Back In The Points
Craig Fitzpatrick got back on track for Round 9 of the British Superbike Evo
Championship at Cadwell Park, recording 5th and 6th placed finishes in the
weekend's two races. The two strong results came as a welcome return to the
points for the Close Print Finance Honda rider, who had been struggling at
previous rounds with technical difficulties.
Having crashed out during practice when the series came to Cadwell Park for
Round 4 in May and missing the remainder of that weekend, Fitzpatrick went into
the weekend at a disadvantage. With only one practice session in dry conditions,
Fitzpatrick was still working on the set-up of his Close Print Finance Honda
going into Qualifying.
The rain from the morning eventually cleared leaving conditions dry and bright
for the three part Qualifying session. Fitzpatrick qualified fourth fastest of
the Evo riders, ending the session 24th fastest overall.
In Race 1 Fitzpatrick made a steady start and held onto 4th place over the
opening couple of laps. However, an out of balance front tyre was giving
Fitzpatrick heavy vibrations from the outset. The vibrations from the tyre were
causing particular problems under heavy braking.
After running wide on a number of occasions, Fitzpatrick found himself
dropping to 8th place by lap nine. The tyre began to improve as it continued to
wear, making the bike much more stable. Making his way back up through the
field, Fitzpatrick set his fastest lap of the race with just five laps
remaining. Fitzpatrick took the chequered flag in Fifth place.
Mid way through the first race, Fitzpatrick had begun to suffer a misfire at
high engine revs. The team initially diagnosed it as a quick shifter fault but
later discovered it was in fact caused by a crank sensor issue. Without a
replacement sensor, Fitzpatrick was forced to ride around the problem during
Race 2.
Fitzpatrick was fifth on the grid for Race 2 and again retained his position off
the line. On lap 3, Fitzpatrick moved up to fourth as David Johnson ran wide at
Barn. A four-way battle formed for the right to 4th position. As each rider
attacked, others were forced into mistakes resulting in numerous positional
changes over the following laps. The earlier misfire continued to get worse as
the race went on, meaning Fitzpatrick was forced to short-shift to keep the
engine speed down. Unfortunately on lap 13 the race was red-flagged after James
Edmeades had a bad crash at Mansfield. With the positions counted back to the
last completed lap, Fitzpatrick ended in 6th place.
After the race Fitzpatrick said: "It's good to come away with two solid points
scoring finishes. After all the hard work the team has put in in recent weeks
it's good to have some points to show for it."
"Going out to the grid for the first race I could feel the vibration from the
front tyre. By the time we were on the grid it was too late to fix. It was
giving me big problems during the first half of the race and I ran wide a few
times under braking. Towards the end it started to resolve itself and I was able
to push on."
"We had a bit of an electrical issue from a faulty sensor but we can resolve
that and hopefully finish the season strongly. There are three rounds left now
and I would like to be back on the podium."
Fitzpatrick has moved up to 8th in the Evo championship ahead of Round 10 at Croft in
two weeks time.
Sam Farrington
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