The big month kicked off wrapping up the test in the USA which was seriously one of the best feelings I’ve had in a long time, the team has been working hard all year to make some adjustments on the rally bike since our ass was kicked at Dakar. They finally made the steps we needed to be competitive and I know now we can give the other teams a run for their money now. We were chasing a lot of areas around the bike so it was just one area that needed to be fixed. I’m confident I have a bike I can win on now, it’s just time for me to do the work and make it happen.
Having Gilesy from choice suspension as a factory WP technician now is pretty awesome, I pushed for many years to bring him into my world racing scene and now we are making gains. I believe the team can start trusting me in what I say and it brings a really cool vibe back which we desperately needed.
Alright the cats out the bag as many people have been thinking or hearing whispers through the apple trees, we are back on KTM, it’s a smaller team this year as KTM is wanting to focus on winning with small groups and strong teams. It will be myself and the Argentinian brothers Kevin and Luciano, no more GASGAS or Husky factory teams only supporting bikes and teams with those brands I believe. Time to change all the clothes and bikes over again.
I’ve had a few fresh orange wheels roll up and I’m currently building. I’ve got the 450 SXF and 500 EXC as my go to training bikes, so keen I’m to get riding enduro again especially on that 500.
During this exciting month was my 30th, yup we are getting old. Just another day chilling out around the house, the power was out so it was a great excuse to get out and ride a moto and play on the machines. Other than that, we just sent it to the pub for a feed as it was a solid 48 hours of power outage. I’ve finally got all the machines back up and running after a busy month of servicing, attaching the log grab to the 20t digger, fixing tilt bucket and a massive service on the dozer, now it’s ready to clean up the winter mess and start preparing all the tracks for the 500.
Thailand was on the bucket list also this month, spending nine days after my birthday with Emme and her parents was pretty awesome. After the hectic three weeks I had beforehand of traveling around and sorting life out it was great to kick back at the swim gym and chill out at the resort and have some time away from work. Scootering was probably the best fun around and snorkelling.
What’s now? Currently I’m packing bags to go to Spain and Morocco for some digital road book training and a photoshoot and the Morocco race. I’m super excited to test this new bike out in a race situation and put it up against competitors on the new colours. Also to get my head around the new roadbook system, it’s exciting times and I’m not too sure what to expect for the race but am super keen to get out and have a crack at the front!
