Craig Fitzpatrick took his fourth straight win on the BLDS Couriers Yamaha at round found of the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship at Donington Park. Fitzpatrick also managed to finish in a strong eighth place in the overall Championship result.
In the windy conditions at Donington and with mixed weather throughout the weekend the 30-year-old now living in Alfreton rode consistently throughout and was keen to further extend his lead in the Cup series.
In the first practice session on Saturday he managed to finish in fifth position at the end of the session. Four extra riders were present at Donington Park, all from the exclusive World Supersport series who were at the circuit for testing purposes in preparations for their race at Donington later in the year. Fitzpatrick finished the opening session only 1.4 seconds behind World Supersport contender Andrew Pitt.
The opening qualifying session was dry and Fitzpatrick did a time which would see him qualify in twelfth position on the grid. Heavy rain showers on Sunday afternoon saw the circuit turn extremely greasy and Fitzpatrick opted out of the second session in the hope of a dry race on the Monday.
Luckily for him it was dry although it was extremely windy. A good start saw Fitzpatrick move to ninth position by the end of the opening lap, a fraught battling was taking place for seventh place and Fitzpatrick got pushed wide on lap 13 and was pushed back from seventh to tenth place. Crossing the line in tenth place the two Hannspree riders were later excluded from the results promoting Fitzpatrick to eighth place.
Speaking with Craig after the race he said;“I’m really pleased to get another win in the Cup and I’m pretty happy with my overall result too. The weather played havoc with everyone this weekend and with the track being so slippery throughout the weekend it made it hard to find a good race set up. With were working hard with the suspension people and trying and testing different aspects and we have definitely made progress with the bike this weekend and hope we continue to move forward at the remaining races left. We have a bit of a break now which is ideal as it allows me to do a bit of work on the bike and to see if we can get anything more from it. I’m looking forward to Snetterton in a couple of weeks time.”
Words by Carly RathmellRelated Link:www.craigfitzpatrick.com
