Ant wasn't the only Kawasaki rider having dramas today!!
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Ant wasn't the only Kawasaki rider having dramas today!!
04 May 2008
TRICKY CONDITIONS HAMPER KAWASAKI IN SHANGHAI
Kawasaki's John Hopkins and Anthony West were left frustrated today, after rear traction problems left them unable to fulfil their true potential in this afternoon's 22-lap Chinese Grand Prix. Hopkins finished a difficult race in 14th position, with West crossing the line a further 20 seconds back in 17th place.
After qualifying on the fifth row of the grid yesterday, Hopkins was quick to make up places from the start of today's race. The Anglo-American put himself in touch with the leaders, including eventual race winner Valentino Rossi, by riding around the outside of the field at turn one. Unfortunately, Hopkins had it all to do again after a coming together with Alex de Angelis forced him to run on at the end of the main straight, and left him nursing a painful puncture wound after catching his knee on his own foot peg.
Rear traction problems hampered the 24-year-old Kawasaki pilot's attempts to work his way back through the field, but his persistence and determination were rewarded with two valuable championship points, as he fought his way up to 14th place by race end.
The main straight also caused problems for West, who was passed by his teammate after running off the track early on in the race. Like Hopkins, the 27-year-old Australian was frustrated by a lack of rear grip from the start of the race, but he also identified a lack of front-end grip under braking as being a major factor in his disappointing result.
With both riders having declared themselves satisfied with the performance of their Ninja ZX-RR machines in race trim and on race tyres yesterday, the reason for such an unexpected deterioration in rear traction was not immediately apparent. Kawasaki's engineers will now look to the data to identify the problem ahead of the next race, which takes place at Le Mans in just two weeks time.
John Hopkins: #21 - 14th
"We went out in the wet warm-up session this morning with high hopes of a good result in the rain or dry today. By the time we got to the race, the circuit had started to dry out and we had to make a decision on tyre choice, which maybe wasn't the best. I struggled right from the start with rear traction problems, and I pushed hard to make my way through the field. I made a few mistakes and ran off the track in places, it was a really tough race. I'm very disappointed as it's not the result I wanted for my hundredth Grand Prix, but we must stay focussed and try to make amends at the next round."
Anthony West: #13 - 17th
"I was looking for a better result than this today. The conditions were not ideal as the track was quite slippery after being wet this morning and it gradually dried out during the race. I followed John for a few laps and I think we were both experiencing similar problems with a lack of rear grip. I ran off the track in places because I just couldn't make the bike stick. I'm frustrated, as we need to make headway with these issues we've been having, but I'm determined for us to make a step forwards very soon."
Michael Bartholemy: Kawasaki Competition Manager
"I am disappointed with the result today as it isn't where I predicted us to be. We are not here to finish in the positions we achieved in the race. Shanghai is a circuit that we've performed quite well at in the past and I felt that we would gain better results here than in the opening rounds of the season. We suffered with rear traction problems in the race and both riders struggled to find grip. Now we have to look forward to Le Mans and everybody must work hard to improve our results there."
MotoGP Race Result:
1. Valentino Rossi (46) Fiat Yamaha 44'08.061; 2. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team +3.890; 3. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team +15.928; 4. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha +22.494; 5. Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team +26.957; 6. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +28.369; 7. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha Tech 3 +29.780; 8. Toni Elias (ITA) Alice d'Antin Ducati +30.225; 9. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +31.440; 10. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Honda Gresini +35.969; 14. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing Team +45.855; 17. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing Team +1'05.593
I must say that this time people can't blame Westy for a shocker this time, as Hoppa had a shocker as well, struggling with the same problem as Ant. Come on Kwaka, sort this out and give the boys a fighting chance. I think if Kawasaki want to get serious, they need to have 2 factory bikes and a satelite team as well to speed up development. I think sending the Motogp crew to WSBK to help them out was a bit daft when they can't get their own bike sorted. I am a Kawasaki fan, but I am very frustrated right now.
I bet Ant and Hopper are a tad frustrasted :) too!!
West still needs to find something though as after the first encouraging session when he was 11th, he dropped back to his usual spot at the back of the field. Hopkins had quite a fast race pace pretty much all weekend running around 5th to 8th until race day when they took a wrong tack on tires. That is the problem with variable weather conditions, settings and tires become a gamble and the green guys lucked out. Kwak still nedd to improve to win but I reckon they're at least as good or better than Zook and in proper conditions they will be up there.Quote:
Originally Posted by maxu05
I think the Kwak is just as good as the Zooks as well. I don't think it will be too long before Hoppa sticks it on the podium. Westy will improve, I'm sure, but, I am not holding my breath waiting for a podium from him. I hope I am wrong, but it's not looking too promising right now. Perhaps Westy/Kawasaki should consider the radical setup that Yamaha tried with Edwards for Qualifying in China, perhaps it might work.
This year has to be pretty tough on Ant, I mean he's finally got what he's always wanted, a factory MotoGP with a good amount of off-season testing (granted he was injured at the time) but it's just not working out for him at all. His new to the team team-mate has got the better of him and he already knows that it's a slim to zero chance that he'll be retained by the team next year (what with Kawasaki having already approached Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso and rumoured to be approaching Nicky Hayden and Alvaro Bautista). It seems the best Ant can hope for out of season 2008 is to not be fired before Valencia, I mean at the moment the only thing he's got over what Olivier Jacque did last year is that he's still able to ride the bike. :\
I hadn't heard that they had approached Andrea Dovizioso!!
Mm ...Makes it difficult as I like both Ant and Dovi as riders....I cheer for both of them and it would be hard if one got outed to make way for the other..
But thats racing isn't it!!
Good to see you back Matt :up:
That is a tough call, Ant or Dovi. The heart says Ant, the head says Dovi IMO
Whilst I've been a fan of Ant's since he was racing 250 proddies years ago, Dovi was the one that I always thought that Kawasaki should have made a big push for last year. I think they've now missed out on him as a result (I'm expecting him to be elevated to the Repsol team) and I'm still happy that Ant got the chance to ride a good factory bike and hope that he will shortly have a Melandri-like click moment where they can sort the bike out to his liking.
In positive news, the main man at KRT, Michael Bartholemy has thrown his full support behind Westy to at least finish the year out with the team and they have altered the performance criteria for him to retain his ride in 2009. Now this might just sound like PR to deflect unwanted negative attention and rumours about the team but he elaborates further.
"Westy is now a big part of my life because I hate it when people think I might have made a mistake (in chosing West). I will do everything I can to help him perform - I will make him train and be mentally fit to race a MotoGP bike", says Bartholemy. They have arranged for him to move his base from Austria to Belgium, to improve his physical and mental fitness and directed that his manager, Harris Barnett, not attend GP's as his constant minder (for some reason).
Nice to see that Wests team haven't given up on him and neither have I. :up: