15-year-old American Jake Gagne is racing in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup this season. The Ramona, California resident files his second column of 2009 for SuperbikePlanet.com and fills us in on his Jerez race, the season opening doubleheader.

Jake is back in action this week at Mugello, too...

After a long off season, it was finally time for the first race. I was really excited to get out there for the first Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup race and get the year started. The first race was at Jerez in Spain.

The last race I did was the Riders Cup event last October at Valencia, so I was really missing the adrenaline rush of lining up on the grid and racing.

The Gagne Files: Hola! Jake in Spain. image by red bull

Since my dad wasn't able to go to the first race due to not being able to take any time off work, our family's friend David headed over to the first race with me. So David and I headed over to Spain on the Tuesday before the race weekend. We had a five hour flight from San Diego to Atlanta, then about a nine hour flight to Madrid, then one more from Madrid to Jerez. It was great to finally get off the plane after about 19 hours of travel.

At the Jerez airport we were picked up by Pole Position Travel and taken to the hotel. We met up with Hayden Gillim, Mathew Scholtz, Josh Hook, Benny Solis and some other Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup racers who were staying at the hotel and had some dinner at the hotel. We all just hung out Wednesday evening, played some soccer, and just chilled. We headed to the track on Thursday afternoon after a well needed rest to meet up with everyone and get ready to ride the next day.

We all got to the track Friday morning and everyone was really eager to get out there. It was a beautiful day to ride and we got out for free practice at about 12. Right off the bat, I didn't feel too comfortable on the bike. I had some suspension troubles that I needed to get worked out before qualifying. In between practice and first qualifying, I talked to the suspension technicians and made some changes to try out.

The Gagne Files: Hayden, David, and Jake clowning around. image by johnny tortelli

Qualifying wasn't until pretty late in the day, around four. After the changes we made after practice, the bike felt a little bit better but still not where I wanted to be. During the session I pulled in to make some more changes but we went the wrong way and ended up pretty far down. Again, we made some more changes for second qualifying and the bike felt a bit better. I was still having some troubled getting the bike turned in and with the front end wanting to tuck.

I ended up on the sixth row, so I wasn't happy with the result at all. Although I didn't qualify well, I was looking forward to the race because I knew I always go faster on race day. We had two races during the weekend so I knew we had more chances at getting it right.

We got back to the track Saturday morning for the first race. The race wasn't until about four so we had all day to watch all of the MotoGP practices and qualifying. I was mainly just focusing on watching the 125 practices and qualifying and trying to learn some things like lines and things like that. Towards the afternoon, some wind started to pick up pretty heavily, and did not look like it was going to stop before our race.

Finally, it was time for our first race and I was ready to get underway. When the lights went out, I got off the line fairly well. I think I ended up about top 15 in the first corner. The first couple laps were really hectic and there was just so much passing.

The Gagne Files: Tight battles in Rookies Cup races. image by red bull

The whole front group was really packed together and by about lap five I was up into 10th. But on that lap there was a really bad crash with Harry Stafford and Florian Marino. Harry highsided out of turn 6, and Florian had nowhere to go and ended up running him over and the race was red flagged. Harry ended up suffering a concussion and a broken collarbone. I wish my best to Harry to get well soon.

On the restart, we only had six laps left for the race. On the restart, I didn't get off to a very good start. It was a really tight race and everyone was giving it there all. I was running about eighth spot trying to make some passes. The wind was really bad. I ended up making two big mistakes on the last two laps and dropping down to 11th position. After the race, I wasn't completely satisfied but considering where I qualified, it wasn't too bad.

The next day, I was looking forward to the race again. We made a few more changes to the bike that we thought would be better and I wanted to improve on Saturday's result. Again, our race wasn't until later in the day, about 3:30, so we all got to watch the 125, 250, and MotoGP races. Before the race I was a little bit nervous because I really wanted to get a better result than the previous day.

All three races were really exciting especially the 250s. It started to get pretty windy again in the afternoon. I got all geared up after the MotoGP race and got ready for our race.

I got out and did two sighting laps and was hoping that we would get our full 15 laps. On the grid, I knew it was going to be a tough race and I needed to get a good start. When the lights went out, I ended up getting a decent start. I was probably again in the top 15 into the first corner.

The Gagne Files: Solidifying his position ... image by red bull

By the time I worked my way up into around tenth, the leading pack was already gone. The wind was still bad throughout the whole race, especially in the last two very fast right handers. The rest of the race, I rode pretty much by myself. I ended up finishing 9th position. Overall the second race was okay for me.

But now that the first two races are out of the way, I'm looking forward to the rest of the season and improving.

After the race was over on Sunday, we had to leave straight to the airport about an hour later. Our flight left at seven that evening, heading from Jerez to Madrid. The airport was pretty close to the track but what should have been a 10 minute drive turned into about an hour.

There were so many people leaving the track that they just opened up both lanes on the freeway. The drive took pretty long but we made it to the airport with some time to spare.

After the one hour flight to Madrid, we had to stay in Madrid for one night until our flight out to Atlanta at 11 the next morning. After some confusion, we finally got out voucher to the hotel so we got on a bus that we thought was supposed to take us to the hotel. That bus actually took us to the center of a little town right outside the airport.

We asked for some directions and after about a 10 minute walk we finally got to the hotel. Once we got there the guy at the front desk showed us the bus that was supposed to have picked us up from the airport and take us straight to the hotel. Getting to the hotel would have been a lot easier if we knew the bus in the first place. The hotel we had for that night was really nice and it was a good room. After some dinner at the hotel we finally got some sleep.

The next morning we got up and had some breakfast and actually got on the right bus to the airport this time! Our flight left on time and everything went well. About 9 hours later we were back in the US. We had about a 2 hour layover so we got some food and walked around the Atlanta airport for a while then we got on the flight to San Diego. It felt good to be home and back in my own bed that night.

Now the next race at Mugello is only two weeks away and I'm excited to get out on that track and race again.