20/04/08 - Assen Race Report

On the Wednesday before Assen I got invited to the Arai factory were they crash tested different helmets. Some of the results were shocking! Arai are so much better than the rest.

In all the practices and qualifying I was never out of the top 14th and I was very pleased with my times as I have struggled before with qualifying but come good in the race. I did not get a good start in the race but I was 6th by the end of the first lap and by the 6th lap I was up to 3rd. All through the race I kept losing the front end of the bike and I got passed with 5 laps to, then I had a big rear end slide and dropped back in time. I was thinking about settling for 4th but then I thought no and the next lap I put in the 2nd best time of the race trying to get a podium finish. I closed the gap up on the third rider and was in passing distance when I lost the front end on one of the fast right hand corners.

I was gutted!! I picked up the bike but it was not good enough to get back on it.

30/03/08 - Barry comments on the final test before the season starts “Testing in Valencia went very well with the Honda CBR 1000RR 2008 feeling very different from last year’s bike, it is a lot faster and also turns quicker. My times were good with a best time of 1.39.2 which was 3 seconds faster than last year. I feel very confident with the bike and can’t wait for the first race of the season at Valencia on 4th – 6th April.”