What a start to the year it has been! By now most of you would know I’m racing as a privateer in this year’s Australian Superbike Championship, and I’ve been occupied starting up our team, which was put together at the very last minute.

My parents, Bob and Sandy, were flat-out during the off-season trying to organise everything as well so we could be ready come Round 1 at the end of February. With everything in place, we came into the start of the season pretty excited as we were doing our own thing. And overall it came together pretty good. The team looks great, the Yamaha YZF-R1M looks fantastic, and with my good mate Michael Burke training me and Jeff Brown massaging me every week for quick recovery,
I honestly feel fitter than ever!

I have found running as a privateer racer a bit harder than racing in a factory team because the whole money side of racing is an issue. It always has been and probably always will be with Superbike racing. That said, for me personally it hasn’t been very stressful. I stress more on my parents’ behalf because I’m just riding the bike, whereas my mother manages most of it and my father puts in countless hours of work on the bike at home. At the track, Glen McMahon, Geoffrey Truran, Pete Raillon and Frank Pons are also working extremely hard, and I can’t thank them enough.

Getting sponsors on board to back you for the year is a tricky thing. Being on the factory team then going back to those same sponsors without factory support and trying to pitch them to jump on board for this season was a bit different. However, I’m lucky I’ve been working with a bunch of great companies and built some great relationships over the years. I have kept most of my main sponsors on board for this year, including Yamaha Motorcycle Finance/Insurance, Wynn Homes, Ficeda Accessories, Ipone and R*M Mining.

We went into the first pre-season test at the end of January with very little time and parts. It didn’t go that well for us, but I just needed to get back on the bike – it was the first time I’d been on a racebike since the 2016 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, and that was on a different brand. The last time I was on a Yamaha YZF-R1M was the final round of the ASBK series at Winton in early October.

We went into Round 1 with an open mind and for once it fell our way, finishing fourth overall. For some reason I don’t have that much luck at the Island, so it was a positive.

Then it was off to Wakefield Park. Qualifying went well and we managed to stick the bike on the front row, in third place. But come Race 1 we got caught out by the weather. We left pitlane on wet Dunlop tyres because the track was still damp, but by the time the lights went out the track had dried completely, which basically killed us. In Race 2 I had the pace and I was running up the front, but then crashed with five laps to go after losing the front end at Turn 3.

The confidence is definitely there and the team is getting stronger every time we hit the track, so I don’t see why we can’t stick the bike up there in the coming rounds. And we’re heading to tracks that I enjoy a lot.

In terms of the overall championship, it’s a long year to come – anything can happen, and normally does. The team and I are very open-minded and we’re being realistic about it. We are just going to try and score as many podiums and race wins as we can, and come the final round we’ll see where we are.

A quick shout out to Motorcycling Australia in terms of what they have done with the whole ASBK show. I take my hat off to all the organisers because they’ve built the series into something massive and should all be very proud. The live streaming and the telecast via SBS is a great idea that will help move the sport forward in years to come.

Hope to see you all at the remaining rounds in 2017.