WEST CHARGES TO TENTH IN GERMANY
31 July 2005 - KTM-Sportmotorcycles AG

With a stirring come-from-behind performance Australian rider Anthony West finished tenth for the Red Bull KTM 250 team in today’s German 250 Motorcycle Grand Prix at the Sachsenring.

This was West’s second top ten performance in the just his second outing for the new KTM 250, just one week after his brilliant wet weather ride into second place in the British GP.

Having made a delayed start to the season West is already 14th in the world championship standings. The KTM team are using the second half of the season as development program before mounting a full scale assault on the world championship in 2006.

>From twelfth on the grid West made a poor start when his motor bogged
>down and he was almost last into turn one. The hard-riding Australian
>was 19th at the end of lap one and began a vigorous charge through the
>traffic on the tight Sachsenring circuit.

He was fifteenth on lap two and by lap six had settled into tenth place behind Simone Corsi, with the leading group having already pulled away.

Over the final ten laps West engaged Honda rider Yuki Takahashi in a close battle and missed claiming ninth place by just 0.3s at the end of the race.

There is now a three-weekend break before the next race, the Czech Republic GP in Brno. West will relax at his European base in Austria during the holidays.

Anthony West #14 - Tenth

“I had a problem at the start with the clutch and bike didn’t accelerate away cleanly and I lost a lot positions, I think I was nearly in last place. I really had to push hard and I nearly ran over quite few guys to try and overtake and move forward. It’s hard work on this tight track but the bike performed strongly and the tyres were consistent although our set-up was not perfect for grip over the bumps in the final section of the lap. But this is only a new project, we are still catching up to everyone, and I’m happy be scoring points and in the top ten at just the second race.”

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