Lack of luck for Foggy PETRONAS Racing at Brands Hatch
 Luck
was not on the side of Craig Jones and his Foggy PETRONAS
Racing team-mate Steve Martin for the eighth round races of
the Superbike World Championship at Brands Hatch, Great Britain.
Located in garage 13 in pit-lane, Craig was forced to retire
on lap 13 of both races while Steve finished just out of the
points in 16th and 17th places.
Troy Bayliss stretched his championship lead with a clear
win in the first race but was pegged back when Noriyuki Haga
clinched a hard-fought victory over the Australian in race
two.
Craig’s tale of woe started when oil leaked onto his
rear tyre in the first race, forcing him to pull in. Steve
was lying in the points with three laps remaining before a
gear-shifter failure dropped him down to 17th.
There was more misfortune for Craig in race two when his
rear tyre spun on the rim, eventually making the bike impossible
to ride. Steve enjoyed a problem free second race but finished
just five seconds off a point-scoring finish in the PETRONAS
FP1’s last race on British soil.
Craig said: “When the tyres were good
in the first race I was going well, but as soon as they went
off I started to struggle. I knew there was a problem when
I went into Stirlings and the bike felt out of character for
that corner. I was actually lucky to save it when I was nearly
thrown over the bars because of the oil on the rear wheel.
The problems in race two started after three laps and got
progressively worse. By mid-race it was bouncing me out of
the corners and I was struggling to hold on. It is so frustrating
because we had solved our earlier problems and I was riding
well. I was catching a group that eventually finished in the
points so, with just a tiny bit of luck, I feel I could have
scored my first points.”
Steve said: “I was quite happy with
the first race because I felt I was riding well. I was pleased
with the consistency of the lap times until I suffered a gear
shifter problem with three laps to go and dropped out of the
points because I had to change gears manually and that cost
me more than half a second a lap. It may sound crazy but I
was also pleased with the second race. I was riding well,
pushing on the limit, and I was again happy with the consistency
until the tyres went off. As soon as that happened, about
three quarters of the way through, I was unable to carry as
much corner speed. It has been a difficult weekend but there
are positives that we can take into the final four rounds.”
Race two results, Superbike World Championship, round
eight, Brands Hatch, UK: 1 Haga; 2 Bayliss +0.184;
3 Pitt +2.242; 4 Laconi +6.523; 5 Toseland +7.073; 6 Corser
+7.521; 7 Kagayama +10.903; 8 Walker +19.715; 9 Barros +22.202;
10 Xaus +26.797; 11 Lanzi +29.702; 12 Fabrizio +29.804; 13
Abe +31.829; 14 Gimbert +34.177; 15 Ianuzzo +35.267; 16 Martin
(Foggy PETRONAS Racing) +40.940
Race one results: 1 Bayliss (Ducati Xerox);
2 Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) +1.657; 3 Haga (Yamaha
Italia) +2.248; 4 Pitt (Yamaha Italia) +2.860; 5 Kagayama
(Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) +9.666; 6 Corser (Alstare Suzuki
Corona Extra) +16.731; 7 Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki) +16.892;
8 Barros (Klaffi Honda) +20.707; 9 Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki)
+25.196; 10 Xaus (Sterilgarda Berik) +25.338; 11 Hill (Virgin
Mobile Yamaha) +26.477; 12 Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) +26.709; 13
Abe (Yamaha France) +27.335; 14 Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki) +29.465;
15 Gimbert (Yamaha France) +39.195; 17 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS
Racing) +42.389
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