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 topspeed that he lacked.

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.

 

Anthony West – 17th place

“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 topspeed was quite slow, something we didn’t realize until the race was under way. In the beginning, I was fighting with some other riders but I didn’t get a good rhythm. Every time I tried to pass someone, they passed me back. This happened a couple of times with Cortese: I felt just as strong as him and I managed to pass him, but he just accelerated and passed me again towards the next corner, which happened several times in succession. I think our engine is so new that it runs just a bit tight, it wasn’t running free. 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!”

 

Roman Ramos – 27th place

“It was a tough race. I had a poor start and tried to pass a few other guys in the first corners, but I overdid it and dropped back to last in the second corner. For the remainder of the race, I tried to catch up as much as possible, which lead to a few more small mistakes. I lost a few seconds again and in the end it was impossible to catch up with the group in front of me, even though my lap times were similar to them. It was difficult, but I am now looking forward to the next race in Aragón, a circuit that I know very well and where I am going to push hard to get a better result!”

 

 

 

 

 

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