Me and Al were hugely overweight on the check in (yes, Al had packed his hair care kit again) so we took up the offer from Warwick’s mate Paul, who was coming to Japan as well, to take one of my bags with him as he was flying business class.
So with that we were off and on our way to Japan.
Arrived in Tokyo ok, changed planes and flew on to Nagoya. One ferry/shinkanzen train/taxi trip later and we were at the Flower Garden Hotel Suzuka. Nice.
Had the arvo free to have a game of tennis, a quick piece of ten pin bowling followed by a relaxing spa…. Well would have been more relaxing if didn’t have to wear a long sleeved shirt to cover my tattoo’s (a big no no in Japanese swimming areas) Still, tough life huh? Beats being at work tryin to sell AG bikes to farmers.
Met up with Paul that night who’d couriered my bag from Oz but discovered it’d had a blow out on the way and was held together with masking tape. Luckily I hadn’t lost any of my Gucci accessories.
Paul about to lose a King Prawn
Dougie and Paul were in my room for the weekend, and Paul got the privilage of combining both rice filled pillows with a fold out lounge to create what he described as “a delightful orthopedic experience.” I think he was kidding…
Practice began on Thursday and from the very first session I knew we were going to struggle with rear grip.
No matter what we tried with the suspension or the swingarm we couldn’t get a rear tyre that hooked up all weekend, which at Suzuka is vital for good lap times. My dreams of Superpole were blown out the window. There were times when the bike would spin whilst I was almost directly upright shifting gears. It was like doin a burnout! As a result we were off the pace in practice and qualifying and my best time for the team only put us 47th on the grid.
Damo doing his thing
I was certain we could move forward in the race but just how far was hard to say. I knew it was going to be tough.
After my experience last year of doing 2 stints in a row in 40 degree heat, I made sure the Yamaha guys hooked me up with the Yamaha doctors to have I.V. drips in between my sessions to keep hydrated. This was really the only thing that got me through the race last year, so I wanted to make sure I was ready this time.
I was chosen to start the race as I was quickest in qualifying, so after warm up I headed straight to the cool room to get a drip before the race. This proved to be a huge mistake. Something happened to me that I didn’t know was possible, I over hydrated myself.
After getting a bag of fluid I sat up and realised straight away something was wrong. I felt real dizzy all of a sudden and began finding it hard to breathe. I didn’t say anything at first and hoped it would pass, plus my team boss Russell was in the room and I didn’t want him to freak out, but it didn’t go away as I started getting dressed and it started getting worse. I knew I had to say something. I looked at our physio Eileen and saw an alarming look on her face. I told her I wasn’t feeling too good then I thought I was going to faint. The docs also noticed I wasn’t right and started to panic a little when they took my blood pressure. I was 20 mins out from the start of the race. Shit.
"Prease stay awake Mr Cudrin san"
My heart felt like it was on the rev limiter and I couldn’t even see straight. I didn’t know what was going on, all I knew was that I needed a piss. Paul came to the dunnies with me in case I fainted whilst the Yamaha nurse waited outside. I then proceeded to piss for nearly 10 minutes!
By this time Russell was onto me and had pulled me off the job and got Warwick prepared to start the race. He then voiced his doubt about me riding at all as I started giving the Yamaha doctor a Chuck Norris stare down…
Warwick started the race as I watched it on the monitor laying on a bed. Christer was ready to go next effectively giving me 2 stints to get better. By the time Warwick pitted after his first stint I started coming good and my face was no longer glowing red.
As Christer got on the bike I was told I needed to pass both a physical from the Yamaha Docs and a “balance test” devised by Russell before I could ride. Got that done and got ready to go.
The race went well and as expected we moved further and further forward as the race went on. We all rode hard and I although Christer hadn’t seen the place before he put in a real strong performance. Before too long Suzuki crashed, Bolliger Kawasaki were out with engine probs and we were pulling away from Fajersko Suzuki which meant we were running 2nd behind Yamaha Austria in the SBK class. With faultless pit work from my Phase One team, we held that position all the way to the flag and finished 17th outright.
After the race, time for a beer
It was a good result and was more importantly good for the championship.
So with the job done and podium presentation over, it was off to the famous “Log Cabin” for a few cold ones to wind down.
As suprising as this might sound to my readers, there was no drinking records or karaoke like last year and I don’t have any real drunken stories to tell you. I was pretty buggered and not really feeling the sausage fest at the pub, so I plug chopped early and had a quiet one.
Back to England the next day and then up to Birmingham for couple of days after that. Hung out at Warren Watson’s place up there then headed back to Chelmsford.
Big Al’s birthday bash was next and a wild Saturday night followed in London. This my readers was a big one. Accomponied by Al’s team mate James Hutchinson and former Diablo rider Kev Falke, we hit a club in Angel Islington that went hard. The usual antics took place there….. Loads of beer, drunken dance moves, tequila shots, and a 4am Chicken Honey Mustard sandwich. Good times.
A drunken Damo Handstand
World SBK’s on the tele Sunday pretty well brings me up to date with this trip so far.
It’s Monday night now and Al, Ray and myself are heading off in the morning to Germany for the next round of the series.
Will fill you in on the next part of the adventure after the weekend, let’s hope we can keep the momentum going as I reckon another strong result is on the cards.
All the best,
Damo.
