De Puniet disappointed to end race finish record

It took just one early twist of the right hand to create the low point of Randy de Puniet’s season to date. The Frenchman failed to finish the first lap of the Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland after being flung from his LCR Honda RC212V, bringing a crash-free and points scoring half season to an end.

De Puniet had gone thirteen rounds without a crash before his fall in Germany. His last Sunday tumble was at last year’s race in Misano, where coincidentally he also returned to the garage before the completion of lap one.

“I am very disappointed, because I had a good start and was in third position behind Pedrosa,” said the satellite Honda rider, who had qualified six despite damaging both of his bikes in practice tumbles.

“After that I made a mistake in the first right corner because I opened the throttle too early, suffering a big highside. I feel lucky as I escaped unhurt from the crash, but this is bad for me and the team -especially for the championship,” he continued.

De Puniet is currently tenth in the World Championship standings, with five points separating him, Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen in the fight for eighth. LCR Honda had targeted a top finish for Germany that would have moved him up the classification.

The downbeat rider now focuses his attention on the next round of the 2009 series. “We could have finished in the top five as we had the speed to make an amazing race. However, we will start again from zero in Donington.”