Feisty Racing's Susie Grayson and Deb Cartwright had a weekend of mixed fortunes at the European Women's Championship in Assen.
Grayson, riding her privateer R1, was sitting in a very comfortable second place behind the works Yamaha of Nina Prinz in the superstock 1000 race until the gearbox let go on lap four, just after she set her fastest lap of the weekend.
"We were having trouble with it for most of the weekend. Our inital thoughts were that it was the quickshifter, but the problems remained after we unplugged it," said Grayson.
"The bike was jumping out of gear in a couple of places but as we have no spares, I decided to carry on the race. I got a great start and took four places on the first lap. But it wasn't to be and the bike gave up a few laps in. I was really comfy and my Dunlops were working so well.
"I'm gutted to be honest as this is only a three-round series, I need a lot of luck now to get second place with only one race to go.
Cartwright, meanwhile, spent practice and qualifying demolishing her previous lap times at the Dutch track and was on the second row of the grid for Sunday's race.
Although her start wasn't great, Cartwright put in some solid and consistent lap times, ending the superstock 600 race sixth in class.
"I was a bit disappointed to be honest but a lot of the girls know this track well so sixth isn't too bad. I am more gutted for Susie really," she said.
