A day to forget at Donington
Luck was certainly not on the team’s side today, with Ben Currie crashing out from the lead on the last lap of the Supersport race. Christian Iddon had made great progress in his last Free Practice session, and his Superbike got off to a brilliant start before ending prematurely after he was taken out by another rider early on.
Christian Iddon
“We’ve had an issue that’s been nothing to do with the team at all, that’s plagued us since Round One. I actually masked over it at Oulton Park but it’s reared its head again here and destroyed our Friday, and even this Saturday morning. We’ve basically had no laps on the bike. Up until today I'd done six laps in total where the bike hadn’t stopped. As much as I’ve done a lot of laps around Donington Park I’ve got no reference, as it’s been resurfaced, and I still need to get up to speed.
We got the bike working for Free Practice 4 and that ten-minute session was our first real session and to be fair, felt pretty good you know. Considering how little time we got, the session was really good and I felt good. I just went out with a group of riders in FP4 and I thought, I can hang with these boys, it’s alright!
Qualifying went reasonably well. I know I made a few mistakes, so it could have been a little bit more. Row Three is nothing to shout about, but considering the weekend we’d had it was all right.
And I got an alright start in the race. Just hung tight on the first corner and had a good first lap. I think I managed to jump two, and then pass three. I made a mistake myself on the hairpin on the first lap. Just been struggling there in the last point. Really strong on the way in and then struggling in the mid-point. I lost the front on the first lap and had to save it with a bit of throttle and lost the rear and nearly went down, but didn’t.
Bridewell and Glenn passed me on the other Ducatis. But I was content with that. I know they have great pace and it’s always quite good to ride with the bikes that you’re on. So, I thought ‘this is good’, because I need to learn, as I’ve not done the laps yet.
But the next lap at the hairpin another rider came up the inside of me. He said he lost the front. It is what it is. But the result for me is that I’ve again got no data and still not done more than five laps in a row. Tomorrow's races are longer, and we've got no idea how we're going to fare because tyre degradation on this new surface has been a big thing.
It becomes hard for a rider when you’re not fully up to speed because you don’t flow, and then you tend to hurt the tyre and bike a bit more as well. With no lap time in, in puts us further back on the grid and into the lion’s den a little bit more. I'm just upset for all the team and everyone's hard work. We just don't seem to be able to get this season going. But big pats on the back to everyone for putting such a good bike underneath me in such a short time.”