Christian Iddon was left cursing his misfortune after seeing his chances of a maiden World Supersport podium evaporate in front of his home crowd at Donington Park.
Iddon was running in fourth until a coming together with reigning champion Kenan Sofuoglu on lap two, which saw him crash out.
Yet another wet Friday saw Iddon take a provisional sixth position on the grid. Although, with the weather set to improve for the weekend, it was unlikely to count for much.
The weather did indeed improve on Saturday, with the Donington Park circuit basking in glorious sunshine. A small electrical fault cut Iddon’s second practice session short, but he was able to make good use of the few lap he did get. Iddon then went on to qualify 7th fastest, showing the great progress that the ParkinGO team have made with the MV Agusta F3 675.
Iddon made a great start to the race, sweeping across to put his ParkinGO MV on the inside on the run into Redgate. Seeing a gap open up, he was able to drive out on a tighter line and take fourth. He held on to fourth until the Melbourne Hairpin in the second lap.
Iddon took the more natural racing line in, with Zanetti trying to squeeze up the inside and Sofuoglu going for a wider sweeping line. By mid corner, all three ended up going for the same piece of tarmac. Iddon was sandwiched between the other two and he touched wheels with Sofuoglu, sending him crashing out. He did remount and returned to pit lane, but the MV was unable to carry on.
There were mixed fortunes in the ParkinGO MV Agusta Corse garage, as Roby Rolfo claimed a first podium of the season and the first for MV Agusta in 37 years.
“Obviously I am very disappointed with the way the weekend has ended,” he said. “I feel sorry for the ParkinGO MV Agusta Corse team and all of my sponsors who have come for my home round. It’s always good to come to a track you know. When you don’t have to worry about learning the track you can focus solely on improving the bike.
“We had a little electrical problem on Saturday morning. I thought that would be the end of my session but I reset the bike and got it going again. I was able to get it back to pit lane and the guys did a great job to get me back out.
“We have made great progress with the new MV Agusta F3 675 since the start of the year. The bike felt good again in the wet on Friday, but more importantly it is feeling good in the dry too.
“I made my best showing, so far, in qualifying and again I was making those lap times on my own. I felt a little disappointed to have missed out on the front two rows but the times were close.
“In the race, I made a great start and had put myself in a position to be able to fight for the podium. Unfortunately it just wasn’t to be. The crash was just one of those things, no one was to blame; there just wasn’t enough room for us all to get through.
“I am really happy for the team and for Roby [Rolfo] to get the first podium of the season. It shows that the ParkinGO MV Agusta F3s are now a force to be reckoned with. We have come a really long way in just five rounds and hopefully it’s a sign of things to come.
“I can’t wait to get to Portimao, for the next round. It’s another track which I have ridden before so I am feeling positive that we can be in the mix again.”
