Chaz checks in: Moving to AMA.

In his latest of his exclusive Crash.net columns, Chaz Davies explains his decision to leave motorcycle grand prix racing, after five seasons, and move to the AMA Formula Xtreme and Supersport championships for 2007...

Hello everybody! Long time no speak... I seem to have said that a lot in my reports this year. I should have done a report after Valencia but I thought I'd save it until I had something positive to write about. I think that comment is enough to sum up the Valencia weekend but I will elaborate, a bit!

Just before I talk about Valencia I'll fill you in on my trip that I did the week before the GP in a small place called Beas De Seguras, which is more or less in central Spain. I did a paramotoring course which was awesome fun. My dad used to be into it and actually helped build the first ever paramotor 20 years ago, along with a guy who now builds the best wings available for the Paramotors called Mike Campbell-Jones. Mike now runs a company called Paramania that specialise in trick wings. Have a look on www.flyparamania.com if you want to find out a bit more and see some videos of what it's all about.

So, I learnt how to Paramotor in the week leading up to Valencia. I haven't had to cram in that much information in one week since I was a school a few years ago, but it was all important and essential if you want to go paramotor safely. It's very important to know exactly how wind and weather work and most importantly, when it is not safe to fly.

After five days of theory and a couple of tandem flights it was time to go solo and boy was it a rush! I was proper rigid for the first couple of minutes but then started to settle down and chill out a bit. Mike was instructing me over the radio and giving me orders to get me comfortable with all the wing controls. The one bit that I wasn't looking forward to was the landing and to make it worse, we lost radio communication a couple of minutes before I was supposed to land.

Normally Mike would have talked me through it but now that the radio was kaput I had to bite the bullet on go for it without any guidance. Luckily I had listened well during our lectures and I landed it pretty well. All in all it was a really fun week and something that I'd like to get into a bit more next year.

So, onto Valencia (middle picture)... basically I knew before the weekend started that it wouldn't be plain sailing. The team I rode for were a small Italian outfit called Team Grillini and the money behind the team was coming from a company called CRP technology. CRP put the money into the Fantic project in 2005 and decided they would like to develop their own parts but using a standard Honda as the base of the bike.

The team really had very little expectations before the weekend started and some of the parts on the bike were still yet to be tested on track so it was definitely a weekend of experimentation for them. I had to re-adjust back to the 250cc way of things after my brief outing on the four-strokes in America and I was more or less positive that it would be my last 250cc outing.

I love riding the 250s as they are a proper bike and also feel quite lucky that I got to ride a 250cc Aprilia for a few years with some decent results. People say that the 250cc Aprilias are one of the hardest bikes to ride. Just when you think you've got the knack of them... they show you otherwise and the next thing you know, you're being spat off the top of it!

Anyway, back to Valencia. The first day of practice on Friday was plagued with lots of small problems. I got very few laps throughout the whole day and in first qualifying had the engine nip-up which knackered one of my decent cylinders. The team didn't have any spare cylinders so we had to borrow one from team Molenaar which is never ideal to add odd cylinders.

Saturday really didn't improve much. The team were still experimenting with many different things on the bike, particularly ignition and electronics. I broke down twice in the morning, again from very small issues and we were struggling to get any speed out of the bike, especially under acceleration in the first four gears. I was about 20 kph down on top speed and we were looking for a solution to try and half that speed difference to the factory bikes.

For final qualifying we managed to get an extra few K's out of the bike making it around 16/17kph down from the fastest. We then left the engine at that and quickly realised that we had made very little chassis improvements during the weekend because of spending more time in the pits than out on track. But, this is why a development bike is called a development bike, things have to not work or not function how you'd like at some point.

We began to work on the chassis side of things and generally stiffened things up a bit but had nowhere near enough time to test things that we would have liked to test. I qualified way down, exactly where I don't remember. I know it was too far down towards the bottom of the paper for my liking! Even about 10 minutes before the race I found myself thinking 'Shit, I better check where I am on the grid because I haven't got a clue!'

Sunday morning was basically as we had left the bike on Saturday. We made a couple of chassis mods but to no avail. Speed wise we were still over 15k's down but knew it wasn't going to improve so the team didn't try to force the engine any further. I didn't have the slightest idea what tyres to use as the most consecutive laps that I'd done on a set had been about seven! The whole bike was a gamble going into the race. We altered the suspension a bit and I used a rear tyre that I hadn't even used before because of the increase in temperature compared to the previous days.

I was just looking forward to trying to have as much fun as possible in what will most probably be my last 250GP. The team also said to me that if we could be racing with another kit Honda, then it would be a successful weekend for them.

In the race my start was initially very good and then the ol' girl ran out of puff a bit as soon as I clicked third gear but it still wasn't too bad. Going into the first corner I thought to myself 'You've got nothing to lose' so I went for the Tarzan line around the outside which worked quite well. Into turn two, the hairpin, I thought the same thing and again went for the big line and it worked well again!

