[Suicide Junkie]

They do tend to putter around in small regions while you tend to be cruising across the system at half to full throttle.

In order to fire more than once (or twice for fast-reloading weapons) at an enemy target, you've got to slow down... and that takes time...

Its pretty hard to plan your course such that you end up behind the enemy, and then you still have the problem of turning around before they paste you in the back.
Strafing runs tend to be the easiest tactic, I think... brakes during the approach to maximize firepower, then gas gas gas as you pass.