First of all I just want to say I hate this time of the year when you don’t have a ride already sorted for the following season of racing. I would like to move to Superbike’s or over to Moto2 but I have nothing yet.

This season was my second year racing in the World Supersport category and only 5th year of Motorcycle racing on the tarmac. My first 3 years were in the European Superstock 600cc Championship, I didn’t compete in any other domestic championship (BSB etc) before that, just Motocross and Supermoto. I finished 12th in 2007, 3rd in 2008 and was then crowned Champion in 2009. That is the kind of progression I should have made this year.

Last year at the final race my bike leaked oil and I couldn’t finish, causing me to go from 5th to 10th in the final Championship standings. Not bad for a rookie in World Supersport, especially coming straight from Superstock and scoring podiums along the way.
This year, I should have been top 3- minimum.

I don’t want to go into too much detail about what really happened this year and the situations I was put in but anyone that knows, knows what we were up against. Generally it led to either me over riding and making mistakes, my bike not finishing the race, or on the other end- me riding it hard and getting a good result. Unfortunately, we had way too many problems and situations I didn’t want to be in. But overall, I’m glad I over-rode it as much as I could, yea I crashed a couple of times but if I didn’t I would have just been another rider in 15th place…

I want to clear up what happened in the Portimao race too. I got my ‘Speedy G’ start from 9th on the grid into 2nd at the first corner. I followed Davies into the hairpin Turn 3, got on the power how I normally would and bang, no traction control= big slide and me holding on as tight as I could, bucking bronco style.

Basically, Portimao was the first weekend we used traction control properly as we had a new electronic engineer. We we didn’t set up launch control so the traction and anti wheelie was kicking in in 1st gear when I practiced a start in the warm up. The only way to remove this so I could control it myself was to make two engine maps, one with no traction control and one with it. I would have to change the map by pressing a button AFTER the start straight…
Well on the grid everyone was chilled out being positive as usual, everyone forgot about it. I set off on the warm up lap as normal and done ny race start as I normally would (no traction control map was on). Salom was on pole and he got a bad start so I was focused on going around him and on getting a good entrance into turn 1. 
I forgot about changing the map on the button and I went to exit the hairpin as I normally would… race over. Unfortunately Broc Parkes got caught up in it too and his race was over as well.

The video has had a lot of views on YouTube, over 42,000, if you type in Gino Rea WSS 2011 it should come up. Actually the link is here.

A couple of people had a moan at Portimao about my style of riding and that I was dangerous. Let me tell you all now, those that had the moan would not have even rode/ let me ride the bike in some of my situations! Enough of that eh…

Let’s just say I’m glad this years over and I hope that is all my bad luck done. I’m enjoying my off season although I’d like to get a ride sorted for next year.

After the Portimao race we stayed for a week to chill out and discuss some things for 2012. At home I’ve been resting up a bit but also doing some light training instead of doing nothing during my ‘rest week’. 
Inbetween, I’ve been flat out Motocross, 4 times in the last week! Absolutely loving being back on a MX bike. I went to my friends private track on Sunday and ended up jumping this 110ft double which at first I wasn’t going to because it was such a hard jump. The approach wasn’t straight and wasn’t flat like the tarmac! But when we were younger I always used to make my friend do all the big jumps, so I felt I couldn’t not do it. If I didn’t I would have went home disappointed, knowing I didn’t even attempt it. 
I done it, then done it over and over again, eventually doing my trademark trick over it: The Nothing (no-hands & no-feet). I Learnt that when I was very young and lots of people know me for it.. a bit like my ‘Speedy G’ starts on the tarmac I guess!

So anyway, sorry to bore you with the MX info!

I think this weekend’s MotoGP will be very hard with the recent tradegy of Marco Simoncelli. I heard there will be a minute of ‘casino’, suggested by Marco’s father, where everyone will rev their engines instead of being silent. That’s what he would have wanted. I was lucky enough to meet him at the Le Man’s GP this year and he is a rider I looked up to. I loved his aggression and determination. My thoughts are with his family and friends.

I will be at the Valencia MotoGP from Friday until the test on Monday, then possibly going to Almeria on the Tuesday. I have a few people to see while I’m at Valencia, it would be nice to know what I’m doing in 2012 by next week. Only time will tell…

If in doubt… Go Flat Out.

Gino

Twitter: @GinoRea