DAN LINFOOT
Dan Linfoot was another Suzuka first timer and the Honda Racing rider joined forces with the Moriwaki squad, featuring triple MCE BSB champion Ryuichi Kiyonari. Although he didn’t actually get a stint in the race, the Honda Racing rider admits he enjoyed the experience and would relish another visit.
Dan's drama....
“This was my first experience of Suzuka. I had come 10 days previously for a two-day test, and ended up doing 25 laps and feeling prepped for the race. It was important to do the test to get familiar with the track because it was my job to pick up the pieces if it all went a bit wrong. The teamwere worried I might not have been quick enough to get the team into the Superpole so that was my first task, but I did a 2:09.8 and that made the average of all three riders in our team fast enough to reach the top 10 shootout. I was really happy with that.
“When the race started I didn’t think we got off to the best start as maybe there was a bit of a delay in getting the bike fired off the line, then Kiyo crashed on his second stint and that put the team down in 54th – costing us around 25 minutes to get the bike fixed. There was no recovering from that.
“I sort of hoped that after the crash it would take a bit of the pressure off the team and they would put me out for a stint, but they didn’t. Kiyo wasn’t injured which was most important and so they carried on with two riders. It was a bit disappointing but this has been a learning experience.
“Although I haven’t done a whole lot of laps I know which way the track goes and I know I can do a decent lap time, so I would love to put my name on the list to come back in the future.
“The good thing for me was I was on familiar tyres with the Pirellis, they are what I know already so I wasn’t adapting to a different tyre. The big difference was learning the electronics, as my BSB bike has very little.”