I think I got up to around 19th from worse than 25th on the grid so it wasn't too bad. The race then settled down a bit and I tried to hang with whoever was in front of me. After five laps I started to feel a bit of cramping in my legs and started thinking 'This is the only thing that I won't miss about these bikes'. I was a few seconds behind the Molenaar rider on the kitted Honda, Alessandro Branetti. I reeled him in with about seven laps to go but had nothing left strength wise. My legs were absolutely killing me. My bike hadn't been too bad during the race, I was still lacking a lot of grunt in the first four gears but as soon as I got into the last two gears it would start to pickup a bit, but obviously by that point it's getting a bit late. I only used 5th and 6th once on that track, down the front straight.

As for the chassis, that was quite poor but I was happy with my rear tyre gamble. It was a really hard tyre that I went for and it definitely didn't go off! It was probably one step too hard but not bad considering it was a complete guess. In the closing laps I really didn't have the strength to attack Branetti and ended up crossing the line just behind him in 21st. On the slowing down lap I let my legs dangle and couldn't wait to get off the thing!

After the race I tried to explain the feeling to the team and the only way I can describe it is like when you're in the gym, pushing a weight or even doing press-ups etc. The first few times it's OK and then it starts to get harder and harder, push by push. It's the same for me but lap by lap it gets more and more painful and I know it's not from being a pussy! It's from trying to squeeze a lanky, 6ft frame into a bike built around riders such as Pedrosa and Daijiro Kato. I don't like to moan but this is the reality of it. In my mind I am no longer the right build for a 250cc, I soon figured that out on my weekend of riding bigger bikes in America. The team were happy which was the main thing as we had raced with a kitted Honda.

The best thing about my weekend was watching the MotoGP race. How awesome was that!? Unless you're a big Rossi fan. I am, of course, a Rossi fan but was also very pleased to see Nicky get it. Hopefully next year's MotoGP will be just as good as this year.

After the Valencian GP I returned back to the shires in Wales and did the usual stuff. Riding minibikes mainly, our track is now looking pretty cool. I spoke to Ilmor over the Valencia weekend but it seemed clear that they already had their mind set on which riders they wanted for next year. As of yet there are no confirmed signings for them and they are the last slot to be filled for next year's grid. I could have done another year in 250cc and Ilmor would have been a good opportunity to get the footings into MotoGP but obviously the decision is entirely up to them. We also contacted a couple of BSB and BSS teams but there were very few doors open there.

I am sure most of you will have already read that next season I will be going stateside and doing the AMA Supersport and Formula Xtreme Championship. This was one of a few opportunities that I had for next season and I am definitely excited about it. The taster I had in Mid-Ohio was very good and now I'm looking for more of the same and better for next year.

Obviously MotoGP is still the goal but this year has really set my progression back and has forced me to take a sideways step. I honestly never imagined that I would race in the AMA until I was much older and probably coming towards the end of my career. America has good racing and good riders at the sharp end of each class. The team I will be riding for is the same that I rode for in Mid-Ohio, Team Celtic Racing. They are a small but growing team who are putting in a lot of their own money and are going to provide me with a good bike for next year.

I will be riding a Yamaha in both classes which, as I understand at the moment, will have basically all the factory parts on it, except for the electronics. Also, I'll be using Dunlop tyres and they have promised to give good support which will count for a lot. The team are putting a lot of effort in and I think I can do a good job and hopefully repay them for their efforts. The team have been very good in understanding that MotoGP is my goal and have told me that if for some reason the riders that Ilmor are after don't work out, for whatever reason, and there is a possibility for me to go there, then I am allowed to. But I think that there is a very slim chance of that happening. Also they have agreed that if somebody gets injured next year in BSB or MotoGP, SBK etc then I am free to take the stand-in rides that I see as being a good opportunity, as long as they don't clash with any of the AMA rounds.

I go testing for the first time in a couple of weeks at Daytona for the Dunlop tests but will be using the '06 bike. It will just be a test to get a general feel for the tyres and the track which will be important for the first race of the season, at Daytona, next March.

The team is going to build me as good a Formula Xtreme bike as possible for the Daytona 200 as it means a lot in America to get a strong result there. It's going to be a good experience and like I said I'm really looking forward to it. Obviously it's not MotoGP but hopefully long-term it's another route around. Most people usually associate America with big money which I can assure you is not the case. Yes I will be paid by the team for the first time ever but results are what I'm after. The contingency money from the factories in America is usually decent so if you have a good race, then you get paid well. I like it that way.

So, I'm looking forward to my new challenge and hopefully I'll get some good results and good recognition and some personal satisfaction for my efforts. It's refreshing to know that the bike is going to be there or thereabouts with hardly anything to moan about. (I'll probably be kicking myself for saying that this time next year and moaning about something!).

I will be travelling mostly to and from the UK next year, but will probably stay out there now and again where the team are based in upstate New York. Thanks to Barry, Mark Hamilton and Mark Rozema from Team Celtic Racing for this opportunity in America and also thanks to everyone who has supported me the last few years in GPs. Also big thanks to the Eurosport boys, Toby, Julian and Randy for fighting my corner for these past years and to Dorna, for giving me the opportunity.

For now I'll be at home until I go testing next week and then come home straight after the test until probably January where I will go over and test again. Wish me luck!
Chaz#57 (probably will have to change that to 157 or 257, normally 3 digit numbers in the AMA)!

PS If you want, have a look at my myspace www.myspace.com/elbandito57, it's got a video of a bit of minibiking from home and I'll try and make a couple more of them to go on there over the winter.