31.05.10 | Frustrating Weekend for Toseland
Sterilgarda Yamaha's James Toseland had a tough first outing at the Miller Motorsports Park in Utah this weekend. He leaves Round 7 lying 6th in the World Superbike rankings on 132 points.
After qualifying in 14th, the BKS-supported rider put in a solid performance in the first of the two races despite being one of the few riders on the grid never to have ridden here before. James worked his way through the pack to take a lonely seventh by lap four. The British rider was gradually closing in on sixth until a dramatic drop in tyre grip over the last few laps saw him drop to ninth at the chequered flag.
Despite a strong start in the second race and again fighting from 14th up to sixth, it ended prematurely for the double World Champion when he lost the front end with six laps to go after coming into a corner carrying too much speed.
"A frustrating weekend for me. We started really well here and I got down to some pretty decent times relatively quickly in the first practices so was feeling confident for the races. Superpole didn't go quite as planned so I had a less than perfect grid start position. I managed a good start in the first race and was making up places but unfortunately I ran out of grip several laps from the end which slowed me down. It took me a while to get into a good pace in race two, but as I was picking up I came out of one corner too fast and so was too hot into the next, resulting in losing the front end. The team have worked really hard all weekend and I'm sorry I couldn't deliver them a better result today."
Fan's comments
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mmcdonne
Hi JT, Still must look at the weekend as a positive :o) You had awesome top end speed and great starts for race 1 & 2. Keep driving towards that podium place mate! You have my support every step of the way and i cant wait to see you be 3x SBK champ. Cheers Mat
Paula
You must be disappointed James with that frustrating result,however,put it down to experience and gaining knowledge for the next time you race in Salt Lake City,great scenery mind you!!Well done to Cal !!!x