Swordy

Published: 12th June 2008

Author: Stephen Sword Photo by Sutty

Swordy spends a little time with Jodie before rocking out at Mallory Park at the British GP!

Another busy month has passed and it was mainly a good one apart from a couple of lows. The first stop on the race calendar was round four of the British championship at Lyng. After my first overall win at Torrington last month - in over two years – I was eager to repeat that performance. 

The track was in good condition and a great crowd had turned out to watch. The day started and ended the way I had planned although in practice I took a small crash and as I was picking up the bike another rider ran over my bad ankle. I could have done without that but it was nothing that an ice pack and some painkillers wouldn’t help. I took my first pole position of the year which felt good.

All day I felt awesome and knew that it was going to be my day. I had a couple of laps battling with Shaun in race two which was good, apart from that it was a flawless day and one that made me a happy chappy. It was a great day also for my mechanic Ryan and the team as they’ve been working so hard lately. 

The following week and I was off to Bulgaria for a GP. I flew out of Heathrow which was handy as it’s only 25 minutes from me. I was a little nervous departing from Terminal 5 as to whether my kit would get lost but it all landed safely in Bulgaria . The track is one that I like so I was really pumped to do well as always. 

Qualifying was good and I finished second in my heat which gave me third pick of the gate for Sunday’s races. It was important to be on the inside for the start as you stood no chance of taking the holeshot anywhere after gate 10. I finished a solid fourth in race one but knew for race two that I had the pace to run up front. I ended the first lap in third and I was feeling good until some bad luck came my way. 

Some of you may have seen it on TV… The handlebar mounting bolt snapped which meant I couldn’t steer and this resulted in me jumping off the track. If the bolt had come loose then I would have got more warning and felt there was something up but it just sheared off as I entered a corner after a drop off. It was a freak thing and nobody you can point the finger at - especially not my mechanic. The way I look at it now is you can fix a bike quickly but injuries take much longer.

My flight back wasn’t until Monday afternoon so we stayed in Sofia on Sunday night. I much prefer to get home Sunday if I can but the flight times didn’t match for the way back. It was a short week that week as Jodie and I were flying back out to Italy on Thursday for the Mantova GP. We left sunny England to be greeted with rain in Italy . The track took the rain well so conditions were not too bad on Saturday. I qualified second behind Tony so I was happy with that and again a good grid position for Sunday. 

A bad start in race one saw me in 12th position on the opening lap and I fought through to sixth at the end. I wasn’t enjoying the track much and wanted to ride better in the second race. Again the start was not good but I was coming through well. I passed Rui Goncalves then in the next corner he just T-boned me. We both went down hard - I landed heavy on my head and shoulder and was slightly disorientated as to what had happened. I’m all up for a bit of aggressive riding but this was a crazy move. I was pretty mad after which is not like me but I was just disappointed not to score points. 

After seven weekends in a row of racing we all had a weekend off to recharge the batteries as they say. I put in a hard week’s riding and training with DT and then had the weekend off. Jodie and I just chilled out, we did some shopping where she spent most of my bonus money. We went to the movies, had a bite to eat and did some bits around the house. I was soon all recharged and ready for Mallory Park . 

The British GP was finally here - my first one since the Isle of Wight in 2005. All week I was pumped up and couldn’t wait. First of all I would like to thank the fans - you guys were awesome and every corner of ever lap you were cheering. The track was tough but with the time they had to build it I thought they’d done a good job. My starts let me down terribly - I battled through in both races but my second race was the better of the two and I ended up fifth overall. 

I was obviously looking for a podium but, as I said, my starts let me down big time. Thanks to all the fans, you made a good day into a great day for me! 

Braaaaaaap #7