Podium Success For Fitzpatrick
Craig Fitzpatrick recorded his first British Superbike Evo podium of the season
after an impressive display in round 2 of the championship at Thruxton. A superb
ride in Race 1 earned Fitzpatrick a third place finish, missing out on victory
by just 0.3 seconds. It looked as though better was to follow in Race 2 until
Fitzpatrick was taken out with two laps remaining whilst running second.
In free practice, the Close Print Finance Honda team continued to make progress
with chassis set-up on their new Honda CBR1000RR. The fast and bumpy Hampshire
circuit takes no prisoners but Fitzpatrick showed his ability to wrestle the
Superbike around after making the step up from Supersport last season.
Fitzpatrick improved throughout each of the three free practices and posted the
1st, 3rd and 4th fastest times in the respective sessions.
Qualifying saw Fitzpatrick improve further on his lap times, shaving 0.3s off
his previous best. It looked as though he was set to progress to the second
phase of the session until the last few seconds of the session when he was
demoted to 21st overall. Fitzpatrick's time was the third best of the Evo
riders.
Fitzpatrick made a steady start to Race 1, slipping back a place on the opening
lap. He soon found his rhythm though and quickly set about climbing through the
field. By lap five, Fitzpatrick had moved back up to fourth place in the Evo
race. The top five Evo riders were nose to tail and battling for victory.
Fitzpatrick passed David Johnson before losing the position two laps later to
David Anthony.
By two-thirds race distance, Fitzpatrick had moved up to third place and the
front three began to gap the others. Going into the closing stages, Fitzpatrick
was planning his attack and felt he was stronger going into the final chicane.
On the last lap, the three leaders, along with one of the Championship riders,
went four wide into the chicane. As they all tried to out-brake each other they
ran wide, Fitzpatrick held the tighter line but then struggled for grip as they
accelerated towards the line. The lack of traction cost him, as Fitzpatrick
missed out on the win by less than three tenths of a second, crossing the line
in third place. Fitzpatrick's fantastic ride was also good enough for 15th
overall, earning him his first British Superbike Championship point.
In Race 2, Fitzpatrick carried on where he left off and after some early passes,
was quickly up to second position in the Evo race. Getting stronger with each
lap on his new machine, Fitzpatrick posted his best lap time of the weekend. As
the laps counted down, Fitzpatrick was closing in on the leader, again looking
to make a move coming into the chicane a the end of the lap. This time around
his plans were scuppered two laps shy of the flag. As Championship rider,
Christian Iddon had a look down the inside of Fitzpatrick, he lost the front and
both riders crashed out. Fitzpatrick landed hard on the kerb, but thankfully
walked away without serious injury.
After the race Fitzpatrick commented: "I was really happy with how things had
gone all weekend, up until the end of race 2. The Close Print Finance Honda team
have all worked really well and we have made significant progress over the
weekend. I am starting to get on much better with the new bike and I think we
have shown how competitive the package is."
"Race 1 was a good battle with four or five of us fighting for the win. I
thought I could grab the win coming into the final corner, but everyone was
pushing so hard. They all ran a bit deep in the right-hander and I thought I
could out-drag them to the line. When I opened the throttle the rear tyre was
just spinning."
"I am frustrated about the crash as it wasn't my own doing. I was catching David
Anthony and thought I could pass him before the end of the race. It's a shame
because it has cost us at least 20 points, but we just have to move on to Oulton
Park in two weeks and make up for it then."
Sam Farrington
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