Home sweet home….
It was so cool to be flying back into the UK, even though it was a little dull and grey outside I was just so excited to see everyone! Its funny because all of this time traveling it has only been recently that we have spotted a bunch of celebrities! For example, on the way here we had a famous producer called Tim Westwood standing in front of us in the boarding line, he presents the UK’s version of ‘Pimp my Ride’ and he is also a ‘big deal’ in the music industry.
Also, a few weeks back we were flying into LAX and were walking beside these two girls, John made a remark “look at that girl in those huge platform heels, she thinks she is a big supermodel!” as I look over and laugh with him I then notice the girl beside her with LONG black hair which is scraggly on the ends. I think to myself, ‘hmm, that girl has the exact same hair as Naomi Campbell’ to my then disbelief she turns around and said to her high heeled friend “Kate Darling, are we taking your car or mine?”
It was Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell walking in front of us. Kate isn’t as tall as I thought!? They both looked painfully thin and Kate’s skin on her face was horrendous. I just find it sad because so many young girls look up to these women as ‘Idols’ but its all deceptive and false. They don’t look anything like their stunning pictures L but isn’t that like all models these days….
We did want a picture, but both of us were a little hesitant to ask, wouldn’t want one of those metal high heels coming our way ;)
Anyway, We came straight here from Barcelona so that we had a decent amount of time to hang out with my family and just relax.
John was exhausted when we arrived at the hotel so he had a lie down for a few hours, whilst i went straight over to my parents house. I loved it because our two dogs Rudi & Ronnie have just had puppies and they were absolutely adorable!
My dad made me a lovely cup of tea whilst me and my mom were chatting to our hearts content.
Once John arrived my mum began making some dinner for us. It was hysterical as the dogs seemed to attach themselves to John immediately. They’re normally very doubtful & shy of newcomers, but they loved him!
He didn’t admit it, but he so loved them too ;)
This lil boy is my fav!!....How cute is he????
The next few days involved Go Karting, Fishing, lunching & just relaxing.
You don’t always need to do a lot in your day to feel happy and complete, today was definitely a case of who you are with than where you are at!!
One of the days John needed to go and get a haircut so I knew a men’s hair salon not far.
He sat down and told the lady to go short on the sides and a Mohawk down the middle.
Well I guess she misinterpreted his request and decided to start shaving the whole back of his head!!
She was going for just spiky on the top. John is like “err, actually, lets just shave the whole thing, I need to grow it out anyway.” she obviously knew she did something wrong and quickly took the lot off. So that’s why John has a bowling ball head right now, lol. I’m just playing, I still think he looks great ;)
The weekend flew by, and the Tuesday before Donnington John had to fly to Holland for a Kawasaki press day to promote Assen race.
I stayed at home and had to drive the three hour Journey to meet John again in Donnington on the Wednesday.
Along the way I stopped and grabbed our weekend shopping for the motor home: waters, bananas , yogurts, wheat bread & fruit fruit fruit!!
Security can be such a pain at some of these tracks, they wouldn’t allow me in for 5minutes, I became feisty just to get into the paddock and drop off our things right there so I wouldn’t have to make 3 trips back to the car and drag all our luggage for a mile from the car park J
I arrived before John’s flight had even landed so I thought it would be cool to go and collect him from the airport. Once we were all together we went straight to get some dinner and then head back to catch some sleep, the following day is always pretty hectic.
Thursday: Day Of Champions:
We rouse from our slumber around 9am to the sound of hustle and bustle outside, fans were waiting outside for all the riders to make an appearance.
We had a little time as Johns day started at noon with autographs on the grid.
Once he completed his interviews he was rushed into a car and taken along to a charity auction for ‘Riders for Health’. I love going to watch these kind of events.
John and Ant were scheduled to go on stage just after Colin & he had got the crowd all fired up with his quirky jokes and remarks! He auctioned of his gloves, boots, leathers & the helmet that he had used throughout the season till now. His helmet alone went for 3000 pounds!
The crowd where all excited when John and Ant went up, Johns helmet raised a thousand pounds, and Anthony’s gloves went for 300. So that was great!!
We had a little dilemma midday as we were due 20 passes for the weekend, and we had Johns mom and family waiting outside the paddock. The problem was, the man bringing them didn’t arrive till 4pm, so they had to wait outside till then. But it I found him as soon as he arrived and everyone got in ok and got to see John.
……………..
Friday:
Today went by so quick! We woke on normal schedule time and John went off to the garage.
I had a little knock at the door whilst was getting ready, it was Johns gorgeous nieces and my mom, so I hurried to get ready and went with them for coffee.
I went in the garage to watch johns practice and help him with what he needed. The weather conditions weren’t so great so the times weren’t as they usually are at this track. Ben spies was riding for the first time today, he did come in last but give it time. He has a lot of high expectations to fulfill as the press a making a huge deal of him coming over and stepping on Loris’s toes….
