Race Preparation
Every part of the weekends important you know, I think that first practice on a Friday morning sometimes really sets the tone you know, how quick you make progress and you normally know by the end of Friday if its going to be a good weekend or not.
Qualifying also on Saturday is really important, the level of competition in MotoGP is so important that you cant qualify on the fourth row and expect to have a big result on Sunday normally, so its all important every lap, every session youve really got to focus on it and get the most out of everything so come Sunday when it is time to race youre prepared. Those meetings at night are just as important to make the right decisions with your team and to make the right steps to be ready to race.
Ive got a routine that I like to stick to and I take the weekend really serious. Its not a game, its not there just to be hanging out and oh if it goes good, ok if not, whatever I take it serious and a lot of people expect a lot from you so its you know, some weekends are a lot better than others but for the most part I feel really lucky, really fortunate to do what I do.
I love the racing; I love what I do, so the more races the better for me! Thats the fun part
Favourite MotoGP Circuits
Every race is a big race. You know, the home GPs in America this year, Laguna Seca were going to race July 4th and Indy also is huge, I mean MotoGP in America is growing a lot and Indy is very close to my house. Weve worked a lot promoting the race together. So theres those two and also the two Italian rounds Mugello in particular, I think to be the Ducati factory rider, to go to Mugello its something that Im quite excited about. Itll certainly be a big sense of pride but theyre all important they all pay the same amount of points so you need to bring your A game every week.
Ultimate road bikes
The road bikes are getting really cool and the new Hypermotard by Ducati is pretty cool because its so versatile, I would have to say thats probably the best bike, if I had to go out and buy a street bike right now that would be the one.
Biking Heroes
I would say my all time [hero] is Bubba Shobert, he was an American dirt-tracker who went to race road-racing and won some AMA races and just started in GP before he had a career ending crash at Laguna Seca and actually the second year I won at Laguna I wore a replica helmet like his and that was one of the coolest moments of my life, to win a race in his helmet. But I respect all the guys, all the guys who came before me to really pave the road, to give me this sport what it is.
