Home comforts for Jones and FPR at Silverstone
 Foggy
PETRONAS Racing’s Craig Jones is aiming to make the
most of home advantage at this weekend’s fifth round
of the Superbike World Championship at Silverstone.
The rookie star is familiar with the shorter international
circuit, having raced there on numerous occasions in the British
Supersport championship and in the World Supersport championship
last year.
And his familiarity of the Northamptonshire track will provide
a welcome break from having to learn new circuits during his
first year in World Superbikes.
Craig said: “I think it will make
a big difference for me that I know the circuit so well. The
other riders will also know it, but at least at Silverstone
I will be on a level playing field going into the weekend.
I should be on my pace straight away and I have gone well
there in the past. I was on the front row of the grid for
last year’s World Supersport race and held the lap record
in 2004, so I am looking forward to building on the progress
we made with set-up at Valencia and giving the home support
something to cheer.”
Following a dreadful weekend at Monza in the previous round,
the team has been focused on improving the reliability of
the engine over the intervening weeks.
Craig’s team-mate, Australian Steve Martin said: “Those
reliability problems were specific to Monza and we are confident
of having a trouble-free weekend and two good races here.
I didn’t perform as well as I could have done last year
so I am looking forward to the chance of redeeming myself
at Silverstone. At the start of last season I was having a
lot of problems with chatter, which were really exposed at
this circuit. We have solved those problems now so I am confident
of knocking a couple of seconds off last year’s times
and lifting everyone’s spirits after Monza.”
Circuit information: Silverstone, UK
Pole position: Right
Circuit length: 3.561km
Corners: 5 left, 7 right
Finish line length: 491m
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