Hope you all had a top Chrissy and New Year.  I had a pretty quiet one at home. Santy came & everything, so I must have been a good boy, although even after sitting on the old poofs lap, he never left the R7 that I asked for!

I haven't been doing much riding over the break because I've finally had the plate & screws out of my ankle. The operation was cancelled by the hospital 5 times in total, and I never thought it was going to come out. Anyhow, it's out now, and I've just got to hop around for another week or so until the stitches come out. I should be back on the track testing in a week.

Something I did do over the break was go down to Sydney for a photo shoot with the Australian Women's Weekly. No, it wasn't a special issue on knitting...... they invited me to be part of a special feature in "Future Stars for 2001", being released in the February issue. I went to their studios in Surry Hills and met the other sports people that will be featured in the article with me. 

Alicia Molik the tennis player, was really nice. Yana Pittman, the track & field star, was also pretty easygoing. Aaron Badley, the golfer, had his photos taken the day before, and he was being superimposed into our shot later. I felt like a bit of a weed around Alicia & Yana, because they were both over 6 feet tall. All the photos had me sitting down and them standing, or vica verca, otherwise I looked like mighty mouse. It took about 3 hours of shots to probably come up with one. I don't think modeling is my strong point - I really hated having my "skin tone evened out" by the make up artist! That's right...makeup. Anyway, hopefully it will be a good article. At least they didn't ask me for my favourite recipe!

Everyone keeps asking me what I'm going to be doing next year, and believe me, if I knew, I'd let you all know. I am negotiating with a couple of prospective teams, but nothing is really certain at this stage. I'm at least lucky enough to have won a new R1 for next year, so I'm better off than I was at the start of 2000. 

Terry O'Neill looks as though he has put the best package together in the Formula Xtreme Series, and it looks as though most people seem to agree. 

Motorcycling Australia, the official governing body of motorcycle racing in Australia, has organised the Australian Superbike Championship for 2001, but it's being held over 10 rounds that go well into 2002.  I'm not really keen to contest a championship that runs over 2 seasons, it just ties you up for too long and doesn't allow for any future options the following year, although if I was offered a good ride with a team who wanted to run with it, then I'd be in on it. I don't think too many people are all that happy about it to be honest. I should have something organised before the end of January.

That's about it for now.

Damian