Team Suzuki Press Office – June 22.
Bennetts Suzuki made more progress with the set-up of its GSX-R1000 machines at Snetterton and the fourth round of the MCE British Superbike championship this weekend, which culminated in a top-10 finish for Christian Iddon in race two.
Iddon started from the second row of the grid after posting the sixth-fastest lap-time in race one and was battling for positions inside the top-10. The fight for every position saw the order of riders shuffling throughout the 16-lap race, with Iddon eventually finishing in ninth place; recording lap-times comparable with the front-runners and the fastest time through the second sector.
After being caught-out in qualifying by the rain, Iddon's 14th-placed grid spot left him with work to do in the opening encounter. After working his way to 11th he set his sights on the group in front and the battle for fifth. Sadly some unexpected chatter issues and a mistake on the final lap saw Iddon run on, before he crossed the line in 16th.
Christian Iddon:
"Although the results have been disappointing, I think the weekend has been reasonably positive. We've made pretty good headway and got a good understanding of the areas where we need to improve. This track's got a bit of everything and we were really strong in certain places, shown by the fact that we were fastest in sector two in the second race. We were unlucky in qualifying as I felt we had a good pace but I got a decent start in the first race. However a rider went down in front of me and dropped me back a few places, but I started to peg-back the group in front which was the battle for fifth. Unfortunately we got some chatter issues as the race went on and then I made a mistake. We solved the chatter issue for race two though and it felt better and I felt like we could run at a good pace, but it was a bit of a frustrating race: Every time I made a pass I'd run a bit wide and lose two positions and in the end it's been a weekend of what could have and should have been, but sadly wasn’t."
Team-mate Josh Waters started from ninth on the grid in race one and was lapping at a strong pace early on, ensuring he would start from eighth in race two, but he also suffered with chatter as the race progressed and finished 14th.
The team made some changes to try to solve the problem for race two, but sadly the issue remained. With Waters unable to push as hard he'd liked to have, he eventually finished 18th.
Josh Waters:
"It's been a frustrating weekend for us. We made progress with the bike through the free practice sessions and qualified on the third row. We put in a lap-time in the first race but as the race progressed we suffered from some bad chatter. The team tried something different for race two but sadly it didn't pay off and we suffered with the same issues again. I'm disappointed because I know we can be racing against the guys I was racing with last year; and we've shown the pace can be there. We've just got to get it right for the whole race."
Jack Valentine - Team Manager:
"It's been disappointing in one respect as we had similar issues with both bikes in the first race with bad chatter, which we hadn't had all weekend, but it got worse as the races went on, which meant both riders couldn't push to their limits and resulted in only Josh scoring points. The chassis set-up before the chatter started was good, shown by the fast laps both riders put-in and their grid spots for race two. Changes to Christian's bike resulted in him being able to mix-it a lot more in the second race. Unfortunately the changes to Josh's didn't make the same difference and he had the same issues as the first race, so we need to go and look into it in more detail back at base. On the positive side Christian lapped in the mid 1:48s, which is a very competitive lap time, and he was fastest in the second sector, so we know the package is competitive. We're just going to have to work harder to find the sweet spot.”
Race One Result: 1. Shane Byrne, 2. Josh Brookes, 3. Jason O'Halloran, 4. Tommy Bridewell, 5. Dan Linfoot. 14. Josh Waters (Bennetts Suzuki). 16. Christian Iddon (Bennetts Suzuki).
Race Two Result: 1. Shane Byrne, 2. Josh Brookes, 3. Jason O'Halloran, 4. Michael Laverty, 5. Tommy Bridewell. 9. Christian Iddon (Bennetts Suzuki) 18. Josh Waters (Bennetts Suzuki).
