Gilding 12th on Debut in Spain
Finally after months of anticipation and waiting the 2013 Spanish CEV Repsol Championship kicked off in Barcelona. The Circuit de Catalunya set the scene for the first round of the championship, where 56 Moto3 riders were met with terrible wet and windy conditions. With the current financial struggle in Europe it was difficult to get the parts needed to get upgrade the brand new KTM. We set out to the race with a few upgraded parts but mainly a standard bike.
Thursday night was a big effort from the team, who stayed up all night working on the bike to get it in working order for Friday practice. The Dellorto electronic system was fitted to bike to give it some extra power.
— Friday Practice
Because of the amount of riders the moto3 class was split into 2 groups of 28 riders each. We were put into group B with most of the rest of the international riders.
Friday came and we were lucky to get some dry conditions. We set out with the aim of getting familiar with the circuit again and get up to speed with the new Dellorto upgrade. The first 40 minute session went by quickly and we struggled a little to get up to pace. I entered the pits a little disappointed, only scoring a best lap of 2.01.2. 3 seconds off my pace in the official test the week earlier. After so much rain in the days leading up to the event, the track was in bad condition causing all the riders to be a bit off the pace.
The second and final 40 minute practice session went a lot better. Our pace improved a lot, although we were still struggling a little in the final sector. We finished the session with a best lap of 1.57.8, around 2 seconds off the leaders, who were in the 1.55s.
— Saturday Qualifying (2x 40 min Sessions)
Saturday qualifying arrived and with it, the Weather! We got a sneak peak of the qualifying times with group A going out first. The leaders were very quick but the group was split up a lot. We got out early and set into it pretty quickly. It was raining very heavily and it was tough to see through the spray. I was able to stay in the top 10 for the session and finish in 8th, with a 2.19.1.
Going into the second session we were confident of a top 10 starting position. I had lost a few places to the riders in group A but was happy with my pace and looking forward to the session. Again I got out early and tried to go straight back onto the pace. Unfortunately, on my first flying lap I hit some standing water and low sided on the change of direction between turns 1 and 2. We got the bike started and I was able to get back to the pits with minimal damage. The team worked hard to get the bike back on track with 15 minutes to go, but were met with heavier rain then before. I was able to improve my lap time but unfortunately dropped back to 23rd position overall. I was disappointed with the position, but even more disappointed to learn that the Spanish officials had put group A in front of group B, putting me back to 29th on the Grid.
— Sunday Race 1
Conditions for Sunday were much worse than Saturday, but we were confident. I knew it would be hard starting from 29th with the spray of 44 bikes going into turn 1. I made a bad start, spinning the back wheel off the line and dropping back a few more positions. It was really hard to see behind the other bikes, so I decided to wait and work my way through the pack slowly over the 16 laps. I was able to make positions up comfortably without taking to many risks. The last 5 laps were the hardest of my career. Conditions were getting worse and worse and I lost all feeling in my hands, making it impossible to feel this brakes and clutch. Eventually, I got through the pack nicely crossing the line in 12th position and taking my first points in the championship and setting the 6th fastest lap time of the race.
— Sunday Race 2
After race 1 I was really confident of a top 10 finish in race 2 and was eager to get going. I felt a problem on the warm up lap but was not able to figure out what it was. I changed maps and just hoped the problem would go away in the opening laps. Unfortunately it didn’t, and I dropped back 10 positions off the start. I figured out that the problem was that the clutch was slipping but I chose to ignore it. I pushed hard in the opening laps, making up 22 positions from 38th to 14th. I was chasing the main group and was really confident of the top 6. I was making up time and looking to move up when finally the problem stopped the moment. The clutch finally gave up and the bike screeched to a halt on lap 7 and we were out of the race.
We were very disappointed with the result but we will look towards the next round at Motorland Aragon in a few weeks’ time.
I would like to thank my team for all their hard work throughout a tough weekend. Also my sponsors and supporters MotoRRika, Wiring Looms Australia, Northern Volks, Ricondi Motorcycle Leathers, Blauer Helmets and Motonews Russia.