A high speed crash after his front wheel was taken out denied Cormac Buchanan the chance of a strong finish in round 10 of the Moto3 World Championship in the Netherlands.
The Kiwi teenager was in a points-scoring position when his wheel was hit, sending both riders crashing at 245kph on the fastest corner of the Assen circuit. Fortunately, they escaped serious injury.
“It’s a real shame because the pace and potential was there for a decent finish,” Buchanan said.
“After a disappointing qualifying, we were making another great comeback, battling from 22nd to join the leading group after a decent start.
“I felt quite strong even when the tyre started to drop a little, lapping faster than I have all weekend.”
When the group split in two, Buchanan, 18, was determined to bridge the 2-second gap back to the leaders.
“Unfortunately, at corner 15, the fastest place on the circuit, I had my front wheel swiped out from underneath me by a rider trying to overtake me, and crashed at 245 kmh. For sure one of the fastest crashes of my career,” he said.
“I’m glad to walk away with only minor injuries and that is full thanks to my protective gear from LS2, Macna and FuSport.
“Naturally I’m quite upset as, in my opinion, this overtake wasn’t correct, and extremely unnecessary and dangerous. However, racing can go like this sometimes, with things out of our control happening.
“It was a missed chance to score some great points and possibly fight for the top ten at the end of the race, but we turn the page and put our focus on Germany in two weeks’ time. This only will make us stronger.
“Thank you for my team and their hard work. Even in the most difficult moments, we learn and grow together.”
Buchanan arrived at Assen with ambition and determination. The New Zealander started strongly on a wet track, achieving a promising P4 in FP1, demonstrating his talent under difficult conditions.
“The weekend started really well. We were extremely fast and comfortable in the wet and I was happy with my riding as I gained more experience in these conditions.”
An epic save by Buchanan during the session has since gone viral with over 7.7 million views to date on the MotoGP social media accounts.
However, as the Assen layout dried out, finding rhythm was more difficult. The high cornering pace required by this circuit took its toll and, despite improving his times on Saturday, it wasn’t enough to directly advance to Q2.
“As it was the first dry session it was almost our FP1 and I needed to take as many laps as possible to learn and improve. We had a direction that we thought would be a good base, but it wasn’t the correct way and I struggled immensely. It wasn’t easy and I needed to make big changes to my riding for the next day.
“On Saturday morning I started from scratch knowing what I needed to change and my goal was to do this. I improved over a second and was sitting around 11th and could take good information for the race, happy and confident for the qualifying.
“In Q1 I didn’t do the best out lap and lost the reference which in the windy conditions was costly. My first run wasn’t super clean, and I knew I had to make a step to try get inside the Q2. I was riding well, but key mistakes in certain corners meant I lost a lot of time in the straights, as well riding alone didn’t help the situation. It left me 22nd which was frustrating as I know I’m better than that. But knew I could make a comeback on Sunday.”
Buchanan’s next assignment is the Liqui Moly Grand Prix of Germany from 11-13 July.
