SIXTH AND TWELFTH FOR KAWASAKI DUO DOWN UNDER
Today's Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island turned out
to be a nail-biting battle for Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet
and Anthony West, with their final placements being sixth
and 12th respectively.
Having started from sixth on the grid after a healthy qualifying
session yesterday, de Puniet lost places as the race began,
finding himself in 10th position by the end of lap one. He
was then relegated to 11th when he was overtaken by his team
mate, Anthony West, but the Frenchman soon fought back, taking
West and Shinya Nakano to move up to ninth.
From there, he overtook John Hopkins and everybody moved
up a place when Nicky Hayden dropped out on lap 13. Then,
he passed Marco Melandri, all the while holding off the efforts
of John Hopkins, who was unable to move past the 26-year-old
Ninja ZX-RR rider.
Finally finishing in a comfortable sixth, de Puniet succeeded
in surpassing Kawasaki's previous best premier class result
at Phillip Island, which was Shinya Nakano's 7th, back in
2005.
West, meanwhile, struggled to maintain his positive early
momentum. From his starting position of 10th, he changed places
a number of times and ended up fighting hard in a group consisting
of himself, Carlos Checa, Chris Vermeulen and Colin Edwards.
Much overtaking and re-taking took place, making for some
great racing, until the 26-year-old Australian went over the
line in 12th.
It was a disappointment for West, who had hoped for more
at his home round but, yet again, he battled well and continued
his run of bringing home championship points at every round
since he joined the championship in June: no mean feat for
a rider in their rookie year.
Both riders and the team will travel to Malaysia this week
for next Sunday's race at Sepang. There, they hope to continue
to improve on their results at what will be the penultimate
round of the 2007 MotoGP World Championship.
Randy de Puniet
6th Position
"Unfortunately, like many for me this year, my start
was bad, so I still need to work on those. I got behind Nakano
and tried to pass but I made a mistake, losing the rear, and
nearly went into the gravel at turn four. I lost another place
and was behind Shinya and Anthony, and then it was impossible
to overtake, so I waited four or five laps and went for it.
Then I got Hopkins and Melandri, who I think had a tyre problem
or something, and I finished sixth. It's not a bad result
but sure, after the practices, I expected to do better in
the race."
Anthony West
12th Position
"My start wasn't that great but I started to work my
way through and did okay; I was feeling good. I tried to push
as much as I could until I'd pretty much destroyed the rear
tyre. I couldn't keep my speed up through the corners and,
as has been the case over the past day or so, it was particularly
difficult to feel comfortable when the bike was leaned over
on the left hand side. I was working to stay at the front
of my group but by the last few laps I don't think the tyre
had anything left. I'm not very happy about my result but
the fans here have been really supportive so hopefully, by
the time we come back here next year, I can give them some
more to cheer about."
Michael Bartholemy
Kawasaki Competition Manager
"I'm feeling pretty happy, over all. Randy's sixth is
a good result and, while I'm a bit disappointed that Anthony
wasn't able to finish a bit higher by the end of the race,
it looks like he may have had a few problems with his tyres.
This seems to have made him lose some places at the end of
the race, which is a shame, but at the end of the day, both
riders rode well for us today and kept fighting until the
end. We can now look forward to Sepang: we test a lot there
and know the ZX-RR is well-suited to it, so we'll see what
happens next weekend."
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 41'12.244; 2. Loris
Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team +6.763; 3. Valentino
Rossi (ITA) Yamaha Factory Racing +10.038; 4. Dani Pedrosa
(SPA) Repsol Honda Team +11.663; 5. Alex Barros (BRA) Pramac
d'Antin Ducati +19.475; 6. Randy De Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki
Racing Team +27.313; 7. John Hopkins (USA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
+29.243; 8. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +34.833;
9. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha Factory Racing +35.073; 10.
Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda Gresini +36.971; 11. Carlos Checa
(SPA) Honda LCR +37.721; 12. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing
Team +38.426
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