Race 4...Hard Work Paying Off

After a decent break between rounds and different kinds of training, I was back on a plane headed to the UK. Going into round 4 I was feeling confident and ready to take on the weekend with a plan. Various discussions with coach Torres in the past couple of weeks, We had a game plan for every session during the weekend but my target was to put it on the box. I knew if I was going to start climbing the championship standing, I needed to get on the podium. This wasn't an outside pressure or an influence, this was just simple math. We are mid season, I am sitting P5 and I needed to start finding my next level. The podium level!

Arriving at the circuit on Thursday I was already feeling good vibes with the team and the atmosphere. I don't know how to really explain it. I couldn't get this grin off my face, everyone I spoke to just had great things to say. My mechanics and team were super enthusiastic for the weekend. I don't know really other way to say it...I just felt good. Another positive was that this track definitely feels the most like home and I have been here previously so I know the track and it has always been a good circuit for me. After only a couple corners completed in FP1 the good feeling was confirmed. I have never had this feeling before but I just felt so comfortable on my bike, had so much confidence and trust in it, like it all just fell into place. I finished FP1 in P3 which has been my highest finish to date on a FP. The confidence kept building as we entered FP2.  I went out on old rubber in order to save my tire allotment for Qualifying and the races. Still improved the time which had me feeling so excited for the morning on some new rubber.

Saturday morning arrived and I had a really good game plan for qualifying. Worked extremely hard to find that one pocket I needed for the drive to shoot me up the order and I stuck it on the front row! This was my first front row of the season coming from qualifying which only increased my feeling of confidence for the race coming up in the afternoon.

Race 1 was my best race to date. I was aggressive, never left the front of the group for more then a couple corners and I kept attacking and pushing forward. Everything just seemed to click, everything that I have been working on just came together. Coach Torres and I had gone through every scenario possible for the last lap and I remembered one scenario perfectly for the final lap. I did it, I came across the line 1 thousand of a second in front of 4th place which meant I was back on the PODIUM!! I totally forgot what this feeling felt like and this feeling is impossible to put in words. I couldn’t speak in my interviews because of how much I had been screaming on the cool down lap. Coming into parc ferme with the whole team there was unbelievable. The whole rest of the day felt like a blur but I knew the job wasn’t done because I had another race the next day so it was time to focus on Sunday.

The morning warmup went super good with the same amazing feeling with the bike and ready to take on race 2. Heading to the grid for race 2 it started to rain, I had no track time in the wet for a while but I knew I needed another podium so I put the slippery feeling behind and pushed my 100% for the entire race. As the track started drying I was able to push harder and get closer to P2. I was chewing up those Dunlop Rain Tires bad though in doing so. The bike was all over the place. I took a breathe and decided to not risk the podium and keep the points.  ANOTHER PODIUM!!! A surreal moment, double podium weekend was exactly the target for the weekend and I truly can’t put in words how I felt in that moment. I was yelling, shaking, happy, excited, etc. Every positive feeling you can think of. I am addicted to it...I haven't stopped thinking about it. 

We have made a massive jump in the championship this weekend and now sit in P3 with a very small gap to P2 and P4.A lot more work and progress yet to come, however,  I can’t thank Sandy, Jay, Alan, Neil, Bobby, John and the entire Microlise Cresswell racing for all the hard work this year. We’ve been through a lot but they’ve never lost faith and have been there every step of the way and I can’t thank them enough for everything. The confidence I have in that machine is indescribable!

Got 1 week at home to recover and prepare for brands and I’m really excited for it. Looking forward to making you all proud, let’s give it all we got.