from ... Steve Ramon

We are halfway through the season now and the year started so well for me with victory at Le Touquet. My preparation went well and I was in good shape but then just before the first GP I started to get sick. In Bulgaria I was feeling strange and then during the week it was getting worse. I had a viral infection so I needed a few weeks before I was back to normal. I couldn't train of course and I missed one round of the Belgian championship. Overall it was a bad way to start the campaign.

I am still not where I want to be. One moto seems to go well and the other not so well. I had more bad luck in Portugal where I stretched my groin and that affected me in the last GP in Spain before we came here to Sweden. I am still searching for my first podium this year and it feels a bit strange not to have one already but I was told the other day that I've got quite a few at Uddevalla so I'm hopeful this weekend. My confidence is coming back and a win in the Belgian series last week helped towards that. I know I am missing a 'little bit' compared to the top guys at the moment. I don't think it is my age (!) but sometimes I wonder about it. I am 31 and have been racing for quite a while but when you have a good race and a good result the motivation shoots up.

If I had to pick my best GP this year then I'd have to go for Brazil. I had a good start in the second moto and could go with the front guys. I was satisfied that day because it was the fourth round and I'd been through some hard weeks with the virus.

I've had some crashes this year and I really don't why. I don't think I am pushing over the limit but I guess now the starts are so important and if you get away mid-pack then you have to bump your way through or you get held up. The leaders have also then escaped. My lap-times have been OK, even if I have been in 15th place, I was as quick as the guy in second or third but the race finishes haven't been there.

Anyway we are halfway through 2011 now and the calendar has been a bit heavy going with two weeks out in the USA and Brazil and then those three races back to back. Personally I don't mind so much racing and with the Belgian Championship we are practically behind a gate every weekend in any case. The only time it can be very hard is when you are carrying a small injury and the days go so quickly before you can get treatment and then arrive at another GP struggling to be fully fit.

With the busy calendar I haven't had so much time to do anything else. Racing has been very consuming! On that thought I don't have any firm ideas of what I will do for 2012. It depends on what comes and what results I can make in the rest of the races. It is not always easy to find the right deal. Maybe I will retire, I don't know. I've had some good years and I'm not going to say that I have to work immediately when I stop racing but I can't spend the rest of my life on the beach! I think I would take a break when I retire, but I will always ride a bike because I enjoy it so much.



Copy and photos courtesy of Team Suzuki Press Office.