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Close Print Finance BLDS Honda's Craig Fitzpatrick had a positive weekend at
round 6 of the British Superbike Evo Championship at the brand new Snetterton
300 circuit. Fitzpatrick continued to make progress aboard his Honda, claiming
another decent 7th place finish at the revamped Norfolk venue.
Fitzpatrick's only previous experience of the redesigned 3 mile layout was short
lived, after he was prevented from running at a recent trackday due to noise
regulations.
Having run 7th over the three free practice sessions, Fitzpatrick made a
significant improvement for qualifying. He shaved nearly half a second off his
best practice time to end the session as the fifth fastest Evo.
In race 1, Fitzpatrick made a good start and was running 5th. As the race
continued, Fitzpatrick began to suffer with rear end grip problems and he
dropped back to 8th. After settling for an 8th place finish and another handful
of championship points, Fitzpatrick took the chequered flag. However, following
the conclusion of the race, Fitzpatrick was informed that he had been excluded
from the results because of apparent refuelling transgression on the grid.
Race 2 turned into a nine lap sprint, after a huge crash involving Simon Andrews
and Steve Brogan brought out the red flags.
Starting from seventh, Fitzpatrick managed to gain a place on the opening lap.
Slipping back into 7th on lap two, he consolidated his position to cross the
line in 7th.
"I think we have made some good progress again this weekend. I managed to
qualify fifth fastest, which was the best we had achieved since the opening
round at Brands Hatch." said Fitzpatrick.
"We were really concerned after qualifying about how much fuel we were using.
With the long race distance and our relatively small fuel tanks, we were
predicting to be very tight fuel for the races. In the end, with the safety car
in the first race and the red flags in the second, it didn't turn into an
issue."
"In the first race we got away fairly well. The rear tyre started to go away
much earlier than I had expected it to, and I began to drop back down the
order."
"We are still lacking a bit of speed on the bike. Obviously, with the long
straights you have at Snetterton, that is really going to make things more
difficult. I am hoping we can make some more progress and get back to Oulton
Park and maybe finish a bit higher."
The next round of the championship takes place at Oulton Park in two weeks time. |
