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Craig Fitzpatrick was back in the points this weekend, as the British Superbike
Evo Championship visited Croft. After recovering from a crash in race 1, the
Close Print Finance BLDS Honda rider fought his way up to 7th in race 2. The
result was a big positive step after the start of the season has been hampered
by a crash at the opening round.
Fitzpatrick came into the weekend hoping to banish the demons of that Brands
Hatch crash which forced him to sit out round 2.
During practice, Fitzpatrick and the team struggled to set up the Honda for the
bumpy Yorkshire circuit. A particular issue was trying to find a base setting
and undoing changes that had been made at Oulton Park, on the twisted frame.
The lack of confidence in the Honda's settings cost Fitzpatrick in the 20 minute
qualifier. Fitzpatrick beat his previous best time of the weekend but could only
finish 8th fastest.
Sunday saw the weather in an especially changeable mood. A bright start gave way
to persistent drizzle before morning warm-up.
As the Superbikes formed up on the grid for the first race, the track was damp
but the rain had virtually stopped. Having initially declared the race as dry,
the race organisers were forced to change their minds as the rain began to fall
once more. Local weather reports were predicting anything from heavy rain to
brightening skies over the course of the race, making tyre choice difficult.
Every possible combination of front and rear tyres was represented on the grid.
Fitzpatrick chose wet front and intermediate rear.
Fitzpatrick made a steady start in the tricky conditions. His race was over much
sooner than anticipated though, as he crashed out on lap five. On the run into
turn 1, Fitzpatrick locked up his front wheel under braking and ran into the
gravel before tipping off.
Thankfully the damage to bike and rider was minimal and Fitzpatrick was able to
make the grid for race 2.
Fitzpatrick got away 9th in the second race. By lap 9, he was up into 8th and
sat right on the rear wheel of, race 1 podium finisher, Tom Tunstall.
Fitzpatrick made the pass on lap 13, moving up into 7th. By this time the gap in
front was too big and Fitzpatrick had to be content with consolidating his 7th
position until the chequered flag.
After the race Fitzpatrick said: "It's been a bit of a tough weekend for us, but
it's good that we have finished it with our best result of the year so far."
"I was expecting this weekend to be a challenge, and it was important that we
used this a the foundation for the rest of the season. After the start we have
had, we needed to forget it all and move on."
"We could have done without the crash in the first race, but credit to the team
they worked hard between races and we managed to come away with a 7th."
"I am not really sure what happened for the crash. As I braked at the end of the
straight the bike unsettled and was unable to slow it down in time. I ran into
the gravel and had to lay it down before it went into the barrier."
"I'd like to thank everyone in the team and my sponsors for getting me back out on
track this weekend and hopefully we can now build on this and look ahead to
Thruxton."
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