John, definitely the CG needs to go back some, at least to the recommended 6 1/2 inches. As you probably know, the CG's recommended in manuals are usually a bit more conservative than necessary -- to ensure solid handling on maiden flights -- so your 6 1/4 is very conservative. I would imagine that inverted flight required a lot of push, and that the landings were a bit fast.

Mine is at 6 3/4 and I think it could still go back a bit. On a 45 degree inverted upline it requires a little push so it isn't quite there. However, this might also be caused by wing or stab incidence, so I think I will just learn to compensate with the stick since incidence is not adjustable.