Jones left to rue what might have been after slipping to ninth

12:00pm Monday 28th April 2008

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CRAIG Jones secured a top ten finish in Sunday's Supersport World Championship fourth round.

The Northwich ace left Assen disappointed though after eventually crossing the line in ninth position after starting the race third on the grid.

Honda's Andrew Pitt took the chequered flag.

"From from the first lap I was fighting to hold position as well as pass the racers in front," said Jones.

"I am disappointed to finish ninth, especially after having the pace to stay at the front for 18 of the 21 laps. I will sit down with my team and we will examine how we lost the race and make a plan so it will not happen again."

The 23-year-old Parkalgar Honda rider took the lead on lap 16 but ran off the circuit shortly afterwards and, despite rejoining in third position, he could not hold on.

He added: "It was a very hard race with a lot of close passing and tactics right from start to finish.

"There were always 10 or more riders in with a chance of taking the win."

Team boss Simon Buckmaster was similarly resolute afterwards.

"Craig deserved to finish higher up but the racing was so close and hard-fought that the slightest loss of lap time led to big penalties," he said.

"Our bikes are fast and Craig has the talent and ability to win races.

"We will focus on those positives and do our best to make sure the tailing off in competitiveness at the end of a race does not happen again."

On Saturday Jones had been involved in a titanic three-way battle for pole position during qualifying.

He topped the time sheets for much of the wet morning session and was always in contention during the dry afternoon qualifying, eventually finishing less than two tenths of a second away from pole-sitter Broc Parkes.

"I never managed a perfect lap so it wasn't to be," said Jones.

The next round of the takes at Monza, Italy, on May 11.