Dodging the critics

Not least of them is my mate Bargs (Jason Bargwanna). I tangled with him at Bathurst and Surfers Paradise and my teammate Craig (Lowndes) had a run-in with him at Phillip Island last weekend.

Bargs has since come out and sprayed both of us in one of his press releases saying we are driving like teenagers. All I can say is there is a common denominator in all those incidents. I won't comment anymore than that. We'll do our talking on the track.

People have asked me if someone had a talk to me but it's my job to turn my own momentum around. I motivate myself. I don't need someone else to motivate me. I do the work required to be at the top of my game.

I think the whole team and I turned in a flawless performance at the weekend. Everyone dug deep, the whole team came out of the dumpster and now I feel like we are back on top again. At the same time I'm fully aware there are four races and 600 points up for grabs and that I hold only a small lead of 122 points. So it's nowhere near over and the next two rounds are going to require the same amount of hard work and commitment as went into Phillip Island.

However, don't expect to see me driving defensively to protect my lead.

Expect to see me on the attack. And I'll keep on the attack until I feel there is a time I can relax. Attack is the only way I know how. The only time I've driven defensively was in that safety car fiasco at the weekend. If I hadn't passed the safety car and got out of the way I might have been cleaned up. I came out of pit lane expecting the safety car to accelerate to its usual 80km/h but it was just parked at the second fastest point on any Australian track.

He had me coming out at 40km/h and Garth coming down the straight at 250km/h followed by several other drivers. Instantly the rule came into my mind that you can't pass the safety car unless directed, so I hit the brakes. That was my first reaction, but quickly commonsense prevailed.

Stopping there is not commonsense so I decided to pass and clean the area as much as I could. I saw cars coming down the straight, but I kept my eyes forward and stayed off the racing line to minimise the situation. It was just human error and there is no point in head hunting, but we can use this incident to change procedures. The safety car should wait around at turn one, a lot further down the track where speeds are slower.

While we're reviewing safety car procedures I'd also like to see the situation where they turn off the lights off and accelerate away tidied up a bit. It's a little bit messy. Hopefully this incident will help spur people into action.

Once again I would like to say how very disappointed I was in missing out on the Race of Champions in China last week, but I had to concentrate on the V8 series. I think the results at Phillip Island show it was the right decision.

I'd also like to put out a big thanks to my mate Chad (Reed) for taking my spot at the last minute. He and Mick (Doohan) got knocked out early in the event and unfortunately for Chad, he had a crash in the SuperX at the weekend and had one of the worst weekends of his career while I went ahead and won two races. Just goes to show what a fickle old world motorsport is.

In the next 10 days before we head to Perth, I'm settling down to a similar plan as the two weeks before Phillip Island; a good balance between hard work and clearing the mind.