Over the next laps I was more tentative in that area but I closed the 3 second gap to Larry Pegram on the snorting Ducati in 5th. I followed Pegram for the next 7 laps, weighing up where I could pass him. This was far from easy as the circuit is mostly one line, it’s hard to pass back markers let alone somebody who is going at more or less the same speed as you. There was only one spot where I thought I could have him so I did a couple of half-hearted rehearsals ready to strike at him on the penultimate lap.
It wasn’t to be though…at the end of the 3rd to final lap I came into the last corner, a very tight right hairpin and lost the rear on entry. It came right around on me, past the point of no return, then flicked me over the top. This was back to the problem that I had been struggling with all weekend, ‘backing in’ - especially when the rear tyre is worn. It wasn’t so much the ‘backing in’ but the unpredictability of it. It felt like I was braking on an ice rink which made it really difficult to judge. I tried to remount but the ignition wire had been snapped so I couldn’t re-fire it. It was very disappointing but also at the same time it was a wake up call to just how much we had to get to the bottom of the 'backing in' problems.
Sunday was a better day for us. I was feeling comfortable on my Supersport bike and knew I could go fast although was not completely confident with my race setup. I told myself to get away with them off the line, get stuck in early on and see how it pans out from there. My start was pretty good, I went at the right time which always helps and was 4th into turn 2. I was right on the back of the front group but was really struggling to make any advances from there. Where my setup was at it’s best seemed to be in the areas where there wasn’t much opportunity for passing and where the setup wasn’t quite as good was in the best passing areas which made it really difficult to make any headway.
