WEST DOMINATES OPENING INDY PRACTICE
Published: 12 Sep 2008

Kawasaki's Anthony West dominated the opening practice session today at a wet Indianapolis circuit, finishing comfortably at the top of the time sheets aboard his Ninja ZX-RR.

The 27-year-old Australian spectacularly shot to first place after only a few laps around the 4.216km rain-soaked Indiana circuit, where he remained nearly two-seconds ahead of his nearest competitor for the majority of the session. West responded to all of the challenges from his rivals, including World Champion Casey Stoner, slashing his lap time throughout the hour and a half practice session before setting his fastest time on lap 28 of 31.

Wet weather wizard West, who looked exceptionally smooth aboard his Kawasaki MotoGP racer, finished the morning stint with a best time of 1'53.034, which was 0.117 seconds clear of second placed Alex De Angelis.

"It was proper wet out on the track this morning, which made the learning curve a bit steeper as we tried to figure out the best lines around this circuit," declared West. "The temptation is to tiptoe around in these conditions, but I prefer to push as hard as I can in order to get a feel for the level of grip available. Here the grip is a little unpredictable because of the changes in surface, which meant I managed to scare myself a couple of times this morning when the rear tried to come round on me. But, that's what riding in the wet is all about, finding the limit of grip and then staying on the right side of it."

With rain predicted for the remainder of the weekend, the Kawasaki pilot is looking to build on his spectacular performance this morning, around a circuit at which none of the MotoGP regulars have had any previous experience.

Teammate John Hopkins opened the weekend in a promising fifth place, with a best time of 1'53.715 on his final lap of the session.

WEST STORMS TO FRONT IN WET INDY PRACTICE
Published: 12 Sep 2008

Kawasaki's Anthony West dominated both practice sessions during the opening day at a very wet Indianapolis circuit, putting his Ninja ZX-RR at the top of the timesheets in both practice periods to finish as the fastest rider overall.

The 27-year-old Australian was quick to get to grips with the 4.216km track, which is new to the MotoGP regulars and, as a result, spent the majority of the opening practice at the top of the standings, over two seconds ahead of the rest of the field. The Kawasaki pilot responded to challenges from reigning World Champion, Casey Stoner, and finished the one hour and a half long stint 0.117 seconds clear of second-placed Alex De Angelis, with the fastest time of the day of 1'53.034.

West's storming pace aboard his Ninja ZX-RR continued throughout the hour-long afternoon session, as he impressively led the field while conditions on track worsened. The Kawasaki pilot looked smooth and comfortable aboard his Bridgestone shod machine, and although none of the MotoGP competitors improved their times from the morning session, West still set a lap time nearly one second faster than closest rival, Chris Vermeulen.  A confident West is looking forward to qualifying tomorrow, for which the forecast is continued rain, as he looks to further refine his set-up around the slippery Indianapolis circuit.

John Hopkins also made a strong start to his home Grand Prix, finishing the day fifth in the overall standings. The 25-year-old Anglo-American set his fastest time of 1'53.715 on lap 28 of 28 during this morning's opening wet session.

Hopkins worked through different Bridgestone rear tyre options during the second session, and ended the day confident that he can fight for a front row position during tomorrow's qualifying with further improvements that he intends to make to his machine overnight.

Anthony West: #13 - 1st - 1'53.034
"This is a great way to start the weekend, especially after the results we've had recently. There's a lot of water out on the circuit, and it's a bit strange as there are quite a few changes of surface, but I've found my way around here quite easily, so I'm feeling happy. In some ways this track is a bit like those I used to ride on back home in Australia, because many of the circuits there have inconsistent surfaces, and I've found it relatively easy to adapt my riding style to suit the changes throughout a lap here. The bike is working well, and although we've had a few scary moments, I'm feeling pretty confident for tomorrow. It's promising that we can come to a new track, learn the lines quickly, and be able to put in good lap times quite comfortably."

