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Round 6 of the British Supersport Championship proved to be one Christian Iddon
will want to forget after an intermittent electrical issue put paid to his
podium hopes. His Oxford TAG Triumph developed the fault on Saturday morning,
which despite the best efforts of the team, proceeded to hamper every session
thereafter. Iddon was battling for victory in the opening race before crashing
out, but was then unable to start the feature race due to an electrical problem.
Friday's free practice sessions were run in some terrible weather. Iddon swiftly
got to grips with the conditions and ended the respective sessions 7th and 2nd
fastest.
An electrical fault at the start of the
session threatened to hamper Iddon's qualifying. After getting the bike back to
pit lane, the Oxford TAG Triumph team were apparently able to swiftly diagnose
the fault and resolve it in time for Iddon to complete 8 laps. Having lost much
of the session, Iddon was unable to use his qualifying tyre but still managed to
put in a strong performance for a 7th place grid slot.
Iddon made a fantastic start to the sprint race, fighting his way up to 3rd
position on the opening lap. He then moved up to 2nd by passing Glen Richards
into Lodge on lap 2. The front three of Jack Kennedy, Iddon and Richards then
proceeded to pull clear of the rest of the field. After dropping back behind
Richards on lap 7, disaster struck as Iddon crashed out at Britten's on the following lap.
The Oxford TAG Triumph mechanics worked tirelessly to successfully rebuild the
damaged bike in time for Sunday's warm-up session. However, Iddon was still
hampered by the same electrical issue.
After yet another attempt to resolve the issue, Iddon headed out to the grid for
the feature race. The bike once again refused to run correctly and despite the
best efforts of the team to sort the issue on the grid, Iddon's race was over
before it had even begun.
Christian Iddon: "It's obviously been a
difficult weekend for myself and the team. When the bike has been running, we
have been right on the pace again but unfortunately we have had too many
problems this weekend."
"The problems started on the first lap of qualifying, on Saturday morning. I got
the bike straight back to the pit lane and it seemed like the guys had managed
to sort the problem. I then had a handful of laps to set a time and we ended up
OK considering."
"Then on the warm-up lap for the sprint race, it started happening again. I
wasn't even sure that I was going to make the start."
"I was so disappointed on Saturday, after crashing out when we looked set for a
podium. I got a good start, made up a few places, and then was able to get past
[Richard] Cooper for third. The three of us then pulled a big gap at the front.
I knew Glen Richards would come strong towards the end, as he always does, but I
still felt that I was battling for the win."
"For the second race in a row, it just wasn't to be. We were all pushing hard
and I just lost the front on the change of direction at the chicane. I took a
bit of a knock to my wrist but nothing problematic, and I made a bit of a mess
of the Oxford TAG Triumph."
"Then on Sunday we had the same electrical issue again. It just wouldn't clear.
We kept searching for the source of the fault and every time it would seem to
clear, only to return out on track. It was very frustrating for the whole team."
"It is such a shame for everyone at Oxford TAG Triumph and also all of my sponsors
because everyone has put so much effort in and we haven't been able to reward
them with the results we are after. It's clear to see that we have the pace, we
just need to keep focussed and translate that pace into results." |
