Hayden Fitzgerald - Race report NZ SBK Champs Rnd1

With the top ten riders in the New Zealand Superbike class all with a chance to win races and the championship for that matter, you could say there was nothing left in reserve. The pace was hot and the weather was too.

Initially in practice we were tearing up tyres making major suspension changes which made it hard for setting the bike up but with the help from Ohlins technicials we could focus on getting the bike to steer on entry, mid and exit of the turns as well as drive.

Having not completed full race distance on the Bridgestones I did not know what was going to happen, how they would wear throughout race distance. This race was going to be valuable to the rest of the season. After dropping a second off the first practice and another second off in Qualifying we were closer than we have been to the pointy end all weekend. We still have a lot of work to do but are making progress. We Qualified in 10th position. NOT where I want to be, but working with new equipment is development.

Race one was kaos at the start with 15 riders all trying to make up positions in the first lap. The hairpin caught\ Nick Cole out and gaps between riders started to appare. I started knocking out some faster, consistant lap times allowing me to slip by Reece Holmes and Scott Moir. It wasn’t too long before I caught Ryan Hampton either but didn’t have enough to get by him. Whilst behind my team mate I was understanding the consistance of how long the tyre stayed at it’s best and could predict what would happen when the tyre started to go off.

Race two was split into two races due to a red flag re-start. Both these races were identical to race one with riders either crashing or pulling out. Good data that we gained from Ruapuna for the new Bridgestones will help us with the rest of the Championship.We have found a good tempurature that the tyre likes to operate in.

I am happy with the progress that we are making with the short time we have had to test making progress even if the current results are not yet showing it...yet.

Round one saw just 5 riders gain points and finish all race starts, 2 of which are Team Castrol Honda riders.

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