I went to Argentina for the first MXGP in Argentina at the beginning of March. With everything at home rested, Angus already born and Rachel had things under control, I could fly with peace of mind that everything there was ok. I flew in really late Friday evening and direct back on the Sunday night - one of my shortest trips yet.
If I had planned it I would have liked to have said I was 100% ready for Argentina but I was a little under that having lost some riding time from my shoulder injury at Hawkstone Park. Although it wasn’t bothering me it was something lingering in the couple of weeks training up towards Argentina.
The injury didn’t hold me back much over the weekend. We got off to a slow start on Saturday not feeling like I was willing to risk the pace just to get a fast lap in and even in qualifying we were in the top 15 which is not a total disaster.
In the two races I finished 11th and 9th and was really happy with that considering everything and we came out of the weekend 8th overall. We felt like we had done well over the weekend as a team and had enjoyed doing as well. We were happy packing up going home all in one piece and ready for some more riding.
After a couple days at home I was off to the British Championship. That was really cool because I haven’t raced the British Championship since 2016 and it was nice to be back. It’s a shame that the weekend was a disaster weather wise with high winds and serious amounts of rain. Although the track held out well it was inevitable that it was going to be a bit of a mud bath.
We had to make the best of it and I topped qualifying the won the first race quite comfortably. In race two we had a bit of a problem with the rear brake binding on due to the sand and mud and a bit of an issue with the master cylinder so I had to make a pit stop and cut the rear brake line to stop it jamming on completely. Luckily I got back out in 3rd and took one more place to finish second in that race.
It was shame because I felt I had the two moto wins in me that weekend and it would have been a good gap in the championship whereas we now have a 2 point lead. However, it was great to leave there holding the leaders red plate - that was the goal for the weekend.
That was also Angus’ first race. He made the trip that weekend and on the Saturday in the wind and the rain he definitely didn’t like motocross at that point but Sunday he was out between the rain showers and had a look around enjoying it a bit more.
We were then back home for a free weekend and get ready for Matterley Basin followed by the GP in the Netherlands. We decided to pack everything up heading off to Matterley with the view that we’d then go to our house in Belgium with the season kicking off and being busy after that.
Matterley in March was always going to be a bit of a question mark but it turned out to be really great weekend. I had caught a bit of a cold by that weekend and was a bit under the weather but we got out there and felt good from the get-go. The bike was performing well, felt good on the jumps and I was having a lot of fun with it.
Saturday I finished 12th in the heat race and the start pick for Sunday was good enough. In the first moto I was holding 9th and closing Jeremy Seewer for 8th but high-sided with three corners to go and struggled to get the bike going ending up 16th which was a massive downer for the effort made. I was a little dejected going into moto 2 but I got back into the rhythm finishing 9th and with the way the points went over the weekend we came away 10th overall dropped one place to 9th in the championship.
It was a shame to lose those 7 points in the first moto,. It’s a long year but those points will at some time be valuable and we have to try to eliminate those mistakes. On a positive note I was riding really well and strong in both motos.
Update: Shaun finished this weekend’s motos 9th and 8th in the Netherlands to place 8th over in the championship.
SHAUN: