Donington Park Qualifying
THIRD ROW FOR WET WEATHER WEST
Kawasaki's Anthony West will start tomorrow's British Grand
Prix from the third row of the grid, after qualifying his
Ninja ZX-RR in seventh position during this afternoon's rain
soaked timed session at Donington Park.
The slippery conditions at the 4.023km track caught out many
leading riders during the two, hour-long sessions today, although
following the developments made in yesterday's dry practice,
West managed to find a good set-up aboard his Kawasaki Ninja
ZX-RR.
The 26-year-old looked set for a front row start after lapping
quickly and consistently around the notoriously unforgiving
circuit in qualifying, but the Australian rider lost out as
his main rivals took advantage of Bridgestone's softer compound
wet tyre, an option that wasn't possible for West to use due
to limited availability.
West eventually finished in seventh position as the highest
placed qualifier on Bridgestone's harder compound rear rubber.
The Kawasaki pilot feels confident that he has a good race
pace in both the wet or dry, and he is looking forward to
fighting for positions at the front of the field during tomorrow's
30-lap race.
John Hopkins, who is still suffering from the back injury
sustained in Catalunya, cautiously lapped the Leicestershire
circuit in qualifying after a minor crash at turn seven during
this morning's practice.
The Anglo-American concentrated on refining his machine set-up
and was careful to avoid aggravating his already painful injury
in the particularly greasy conditions. Hopkins will make some
adjustments overnight to his Ninja ZX-RR, but the 25-year-old
is reasonably happy with his machine set-up and will be looking
for a strong result during the race.
The weather forecast is for showers during tomorrow's warm-up
session at Donington Park, but with the rain scheduled to
clear in time for the race, which gets underway at 15.00 local
time.
Anthony West
#13 - 7th - 1'39.995
"It's great to be back in the top ten and fighting for
decent positions. The bike is working well and we have a good
pace in both the wet and dry. The track was very slippery
and we were top three for a lot of the session, but we weren't
allocated a soft tyre for my final run, which meant some of
the other riders had an advantage. I'm feeling confident for
tomorrow; we're not going to make many major changes to the
machine, although there are some areas in the turns where
we need to improve the rear traction of the bike. I am pleased
with how things are going, as we're moving forwards, and I
hope we can finally gain a strong result in the race."
John Hopkins
#21 - 11th - 1'40.539
"The conditions were really tough out there because the
track was incredibly slippery. The bike and Bridgestone tyres
were both working really well, but I had a crash this morning
and to be honest, with the back injury I have, I've been riding
quite tentatively this afternoon. I know we are capable of
more, but I'm feeling pretty confident with our race setting
whatever the weather tomorrow. We have some improvements to
make overnight, but we just need to get a good start and then
aim for the leading group."
Naoya Kaneko
Kawasaki Technical Manager
"Anthony did a good job today and he made the best of
what he had. He was lapping consistently with no mistakes
and he will start the race from a reasonably strong grid position.
The conditions out on track weren't ideal, but I believe we
have a good machine set-up in both the wet and dry. John is
suffering somewhat with his injury and the crash this morning
certainly didn't help things, but his race pace isn't so bad
and we will analyse the areas that we need to improve overnight.
For tomorrow we can only hope that it is either wet or dry
for the race rather than mixed conditions, which can make
setting up the machine more complicated."
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 1'38.232; 2. Valentino
Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha +0.649; 3. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla
Suzuki MotoGP +0.786; 4. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team
+1.038; 5. Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha +1.369; 6. Andrea
Dovizioso (ITA) JIR Team Scot +1.551; 7. Anthony West (AUS)
Kawasaki Racing Team +1.763; 8. Ben Spies (USA) Rizla Suzuki
MotoGP +2.012; 9. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team +2.118;
10. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini +2.185; 11.
John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing Team +2.307
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