Wild Card in the JuniorGP European Talent Cup

Wild Card in the JuniorGP European Talent Cup

Ever since I started the Road to Motogp, one of my targets was to ride in the junior world championship paddock. John Cresswell had been indicating for awhile now that he wanted to taste the JuniorGP with the squad and he finally said...do you want to go? My dad and I contemplated it a alot! Are we ready? Will we ruin this opportunity? Am I fast enough? What if I do horrible? What if I do great? My mind was spinning in circles. My dad and Coach Torres finally had the conversation about and Coach told my dad to stop thinking about it so much. This was an awesome opportunity at a fraction of the cost it would of taken us to do it...SO GO FOR IT! 
When I first found out that I was gonna be riding in the European Talent Cup at Jerez a couple weeks before the weekend, I was at a lost for words. My dream track to ride has always been Jerez but I didn’t have too much time to prepare so I knew that if I wanted to take this opportunity head on, I would have to prepare like no other race in my career so far. I spent countless hours watching videos, writing track maps just from things I could see from videos and phone calls with SDK, Aleix Viu, Xavi Artigas and Coach Torres. Whatever information I could find I was searching for it. 
Arriving at the circuit on Wednesday was surreal, walking down the paddock and seeing all the big trucks took my breath away, it was like being in the MotoGP paddock. If you didn't know this was the JuniorGP paddock...you would of thought all the MotoGP teams were here training. Most of the Moto3 & Moto2 teams have a team in this championship. This is the feeder system for the World Championship and I am here! The tents, the vendors, the people all walking around and preparing for the weekend. The smells of the race gas, the bikes warming up, the sounds of mechanics unloading and preparing the garages. It's all identical to the MotoGP Paddock.

JuniorGp has a very different schedule so I was on track Thursday and in the first session I fell in love with the circuit, it was everything I had been dreaming of for so many years and more. I took Thursday as a shakedown test for the brand new bike and the team. We had two 40min sessions and we all got more and more accustomed to the paddock and the track. By the end of the day we had found a very comfortable setup for the weekend and now it was time to keep learning and progressing before qualifying on Saturday. No one was doing times on Thursday. It was very much a wonder what the top riders were doing. From my research I had an idea on what times were needed in order to make the main event. I was really far away from those...lol.

Then comes Friday and my world was going to be turned upside down for a handful of minutes. FIM Technical inspectors walking into our garage about 10mins from going out for the final practice of the day and were doing a courtesy inspection since we were the new team in the paddock. They walked around our bikes and let us know what changes we needed to make prior to Saturday morning for qualifying. Then they begin to inspect the rider gear. The head tech is looking at me and asks me for my helmet. I turn it over to him and he is checking it out. Gives me a compliment on my Dave Designs graphics and then asks me to stand up. He takes out a sheet of paper from his folders and looks down what appears to be a list...looks up at me and tells me I can ride tomorrow!. Just like that...sorry pilot but your suit and airbag are not homologated for the this championship! I know I went pale and my dad's jaw was on the ground. The inspector said it was fine for today because it wasn't the race weekend yet but I needed something else for Saturday morning if I was going to ride. Awesome...great news to hear before heading out on track for the final session of the day. My dad and the team Owner told me to not worry about it, go out, keep progressing on track. They were already working on a solution. Jay Dexter with DRC Race Leathers was on the phone with the FIM and got his suit approved...but the airbag as not due to it not qualifying. So we were short one final piece. Massive Massive thank you to John and Casey O'Gorman for loaning me a suit so I could race that weekend. Now it was back to business!

I felt really comfortable on the bike and made massive improvements on track so going into qualifying on Saturday I felt good but I knew that if I wanted to qualify for the main race, I was gonna have to get a massive tow. Qualifying strategies in world championship is really different to anything that I have ever experienced.  This was a really big positive because it’s another thing that not only I learned but the team learned over the weekend. My Q2 was much better strategy wise then Q1. The team and I started to figure it out more and more. Unfortunately we weren’t able to qualify for the main race through qualifying but I was able to get on the grid for the last chance qualifier. 

Going into the last chance race I thought I was gonna feel more nervous then I did but I felt pretty at home on the grid and ready to fight during the race. I got an incredible start and made up about 4 positions through turn 1 and had an amazing battle in the group the entire race, I dropped my time again by 8 tenths and got a race situation in the world championship under my belt. The battles are intense and the passing needs to happen immediately or you are losing the group. Swapping places, rubbing elbows, carrying so much corner speed and diving into corner was so exhilarating. I enjoyed every second of it. Of course we wanted a better result...but understanding our targets, our mindset for the weekend and the actual results....the team and I did fantastic.

I can’t put in words how grateful I am for my amazing team. I’ve learned and grown so much on this team and I’m so grateful for John Cresswell and the entire team. I can’t wait to see what else we can achieve as a team in the future. Special thank you to my incredible mechanics Sandy, Alan, and Jay you guys are truly amazing!! A massive thank you to Matt Balchin for all the help and tips on track, you helped me tons and I appreciate it so much. Can't forget my guys at home Coach Michael Torres, SDK, Tim & Buch. It really takes a village in this sport and I have an incredible one. To my family for all the sacrifices they have made to allow me to take advantage of these opportunities is something I will be eternally grateful for. 

 

We are back in the British Talent Cup paddock in a couple weeks time and heading to Scotland! Let’s take on Knockhill by the horns...

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