 |
MotoGP
2005 - Round 10 - Sachsenring MotoGP Qualifying - Westy Report July 30th, 2005
|
 |
|
|
MotoGP
2005 - Round 10 - Sachsenring MotoGP Qualifying - Westy Report July 30th, 2005
|
|
| Australia's Red Bull KTM
motorcycle rider Ant West today improved his best qualifying
lap time but dropped a position and will start 12th on the
grid in tomorrow's 250cc German Grand Prix at the
Sachsenring. West was 11th fastest in yesterday's opening qualifying session for the ninth round of the championship, recording a quickest lap of 1-min 26.829-secs around the 3.6km circuit in hot conditions. In today's second and final qualifying session, also held on a dry track, the 24-year-old Gold Coast rider was 0.551-secs quicker with 1-min 26.278-secs, but slipped back to 12th. He set the time on his 22nd of 23 laps in the session and finished 1.521-secs behind pole position winner Alex De Angeles on an Aprilia West's machine was clocked at a top speed of 229.1-km/h in the second qualifying session. The Honda of Spaniard Daniel Pedrosa was fastest with a speed of 241.6-km/h. The Sachsenring event will be the second race for the KTM 250, which is powered by a parallel-twin engine. West made a superb debut on the machine by finishing second in the rain-affected British Grand Prix at Donington Park on July 24. West has made a total of 80 grand prix starts in the 125cc, 250cc, and 500cc classes since 1998. He has five top-three podium finishes in the 250cc class, including one victory, in the Dutch Grand Prix at Assen in 2003. ANT WEST QUOTES: "I did my quickest (qualifying) lap on a 'soft' race tyre in the last few minutes of the session. I was struggling for a while – probably trying too hard, but it wasn't happening. We're running the 90-degree firing order engines in both bikes this weekend. At the moment we're chasing better acceleration and more top-end speed. On the straights some of the bikes came past me like I was standing still. My team know what the problem is, but this is a new bike and there hasn't been much time since we raced last weekend. There is a month gap to the next race at Brno (Czech Grand Prix on August 28) so that gives us more time to work on the improvements we need. This track is very bumpy and yesterday the bike was bouncing all over the place, sliding and 'spinning up'. Since then we've changed the ride height and some other things and the rear grip is now much better. You ride on the edge of the tyre a lot here, especially the left side, so you have to be easy on the throttle, especially when you tip it right in the first few laps. I've only done three races this year, but now I'm starting to feel sharp again." |
MotoGP Championship
2005
|
|
Search the site - Late Braking News - Forum Bike Tests - Features - Wallpaper - Race Calendar
MCNEWS.COM.AU
|
|