ASSEN // Round Up

Checking out of the Dutch GP claiming my first points of the season at Assen, taking twelfth place at one of the few circuits on the calendar where I have previously raced.

Here’s how my weekend shaped up

FRIDAY

Fridays first session started really well finishing in P15 knowing the track certainly helped me to get up to speed but in FP2 we took a step backward, the bike didn’t work as well as in the first session, this is where we worked hard together and we made a plan to move in the right direction for the following day.

SATURDAY

With a fresh day to tackle, I felt confident we could make some great progress, however in FP3 I crashed out and we had no more time to get the bike back out for the remaining session. For qualifying I really felt I had good pace however but we ran into a technical issue and had a problem with my handle bar , which meant I only had time for one Flying lap putting me twenty third on the grid for the race.

SUNDAY

I had a solid race – I was struggling a little at the beginning but in the end I was consistent. We know what we have to do to improve, so hopefully we can do that in Germany and get another good result.  I am not happy with twelfth place but it is positive to finish where we did from where we were. We have taken a step forward and I want to thank KTM for what they are doing for us.

All eyes on this coming weekend in Germany. A track I must learn but we have made steps forward with the bike, I’m feeling good.

Jake #96CREW

CATALAN GP // Round Up

I had a great experience this weekend with My first time at the Catalan GP working hard all weekend making steps forward. The track was incredible, and it is another track learnt.

I was so close to a 20th position but on the last lap I was unfortunately taken out by another rider on the last corner. I can’t dwell on that though as we had a really positive weekend and although battered and bruised there is nothing too serious.

This year has been tough, but I am focusing on what can be done removing the pressure I placed on myself, we work very hard as a team and we have great strategies throughout a race weekend I can’t thank them enough for all the hard work they put in.

We now head to Assen a track which I have ridden before but one thing I know for sure it’s FULL GAS ahead ✊🏻🏁 thanks for all the support 😊

Jake

MUGELLO – Italian GP

M U G E L L O 🇮🇹

I got to grips with the iconic track that is Mugello but we had a lot of work to put into getting the bike set up right. We had a plan of attack for qualifying however I made only one lap due to an engine problem which meant I was to start from the tenth row. We made a step forward in warmup ready for the race. Going into the race I felt confident we could make another step forward but it wasn’t to be as I unfortunately crashed out.

I am okay after the crash but it’s not the ideal way to finish the race obviously. I didn’t feel like I was over the limit, I was riding hard but I didn’t have a good feeling with the track temperature much higher than yesterday. I spent ten laps behind the group, to understand where we can improve. It is my first time here, whereas other riders have spent years riding at Mugello, and I feel that we have made gradual progress over the weekend which was shown by how competitive we were in the warm-up. I am sorry to the team because in the end we do need more information to improve the bike, but I am here to fight and unfortunately today I crashed. It happened off the throttle between turns 4 and 5 – I had vibrations there all weekend but on this occasion I couldn’t save the bike and it just kept sliding until I hit the ground.

As ever we must take the positives from the weekend and for me I learnt another track In the process. My focus is on the next Spanish GP. I am fortune to be fit after the crash so now I take the information gathered from this weekend at mugello and put all efforts into our next race

Thanks as always for the support

Jake

#96crew

Jerez to Qatar : 2019 Testing

It has been a busy few weeks since my last blog. We came back from Spain and I was soon back out there for the Jerez test. We had two days on track with the official KTM testing, followed by three days of the official IRTA test, we had plenty of track time and with this we managed to make a lot of progress with both myself and the bike.

We tried many different things with the set up of the bike and once again valuable time working with my team. We came away with a lot of positives, we had a few new parts to try and I felt like it was a step in the right direction, overall we learnt so much.

Tomorrow I head to Qatar from the official Moto 2 test this Friday, Saturday and Sunday of this week, round one will follow the weekend after. I am so excited to ride here especially under the lights, there will of course be a lot to learn with the track and also with myself and the bike at this circuit but with the three day test I feel confident we will make good progress ready for the very first race of the season.

I will of course keep you all updated after the test days and let you know how we are getting on, but for now it is time to get ready and head Qatar for the very first time, I can’t wait.

Jake #96CREW