Agencies/Le Mans
Anthony West in action in the French Moto2 race on Sunday
Rain king Anthony West lived up to his reputation at the wet French Grand Prix when he pushed his Moriwaki bike from 27th on the starting grid to an unbelievable seventh place at the end of the Moto2 race on Sunday.
The 29-year-old Australian, who has more feeling than anybody else on a soaked track, ignored numerous slides and was close to crashing several times, but pushed on and even held fifth place in the final stages of the race, before dropping back to a still very impressive seventh place.
Spanish team-mate Elena Rosell was not as lucky. The only female rider in the Grand Prix world championship also battled bravely and moved up to 20th place, but then crashed with eight laps to go. Fortunately, she walked away unhurt and is now looking forward to the next Grand Prix on known ground at Barcelona in two weeks.
 “We had a problem with rear tyre grip in the warm-up this morning and tried to fix it with a different set-up for the race. The changes that we made improved things a little bit but not enough,” said West. “On the opening laps of the race, I had the first few highsiders and was close to crashing on a few occasions, before I managed to find a way to ride the bike smoothly and more effectively. This way, I passed many riders and got closer to the front.
Halfway through the race, the bike became a little easier to ride, but then the rain got stronger and I was close to crashing again. All in all, it must have been about ten times that I could have gone down, sometimes I was completely out of the seat with my feet off the footpegs.
I was a bit angry when the group I was riding in re-passed me in the end and I lost two positions. The result could have been even better, but all things considered, I am still happy. It was good for the team to get this seventh place and I think we can build on this and continue from there!”Rossell said she was lucky not to be injured after crashing out.
“Today was very difficult for me. We kept learning the track and adapt the bike as well as we could over two practice days, but with the rain today we had to start all over again,” she said.
“ I had a few scary moments in this morning’s warm-up practice and things didn’t go much better in the race where I had many slides before I finally had this highsider and got thrown off the bike. Luckily I didn’t get hurt and I’m now looking forward to the next race at Barcelona, a track that I know and where we will have better weather for sure!”