I had quite a busy day today and I went up to Jurby with both the Penz13.com/Bathams and SMT/Carbridge Racing teams just to try and iron out a few more issues.

 It was the first time I’d been on the 600 and there were a few problems that would have held us back in practice whilst we’d had problems with the BMW misfiring. The Germans had some new software updates though and with the weather being decent, we had a good run and solved all the little niggles.
 
It wasn’t the best conditions for practice so I took the Stocker out first and was first away with Michael Dunlop. My bike was faster than his Superbike so that was quite impressive although the anti-wheelie kicked in a few times and is something I’ll be turning off. I was really happy with the speed and handling though,
 
Hutchy came steaming by me along the Cronky y Voddy and I watched him trying to get by Michael every which way. He was all over the back of him and when he eventually did get by him at Douglas Road Corner, Kirk Michael, I thought he was off. His feet were off the pegs and there were legs all over the place, it was like a spider was on the bike.
 
I thought he’d slacken off a bit after that but 200 metres later, in the middle of the village, the same thing happened again. It was spectacular to watch and he was certainly on a bit of a mission so, needless to say, he eventually cleared off.
 
I took the Superbike out after that first lap, which was a case of ‘oh my god, here we go’ and the first 6-7 miles definitely weren’t as enjoyable as the first lap. After that though, I got into it a bit more even though it was starting to drizzle by that time. It was hard to know which bits were wet and which were dry and there was probably 10 miles of the course which were really patchy.
 
With being first away, I managed to get four laps in with the last one being on the 600. It felt really nice but the quickshifter wasn’t working properly, the seating position was a bit out and it was also running a bit rich so I just cruised round. And when I got up on to the Mountian, the conditions were really bad.
 
If you’ve seen the end of the film ‘Rush’, where they’re racing in the rain, it was just like that and I couldn’t see a thing. It was hailing, raining, blowing a gale and freezing cold and it felt a bit eerie up there.
 
The four laps were all worthwhile though and I didn’t expect to be this far down the line at this stage. I’m having a few little issues but it’s when you start going quicker that all the problems start. All the teams are all working well so I’m feeling quite relaxed about the whole job.