Oz Racers around the World - July 2005

250GP British round - July 24^th

Australian motorcycle racers Anthony West and Casey Stoner have scored a historic double podium finish in the British 250cc Grand Prix. In torrential rain at the Donington circuit, West, 24, and Stoner, 19, carved through the field from 15th and 10th on the grid respectively, to finish second and third – the first time two Australians have stood on the podium together in 250cc Grand Prix history.

West was just 1.236 seconds behind the winner, Frenchman Randy de Puniet, with Stoner a further 15 seconds back. It was West’s race debut aboard the new KTM machine, having waited out the first half of the season for the bike to be race ready. West stormed up to sixth place on the first lap and by the half-way mark was swapping the lead with de Puniet and Stoner as the trio battled for victory in the rain.

West has made a total of 80 GP starts since his debut as a wildcard in the 1998 Australian 125cc Grand Prix at Phillip Island, including 65 starts in the 250cc class from 1999 to 2005 and 14 in the premier 500cc class in 2001.

Stoner lost his chance at a third win this season when he went straight on at turn one on the penultimate lap, while West survived a major slide, allowing de Puniet to take the chequered flag. “I lost the front of the bike two or three times, but I didn’t think I could lose it in a straight line,” Stoner said after missing turn one. “I’m a little bit disappointed as I was planning to sit and wait for an opportunity to take the lead. It ended up I was incredibly lucky to finish at all. It was Stoner’s fourth podium of the season, including two victories, and consolidates the teenager’s second place in the 250cc title chase. Pedrosa leads the championship on 156 points followed by Stoner on 122 and Dovizioso on 111. West is 16^th on 20 points.

250GP German round - July 31^st

Despite being unable to repeat their historic double podium finish of one week ago, Australian motorcycle grand prix racers Casey Stoner and Anthony West have declared themselves happy with their top-10 performances in the German 250cc GP. Stoner finished seventh on his Aprilia at the Sachsenring circuit and held on to second in the world championship, while West was 10^th aboard his new KTM machine.

With Stoner hampered by an injured right hand and both getting off to poor starts, the Australian pair was unable to stay with the lead group in the 29-lap race but were still satisfied with their race pace. Having remained injury-free for the first half of the year, Stoner suffered bruising to his right hand after a crash during practice, but with the season now taking a four-week break, he will have plenty of time to return to full fitness for the Czech GP at Brno on August 28. “I’ll go home to Australia, get my hand right, train a bit and get myself ready for Brno. “We had a test there after the Dutch GP and everything seemed to be going quite smoothly, so hopefully we can just continue our progress and end up with a better result.”

After finishing second on debut for KTM in the rain-lashed British GP one week ago, West, 24, from the Gold Coast, found himself battling through the pack after dropping from 12^th to 19^th on the first lap. “The clutch ‘bogged’ at the start and I lost a lot of time,” West said. “There aren’t many places to pass at this track so I pushed hard in the first few laps to make up some positions. By the time I got up to 10^th the guys in front had put a gap on me and I couldn’t catch up. “During the race I also had problems with the rear sliding and ‘spinning up’, especially on the exits of the turns. The bike is predictable so I could control it, but I wasn’t moving forward. (Yuki) Takahashi caught and passed me near the end. I tried to get him back, but I couldn’t.”

West missed most of the first half of the season while waiting for the KTM to be race ready, but has quickly proved his competitiveness. “These two races we’ve done at Donington (in Britain) and here have given our team valuable direction on the bike and what we need to do to improve. The other factory teams have done a lot of testing and half a season of racing, so I think what we’ve done so far is pretty good. When KTM do something they do it properly. “We’ve now got the mid-season break and KTM are going to work on engine development, the clutch, and a few other things. It looks like we may test for a couple of days straight after the next race at Brno.”

MotoGP British round – July 24^th

In the MotoGP class, Australian Troy Bayliss crashed out of the race while trying to avoid running over Italian Marco Melandri, who was one of many riders to slide out in the wet conditions. “The whole place was tricky today, like a sheet of glass and it caught a lot of people out,” Bayliss said. “I got a good start, and despite the conditions being awful, I felt comfortable in the front group; I was right in there. Unfortunately, when Marco crashed in front of me, he was too close and I tried to avoid him but I touched him. I was forced out onto the grass where I couldn’t control my bike. There’s no point saying how disappointed I am, but it was just a racing incident.”

