You’ve been left with various
restrictions since that and now you
use a right-foot gear change. That’s
one example. From what you’ve
been through, would you say the
whole experience has actually made
you a better rider, a tougher rider?
I think that the weirdest thing is that
I’ve gained a lot of experience whilst
not even riding. I don’t know if it’s from
watching or just from while I was away,
but my experience that I sort of gained
was why I was finishing on the podium
every week last year in Superstock
because the way I was riding, just
totally different from how I rode before.
I can be more consistent and ride a
lot safer but still be faster now than I
was before.
We’ve seen you visit the Rossi
Ranch earlier in t he winter, with a
motocross bike adjusted for the
right-foot gear change. How was
that? You’ve been there a couple
times now.
Yeah, I went last year for the first time
and used one of his bikes, which was
really hard because it had the left-hand
gear shift, so I had to take the gear
lever off and point it up so I could kick
it back with my heel basically. I wasn’t
very quick. It was very embarrassing.
So this year I decided when I was
invited back again just to build a bike
for it. I had a YZF450 motocross bike
and Stewart Johnson made it into a
right-hand gear shift for me. I got a
250 Aprilia scooter back brake lever
and put the hand brake on and then
put a Rekluse clutch on so it’s like
an automatic. It went loads better. It
was really good to ride. Unfortunately,
the main race on the Sunday was
cancelled because it started to rain
and snow. But the Saturday qualifying
practice sessions and the Americana
race were brilliant with the right-hand
shift.
Let’s talk hobbies, I know you like
to fly helicopters and do a bit of
building, what else do you like to get
up to away from the track?
Building is not a hobby, it’s just that
I don’t want to pay somebody else
to do something that I can do. I’m a
YouTube builder in a way. I look how to
do it on YouTube and then do it myself.
But yeah, helicopters, I’ve definitely
got the bug for that now. I’ve always
loved helicopters. If I ever heard a
helicopter flying in the sky I’d have to
run out to look at it. I’ve always been
intrigued in them. Obviously, I’ve also
been scared of them, but I decided
that if I was ever going to do it now
was the time to have a go at trying to
learn to fly one. The first ten hours I
was up and down through loving it and
being scared to death of it, really! A
couple of hours’ practice I had come
away from there really enjoying it,
and then I’d do the next lesson and
be quite scared of it and wonder if I
really wanted to do it or not. But I’ve
done 65 hours now and I’ll hopefully
be, weather-dependent, taking my test
towards the end of this month and
going off on my own.
It’s a totally different skill set, but
the same thrill applies?
Yeah, the same thrill applies but
obviously if you do get it wrong
you are pretty much going to die in
the thing, so you have to be pretty
cautious. There’s so much to take in
that I didn’t understand when I first
started learning. I didn’t realise at
all there’s nine written exams. I just
thought they’re a waste of time, but
I’ve learned so much, even now on my
latest exam I took last week. There’s
stuff I learned about flying that I didn’t
know and I’ve done 65 hours. I learned
that from reading the books for the
exam. I think it’s something that you
never stop learning no matter how
many hours you’ve got, and you have
to be cautious with it. Every single
time you fly it’s different conditions.
Every single place you land it’s
different and you have to just think
everything through thoroughly before
you set off. u