We allowed the 8 seconds based on the probability that the crew would have been surprised by the stick shaker and may not have reacted immediately.
8 seconds of stick shaker!!!!
No wonder you couldn't recover. What was your minimum speed during the manoeuvre?
Sounds like you wanted to prove something and did. But it's not very relevent as I don't recall an 8 second gap being mentioned in the press release. And of course you weren't using an NG.
Did you try recovering from the shaker without delay?