2006 Australian Superbike Championship (YMF Loan) - Round Four - Queensland Raceway

Anthony West Day 3 Report

Australia’s Ant West narrowly avoided a first-lap crash before recovering to finish a season-best seventh in today’s 250cc German Motorcycle Grand Prix at the Sachsenring.

West’s result on a non-factory Kiefer-BOS Racing Aprilia lifted him from 10th to ninth overall in this year’s 250cc world championship after 10 of the 16 rounds.

The 24-year-old privateer started the Sachsenring race seventh on the grid, but dropped back to 13th on the opening lap after an incident with Italian Marco Simoncelli on a Gilera. West attempted to pass Simoncelli, but was unsuccessful and almost rode off the track to avoid contact with the Gilera.

West moved up into the top 10 on lap six, and then improved to ninth after passing the Repsol Honda of Japan’s Shuhei Aoyama. Soon after West inherited eighth position after Simoncelli crashed out, and then he chased, caught, and eventually passed Hiroshi Aoyama of Japan on a Red Bull KTM in the closing stages to claim seventh.

The 29-lap race was won by Japan’s Yuki Takahashi on a Humangest Racing Honda in a time of 41-minutes 30.350-seconds, with West 26.457-seconds behind.

West scored nine world championship points for his result, and boosted his series tally to 58. Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo, who was third at the Sachsenring on a works Fortuna Aprilia, leads the championship with 174 points.

West’s previous best results this year were eighth places in the grand prix races at Mugello in Italy and at Assen in the Netherlands in June. He has now finished in the top 10 in seven of the past eight rounds. The next round of the 250cc world championship is at Brno in the Czech Republic on August 20.

ANT WEST QUOTES: "I had hoped to do better than seventh here, but after what happened on the first lap it’s not so bad. I tried to pass (Marco) Simoncelli under brakes at a left-hand corner. He cut across in front of me, and I ran wide and almost crashed. That’s why I lost so many places. It was hard work after that coming from behind. I was with (Shuhei) Aoyama and passed him a few times, but he kept getting me back going up the hill. Eventually I got away, and then caught up to the other (Hiroshi) Aoyama on the KTM. We had a close battle in the last few laps and I just managed to beat him. My team did a good job with the bike – it ran without a problem all race. We’ve got a five-week break until the next race, and I’ll be staying in Europe at my place in Austria.”

RACE RESULTS (29 laps):
POS RIDER MOTORCYCLE TIME
1. Yuki Takahashi (Japan) Humangest Racing Honda 41:30.350
2. Alex De Angeles (San Marino) MVA Aspar Aprilia 41:30.408
3. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Fortuna Aprilia 41:31.363
4. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Humangest Racing Honda 41:34.371
5. Hector Barbera (Spain) Fortuna Aprilia 41:39.734
6. Roberto Locatelli (Italy) Team Toth Aprilia 41:49.592
7. Ant West (Australia) Kiefer-BOS Racing Aprilia 41:56.807
8. Hiroshi Aoyama (Japan) Red Bull KTM 41:56.957
9. Shuhei Aoyama (Japan) Repsol Honda 41:57.091
10. Sylvain Guintoli (France) Equipe GP De France Scrab Aprilia 42:00.971
FASTEST LAP: De Angeles 1-min 25.284-secs