Alessandro Di Mario's Diary: It's not what I wanted, but now it's head down for the Corkscrew!

It’s not exactly the result we wanted, but that’s racing.

The Ridge Motorsports Park is a beautiful, truly technical circuit where a rider’s qualities are brought to the fore. It’s located near Seattle in the state of Washington—don’t confuse it with Washington, D.C., which is about a five-hour flight away 😊 Mount Olympus, about 2,500 m high, rises in front of the track: even though summer has begun, it’s still snow-capped, making for a stunning sight.

Until now I had won four out of four races held at The Ridge, but this time it went differently, also because the weather didn’t help me find the right setup.

Since it was my first time riding a Supersport at this track, I needed stable conditions to help me find the right setup. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and every session was different from the last, with the track going from wet, to intermediate tires, and finally to dry. After an initial session and qualifying 1 in heavy rain, I qualified thirteenth. Not bad, considering it was my first-ever outing in the rain on rain tires with a Supersport. In qualifying 2 on a dry track, I thought I’d found a decent setup and managed to qualify fourth.

Unfortunately, race 1 was again in heavy rain, and with my limited experience in those conditions I couldn’t do better than twelfth place. Sunday morning warm-up was on a damp track. By the end the racing line was dry, but the conditions and the short time—just 15 minutes—didn’t allow us to test new setup steps. Race 2 was dry, in conditions similar to qualifying 2, but I couldn’t find the same feeling as the day before and I finished seventh.

The result itself isn’t bad considering that, apart from a local rider, I only had the strongest riders ahead of me—guys in their third year or more in Supersport. I have to mention the legend Josh Hayes, 50 years old and with more than 80 wins in MotoAmerica. And Darryn Binder, a former Grand Prix rider, is also going strong. All in all, I should be satisfied—I’m seventh in the standings in my first year in Supersport—yet I’m not content. I know these challenges are part of growing, and I’ll keep putting in more and more effort to show what I can do.

Now MotoAmerica heads to one of the most anticipated events: on the weekend of July 11–12 we race at Laguna Seca, in California. The circuit has hosted the US GP and WorldSBK many times, so it’s well known in Europe too. As for me, head down and let’s get ready for this very special track and its iconic Corkscrew.

Alessandro Di Mario, follow me on Instagram