Circuit de Catalunya - Montmeló 20 - 22.3. 2009

…we did not even have time to aclimatize back in the Czech republic and we flew to Spain again on Thursday to the Montmeló cicuit near Barcelona. One week before our riding test there was held a training of F1. It is usuall that there come a lot of people to watch the race, we felt that even in the box. When the people found out that there is Alex Barros present, the box was crowded all the time. The track marshals came to see him, they were remembering the times, when they singnalized him during his active participation in Moto GP. The first getting known training took place on Friday. The advantage was, that compared to the previous races, this circuit Mira had known already and he should focuse more on the motorcycle setting of gears and chassis. He managed this quite soon and since the second training he was all the time among the first five riders. The Firday´s trainings were finished with the arrival of the pick-up vehicle with Mira´s motorcycle. There was nearly a buckle of stones in the motorcycle´s cowling, which Mira gathered during his slide into cowlick. In one of the curves Mira did not manage the motorcycle, during overtaing in outer track the slower rider, Mira was braking on curb, Spanish says on “piano”. Finally I was glad that Mira is OK and not injured. I have this experience, that if Mira falls in training, that than he manages the race without falling and in a good strain. But, as finally came out this is not a rule. When the race was culminating, this exact curve was Miras fate. Saturday´s measured trainings began quite well, in the first measured training Mira was fiveth and in the second measured training Mira managed the third total time, which ensured him the position in the first row. I even could not belive this, when I saw it on the light board. This seemed very promising. The nervousness was reasonable, Mira managed the start quite well. In the first curve he was fourth. After the first three laps they changed many times, but finally he managed to get a jump and kept together with the first two riders. They rode together till the 8th lap out of 11, where in the fate curve Mira got a slip of the front wheel and he fell into the cowlick. So he left the third position to the Mamolo. It was quite pitty, because the diffrence to the first rider was only 0,2s, it should had finished in a different way. Team was happy, even though Mira fell down, because the times were comparable with the first rider. Mira has to get used to this psychological press and not making mistakes.