Isle of Man 100th Anniversary - Barcelona MotoGP - Misano World Superbike Journal

Saturday, 3 June 2007: We arrived in sunny Manchester, England about an hour late and just late enough to miss our connection to the Isle of Man. We had to wait five hours until the next flight, which was also delayed about an hour. Upon collecting our luggage, only one of our four bags had arrived. We got to the Castletown Golf Links Hotel to be greeted by my old Team Manager, Masuhiro Itoh and the boss of Suzuki Great Britain Osawa-san as well as a replica Suzuki G.B. had made from a 2007 GSX-R1000.

Sunday, 4 June 2007: We woke up to a rainy, overcast, typically England day. This was Suzuki Sunday at the hotel, a day to celebrate Suzuki owners. Suzuki GB had all sorts of bikes on display from John Reynolds BSB championship bike to Chris Walker’s current BSB superbike to IOM winner Bruce Anstey’s bike, and even one of my bikes from the 1992 season. There were also some classic Suzuki IOM race bikes there, like the one Mr. Itoh rode when he won the race in 1963. We all signed lots of autographs, and took lots of pictures… in the misty rain! That afternoon, Bruce and I were interviewed for a feature in MCN, which had us stopping at various locations along the TT circuit. It pretty much rained the whole time we were outside doing the interview.

Monday, 5 June 2007: As Saturday’s race had been cancelled due to the bad weather before our arrival everything had been rescheduled for today. We went to the Suzuki hospitality area next to “The Quarterbridge” part of the TT circuit. We watched the first 15 bikes start and then headed off following some Suzuki dealers as our tour guides to watch from some other vantage points. We worked out way up to Bray Hill catching some pretty amazing stops along the way. We then went into the paddock to do some souvenir shopping. We went by the Arai store and saw the TT Centenary helmet. We missed out return shuttle to the hotel and Adam, one of the dealers who had taken us on the tour gave us a lift back to the hotel just in time to shower for the gala dinner. It was a neat evening with special tribute given to all the Suzuki riders that had participated in the TT over the years. Some of the attending past TT riders included Mr. Itoh, Stan Woods, Tommy Rubb, Stuart Graham, Frank Whiteway, Frank Perris, Graeme Crosby, and John Reynolds.

Tuesday, 6 June 2007: Adam met us at the hotel and took us into Douglas for a bit more official TT souvenir shopping at the post office. From there we had lunch only to realize the morning had gotten past us and so had the Superstock race which we missed entirely! When we returned to the hotel we learned that Bruce won the race and smashed the track record. I played a round of golf at the hotel, during another amazingly sunny and warm day. New dealers arrived that evening.

Wednesday, 7 June 2007: Another sunny and warm day. We were again at The Quarterbridge with the new dealers. This time we stayed and watched the first race of the day during which Bruce was breaking the lap record the first two laps of the race until the first pit stop when the bike would not restart. He lost about 25-seconds in the pit-lane but managed to finally get it started and rode it back to a deficit of only about 13-seconds, but still finished fourth. After watching this race we returned back to the hotel as my Mom and Dad were arriving from England where they had been for about a month antique shopping. That evening we went into Douglas to the promenade where there was a show of bikes. They had bikes from many years of the TT that were being ridden a short demo lap for the fans that were there. Suzuki did a lap in which I rode the replica they had built for me and Graeme Crosby rode his old TT bike. There were lots of fans that lined the streets and it was pretty neat.

Thursday, 7 June 2007: It was again another sunny day, not usual for the Isle of Man. The dealers were going on a tour of the island and we were staying behind for some press activity down at the track later in the day, so before they left I “kissed babies” and took pictures with the dealers. We left for the track later that afternoon where I was being interviewed on the Isle of Man radio. My Dad was still not feeling and hadn’t felt well since he had arrived the day before. As we were leaving Friday this was going to be the only opportunity for him to see anything of the track. Dinner was again at the hotel with the dealers that had just arrived. Suzuki WSB rider, Chris Walker and I presented the awards to the Suzuki dealers who had been in service more than 25-years. Immediately after this dinner we all rode into Douglas for the Centenary dinner and ceremonies. It was a room full of real TT racing legends. We returned to the hotel about 1am.

Friday, 8 June 2007: We saw the dealers off as they were going to watch the last day of racing as well as the Parade of Champions and we were leaving for Barcelona before they would return. We took a cab to the airport with my parents who were also leaving later that day as well. We flew from the Isle of Man to London Gatwick and then after a slight delay to Barcelona and thanks to FLYBE our bags did not arrive with us. That is now two consecutive flights, both to and from the Isle of Man, that FLYBE wasn’t able to get our luggage to us after two days at either place. I don’t recommend that airline. After filing the lost baggage report, it was about 1m before we arrived at the hotel.

