Everyone was talking about the weather and rightly so. Not an ideal situation but we still managed to take a lot of positives with us for the TT & Ulster GP

Supersport – Tuesday practice was the first dry miles I have done on this years Road Racing Milwaukee Yamaha / Chris Dowd 600.

Initially the bike wasn’t perfect and it took some time to get the right set up. However, we have a lot of experience around the Milwaukee Yamaha team, plus drafted in additional assistance in German Marcus & experienced local guy Phil.

All the guys done a fantastic job creating a really strong bike for Thursday evening. Tyre choice wasn’t easy to call for racing, I went for a cut rear and a full wet front. As we got underway it was clear the cut rear was the wrong choice. This wasn’t the start I had planned, but the bike give me reasons to be upbeat for Saturday.

Superstock – Tuesday was the first time I turned a wheel on the Milwaukee Yamaha Superstocks. It is always exciting and challenging when you get on a new bike to see how it handles and performs. Ideally I needed laps done to get familiar with the bike. Unfortunately I only got one lap in on Tuesday’s practice and no running on Thursday. This left me with a poor grid position.

My luck continued with the superstock come racing, on lap 1 heading into Magherabuoy my shoulder popped out, I managed to push it back in place but not an ideal end for Thursday evening.

My team mate Connor Cummins has tested with the Superstock and proved its a good bike with a solid 6th place finish.


Superbike – I can sum the Superbike up in one word, ‘fantastic’! I am confident I would have lined up on the front row if circumstances where slightly different.

At the start of qualifying I went out on wets but the track was drying fast. I stayed out to get a banker time in which was good enough for a second row start position. A banker costs you 3 laps and around 15 mins (out lap, banker, in lap).

With dry tyres on I only had one shot to better my time before qualifying ended. There was a lot of slower traffic on track and I didn’t get a clear run, meaning the banker stood as my time. I have a lot of confidence in the superbikes handling and performance and looking forward to riding this at the TT.

Weather – I am disappointed how the weekend unfolded for the fans, marshals, teams, sponsors & organisers. The conditions where ridiculuous and by far the worst I have experienced. I understand expectation, but the warm up / sighter lap in my opinion was a lap too many.

Finally I’d like to thank all the Milwaukee Yamaha guys for their hard work and effort in some very challenging conditions.



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