Indianapolis, Indiana: Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) Racing Team rider Anthony West tried a new swingarm on his Speed Up prototype in the second free practice session for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and was delighted with the improvements in terms of grip and feeling for the rear tyre of his machine.
Even though a small problem with his rear brake slowed him down towards the end of this session, the 32-year-old Australian aims high for the rest of a weekend and sets his goals for a top ten result in qualifying and a possible top five finish in the race today.
West said: “In the first session, my feeling with the bike was a bit strange, because we had one month without riding. I think I need to get myself a 600 or something to do some riding on the road when we have such big breaks. I did a lot of moto cross, but when you get back on a Moto2 bike, everything feels strange and the bike didn’t feel comfortable, so it was a difficult first session.”
The 32-year-old Australian added: “For the second session, we made some changes to help the rear grip. It is normal on this racetrack to have no rear grip and to be spinning a lot, but these changes made it much, much better. The new swingarm gave me a better feeling when opening the throttle and also improved the feel for the tyre on the corner entry. It was a risk to try it, because nobody had tested it before, but it was good, so we will continue to use it tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, after the Grand Prix summer-break of one month, team-mate Rafid Topan Sucipto returned to action well-recovered from a crack in his right heel that he had suffered at the Assen Grand Prix.
The Indonesian teenager showed a steep learning curve on the legendary ‘brickyard’ of Indianapolis and gained speed and confidence during the day.
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