Le mans, France: With a heroic ride to 14th place at the French Grand Prix, QMMF racing team rider Anthony West bounced back from a disappointing qualifying session and scored valuable world championship points for the fifth time in five races so far.
The 32-year-old Australian had a great start from 27th position on the grid and was in 18th position after one lap.
From there, he kept gaining positions and climbed up to 13th and even 12th place as the race went on, but lost two positions again on the last lap due to tyre wear. Nevertheless, he and his team were in good spirits after the race, since they had found a new way to improve corner speed, which should help West in the races to come.
Team-mate Roman Ramos had a tough day against a group of riders with a similar pace, but eventually managed to win the battle against Azlan Shah and Robin Mulhauser to score 23rd place. “My start was good and as usual in the race, I somehow managed to get towards the front. But I had to fight a lot with the bike, said West. “ I had chattering, I had sliding and it seems to be a constant battle from entry to the exit of the corner,” he added.
Ramos who finished 23rd said: “It was a difficult and tough race. The bike didn’t behave as well as in the third free practice session, where it was at its best and I liked it a lot.”
Ramos added: “In the end, I was suffering and I was much further behind in the field than I had hoped to be. Now we are looking to next race at Mugello, where I will try to be closer to riders I should compete.”
THE PENINSULA
