Gearbox Problems Hamper Fitzpatrick
Craig Fitzpatrick was left feeling disappointed after continued technical
problems hampered his progress at round 5 of the British Superbike Evo
Championship at Mallory Park. A gearbox issue was the chief offender as
Fitzpatrick struggled to fulfil his potential aboard his Close Print Finance
Honda.
After two high speed incidents at the previous round at Cadwell Park when the
gearbox jumped out of gear, Fitzpatrick was suffering a lack of confidence going
into the fast right hander of Gerrard's.
The opening free practice session saw Fitzpatrick post the 6th best time. Unable
to make any significant improvements to the bike, Fitzpatrick slipped back to
8th and 9th fastest in the second and third sessions respectively.
In Qualifying, Fitzpatrick was able to knock half a second off his previous
fastest time of the weekend but this was still only good enough to place him 9th
on the grid for the first of Sunday's races.
Race 1 was a similar story to the rest of the weekend. Fitzpatrick was however
able to gain several positions and finished in sixth place to score ten valuable
championship points. After the first race, Fitzpatrick took the decision not to
start the second race due to his lack of confidence in the bike.
Fitzpatrick commented: "I just don't have much confidence in the bike at the
moment. Going into Gerrard's is similar to Coppice at Cadwell, with a downshift
from 5th gear to 4th on entry. We had the same problem again on a couple of occasions; with it jumping out of gear
on the way into the corner. It means I can't ride at 100% because I am almost
expecting it to happen."
"In the first race I was able to get some points for sixth but we decided not to
start the second race. We only have a couple of days now before we go up to
Knockhill, so we will have to see if we can sort it by then."
Fitzpatrick lies 10th in the Evo Championship standings after the opening five
rounds. Round 6 of the series takes place this weekend at Knockhill in Scotland.
Sam Farrington
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