Chaz checks in: Mugello.

In the latest of his reports on Crash.net, rising Motorcycle Grand Prix star Chaz Davies reviews round five of the 250cc series, the Italian Grand Prix, at Mugello - a weekend that saw the 16 year old schoolboy mix GP racing with GCSE exams...

"In between Le Mans and Mugello I had a weeks half-term which I spent revising (well some of it) for my GCSE exams which were to start the following week. My first exam was Biology and it was extremely difficult. I thought I had revised quite hard but everything that I had revised didn't show up in the paper which was just my luck!

"The biology exam was moved from the Monday afternoon to the morning as a request from my year as a good friend of mine, who I had gone through primary and secondary school with had been killed in a car crash the previous week. Many people in my year had pleaded for the exam time to be changed so we could attend the funeral in the afternoon. It was a very sad end to our school days for everybody.

"On Tuesday we flew early from East Midlands airport and arrived at the Mugello circuit in the afternoon. We normally fly on a Wednesday or a Thursday but I had exams both days, so my mum and the school arranged for my exam papers to be sent to a perfect English-speaking adjudicator in Italy called Professor Badiali.

"It was arranged that I could use a room in the Mugello pit complex (pictured) where I would sit my maths paper 1 on Wednesday morning and English and Geography papers on Thursday before I started my weekends racing.

"Maths was very hard because it had a lot of algebra in it which isn't a strong point for me. English and Geography went ok but I had to miss 2 or 3 questions out in Geography as they had failed to send an atlas with the paper. (We have now sent a letter to the Education Board to ask if they will take the lack of an atlas into consideration). I got quite a bit of stick afterwards because people were saying I shouldn't need an atlas because of the amount of travelling I do, but the problem was the questions were about birth and death rates in certain countries!

"I had a new team mate for the Italian GP (as Dirks' (Heidolf) wrist was not fully recovered) called Christian Pistoni, an Italian. He did a few 125cc wild cards last year and is a reasonable rider.

"The temperature was about 36c all weekend. Mugello is a very physical track and with the high temperatures it was very exhausting. On Friday and Saturday we struggled to find a decent set up. The most important thing for a fast lap at Mugello is to have a bike which you can keep the momentum and speed going with the fast flip-flop corners.

"You need to have the bike set-up so it is easy to change direction fast. We struggled both days to find a set-up which would allow me to do this without the bike running wide or losing grip on the front. After both qualifying sessions I was going to be 17th on the grid.

"This was a bit disappointing but after looking at the times of the other riders next to me and on the row in front I knew there were few that would be able to do these qualifying times lap after lap, which would stand me in good stead for the race. A lot of riders had done 1 or 2 'kamikaze' laps when they had a good rider to follow, but I knew they would not be within a second of these times during the race.

"On race day the temperature was again extremely hot and I was drinking as much water as I could. After the sighting and warm up lap we arrived on the grid and as the lights turned red there was some confusion with the lights and they started to flash orange. I don't know what the problem was but the race was delayed for 10 minutes and cut 1 lap short.

"I was really sweating as we had to wait on the grid for the re-start and then I needed the toilet! I along with several other riders, with no time to spare, could only "relieve" ourselves against the pit wall much to the enormous cheers of the Italian crowd in the grandstand behind us! We had another warm up lap and by the end of this my bike was 18 degrees warmer than it should have been.

"I got a good start and I was alongside Johan Stigefelt into the first corner and I saw his back wheel lock and send him into the gravel. I think Stiggy's bike had seized, probably due to his bike running to hot, and I was expecting mine to seize also. I was just listening to the engine and waiting for it to go on the first lap and in doing so I lost a few places that I had gained from the start.

"After two laps the temperature thankfully came down to where I knew it would be safe and I could then concentrate on getting back past the positions I had lost through riding cautiously. I pulled my way up to a group of three riders in 12th, 13th and 14th positions and passed Spanish rider Hector Faubel to move into 14th position.

"In the closing laps of the race I had no grip on the rear and the front was chattering but I was fighting with Jacub Smrz for 13th position. In the end I put some distance into Smrz and finished thirteenth which is my best finishing position to date.

"I was fairly pleased, considering the first few lap problems and my Aprilia Germany team were very excited. I knew though, that if we could find a better chassis set-up than a top 10 finish wouldn't be to far away. I am looking forward to Catalunya but before then I must sit 3 more GCSE's at the circuit on Monday and Tuesday (Maths, Chemistry and English)..."
Chaz #57