Still learning and racing Cal Crutchlow

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Rogue Mag Blogs - Still learning and racing Cal Crutchlow
Could have been Sam's first WSS win but the rain caught him out, just look how hard it was raining!

I WAS at a charity go-kart race earlier this week and got the chance to race against MotoGP star Cal Crutchlow which was a bit of fun.

I have a lot of respect for Cal and think the new 1000cc GP bikes suit him very well – but I am not impressed at him beating me in the go-karting. I had a nightmare race when one of my teammates crashed and destroyed the kart. We lost a lot of laps but came back to finish fifth which was OK.

Cal got the fastest lap and I am OK with that as well. You see he had a very suspicious kart supplied by a sponsor who just happened to have a garage at the kart track. To say it was faster than the rest is understating it quite a lot.

I’d love to be racing Cal on MotoGP bikes in a couple of years time. That is a target of mine but before then I have business in World Supersport.

In 2011 at Imola we got a second place finish after qualifying eighth. I deserved the position but a few other people retired or had problems so in many ways it was a lucky second. This year I got pole and pushed the winner Fabien Foret right to the chequered flag, which is a big improvement.

I was disappointed not to win though. It was my best ever weekend with the Bogdanka PTR Honda team and I genuinely thought I could win. Fabien just rode a flawless race and pipped me to the post.

It was Assen next and I got pole position again. That shows there is absolutely nothing wrong with our pace. Better than that, whether it was wet or dry, we were at the sharp end.

The race was a major disappointment as I crashed out while in the lead after six laps. I was pulling away fast from the riders behind and made a mistake. It was a tough track with lots of standing water and difficult conditions so I will learn from this and move on.

One thing is for sure it could have been a lot worse at Assen. At least I am not injured and I am only 14 points behind the Championship lead with 10 races still to go. I need to ride a bit more with my head and that’s exactly what I aim to do at Monza. I am already doing a little more cardio training to lose some more weight as it is important at Monza to be as light as possible to accelerate out of the turns.

Finally, I recommend you go and see the film 21 Jump Street. I went to watch it with Sidonie and it was great. It’s about two very different people in a police force and how they become friends. I’m going to watch it again as it was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time.

Apart from that I am training hard and knuckling down – I’ll check in with you again soon.

Sam Lowes
Bogdanka PTR Honda

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