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It has been an incredible 2010 so far for me, both at the circuits and away from them. I have won the last three races in MotoGP and after Catalunya I lead the championship by 52 points. Of course I have done this without Valentino on track, which is not what I would have wanted, but all I can do is my job, which is to win races and I am very happy we are achieving our objectives from Grand Prix to Grand Prix.
I’m sure you have been watching the season closely so there is little point me telling you about my experiences on track so far. In this diary I would like to tell you what has been going behind the scenes, because it has already been a very busy year for me off the track!
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First of all, let me tell you a little about the new members of my team this year. Most notably we have a new Team Manager, Wilco Zeelenberg, who is a very professional person. Wilco is always on top of everything that is happening in the garage and he is the man I turn to when I want to discuss anything to do with my riding. He is a former racer himself so he understands me better than anybody and he is also great fun to be around – there is never a boring moment with Wilco! As a Team Manager he has won the World Supersport title with Yamaha and I think he has brought that winning mentality to our team.
I also have a new telemetry engineer in Davide Marelli, who has years of experience in MotoGP. He has spent the last few seasons with the factory Suzuki team but he has adapted very quickly to the dynamics of our team. He is a really decent guy and the atmosphere in our garage could not be better. I feel very relaxed and comfortable knowing that I have such a strong team behind me and that allows me to focus fully on my job. It also gives me the peace of mind to get involved in other things away from racing, things that are very important to me.
For example in April I filmed an advertisement for a motorcycle safety school and then joined the Catalan police – the Mossos d'Esquadra – to spread the message about safety on the roads around Barcelona. I handed out leaflets and gave my own advice, which was that the motorcycle is a wonderful thing that is there to be enjoyed – there are few things like it – but you have to take care, have respect for others and have respect for yourself. If you want to race you should go to a circuit. It was a new experience for me and if it helped to save just one accident then it was worth it.
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I also went to visit the museum at FC Barcelona, my favourite football team, and gave them the special edition leathers, helmet, boots and gloves that I wore at the Catalunya Grand Prix last year. It felt good to have been even a very small part of what was an historic season for the club, who won the Spanish league and the European Cup that year. I had been to Rome to see the Champions League final, which was an amazing experience, so I was obviously very disappointed that they weren’t able to defend the title against Valentino’s Inter Milan this season.
It was quite a slow start to the season, with not a lot of races and big gaps in between – thanks partly to the cancellation of the race in Japan – so at the end of May I took the opportunity to visit Berlin, where I took part in a promotional event for Dainese. We had actually planned to go the weekend before Motegi but couldn’t because of the ash cloud, so I was glad to make it this time. I signed autographs in the D-Store, a really impressive 300m2 shop in the middle of the German capital, and met hundreds of fans who I hope will be supporting me at Sachsenring next weekend.
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My next off-track appointment was to travel to the Isle of Man in June, to watch the legendary TT – what an amazing experience! Now I understand why people enjoy the experience of riding at the TT. I rode just one lap on a Yamaha R1 and I would definitely like some more practice. I was able to make a few wheelies and wave a lot to the crowd – there were so many people there. I have read all about the TT in magazine and have seen TV programmes but nothing can prepare you for the real experience and I would recommend anybody to go and check it out.
On my return to Barcelona and before the Grand Prix of Catalunya I visited the Sant Josep de la Muntanya orphanage in the Gracia area of the city. They had built a new playroom bearing my name, where the 70 children can play things like table tennis and Scalextrix, use laptops, play on the XBox 360 and read. There is also a special area for the little ones, aged between 2 and 5 years old. I felt like a child myself playing with them – it is a while since I have had so much fun!
All this had been made possible by the support of the ANIMA Foundation and the sponsors – Yamaha, Packard Bell, Panini, Speed Genius, Microsoft X-Box 360, Club Tenis Taula Falcons, Norma Comics, Sharp, Scalextrix, Mattel, Fundación Renta and Grafitty, so I want to take this opportunity to thank them all once again. Spending time in a place like that just reminds you how lucky you are and it definitely gave me strength ahead of my next challenge on the racetrack. I told them I’d be back soon, but next time we will all sit down and eat together.
Things like that always remind me to enjoy what I do and have fun in my work, which as you know I like to do – especially with my victory celebrations. Thankfully I have had the chance to try some few news ones lately, like the Beatles routine at Silverstone and the robot dance at Assen. I think the Beatles link was obvious but I guess the robot was harder to work out. The message is that I am trying to be like a robot on the bike, not having any negative thoughts and not making any mistakes, even though we are all humans with feelings. I also had a football like the ones they are using in the World Cup to mark my hat-trick of wins in all categories at Assen, which I kicked around with a couple of Spanish journalists on the straight before booting it into the grandstand!
I don’t think any of us would make it into our national football team, which has made it to the World Cup semi-finals (and hopefully the final by the time you read this!). I watched the game against Chile in the Yamaha hospitality in Holland and it was such a relief to see them go through. They have had close wins against Portugal and Paraguay and even though they are still not playing to the same standard they had in the European Championships two years ago I think they can do it in the next round against Germany, a game I think should be taking place in the final as they are the two best teams in the competition.
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Germany is also my next appointment, so hopefully I will have two sets of good news to write about in my next diary! Hopefully by then we have Valentino back with us because there is no doubt that racing in MotoGP without him is just not the same.
Forza Vale! And Forza España!
Jorge #99 |
