Sport
Technical glitches stop West, Sucipto crashes out
Technical glitches stop West, Sucipto crashes out
Agencies/Montmelo
After problems in practice for the Grand Prix of Catalunya, QMMF Racing Team rider Anthony West seemed to bounce back in the race. The 31-year-old Australian started well from 25th place on the grid, moved up to 22nd after one lap and continued his fight towards the front until lap five, where he held 18th position and was closing in on Simone Corsi who eventually finished the race in tenth place. But then a small but annoying problem with the quickshifter started to slow West down. After losing many positions without a chance to defend himself, he retired five laps from the end. |
Teammate Rafid Topan Sucipto had bad luck as well and crashed out of the race. On the 10th lap, he went into the first fast righthand corner of the track without sufficient load on the front. Indonesian rider walked away unhurt from the spectacular accident, in which the chassis of his Speed Up bike was bent.
“The first laps were not so bad and the lap times were quite good. I felt strong and I felt tenth place was definitely possible. I could see Corsi and I had the same pace as him, maybe even a little bit better. I was feeling good until the fifth lap, then the shifter stopped working and later on I had to pull in,” West said.
“It’s the second race that I had problems with the bike, it’s just bad luck that something is always broken on the bike.
“It’s nothing to blame the team for, they are doing a good job, but we are having bad luck with silly, unusual things that break on the bike. I hope we can improve at Assen with what we’ve got. It was difficult at the last two Grand Prix to get the bike set-up in the practice sessions and these problems in the races have made it even harder. We just have to keep strong and look ahead to the next race.”
Sucipto said: “I had a good start and was riding within a pack of riders for a while which felt great. Later on, when I had settled into my rhythm, I made a mistake in turn three, the fast righthand corner up the hill and lost the front. It was a big crash in which the bike got damaged quite a bit, but luckily I am okay.”