Let me try and explain better.
- You have the enemy flying towards you at full speed, and you are both firing at each other directly:
1) Ensure you have full power on guns so you can fire for longer
2) Slow down to 25-50% power, so you have more time to fire at them, and you'll have a tighter turning circle when you pass each other
3) Strafe downwards whilst travelling towards them by continuously firing your down thruster. This is particularly effective when they have guns rather than lasers, as you can move out of the way of the bullets that take time to travel to you. Also, roll left/ right 90 degrees every five seconds whilst strafing downwards to make yourself an even harder target
4) When you pass each other you need to turn as quickly as possible so,
5) Put full power to engines. For me this is two taps on a joystick hat so takes a split second. If you haven't already done so, power back to 50%-75% for the best turning circle
6) Begin the turn by first, rolling left or right to the target on your 12 O'clock High position, then pulling back hard on the stick
8) If you are too close to your target (ie, they turned in to you at the same time as you turned in them them), you need to increase your distance to help get guns on. You can do this whilst still turning by...
9) Still pulling hard back on the stick, put yourself in reverse whilst still on 50-75% power, and changing lateral thrust to Down (rather than Up). Hold this for 5 seconds or so and you will zoom away whilst still turning in to them.
Finally - when you have guns on, don't forget to put full power back to guns, and repeat the above from step one.