The races at Pikes Peak in Colorado and Road America in Wisconsin went pretty good for me, I feel like my riding has improved and I'm getting faster and more aggressive in the races.

A lot of people kept telling me that I would go pretty well at Pikes Peak so I was really looking forward to that race.

Practice went pretty good on both bikes and we had Formula Extreme qualifying on Friday. I worked on setting up my Bruce Transportation/ Erion racing CBR954 and I'm real happy with the progress I'm making in that area. I ended the qualifying session in fifth position, but was as high was third with just three minutes remaining in the session, I was real happy with that.

In the 29-lap race on Saturday, I was running in sixth on lap 22 before crashing out. It was a pretty big high side and really disappointing for me. A bit later after thinking about it though I decided that I was happier running up the front and crashing, than what I would have been if I had finished a long way behind the leaders. Everybody knew that I was trying hard out there and I mean, you can’t find your limits without crossing them once or twice I guess!

On the 600 I qualified tenth, we had a few troubles with the transmission but it was my best qualifying position of the year so far. I wanted to do good in the race to make up for not finishing in the FX race, I got a good start and I was battling with Mike Hale and Tom Kipp for sixth but unfortunately my bike overheated around lap 16 and I had another DNF.

It was a disappointing weekend in the end, but I was so happy to battle with the other factory supported riders and I'm gaining a lot more confidence.

Road America was the weekend after and it couldn't come soon enough for me, the track is almost 5 miles long and I was pretty keen to get out there in promoter practice on the Thursday and try to get the place figured out!

I was in the top six on the FX and top 10 on the 600 in the practice sessions so it was cool, a real long fast flowing track but I had a crash in 600 practice at turn 1. I lost the front end, it was the first time in a few years that I have lost the front, and I think it just shows how hard I'm starting to try.

I qualified eleventh on the FX bike, I didn't really get enough out of my qualifying tyre and the times were really close so I wasn't too worried.

The race was fun, I had a good tussle with Ben Spies, Lance Isaacs & Marty Craggill as we all battled for fourth. I had a few troubles toward the end of the race and finished seventh, my best finish of the season so far, now I have a pretty clear sixth in the FX championship.

The 600 qualifying session went okay for me, I qualified 12th and knew it would be a close race.

I had a race long battle with Roger Lee Hayden and Mike Hale before finishing 11th. My lap times were a full second faster than they had been in qualifying. It has been loads of fun at the last two races battling with the top guys and doing a bit of passing for positions the entire race.

I can feel some good results coming for the last four rounds of the season and I just can't wait to line up on the grid next time!

Alex Gobert
Bruce Group Racing
#121