Italian Valentino Rossi was one of only 10 riders to stay upright in the accident-strewn 29-lap race, scoring his seventh victory in nine rounds this season. “This was one of the most difficult races of my career,” Rossi said. “The conditions were incredible. It was very, very cold and the track was very slippery. “Today was not like riding a bike; it was like riding a boat. He extended his championship lead to 104 points over Melandri. Bayliss is 11th on 47 points.

MotoGP German round - July 31^st

In the premier MotoGP class, Italian star Valentino Rossi clinched his eighth win of the season and the 76^th of his GP career, profiting from a last-lap slip-up by Spaniard Sete Gibernau.

Australian Troy Bayliss crashed out of the first part of the two-part race which was stopped after five laps when American John Hopkins performed a massive high-side leaving his Suzuki machine in the middle of the track. “When things are going wrong there’s not too much to say except I’m sorry,” said Bayliss, who started from 16^th on the grid but slid out on lap two while trying to make his way through the field. “The weekend hadn’t been going badly until qualifying. We were able to sort out the situation though because in the warm-up I felt good with the bike and the tyres and so I was confident for the race. Then I got caught up in the confusion at the first corner where several riders crashed out and I went really wide, almost stopping. I put my head down and tried to recover, and got good draught off (Makoto) Tamada but as I tried to pass him I went into the corner a bit too hard.”

Just three points separate the next four places with Melandri on 116, Gibernau 115, American Colin Edwards 114 and Biaggi 113. Bayliss is 11^th on 47 points.

World Super Bikes Brno - July 18th

Troy Corser (Suzuki) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) both scored stunning race wins in the warm, sunny conditions at Bruno yesterday. Corser was denied a second win as 'The Samurai of Slide' spun it up on his way to an exciting win in the second race. Haga's win provides Yamaha with its first victory of the year.

In the first race, Corser broke early and was able to stretch his lead and cruise to a seven second victory. Reigning Superbike champion James Toseland (Ducati), was able to put a terrible start behind him, and race exceptionally well from just inside the top 10, right up to second place. Team-mate and winner of three of the last four races, Regis Laconi, rode into the final place on the podium ahead of Chris Walker on the PSG-1 Kawasaki.

The second race was restarted after an oil spill on the track had to be cleaned up. When the race restarted, Corser again got to the front of the pack. But it was Haga who denied him the top spot, riding beautifully to the finish line. He is the first rider to qualify outside the top 16 in Superpole to go on to win a race. It was a great effort after his promising seventh place finish in the first race.

Australian Chris Vermeulen recovered from his eighth place in the first race, and rode superbly through the pack from 11^th right up to third. Taking to the Brno circuit for the first time, he struggled with steering but was able to make changes which allowed him to be competitive in the second race:

"Race one didn't go according to plan, but I've never seen this track before and I have enjoyed racing here," he said. "We made some changes for race two to get more grip and drive. I'm pleased to be on the podium but I want to be on the top step! It is a hard track with a lot of down hill and turning on the front. Steering was where we really struggled but I'll be more prepared next time."

Pierfrancesco Chili (Honda) was also impressive as he finished with two fifth places, after poor qualifying and average starts to both races. The recently prominent Ducati riders were relegated to finish the second race, Laconi in seventh and Toseland in eighth, notably finishing behind the SC Caracchi Ducati rider, Lorenzo Lanzi, who repeated his excellent first race finish of sixth, thus beating both Ducati factory runners.

Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) was running strongly in the early parts of both races, but fading to finish with disappointing 13^th and 9^th.

The Petronas triples had another difficult meet as Superpole qualifier Garry McCoy was involved in a collision with Jose Luis Cardoso, injuring his neck and elbow which stopped him competing in race two. Steve Martin could only manage 17^th and 16^th places. In the championship battle, Corser extends his lead to an impressive 94 points, with Vermeulen second on 205 and Laconi third on 187.