Saturday, 9 June 2007: We arrived at the track about 7:30 to meet up with J. Bryan Lilley the CBS Sports Producer and Jeff Medders, my co-host. After a short discussion we decided to voice over the Mugello GP they had taped in case there were any technical difficulties with the Barcelona race. It’s amazing what an easy job it is to do when you have watched the race and know what happened. It was a good experience for both Jeff and I to work together commentating on a race… him learning about motorcycle racing and both of us getting to work with J. Bryan as a director, which Jeff had done before. At the end of the day we found a mall to buy some clothes and were off to an Indoor Trials National in Tarragona that Raga, Bou and Cabystany were all competing at. There were two rounds; Raga was second in the first round and third in the second round. All three guys had great rides. Small mistakes make such a difference at that level between the top of the box and not. We were back to the hotel by midnight.

Sunday, 10 June 2007: We were up in the morning and at the track by 7:30 to beat the traffic. The weather was never really a factor. It was just hot, but never looked like rain was a threat. Still no sign of our luggage, and luckily the clothes I had bought the night before were “approved” by the CBS staff! Once we got through the initial introduction and sighting lap, and as the race went on, Jeff and I worked together better and better. I think as time goes by the two of us will just continue to improve. Everyone at CBS Sports and Dorna did a great job putting the show together. As it played out on American television, I think the show came across well. We had dinner with a good friend Aldo Drudi, who also happens to be the man who has designed my helmets for quite a few years now (Drudi Design) at the port in Barcelona.

Monday - Tuesday, 11-12 June 2007:No rest for the weary, up early again for the team-testing on Monday and Tuesday. As I had been busy with television duties during the weekend, it was a good chance to catch-up with the Suzuki boys. From a Suzuki standpoint we had a few things to test new on the motorcycle as well as five Bridgestone qualifying tires. John (Hopkins) managed to get all his testing done on Monday and flew home early Tuesday morning for a family function. Chris did half a day, 10am – 12pm, testing the qualifying tires. The Suzuki guys got to witness me actually doing some work and helping tear-down the pit complex and load the truck! Amazed Honda and Ducati staffs were watching from a distance! Tuesday evening I took the Team Suzuki MotoGP guys, the entire 30-man roster, to a well deserved dinner. It was a very enjoyable dinner.

Wednesday, 13 June 2007: Wednesday afternoon I flew from Barcelona to Bologna, Italy on an Iberia flight which my bags arrived just perfectly! Wednesday through Sunday evening I stayed at Aldo’s house in Riccione.

Thursday, 14 June 2007: A good friend of Aldo, Alessandra, took me to a friend’s bicycle shop, H3O, and they loaned me an Eddy Mercx road-bike for a few days. I rode both Thursday and Friday about two-hours each day. It was quite enjoyable as I hadn’t ridden since I left home two-weeks ago. Friday afternoon I went to Misano and watched the first qualifying session of World Superbike.

Saturday, 15 June 2007: I had to return the bicycle, and want to again thank the guys at H3O for loaning it to me. Aldo and I went to the track in the afternoon to watch the last practice and Superpole. Superpole is still an event I am enamoured by. I was never someone who could just go and ride a fast lap; I had to build up to it. I would have started every race in the 16th position if I would have had to do Superpole!

Sunday, 16 June 2007: The racing on Sunday was quite good in the first race of World Superbike. At the front, Bayliss, Haga, Biaggi, and Corser went at it with Kagayama and Toseland having a god scrap for fifth. On lap 18, Max decided to get brave in the second right-hand corner off the back-straight-away and he and Haga came together, both crashing out. My position on the incident, Max shouldn’t have tried that. Haga hadn’t made a mistake and opened the door. It was a very dangerous pass and they are both lucky to not be hurt. The big beneficiary in the incident was Kagayama-san who got the better of Toseland and finished third on the box, a first this season. Results: 1)Bayliss 2)Corser 3)Kagayama. Race 2 looked like it was going to be the same group. Biaggi had a good start and then made a mistake. I didn’t see exactly but he was seventh by lap 3 or 4. At the front, Bayliss was pushing the pace so hard that he and Haga were dropping the rest of the field. By lap 10, Bayliss had a 2 second lead on Haga who had a 5 second lead on Corser, Kagayama with Biaggi and Toseland close behind. About 5 laps to go, Biaggi caught Corser who was closing on Kagayama. Both Biaggi and Corser would pass Kagayama before the finish. Results: 1)Bayliss 2)Haga 3)Biaggi. A round of European Suzuki GSX-R Cup followed the second Superbike race with Pirovano, an ageless veteran getting the better of them. I got to present the trophies to the top three finishers.

We went to dinner with the Yamaha World Superbike guys as they are really good friends with Aldo. It was great to catch-up with the Corser’s and the Haga’s and the rest of the Yamaha guys. After dinner I went to the hotel where the Suzuki guys were staying to return the key to the #2 scooter that had ended up in my pocket at the end of the day. All in all my WSB experience at Misano was good, it was enjoyable!

Monday, 18 June 2007: I left Aldo’s house at 4am to drive to Bologna for my flight back to Barcelona to meet-up with Marnie, who had stayed in Barcelona, to connect to our Delta flight back to Atlanta.

I went home for a few days and then we had KSSS this past weekend (23-24 June) and then on Tuesday, 26 June, I return to Europe for the CBS Sports coverage at Assen. Don’t miss the coverage!