2022 BTC Pre-Season Test #1
Well, the time came to leave home, hop on an airplane and make my way to the UK where I will be spending the next 7-8 months racing, training and gaining valuable experience towards my dreams of making it onto the motogp grids.
Leaving my family behind isn't going to be easy. Not having my dad there every race weekend is going to be tough, but this is what I want to do and everyone is backing me 100%. All of the sacrifices will be worth it in the end.
We made it to the track on Friday afternoon and met up with the team. Seeing some familiar faces like John Cresswell, Alan, Nathan, Jay and Sandy was calming. There were a handful of new faces as well and not knowing who I would be working with was a bit nerve wrecking. Finally the bikes made it out of the trailer and onto the workbenches. That is where I was introduced to Josh and Rhys who are going to be my mechanics for the year. Not sure at first of course. But after admitting to Nathan that I wanted him to be my mechanic he told me all about Josh and how good he was. Well the weekend would solidify that for sure.
I finally got to sit on the bike and feel "Scarlett" for the first time since October of 2021. She felt perfect. Everything was right where I needed it to be and she just felt GOOD. I walked around her and kept staring at her just visualizing us riding and racing and working our magic. I wanted her to know that I loved her and was going to make sure she loved me back. Only time would tell though as I was going to get to ride her tomorrow.
Finally, Saturday came around and I was anxious. I was super cool on the outside just doing my normal routine and prepping but inside I was like the feet of a duck underwater....a million miles a second. I put my gear on, the bikes were turned on and away we went. The rush turned into a calm and I was ready. Green lights in the pits and a twist of throttle. Man what a feeling being back on the bike.
The rest of the weekend was about the same. I would get to ride the bike four times on Saturday and 4 times on Sunday. Each time coming off the bike and providing feedback to my mechanics and then getting feedback from Jay and Alan on my riding. Talked to Mike Torres as well about the sessions. Putting all the pieces together then going out again to keep progressing. That has been a very popular word in my vocabulary lately.... Progress, Progression, keep progressing. We did just that as a team all weekend.
The other part I was nervous about was the team comradery and how we would all get along. Each one of us from a different part of the Globe. Kiyano, which I rode with last year, is from Netherland. Harrison, which was on a different team last year, is from the UK. Then there is Matt, which lives in Spain but has parents from UK and Netherlands as well. Then of course Casey from Ireland was there helping the team out. Thankfully we all worked very well together and it never felt awkward in the pit. We all knew what we needed to do and we had Casey there as a reference as well. Truly helped a ton and we all got faster and faster each session out. It was super cool to be a part of.
What a first test! I had amazing feelings with the bike from the beginning and finished first session p8 and that was a big boost of confidence. I ended the test P4 which obliterated my goals for the test. Big thank you to my new mechanics Josh, Rhys, Jay and Alan. We had tons of data and put it to really good use. Big thank you to everyone at home and on social media for the love...Let’s keep this ball rolling!