to have scored the gig as resident mike-man at Canberra Speedway for the rest of the season. Then, last night I got a call asking me if I’d be available to call the races at Goulburn Speedway this Saturday night. Busy, indeed.
Last Saturday night I moved right outside my comfort zone and did a musical gig at one of my local coffee shops. I have sung all my life so the singing part wasn’t an issue, but I haven’t sung solo in public for a long, long while so I was uber-nervous. I made heaps of mistakes, many of them frustratingly in songs that I know very well, but nobody seemed to notice and my efforts seem to have been appreciated so I guess it was all good.
Suzuki are considering to pressure DORNA about their MotoGp presence, this week releasing detailed video of the bike on test including, most unusually, sound recordings of the bike on test. In case you haven’t noticed, manufacturers rarely allow the engine sounds of the bikes on test to be published in case competitors can glean any interesting from the tapes. Suzuki seems determined to try and force DORNA’s hand with this one, though there is still no word on who their rider/s may be.
That’s all for today. Promise I’ll be more diligent.