I can't help but notice that in the game you won you didn't collide with any asteroids. This could be the game changer for you. I would say that it seems like shying away from the big ships is a boon, but most of your collisions seemed to be fighters dashing into rocks. I guess the only thing I can figure is that you need to take fewer risky maneuvers around asteroids. But congrats on the win!

Oh, definitely. I addressed this in the later games and stopped myself cold anytime I started to think "I'll probably be fine!" when selecting maneuvers. And certainly my maneuvering skill is starting to get BETTER. It's just not GOOD, yet. And roaring interceptors in asteroids kinda requires you to be GOOD.

In the game I played after these with HSF, I was able to weave the Falcon fairly effortlessly around and through asteroids without ever taking a collision. I think it's just a matter of experience, and the fact that many of the games I've played have been introducing various friends to the system, without asteroids in play.