BAD LUCK DOGS KAWASAKI AT LE MANS
Despite a strong start to today’s French Grand Prix
at Le Mans, Kawasaki’s John Hopkins saw any chance of
a top five finish disappear just after the halfway point in
the race, when the chain on his Ninja ZX-RR snapped without
warning.
The 24-year-old Anglo-American had fought his way through
into seventh place during the early stages of the race and
was closing rapidly on the battle for fifth when the incident
occurred. It was a bitterly disappointed Hopkins who was forced
to park the chainless bike against the Armco barrier and walk
back to the paddock.
It is the first time that such a failure has occurred, despite
many miles of testing and racing. Kawasaki’s race engineers
will now return with the chain to Japan, where they will work
with the manufacturer to identify exactly what caused the
chain to fail under race conditions.
With Hopkins out of the race, it was left to Anthony West
to carry the flag for Kawasaki, but the 26-year-old Australian
had his own problems to contend with. From the start of the
28-lap race, West was struggling with a severe lack of rear
grip that saw his Ninja ZX-RR spinning up on the gas out of
every turn.
In characteristic style, West refused to be defeated by the
problem, and his dogged determination saw him eventually finish
in 14th position, for which he was rewarded with two valuable
championship points.
It was a frustrated West that returned to the Kawasaki pit
box to demand answers from his crew, who were quick to identify
the cause as a problem with the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR.
Both Kawasaki riders leave Le Mans disappointed, but determined
to make amends in the next race at Mugello, which takes place
in just two weeks time.
Anthony West
#13 - 14th Position
“I am not happy at all. This weekend has been a struggle,
because we’ve had the same rear traction problems that
we’ve experienced at every track since the start of
the season. But then, in the race, the rear grip was non-existent;
the bike was spinning up if I even thought about opening the
throttle. I knew straight away that something was wrong, but
short of coming in for a change of tyre and kissing any chance
of a points scoring finish goodbye, there was nothing I could
do. In the end, I just did what I could to ride round the
problem, but I don’t think I’ve ever been as happy
to see the chequered flag as I was today. Now I want to know
what the problem was, and I want to be sure that we don’t
have the same problem again.”
John Hopkins
#21 - DNF
“After practice and qualifying I really thought we could
come away from Le Mans with a good result, which makes today
even more frustrating. I got a pretty good start, and was
then able to make up places by passing on the brakes, but
there are still a number of areas where we’re losing
out, on acceleration out of the turns for example, and this
makes it difficult to make a pass stick. It’s no fun
holding off someone like Lorenzo for a whole lap, only to
see him motor past you as soon as you get onto the straight.
We need to work on these areas, starting with tomorrow’s
test, and we need to make some improvements if we’re
to increase our competitiveness. As for the chain, I guess
that was just bad luck. Now we need to find out why it failed,
so we can avoid the same problem in the future. Finally, I’d
like to apologise to Loris for the pass I put on him, which
was a little bit hard. Sorry Loris!”
Michael Bartholemy
Kawasaki Competition Manager
“It has been a frustrating weekend for everyone, but
we can’t allow our heads to drop as a result of the
problems we faced today. John started well, and was closing
on the battle for fifth place when his chain snapped, putting
him out of the race. Obviously, we need to identify what caused
the failure so that we can avoid the same problem in the future.
To Anthony I’d like to apologise, because the difficulties
he experienced today were due to a miscalculation on the part
of the team. He showed true determination this afternoon by
riding around the problem to finish the race, and for that
he should be commended. Some very important lessons have been
learnt this weekend, and while it may have been a painful
learning process, this experience will only make us stronger
as a team. Now we need to focus on Mugello, where we must
realise the full potential of our riders and our Ninja ZX-RR.”
1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha 44'30.799; 2. Jorge Lorenzo
(SPA) Fiat Yamaha +4.997; 3. Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha
+6.805; 4. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team +10.157; 5.
Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +21.762; 6. Andrea
Dovizioso (ITA) JIR Team Scott +22.395; 7. Loris Capirossi
(ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +27.806; 8. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol
Honda Team +27.995; 9. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda +29.334;
10. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini +30.822; 14.
Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing Team +1'29.307; DNF. John
Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing Team +12 Laps
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