TT star Conor Cummins 'frustrated' on latest race outing
As he continues his return from serious injury and preparations for the upcoming 2011 Isle of Man TT fuelled by Monster Energy, Conor Cummins has admitted to being frustrated in his latest outing.
The Manxman was competing at the third round of the Metzeler National 1000cc Superstock Championship at Croft on Sunday and, despite taking 18th to equal his best result so far this year, he was left pondering what might have been.
Following the trend of the opening two rounds, Cummins quickened his pace over the two days of practice and qualifying and in the final qualifying session was able to knock some 1.6s off his time to qualify 22nd.
In Sunday’s race, Cummins maintained his starting spot on the opening laps then began to move forward.
With Howie Mainwaring and Adam Jenkinson going out in the second half of the race, Cummins was able to cross the line at the end of the 12 laps in 18th, equalling his result of Oulton Park two weeks earlier.
Once again, he also lapped quicker in the race than he had in qualifying, although problems under acceleration meant he wasn't happy with the end result.
He said:
“Practice went well and, like always, I just chipped away and got quicker with each and every session. I lost a bit of time in second qualifying due to the padding on the seat moving around a bit, but I went over a second and a half quicker and to be only half a second off the top 15 put me in a good frame of mind for the race.”
“The race itself though was the poorest I’ve had since I got back and although it equalled my best finish of the season, it was very frustrating. Although I was lapping quicker each time I went out, I was struggling with the bike, wheelying coming out of the corners and that meant I was losing a lot of time along the straights so no sooner was I gaining time, I was losing it straightaway.”
“We thought we’d got it cured for the race, but it wasn’t to be and I simply wasn’t able to move forward as I would have liked. Everyone's working really hard and I'm edging ever closer to the top 15 and championship points, so we'll keep working hard and look at getting into the top 15 as soon as possible.”
Cummins now moves to the roads for Saturday’s North West 200 and then the TT, just over a week later.