Fitzpatrick Shows Promise
Craig Fitzpatrick came away from the first round of the British Superbike Evo
Championship feeling upbeat after recording a pair of sixth place finishes at
Brands Hatch. Continued recovery from a recent illness in addition to a shortage
of pre-season testing meant Fitzpatrick and the Close Print Finance Honda team
were at a disadvantage coming into the weekend.
There wasn't a great deal of dry track time across the four free practice
session and as a result, getting the new Close Print Finance Honda Fireblade
set-up was far from easy. One of the biggest problems Fitzpatrick was struggling
with was the weight split between the front and rear. By shifting some of the
weight, the team were able to improve the front end grip and better suit
Fitzpatrick's riding style.
Going into Qualifying, the target was to make the second part of the session, as
one of the top twenty fastest overall. With a great lap of 47.002s in the first
session, Fitzpatrick made it through to the second phase as one of only two Evo
riders who were able to do so. In the second phase, an unbalanced rear tyre
meant Fitzpatrick struggled and was unable to better his previous time, leaving
him 19th on the grid, 2nd fastest of the Evo entrants.
In Race 1, Fitzpatrick was caught out on the start with the engagement of the
clutch. As the lights went out, Fitzpatrick wheelied off the line and hence got
swamped on the run up to Paddock Hill bend. After dropping down to 28th place at
the end of lap one, Fitzpatrick fought on through the race and eventually came
home in 23rd place, sixth of the Evo riders.
With the grid for Race 2 decided by lap times from Race 1, Fitzpatrick started
from 27th place. Learning from the bad start in Race 1, Fitzpatrick got off the
line much better in Race 2. This time Fitzpatrick remained 27th round the
opening lap. After making a number of places in the early laps, Fitzpatrick was
running 23rd before moving up to 20th. Lapping at a very similar time to those
around him, Fitzpatrick was unable to
make any further headway and finished in 20th, again the 6th placed Evo
rider.
Fitzpatrick commented: "I am happy with how the weekend went. The results could
definitely have been better, but I think we showed good pace over the course of
the weekend. The new team worked really well together and everyone put in a
great effort."
"There are improvements we can make with the chassis, to make the handling a bit
more to my liking. Hopefully we can continue to improve and get on the podium at
Thruxton."
Fitzpatrick lies 6th in the British Superbike Evo Championship as the series
moves to Thruxton for Round 2 in a fortnights time.
Sam Farrington
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