Jones shows progress for Foggy PETRONAS Racing at Brno
 Craig
Jones enjoyed his best race day on the PETRONAS FP1 when he
finished 17th and 21st in the seventh round races of the Superbike
World Championship at Brno, Czech Republic.
Foggy PETRONAS Racing team-mate Steve Martin’s run
of bad luck continued when another mechanical problem ended
his first race after just three laps, but he persevered in
the second race to finish 19th.
With championship leader Troy Bayliss managing one eighth
place finish, Yukio Kagayama secured his first double win
but rookie Italian Michel Fabrizio stole the show with two
stunning rides to clinch two podium finishes from 12th on
the grid.
Craig was fighting for his first championship point before
a gearbox problem on the last few laps of the first race ended
that challenge and caused him to drop back one place to 17th.
Despite problems with the gear position sensor in race two,
he lapped a second faster on average and reduced the gap to
Kagayama by 20 seconds.
He said: “I have made more progress here than I have
anywhere else and it is a shame that I wasn’t able to
qualify as well as I could have done. But I have closed the
gap on Steve and the weekend has given me a lot of confidence
going into the next round at Brands Hatch, where I will be
aiming for Superpole and to score some points. I was doing
consistent laps at the start of race two but needed to push
harder and then started to chip away at those in front until
the gear position sensor stopped working. I was also disappointed
that the gearbox problem at the end of race one potentially
cost me my first championship point.”
Steve’s first race began badly with a fire on the bike
on the grid, which resulted in him starting the race from
the back of the grid on his spare bike. After a good start
his gear lever broke and then the bike started to seize up
after three laps, forcing him to pull in.
He said: “With so many riders failing to finish the
first race this was a good opportunity to score good points,
so I am very disappointed. In the second race I was losing
the front everywhere from the start of the race, so I just
had to settle down and ride around to finish the race.”
Race two results, Superbike World Championship round
6, Brno, Czech Republic: 1 Kagayama; 2 Fabrizio +2.431;
3 Haga +2.479; 4 Corser +2.514; 5 Toseland +4.939; 6 Nieto
+5.070; 7 Muggeridge +7.932; 8 Bayliss +15.441; 9 Lanzi +15.755;
10 Walker +17.461; 11 Barros +21.547; 12 Abe +22.052; 13 Nakatomoi
+22.102; 14 Xaus +26.983; 15 Gimbert +29.549; 19 Martin +44.031;
21 Jones +47.742
Race results: 1 Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki
Corona Extra); 2 Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) +3.900;
3 Fabrizio (DFX Treme) +6.255; 4 Haga (Yamaha Italia) +6.432;
5 Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) +7.463; 6 Nieto (PSG-1
Kawasaki) +21.967; 7 Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki) +21.989; 8 Nakatomi
(Yamaha France) +26.882; 9 Abe (Yamaha France) +27.174; 10
Chili (DFX Treme) +27.441; 11 Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate
Honda) +28.299; 12 Rolfo (Ducati SC Carrachi) +32.112; 13
Gimbert (Yamaha France) +36.427; 14 Iannuzzo (Celani Team
Suzuki Italia) +44.249; 15 Clementi (Team Pedercini) +1:00.978;
16 BorcianI (Sterilgarda Berik) +1:05.300; 17 Jones (Foggy
PETRONAS Racing) +1:05.914
|
