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16 May 2008
KAWASAKI DUO SEE IMPROVEMENTS AT LE MANS
Kawasaki's John Hopkins and Anthony West finished today's opening practice sessions ahead of Sunday's French Grand Prix in ninth and 16th positions respectively, after focussing on refining machine set-up during the two, one-hour track sessions.
Hopkins spent most of the two practice sessions perfecting the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR to suit the stop-start, hard braking nature of the 4.18km Bugatti circuit. The Anglo-American ran through different tyre options with Bridgestone, lapping quickly and consistently, despite some difficulties with feeling in the front end of his machine.
Hopkins remains confident ahead of tomorrow, where he is sure that with some further refinements in the set-up of his Kawasaki, he can improve his lap time significantly. The 24-year-old Kawasaki pilot ended the day with a best time of 1'35.133, less than a second off fastest man, Dani Pedrosa.
Teammate West ended the practice sessions in more confident mood compared to previous rounds. The Australian, who makes his Le Mans debut on a MotoGP machine this weekend, feels more comfortable on his Ninja ZX-RR, after Kawasaki's engineers made minor changes to the power delivery of their 800cc, inline four-cylinder engine.
While he was unhappy with his finishing position today, West admitted he was able to lap more consistently and he remains confident that, tomorrow, he can improve on his final lap time of 1'35.877. The 26-year-old is aware of the particular areas of the track where traction issues are slowing him down, and the Kawasaki pilot is hoping that with the data collected today the team can continue making improvements during tomorrow's qualifying session.
John Hopkins: #21: 9th – 1'35.133
'Le Mans is a track I quite enjoy and although the position isn't where we want to be, I'm feeling confident. We've used the practice sessions today to find a tyre combination that works well in both the front and rear. At the moment we're struggling a little bit with feeling in the front-end, which is costing us time. It's nothing particularly major as we can lap quickly and consistently, but I feel that an improvement in this will reduce our lap time considerably. We have a few ideas on how to achieve this and tomorrow we'll be aiming for a good qualifying position.'
Anthony West: #13: 16th – 1'35.877
'I'm feeling a little bit more confident here today than I have in previous rounds. The circuit seems to suit our bike, as there are not so many turns here where the bike is leaned over for long periods of time, and this is where we've experienced problems in the past. We've made some alterations to my Ninja ZX-RR and I feel a lot more comfortable as I can use the bike's strength on corner entry to put together reasonable lap times. The position isn't anywhere near where we want to be, but I can lap consistently and this is a good sign as we were unable to do this before. There are two longer corners in the track where we need to improve traction, but we have some direction now and I hope we can continue with this tomorrow.'
Naoya Kaneko: Kawasaki Technical Manager
'Today we have been trying many tyre combinations that suit different conditions, as the weather here in Le Mans is very changeable. With John we have found a good set-up, although this needs to be refined in order for him to achieve the position we are looking for. Anthony is making steps forward and his lap times are much more consistent. We have altered the power delivery of his machine, which has made a big difference and the aim is to build on this further during tomorrow. We still have a lot of work to do but I am confident we can gain a good result here.'
Practice Times:
1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1'34.227; 2. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team +0.049; 3. Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha +0.060; 4. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha +0.260; 5. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +0.403; 6. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha +0.659; 7. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini +0.820; 8. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda +0.846; 9. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing Team +0.906; 10. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini +1.012; 16. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing Team +1.650
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Only a second and a half from the leader is a massive improvement from Ant and hopefully it can continue. Day 2 is starting off damp so who knows.
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How the West was lost
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Another bad race from the Ant, it's not looking any better. I think he should just go out there and not give a flying ..... ,(insert word of choice). That has always served him in the past and it could be the attitude that can get him closer to the front. Just a thought.
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For sure.. Its got to that stage now hasn't it?? Just get out there and go for it, he has more to win than lose.
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18 May 2008
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.”
MotoGP Race Result:
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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As bad as Ant's race appeared to be, as posted above, it was accentuated by a technical glitch, he can't buy a break at the moment can he :(
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It sounds like the team F..... up. An apology to Ant from the team principle, Wow.
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Sorry if this has been noted already, but aren't Kawasaki still using the odd-fire "screamer" engine? It would certainly explain the lack of grip; that's why every other team has given up on it, if I remember correctly.
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No, Kawasaki has only tested the "Screamer". They have not yet raced it. To my knowledge, the screamer is an even firing engine, producing more revs, correct me if I am wrong though.
