KAWASAKI PROVING A STRONG TEAM AT MISANO
Randy de Puniet and Anthony West will start tomorrow’s
MotoGP race from fourth and tenth on the grid respectively
after today’s qualifying practice at the Misano World
Circuit
After a spectacular downpour yesterday, which caused extensive
flooding at the track, two vital practice sessions were cancelled.
Consequently, this morning's practice was extended to two
hours, enabling the riders to learn the track, which hasn't
seen premier class motorcycle racing since 1993, and teams
to perfect race set up.
Both Kawasaki pilots put in blistering performances, with
West finishing third fastest, behind Casey Stoner and Valentino
Rossi, and team mate, de Puniet, coming home seventh after
they put a new specification, 800cc engine through its paces
in their Ninja ZX-RRs.
This afternoon's qualifying was held in superb, sunny conditions
with an air temperature of 23°C and track temperature
of 42°C. Frenchman, de Puniet, was on spectacular form,
sitting on provisional pole for roughly half the allocated
hour as he pushed his Ninja ever faster, competing with Stoner,
Rossi and Nicky Hayden for the lead. His second row start
in tomorrow's race will give him a strong advantage as the
speeds at the 4.180km circuit rise and his bike and Bridgestone
tyres seem more than able to cope with its complex twisty
sections, as well as its hair-raising straights.
Ahead of John Hopkins and Dani Pedrosa, de Puniet's time
was only 0.588 seconds off Stoner's pole and, with the grid's
top nine riders separated by under a second, it looks as if
tomorrow's 28 lap race is going to be a good one.
Meanwhile, West also put in a strong effort aboard his ZX-RR,
having likewise found an effective race set up in the morning.
He proved the extra practice on qualifying tyres he had after
the Brno round had been fruitful as he continued to explore
the limits of the sticky rubber and found himself pushing
harder than he's done previously. His top ten starting position,
just 0.171 seconds off Colin Edwards and a mere 1.021 seconds
off pole, means he'll commence tomorrow's race with more confidence
and that, coupled with his usual fire to succeed, should mean
we see the 26-year-old Australian at his best.
Certainly, after winning a World Supersport round here earlier
this year, he'll be aiming to be in the running for a great
result.
Randy De Puniet
#14 - 4th - Best Lap 1'34.506
"Fourth is not so bad but I think I could have been on
the front row, all things considered. On the last lap, I made
a small mistake in turn three, and lost some tenths, and that's
why I'm on the second row. However, in practice I was going
very fast on race tyres so I feel like we've got an exceptional
set up for tomorrow. The bike and the Bridgestones are working
brilliantly and I think we're in with a strong chance of doing
well."
Anthony West
#13 - 10th - Best Lap 1'34.939
"I didn't manage to go as fast as I'd have liked, and
it's not as good as the third position this morning, but I
feel there's definitely some improvement after Brno. This
morning, everything went smoothly, no problems, but this afternoon
I didn't manage quite the same times with the race tyres.
I think maybe the rise in temperature made them work differently.
Things were a lot better with the qualifying tyres this time
round though, and the bike ran a lot smoother, but I still
wasn't as quick as I'd like. No worries for the race though:
I think we should be okay. I reckon I'll be able to fight
far better, I usually do in the race itself, so I think I
can improve on tenth."
Christophe Bourguignon
de Puniet Crew Chief
"It's been a pretty satisfying day. It's never easy when
we haven't got long on the track and we need to find the best
set up and best tyres in such a short space of time. This
is especially true this weekend, as this is our first visit
to Misano. But all the crew have been working really hard
and I'm very pleased with their teamwork and with what Randy
did this afternoon. We need to finalise some adjustments on
the bike but I think it's all looking pretty good. Very strong."
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