Doha: QMMF Racing Team rider Anthony West battled his way to 17th place at the Grand Prix of San Marino.
Even though the result was not what the experienced Australian had hoped for on the Misano World Circuit, he still left the track with confidence for the next races to come.
An engine change late on Saturday solved his gearbox problems, a good set-up together with the latest generation of Dunlop tyres gave him a better feeling with his Speed Up machine and the only missing ingredient in the race was a bit of top speed that he lacked in comparison to the other riders.
Team-mate Roman Ramos dropped back to last in the hectic beginning of the race and fought tooth and nail to make up positions for the remainder of the race, but couldn’t achieve more than 27th place. The Spaniard now looks forward to his home race at Motorland Aragón, a circuit he knows very well.
“The gearbox problems that I had during the last two races finally enabled us to change the engine. We did that last night and this morning in warm-up I never had a problem with the gearbox again. I did the fastest time I’ve ever done here, which was great, but on the downside, my top speed was quite slow, something we didn’t realize until the race was under way,” said West.
“In comparison to the previous races I feel better with the bike and the new tyres help us as well, but the result that we hoped for just didn’t come this weekend. I feel the next races are going to be stronger than our last three,” he added.
The Peninsula
