QMMF Racing Team rider Anthony West is confident that he has the pace to catch the front runners in the Moto2 championship after racing to his first top result of the season, storming to seventh place at the Grand Prix of the Americas.
Tenth after the opening lap, the 31-year-old Australian quickly moved up to fifth behind eventual winner Terol, Kallio, Aegerter and Redding, but couldn‰Ûªt keep his position due to some problems with chattering and a lack of front end grip.
He still managed to defend sixth place until the last lap, when Frenchman Johann Zarco took advantage of West‰Ûªs increasing problems with tyre grip.
‰ÛÏMy start was good and the first laps went quite okay." West stated. "I was not amazingly fast, but I felt comfortable where I was. I passed a few people, they fought back, but I passed them again and made a bit of a gap.
"I really felt like I could have caught the front group once I got passed those guys that were holding me up, but there was enough of a gap that I couldn‰Ûªt catch them.
"One problem that I had was front end chatter, the other was that in return for improving the rear tyre grip, we lost some grip in the front and I was losing the front a lot," he explained. "I was at the limit with how far I could push it and I was borderline to crashing.
"I still felt I had the speed to catch Redding in the end, because he dropped of a little bit, but my bike wasn‰Ûªt allowing me to do it. I am also bit upset that Zarco passed me on the last lap.
"But overall, it is a good result for us, good for the championship to get points and good in terms of the information we got for the continuation of the season.
"We are getting closer and closer to the front group, we just need to sort a few set-up issues. But the guys are doing a really good job and I am sure we can fix these issues for the next races." West concluded.
Top Image: Ant West (File)
Credit: qmmf.com
