WEST GOES IT ALONE AT SACHSENRING
Anthony West will be the sole Kawasaki pilot on the grid
for this weekend's German Grand Prix at Sachsenring, as teammate
John Hopkins is forced to sit out the next two races due to
injuries sustained during a high-speed qualifying crash at
Assen two weeks ago.
West heads into this weekend's race determined to make amends
for a disappointing result last time out at the Dutch TT,
where a lap seven crash while lying 11th ended his hopes of
a second top ten finish in succession.
The 26-year-old Australian has a good record at the 3.671km
Sachsenring circuit, where he finished eighth at last year's
German Grand Prix in only his third race aboard Kawasaki's
Ninja ZX-RR, and where he scored no less than six top ten
finishes in the 250cc world championship in previous seasons.
Such experience at the track is a major plus point: its undulations
and numerous, tricky corners mean there's little room for
overtakes and it'll be West's track knowledge combined with
the low-down and midrange power of his Ninja ZX-RR that will
come to the fore for this race.
The Sachsenring, near the town of Chemnitz in Eastern Germany,
is a particularly twisty circuit, where the tarmac snakes
through 10 left turns and just four rights, making the correct
set up and tyre choice absolutely imperative.
The first race at Sachsenring was held in 1927 on an 8.7km
public roads circuit that ran through the village of Hohenstein-Ernstthal.
The shorter road race circuit was constructed in the early
1990’s and has since been used for a variety of racing
activities.
Anthony West
Kawasaki MotoGP Pilot #13
"I quite like the Sachsenring circuit although, with
its twists and turns and the fact that it has no real straight,
it's a bit like racing around a go-kart track at times. It's
really important to qualify well and then get a good start
in the race, because it's really difficult to pass on this
circuit. There are no real hard braking areas, so it's hard
to pass on the brakes, and the straight is so short it's almost
impossible to slipstream and then go past on power alone.
And, with only four right-hand corners, you need to be a bit
careful trying to pass there, as the right-hand side of the
tyre tends to cool down quite quickly. But, it's a circuit
that should suit our Ninja ZX-RR very well, and that should
stand us in good stead this weekend. After Assen I'm determined
to finish inside the top ten, and I hope it will be possible
to improve on my tenth place finish at Donington this weekend."
Michael Bartholemy
Kawasaki Competition Manager
"When we learnt the full extent of John's injuries we
looked at putting a replacement rider on the bike for Sachsenring,
but time was against us. It was felt that it wouldn't have
been fair to put someone on the bike who'd never ridden it
before, and there just wasn’t time to organise a test
ahead of the race, so Anthony will be flying the flag for
Kawasaki on his own this weekend. He left Assen disappointed
after crashing in the race and missing out on an almost certain
top ten finish, but I'm confident that he will make amends
this weekend with a strong performance at Sachsenring, where
he's had good results in the past."
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