Like a phoenix with a mullet, Super Westie rides again!!! I hope he wastes them all with withering speed and witty post-race repartee.
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Like a phoenix with a mullet, Super Westie rides again!!! I hope he wastes them all with withering speed and witty post-race repartee.
From Moto Matters
Submitted by David Emmett on Tue, 2010-03-16 16:06.
With the official withdrawal of the Kino Racing team from the Moto2 field yesterday comes a new opportunity. To fill the place vacated by the Argentinian rider Fabrizio Perren, the first reserve rider has been allowed onto the grid, in the shape of Ant West and the MZ team. West has been testing with MZ since last year, though the team started out with one of West's former CBR600RR Stiggy Honda Supersport machines. Since then, Martin Wimmer and former 250 star Ralf Waldmann have been working on a trellis framed prototype which West has tested at Valencia, Barcelona and Jerez.
There is a certain poetic irony to the return of the MZ name to the middle class. The former East German factory revolutionized the 250s and sounded in the two stroke era when Walter Kaaden took the technology he had learned building V1 rockets and applied it to two-stroke exhausts. After a modest debut in 1957, the factory returned with a vengeance in 1958, its two-stroke engine radicalizing engine design throughout the 1960s, eventually forcing the four strokes out of the sport. It took a rule change imposed by the MSMA to finally kill off the two strokes in the intermediate class, and the introduction of the 600cc four-stroke Moto2 bikes.
And so MZ has come full circle. Once again, a poorly funded effort with a talented rider will take on the might of the established forces in Moto2 - in as far as there can be said to be any. Indeed, Ant West is also a fitting rider for the MZ effort, having been the rider who brought the Austrian KTM team back into the 250 class. So now, West takes it upon himself to bring forward another German-speaking team and develop a brand new bike. It will be fascinating to see whether the new MZ can live up to the fame of the old name.
For those of you interested in the history of MZ and how they changed motorcycle racing, see Mat Oxley's excellent book "Stealing Speed."
Monster leathers on Ant - they from the Kwaka days...
thought id revive this, for those interested. :)
West wants to push higher in Moto2
Anthony West achieved his best result of the season so far at Catalunya, where ninth place was a reward for the hard work that the Australian and his MZ Racing team have put into what has been a difficult introduction to the Moto2 class.
“When this new class started I was really excited because all the bikes were going to be quite similar, but money always plays a big part and our team doesn’t really have a lot to spend on some good parts,” explained West. “The other teams still have bikes that are a little bit better than ours, so that’s something we need to improve on and try and find some good sponsorship, but we are doing the best we can.”
The result at Montmeló in the last round was West’s first top-ten of the season and he wants to use it as a springboard for more solid results.
He continued: “For us Catalunya was like a win on this bike. Now I want to win. Even though I had one good result at Catalunya I still want to win. Top ten is not enough for me: I want to be up the front. We’re a small team and it would be nice to beat the top guys with big budgets on the bike we have got, that’s our goal. I think we can do it; we just need to go ahead with what we have.”
West and his team were present at last week’s Aragón test where they ran a new lighter chassis, which West hopes will make a difference for the remainder of the campaign.
“The biggest reason we needed a new frame was the weight of our bike. It’s more or less 18kg heavier than every other bike that’s out there and in this class every little thing makes a big difference on the track,” he said. “There’s one second between 20 guys so you need everything to be perfect and when we have 18kg on a bike we have no chance of winning. I’m happy with it so far and I just hope that it’s going to work in a race situation, which is always different from testing. So far it feels good though.”
This weekend will offer West and his team the chance to see the fruits of their labours at Sachsenring, a track the rider is looking forward to tackling.
“Germany for me is more like a home race being with this German team and a German manufacturer in MZ. I seem to have automatically gotten a huge fan base in that area so I’m looking forward to it. There are a lot of people who are still in love with the MZ brand and I hope we can put on a good show for them there. I’d love to get a good result before we go into the short holiday and then I can go and relax a bit and not stress about the season we’ve had so far,” concluded West.
Crikey....18 kilos is a lot....the equivalent 18 litres of water. The original frame was slightly "agricultural" in appearance. Great rider and I hope things are on the improve for him and the team.
Anthony West: New chassis, New perspectives
After the first trial runs at the official tests in Moto2 Alcañiz last week completed the new aluminum tubular chassis of the MZ Racing team is a promising debut in a real race conditions at the Grand Prix Germany at the Sachsenring.
http://www.muz.de/images/stories/Pre...achs_600px.jpg
The new aluminum tubular chassis - whether it is used in the race is decided depending on the weather on Saturday
Built by Frenchman Martial Garcia, a partner of MZ in Moto2 racing, is the new chassis lighter and handier than its predecessor, made of steel and shows up on the twisty Sachsenring, despite the initially modest 29th position of Anthony West as right choice.
"Anthony has just completed the first mile with this chassis at Saschsenring, and of course we still have some coordination problems. We were translated by two teeth too long, we had to adjust the position of handlebars and brake pedal, and even with the suspension still plenty of work ahead of us. But the basic right, "the team manager Peter Rubatto was confident.
This confidence was shared by MZ's Managing Director Martin Wimmer. "I was on the track and have done in the curved sections Teilstoppungen. And when Anthony was very good. He has lost on Elias and Iannone, only one tenth of a second. The overall lap time is not right yet, and that we need to analyze the data recording. But with our cornering speeds we are forefront. "
Anthony West - 29 Place in 1:27,935 min.
"We need some time for the suspension tuning. It certainly was a little early, with the new framework now compete at a Grand Prix, but we had to take that risk, because the other bike had reached his limit. We are still far from a good set-up away, but if we have only found the correct settings for the suspension will work very well, the chassis, as I am sure. The feeling is so good, but the suspension was now simply much too soft. The front wheel went under braking, the rear wheel when accelerating on block, and the whole bike surged back and forth like a seesaw - a funny feeling. But at least we know where we start tomorrow. If all goes according to plan, I can certainly keep up with the fastest group. "
apologies for the poor google translation, but you get the idea. haha.
Been a while ........ but a few updates.
It seems Ant has some options for 2011 (what a change a year makes). He did have an offer from another German Moto2 team but declined it. Probably been a while since Ant could actually knock back a ride ;)
MZ want Ant for 2011 along with another unconfirmed rider (but one of some note!!!). Word has it that he is also on the short list for a ride with Marc VDS Racing where he would team up again with Michael Bartholemy.
Can hardly wait to leave for Sepang on Wednesday to catch up with all the goss..............
oops... forgot to mention MZ have a new bike surfacing for the last 2 rounds. Hopefully it has some extra grunt etc etc
you mean hopefully it has some less weight ;)
make sure you post everything you hear jack, it's much obliged.