It’s been a little while since my last column, so here’s another one to keep you all on track.

Since I last wrote in, Round 2 of WEC has been run and won in Spain, and unfortunately for me, it wasn’t us who came away with the silverware.

The weekend started slowly, as we struggled a bit in the free practice sessions compared to the teams that had tested there, but by 2^nd qualifying we were finding our feet and things started coming together. I personally had a bit of a score to settle with a few people who wrote me off after Le Mans, so I was pretty keen to stick it into them in qualifying, which seemed to work when I posted the teams fastest time in QP2.

So with a few doubters off my back again, I was pretty confident of a strong result in the race, especially after I was also strong in the night practice.

But it wasn’t to be. After making a good start and sitting in 4^th spot, Seb (Scarnato) got nailed by Vankeymeulen (Phase One) from behind, effectively ending any chance of a good result in the race, and making our championship shot now a very very slim one.

It does suck when something like this takes you out of the hunt, but you know, that’s racing and sometimes shit just happens.

I was actually in the Phase One pit at the time it happened as Warwick’s (Nowland) girlfriend, Kris was taping my hands as I was scheduled for the 2^nd stint. Warwick was also getting taped up, as he was also 2^nd stint, when we both just heard someone yell out “Bike down. Didier’s off”.

I calmly walked back to my pit as I knew Warwick would have to get ready ASAP if the bike came back, but I suddenly saw a look of horror on my mechanic Steven’s face. Something was being reported over the radio, and he looked like someone had just shit in his boot. It was the info that Seb had also gone down with Phase One and that I’d better get my finger out to be ready when the bike comes back, as I was up next.

The bike came back, practically cactus, and Seb hobbled off with the raving shits. I figured he must have been taken down.

So after 8 and a half laps, the YART boys had turned the wreck into a race bike again and I got to work trying to salvage something from last place (40th something). An hour and a bit later I came in to find we were 20th something, but was told to stay in my gear as Seb had broken his foot, and that it’d be just me and Igor seeing this one out.

The rest of the race went much the same, Igor and I slowly moving up the leader board bit by bit, until eventually we finished 9^th. It was a good result for us considering what had happened, but after doing the math and working out that a podium was a certainty with out the prang, we still came away feeling pretty flat. The only positive was the speed we showed after the crash. Hopefully our luck will turn around in Japan.

It was then a mission after the race for me, as I was booked for the next 2days to teach at the Moto Academy Race School in Pannoniaring, Hungary.

So a red eye flight to Munich, 4 hour drive from there to Austria, a change of undies at my place, then a 3 hour drive to Hungary and it was exactly time to start the first session of training. I was rat shit, and my eyes looked worse than Cheech and Chongs after a big night. But some Red Bull worked wonders and the school went off with out a hitch.

After a day or two to recoup after the school, it was into Graz for a night on the town.

I’d met a girl from Graz named Anna, who Amy and I hooked up to party with, so we parked the car in the city and got on with it. I thought my dreams had come true when we went into a place called ‘6 in the city’ that had a 10 Euro entry fee that included FREE drinks for 3.…. That’s right…. 3 hours. I don’t know how many drinks we had, but it was enough to forget the name of the next club.

L-R Some bloke, Amy, Damo and Anna enjoying some cheap cocktails... so they thought.

11.00am the next day and we returned to the place where I’d parked my car the night before, problem was…. No car.

At first I thought it’d been flogged, but then I remembered the piece of crap I’m driving and figured it must have been towed. After careful examination of the street signs at the scene, I still couldn’t understand a friggin thing, so we called the cops to see what had happened. I was told it had been towed, as it was parked illegally and I’d need the rego details and 100 euro to get the car back. Problem was, rego papers were in the car.

Luckily for me, I had the details on a speeding ticket I’d received the day before, so after paying up and getting a free lecture at the yard, I had my Fiat Punto back. Those cocktails turned out to be dearer than we thought…..

So now I’m hanging out in Austria till the next round in Japan. I’m really going to put in from now till race day, as Suzuka is going to be a make or break round for us. With a good result there, we could still sneak back into the series, but it’s not going to be easy.

The latest news is that Seb won’t be able to do race, as the injuries to his foot seem worse than first thought, so it might be another Igor and Damo show unless Mandy finds someone else to join us.

Seb smiling before he went to hospital...

I’ll be sure to keep you posted. Until then, stay tuned and be good.

Ciao for now,

Damo.