It’s been a while since I’ve put finger to keyboard to update you all of what’s been happening over here, so for this Column I’ve got to go waaaaaaay back. Let’s see… the weeks leading up to Suzuka, that’s where I’ll start.

It had been a huge break from the round in Spain to the round in Japan so it gave me some time to scratch something off my list of “Must Do’s before I die” and that was to see Metallica Live in Concert.

My mate Clemens had heard me going on about the fact that Metallica were playing Live in Vienna, and took it upon himself to organise the tickets for us all. What I couldn’t believe was that he managed to swing some passes out of somebody and that we’d be watching Metallica from the front row for free. Respect.

The show was awesome with the majority of songs coming from the old school albums Master of Puppets, Ride the Lightning, And Justice for All etc. I almost caught one of Lars Ulrich’s Drumsticks when he tossed them into the crowd, but the unforgiving tailwind carried it just over my head and into the hands of the biggest (big as in Godzilla) Metallica fan at the concert. I had to pretend I was happy that he caught it because I was scared he might have beat the shit out of me with it otherwise. Apart from that it was a top night and one I’ll remember for a while.

A week or so later Mandy called me to ask if I wanted to go target shooting at a rifle range. It sounded like fun, so we went to the range with Mandy’s brother in-law, who is also a local cop.

We started with the Austrian made Glock hand gun before moving up to the Steyr Scout 762 Winchester. This puppy is no toy, and having shot some large rifles before in Oz I knew that they packed a bit of punch. Mandy however wasn’t so lucky. Snuggling up nice and close to the sight on the rifle, with his eye’s practically touching the glass, he pulled the trigger. Think of popping the cork off a bottle of champagne and having it hit you right in the eye ball, and you’ll know how he reacted. The only thing funnier was when he turned to me and he looked like this……

It sure was the hardest I’ve laughed in a long time.

Soon the day came for us to leave for Japan and Me, Mandy (fresh with his scared forehead), and some of the YART crew started our trip from Graz to Munich. Half in Mandy’s Citreon Van, and the other half in our Mechanic Roli’s car. The trip was going along smoothly until we reached a road block at the German border. Something was wrong and we were stuck in the biggest traffic jam I’ve ever seen. Once coming to a stop it took us 4hours to move 15klms. As the time passed bye, Mandy’s face grew more and more nervous. We weren’t going to make the plane. Leaving it to the last minute, Mandy decided it was time for some desperate measures. He jammed the Van into gear and took to the grass. We, on the other hand, stayed in line and talked to a local riding his pushbike past us. He gave us the hot tip to take a short cut up a bicycle lane, which we did. Turned out the guy was right and we saved loads of time. Meanwhile Mandy was still rally driving the Van, even opting to turn the air conditioner off to gain some extra horsepower! When we arrived at the airport Mandy’s Van was standing in the ‘Tow-away’ zone, grass hanging out of the wheel arches, as Mandy came running towards us. “Hurry up, we’ve got 2minutes to get onboard” he shouted. We threw our seriously overweight bags at the Lufthansa woman, and bolted for the gate. We made it, just.

The flight from Europe is a long one, but it gave me and new YART recruit Steve Martin a chance to catch up over a few beers. Soon I noticed that the plane was almost full of Suzuka teams and riders and before too long the flight had turned into a mid-air party. Everyone gathered to the back of plane, drinking the various free piss on offer and carrying on like bike racers do. It was a real laugh, and even the Lufthansa staff got in on the act. Glad it wasn’t me trying to get some sleep though!

Getting into Japan a couple of days early meant we had some time to recuperate and to use some of the features the Suzuka Hotel had to offer. Suffering from a little Jet Lag, Me and Alex decided to go for ‘Hot Spring’ Spa bath late one night. We burst through the Spa doors and were shocked that the place was not only full of people, but they were all naked. So it was off with gear and time for some Western dick tricks. Alex complemented my ‘Helicopter’ with a classic ‘Hamburger’ before diving into the warm water. We weren’t there long before calling it quits.

Me and Steve were sharing a room at Suzuka, and whilst both of us couldn’t sleep we decided to order a massage each. The first Masseuse arrived and looking a little mean Steve threw it my way. I told her not to do much with my back (as I don’t like people messing about with it anymore) and to concentrate on arms and legs. She began her massage as I began to relax. Steve’s Masseuse then arrived. I had a laugh when she reminded me of the Japanese Kickboxing Champion of 1967. Steve said for her to get into it with nothing spared. Moments later I nearly lost it when I saw him pinned in a World Wrestling Federation sleeper hold. It seemed his Black Belted Masseuse wasn’t sparing anything. It was worth the cost of my massage just to watch Steve hold his breathe for that long. Funny stuff.

Soon enough it was time for work and we got on with the Suzuka weekend. With out boring you with all the stuff you already know, we ended up 12^th in the SBK class after our oil cooler cracked and the engine overheated. It was a disappointing result, but it was good working with Steve and I was impressed with the way he could set the bike up. I was hoping he’d be around for more than just the 8 hour.

After the race and few quiet beers in the famous ‘Log Cabin’ it was off to bed for the early start in the morning. We were on an early flight out of Japan and moments after arriving in Austria I was on the road again to teach a Moto-Academy Race School in Hungary. It was a very busy few days, but after arriving home again, the adventures were just about to begin…