Gearbox issues denied Remy Gardner of the chance to challenge for victory in Sunday’s Dutch grand prix at Assen, causing him to crash out of contention.

ONEXOX TKKR Sag Racing’s Gardner experienced issues from the outset in the attrition-filled Moto2 affair, but managed to factor at the front over the opening nine laps.

A moment at the left-hand hairpin onto the back straight dropped him back to seventh before a couple of hard overtakes on his rivals put him back in the mix. Looking comfortable once again Gardner went down – a bittersweet ending to an exceptional weekend.

“The weekend was almost perfect,” Gardner recalled. “I felt good in every session and was made up to get my first pole yesterday. Warm-up was also good and in the race – certainly at the beginning – I felt good and think we could have won today.

“It just seems that whatever I do at the moment it goes wrong, but the luck has to change. I am so disappointed for me, the team, all my sponsors and the fans that are being so supportive this year. The good thing is that I don’t have to wait too long to ride again so let’s focus on the Sachsenring!”

On Saturday, Gardner became the first Australian since Casey Stoner in 2005 to start from pole position in the intermediate class, however, that was where the high would unfortunately end.