News
The brutal rollercoaster of world championship motorcycle racing continues for Cormac Buchanan. A tough spell of results has forced the Southland teen to call on every ounce of resilience, including a crash at the latest round of the Moto3 World Championship at Assen in the Netherlands.
"I know what we are capable of and I'm not going to give up. We will fight until the very end," Buchanan said.
"I have a team that believes in me and I know we will get through this together. These tough days aren't going to last. It's just a difficult period.
"Obviously it's not the way I wanted to end the weekend and I know on paper it doesn't look like much from this round but actually there was a lot of positive things happening."
The famous Cathedral of Speed circuit failed to deliver initially but Buchanan continued to progress his lap times in a positive trajectory.
"We had a really solid practice despite the hot conditions because usually I suffer a lot more in the intense heat, but we managed to stay in the top 10 for the first half of the session. We couldn't make our time attack because of yellow flags and stuff like that but to be in the top 10 was not bad and it was good to be back up there," he said.
"We made quite a big change from FP1 to the afternoon practice which I was excited to try it the following day and see how it worked in the faster cooler conditions.
"FP2 honestly it was a bit of a disaster - we just had no real speed. The feeling wasn't bad, it was just not coming. Luckily, we had a lot of data we could dig into and it was very clear that only two corners were the challenge. The problem was, after those you had the big straights so you lose a lot more. Let's say, the punishment doesn't fit the crime.
"For Q1 I just had to fix those two corners and I knew we could make a massive step forward. The first run was just to put a lap on the board. When I came out for my second exit, everything just clicked. I had a good space in the group, had to make some overtakes in the first sector and I just kept pushing on and was improving a lot.
"I was putting in red sectors and arriving to P1. I had perfect placement on the track until I came up to a rider riding slow exiting the second last corner. I caught him up really quickly in that section and in that situation you have to make a split decision - abort the lap or make the pass.
"I made the overtake and as soon as I did that he released the brakes so I had to dive to the inside. If I didn't, I would have lost the lap and my chance to go to Q2. I tucked the front and that was really frustrating as we were arriving at P1 and would have gone to Q2 again where we had two new tyres so could have had two time-attack attempts."
Instead, it left Buchanan languishing near the back of the grid.
"I had to start really far back and I was angry because really the other rider should have looked where he was going but that's what racing is like. I know until that corner I did everything I could and it was a big step forward from where we were in the morning," he said.
"Going into the race I felt confident and knew if I could put that pace to good use I would get a good result.
"I had a strong start and made up some places and was in the big group battling for the points. But my race ended before it even really had gotten started.
"Another rider and I were battling back and forth. I got pushed off the track, rejoined with dirty tyres from the overnight rain and lost the front the next corner and that was my race over.
"It wasn't the result we deserve after everything we'd done."
The focus now switches to Germany's Sachsenring from 10-12 July.
"It's a track that I love, one of my favourites, and I've got good memories there from last year. It's the track where I did my best Moto3 results at. I aim to go there and turn this season around so we can head into the summer break with positive vibes," Buchanan said.
"Germany is a place I know I can go fast and I believe we can be in well in the mix again. That's the goal and we're going to fight for it."