Surely all that leather etc would stem the flow!! :pQuote:
Originally Posted by NinjaMaster
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Surely all that leather etc would stem the flow!! :pQuote:
Originally Posted by NinjaMaster
Following on from Ducati's proposal to bring in Biaggi and Bayliss, Kawasaki have proposed having Kork Ballington test Ant's Kwaka to give some valuable input ;)
:laugh:Quote:
Originally Posted by Pantah Jack
Perhaps Robbie Phillis as well for his 4-stroke experience! :rotflmao:
As long as Ducati don't call up Fogerty or Hodgson :D OK
Nah they'll be after Roche or Polen, but only because Lucchinelli turned them down ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by maxu05
Perhaps the other option for Ducati is to use their 2 up machine and stick Randy on the back so he can direction. he could also ensure the extension of front tyre life as it would never be on the deck :)
Anyways heres to a ferkin great result form the Green Ant. Have checked the weather forecast and there is a 90% chance of rain on Sunday.... and the weather man is always right.
I have been checking out some of Ants "crashes" in 2008 and they all look really bizarre. Front end loses and low speed "high sides". What the ? No wonder he has bugger all confidence in the thing
I'm actually pretty confident (not sure why) that Ant will have a much improved performance this weekend regardless of weather. I think that Shanghai being hopefully a more Bridgestone friendly track than the previous three rounds and also that Kawasaki are confident the Chinese circuit suits their bikes perhaps fuel this optimism. This is also why I'm rating Hopkins as a real dark horse for a podium this round.
Hopper was 3rd last year in this race so he will no doubt bein the mix.
Hopefully Ant can pull it all together and be in there too..
02 May 2008
PROMISING START FOR KAWASAKI IN CHINA
The Grand Prix of China began today with the first two practice sessions of the weekend. In perfect warm, dry conditions, the premier class field headed out onto the 5.281km circuit at Shanghai with Kawasaki riders, John Hopkins and Anthony West, aboard their Bridgestone-shod Ninja ZX-RRs.
The 24-year-old Hopkins who, on starting Sunday's race, will become the youngest ever rider to achieve the landmark of partaking in 100 MotoGP rounds, came fifth fastest in both sessions, improving his times in the afternoon with a best lap of 2'00.591. Just over half a second off the leader, the Anglo-American is looking strong at the track, which boasts a fast, sweeping layout, well suited to the Kawasaki machine.
Meanwhile, West put his best lap in during the morning practice, with a time of 2'01.984 and a staggering top speed of 320.0kmh. The 27-year-old Australian was one of a number of riders, including pack-leader Valentino Rossi, whose early times were their strongest of the day and, as the Kawasaki squad experimented with settings on the ZX-RR, West's position on combined times was 15th in the group.
Practice continues tomorrow morning, followed by the qualifying session in the afternoon, at 13.55 hours, local time, prior to Sunday's 22-lap race.
John Hopkins: #21: 5th - 28 Laps – 2'00.591
'Today we worked on setting up the machine to suit my preferences around this circuit. I really like this track and I've always gone quite well here. In the afternoon session we tried a few different Bridgestone tyre combinations to find a choice that will last the distance on Sunday. We also evaluated various parts and we've finished practice very positively. I'm feeling confident and tomorrow we need to qualify well to put us in the best possible stead for the race.'
Anthony West: #13: 15th - 39 Laps – 2'01.984
'Although the times are not brilliant, we are making some progress and our fastest laps have been in the closing stages of each session. Hopefully, this means there is more to come, and we can continue going faster. Our biggest problem is with the power delivery and corner exit, where I feel we are losing a lot of time due to a lack of traction. Tonight we will review the data and try to find a solution to continue moving forwards.'
Naoya Kaneko: Kawasaki Technical Manager
'In practice today we've been working on our Shanghai race set-up. We haven't needed to make many changes for John from the last round at Estoril, so we've just been optimising the base setting we already have. We are not that far from the front but we need to improve the machine performance a little to be with the leaders. Anthony is slowly regaining his confidence and although his lap times are not quite where he needs to be, he is moving forwards. We will look at the data overnight and see which areas he needs to improve on tomorrow.'
Practice Times:
1. Valentino Rossi (46) Fiat Yamaha 1'59.906; 2. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team +0.257; 3. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team +0.455; 4. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Honda Gresini +0.647; 5. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing Team +0.685; 6. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +0.701; 7. Alex De Angelis (RSM) Honda Gresini +1.025; 8. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +1.058; 9. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JIR Team Scott +1.068; 10. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha Tech 3 +1.158; 15. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing Team +2.078
Just wanted to say, if you have nothing good to say don't say anything at all.
So I am going to say nothing!