The wind today was the worst id experienced in my life! The motor home was rocking all last night, so John didn’t sleep so good, but me on the other hand I could sleep through a hurricane
It was so nice to hang out with the whole family, both sides at once was pretty stressful though ;)
Saturday:
Today is very low key leading up to Qualifying. We have 20 minute practice in the morning from 10, John will then go back to the motor home to lay down and relax up until he need to qualify.
Today was so cold and windy I had to come back to the motor home and sneak my UGG boots, as my poor sister and Mom had only brought flip-flops and their feet had turned blue ;)
After that I organized everyone’s lunch, we had the Hopkins crew in Alpinestar Hospitality and my Family in Kawasaki. I enjoyed our coffees and then went to get Johns section ready, I grabbed his helmet from Arai on the way.
I made Johns green tea and hang out with the mechanics till he arrived.
Qualifying isn’t so intense until the last ten minutes of the hour session. I always make sure that I watch from a point where I am not in the way of the mechanics as the tire changes are so rapid.
So off I went to sit in Kawi with all the Fam.
Anthony nearly came off the bike at one point, along with James who went the whole way and crashed twice, but wasn’t hurt.
John ended up qualifying in 11th, which put in the 4th row directly behind Spies. He obviously wasn’t happy with the result but could work with it.…
I have to write this as I found it so funny, after qualifying me and John went to hang out with the family (approximately 25). We were discussing the phone bills, Me, John and Johns sis/ secretary are on a joint plan which comes to no more than $900 a month, and that is including all work related calls and family.
Well, our 13year old niece Domonique is (luckily) on a new unlimited texting plan, and they had just received her bill for the month. Around 20,000 text message are sent in a month! Is that even possible, we worked it out to an average of 600 a day!! Crazy chica
Well anyway, we all ate together at 7pm as John had to dash off to a sponsor dinner with ‘Touch4’ at 8.
Sunday, Race day:
Today was so frustrating! Compared to the previous races john was actually feeling in full fitness and excited about the race.
Yes he was back on the 4th row in 11th, directly behind Spies who had Edwards in front of him, but we knew as he did that he has good starts so he could easily make up a few positions just in the beginning. Well, didn’t go to plan as Toseland high sided in the first corner! John then had to immediately break and recalculate his route.
At that point he was at the back in 17th place with a gap of around 3 or 4 seconds from everyone else.
Which as you all know is quite a lot in race terms.
He didn’t give up and ended up passing a rider with every two laps. He had regained his confidence and impressively made it up to 10th position, passing his own team mate along the way. We have three screens in the garage, one with them an showing that’s on TV with all the footage, one screen has the lap times and little helmets that represent their individual achievement on every lap, and the other screen that I always watch is showing the lap times on each section which shows the exact amount of time between each rider.
Which of course, had john gaining on the competition in front. I am so proud of him and excited as I am stuck to the screen, then the next second I glance over to the 2nd screen and see him going through the gravel**** ! Grrrrrrrrr!!! It is the worst feeling, to be so high one minute and then so low the next.
Everyone in the box were questioning each other on what caused him to come off, no one knew so we all had to wait for john to come in. I waited outside the garage for him to get dropped off by the safety car. once he got out he looked straight over at me and shook his head with pure disappointment. I obviously knew instantly what he was referring to and let him be. I could see in his eyes that he wasn’t mad and about to yell at the first person he see’s, I could see pure disappointment and sadness.
I stood on the side and listened to him discussing the incident with his crew chief and mechanics.
It was electrical problems that had prevented him from finishing the race. I don’t want to dwell on this too much as you know I am limited on what I can say as I don’t really want to step on any toes ;)
But once john broke down the race and they had some constructive feedback me and john left to go to the motor home. I dropped his helmet off and let him get showered. We sat down and were watching the boys on the podium. John deserves to be up there, he wants it so bad.
I know that it has been 3 out of 4 crashes due to mechanical errors, but the bike has never been pushed the way johns pushes it to the max. I do understand that of course the day made him miserable, but he is very good at picking himself up and the next day he can see the positive in every situation, I can stand by and be positive and supporting…… we will get there ;)
I did feel sorry for the poor umbrella girls today though, as the wind was so extreme their umbrella where going inside out and hitting the mechanics. The photographers went a little crazy as there were a lot of skirts getting blown . Tut tut.
Well that evening was spent with our family’s having dinner at Johns favorite restaurant Nando’s.
Everyone we have come by have been so positive and supportive towards John so a big thanks to everyone!
Around 9pm we went and checked in to the Hilton Hotel. There were some police questioned 3 young guys who had their bikes stolen right outside the hotel! I felt so bad for the as the security camera didn’t catch anything L Meeting John cheered them up a little though.
Today is Monday for us, I am currently on the way to visit my Nan in Coventry and John, trainer Louch, Ant west and his PA have drove down to my hometown Portsmouth to check into our hotel and visit one of my local hangouts by the sea.
We leave for Assen on Tuesday, tomorrow, so im going to enjoy the rest of this unusually beautiful sunny day.
Sorry again for the delay on these, will be back to normal ASAP ;)
Ashleigh J