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Craig Fitzpatrick made an enjoyable return to action for round 10 of the British
Superbike Evo Championship at his local circuit, Donington Park. The PacedayZ
Close Print Finance Honda rider finished 8th in the opening race before a
slipping clutch forced him to retire from race two.
Fitzpatrick, who has missed the previous three rounds of the series, spent free
practice getting himself dialled back in. He posted the 8th best time in the
opening session before slipping to 11th and 9th respectively in the second and
third timed sessions.
In qualifying, Fitzpatrick continued to make improvements, finding more time
with each lap. Come the end of the session he had done enough to put him 8th of
the grid for the opening race.
Starting from 8th on the grid, Fitzpatrick made a good start and moved up into
seventh position on the first lap. He moved up into sixth a lap later after
Scott Smart ran into the gravel. Fitzpatrick then remained in 6th until lap 10
when Hudson Kennaugh demoted him to 7th.
From mid race onwards Fitzpatrick began to suffer the ill effects of his aged
rear tyre and began losing more and more time. By the last lap he had been
caught by James Hillier and after a having big slide, Hillier got the better of
him. Fitzpatrick took the chequered flag in 8th.
Fitzpatrick started race two 8th on the grid but had dropped back to 10th by the
end of the opening lap. He was then passed by Evo series leader Glen Richards,
dropping him to 11th. On lap six, Fitzpatrick was forced to retire because of a
slipping clutch.
"I really enjoyed myself this weekend, it was great to be back out there on the
PacedayZ Close Print Finance Honda."
"I definitely felt a bit rusty after having missed the last three rounds. As the
weekend went on I was feeling more comfortable and we were getting back into
it."
"The first race started really well and if the rear tyre hadn't gone off we
would have had sixth. We chose the softer tyre and knew it was asking a lot for
it to last the race but by half distance it was gone. I had a big gap behind me
but I couldn't keep the lap times up. By the last lap it was sliding everywhere,
I had a big moment and they came past me."
"My second race was cut short because of a problem with the clutch. It started
slipping after a couple of laps, so I pulled in."
"We have two weeks to the next round at Silverstone, there are a couple of things to
sort out and then hopefully we can keep pushing on." |
