WEST QUALIFIES FOURTEENTH AT MOTEGI
17 September 2005 - KTM-Sportmotorcycles AG

Red Bull KTM rider Anthony West has qualified fourteenth for tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi.

The race will be a tough assignment on the difficult-to-pass Motegi circuit with its stop-go layout and drag strip straights.

Today’s final qualifying session came to a disappointing end for West whose bike ran low on fuel as he began his final fast laps on fresh tyres.

Earlier West had continued his evaluation of two different firing order motors fitted to his KTM race bikes. The motor testing is part of the on-going development program for the 2006 world championship.

The Japanese GP is just the fourth race for the all-new KTM 250.

Handling and chassis balance has proved a strong point at Motegi with the KTM working on a program to improve top speed performance.

West’s best lap of 1’53.97 was just one tenth of second faster than his Friday qualifying time. Japanese rider Hiroshi Aoyama qualified on pole position just ahead of Spanish rival Jorge Lorenzo.

Final qualifying was held in warm and humid weather with even higher temperatures forecast for race day.

Anthony West #14 - Eleventh - 1’54.082

“I went out on new tyres at the end of the session but unfortunately the bike ran low on fuel so I didn’t have a chance to do a quicker time. It’s a little bit frustrating especially as we are still a little down on top speed, it’s hard to pass the other guys on the straights. In the corners the bikes feels good, both in the tight and long corners so I’ll just have to get to good start and try make up ground early in the race; it’s tight and difficult to pass here.”

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