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Craig Fitzpatrick was able to put his previous two disastrous outings behind him as he finished 6th at Round 5 of the British Supersport Championship, at Snetterton.
Having had his worst Qualifying of the season last time out, Fitzpatrick was visibly more comfortable this time out. Ann excellent lap late in the session was good enough to leave Fitzpatrick 6th fastest after the first session. Rain showers shortly before the second session meant only a couple of riders were able to better their times, meaning the grid was largely the same as it had been in the morning. Fitzpatrick was much happier with his performance and a second row grid slot.
Fitzpatrick was happy with the weekend saying "To be honest I'm very happy with 6th as my confidence was a bit down after the Thruxton nightmare. We also have a new mechanic helping this weekend so I wasn't expecting things to run as smoother as they did! All credit to the team for working so hard and making it possible I would like to say a big thanks to all my team and sponsors for all the help and support" Fitzpatrick can now look forward to the next round at Knockhill in two weeks time. He is now tenth in the overall standing Sam Farrington
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Friday's Free practice session proved to be a great turn around in Fitzpatrick's fortunes. After two rounds of struggling with the handling on his BLDS Couriers/Close Print Yamaha, Fitzpatrick was losing confidence. A couple of fundamental chassis changes made all the difference, and the team were making great progress with regards to the set-up. Fitzpatrick ended the first session fourth quickest, and although swapping between his number one and number two machines, went tenth fastest in the second session.
All of the weekends hard work was nearly undone as a slipping clutch meant Fitzpatrick made a nightmare start to the race. Dropping six places on the opening lap, Fitzpatrick was demoted to 12th. The poor start left him battling in the midfield, losing valuable time on the front runners. After clearing the group he was battling with, Fitzpatrick started to push on. By mid race, he was up to 8th place and chasing down; then passing double TT winner, Ian Hutchinson. Having moved up to 6th Fitzpatrick was now faced with a three and a half second gap in front of him. Any chance he had of gaining more points was put to bed when the race was red flagged five laps short due to an accident.