John Hopkins: #21 - 5th - 1'53.715
"This morning conditions started off quite wet, so we concentrated on finding the right lines around the circuit, and it's quite strange as I really had to alter the way I was riding the bike to suit the changes in surface. I was fairly pleased with our lap time, which we set on a softer compound tyre, before trying something a bit harder during the opening part of the afternoon session. This didn't really work so well for us, but by the time we went back to the soft tyre, conditions had worsened and there was a lot of standing water out on track. My first impressions of the layout of the circuit are quite good, but it's difficult to tell with so much rain. It's pretty special for me here this weekend with all of the American fans, and I'm confident there's a lot more to come from us during tomorrow's qualifying, after we've made a few adjustments overnight."

Juan Martinez: West Crew Chief
"Anthony's performance today was very strong. We have found a good set-up for the Ninja ZX-RR to suit this circuit and it's the first time he has felt really comfortable aboard the bike. We have a little bit of an advantage in that our test team was here earlier this year, but as conditions are completely different this weekend, the data we have from them doesn't replicate exactly what Anthony is feeling out on track. To finish the day in first place is a big motivation for the team, and I hope we can continue to build on this tomorrow, especially as the forecast is for more rain."

INDIANAPOLIS GRAND PRIX - COMBINED FREE PRACTICE TIMES
1. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing Team 1'53.034; 2. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini +0.117; 3. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team +0.156; 4. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JIR Team Scot +0.670; 5. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing Team +1.681; 6. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +0.737; 7. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha +0.816; 8. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +0.897; 9. Ben Spies (USA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +1.263; 10. Toni Elias (SPA) Alice Team +1.582

HOPKINS REMAINS CONFIDENT AFTER LATE IMPROVEMENT
Published: 13 Sep 2008

Kawasaki's John Hopkins remains confident of a strong result in tomorrow's inaugural Indianapolis Grand Prix, but admits that qualifying only 16th fastest during this afternoon's hour-long timed session has left him with a lot of ground to make up from the start.

Conditions at the Indianapolis circuit today couldn't have been more different to the rain soaked practice sessions the MotoGP riders had to endure yesterday. Warm and sunny weather greeted the riders on arrival at the circuit this morning, with only a strong headwind on the main straight detracting from the almost perfect conditions.

For Hopkins and West it meant learning the 4.216km circuit all over again, but this time on slicks and with a dry set-up on their Ninja ZX-RR machines. Hopkins struggled to find a workable set-up during this morning's hour-long practice session, but a change to a different compound front tyre for the qualifying period, after discussions with his crew, allowed the Anglo-American to slash his time by over half a second in just one lap. With only 20-minutes of the hour-long session remaining, Hopkins was forced to focus his attentions on using qualifying rubber, and ended the day in 16th position on the grid.

Anthony West was bitterly disappointed after topping the time sheets in yesterday's practice, to finish qualifying today in just 19th position on the grid. The 27-year-old Australian has found it difficult to change direction smoothly around the tight and twisty Indiana circuit in the dry, which was compounded by a lack of rear-traction aboard his Ninja ZX-RR.

West will certainly be reviewing the data from his machine with his crew to try and find improvements to his dry set-up overnight, although the fact that tomorrow's weather forecast promises rain - and lot's of it - may well play into the wet weather wizard's hands.

John Hopkins: #21 - 16th - 1'42.673
"It was like starting all over again today, as the conditions were very different to the rain we had yesterday. I was struggling a lot this morning, as well as most of the afternoon, and our lap time was not anywhere near where we needed it to be. Then with 20-minutes of the afternoon session to go, we tried a front tyre that we don't tend to use that often on our bike and in just one outing we reduced our lap time by half a second. Unfortunately we had to switch our focus then to our qualifying runs, and this left us just 16th on the grid. We have a few ideas for warm-up and it will be very important for us to get a good start to the race tomorrow. I'm actually pretty confident, as well as incredibly motivated, because this is my home round and there are a lot of American fans here. I just hope that the weather situation is consistent throughout the entire day, as this will be important while we're trying to improve our setting."

Anthony West: #13 - 19th - 1'43.931
"To go from first to last in one day is very frustrating for us and it's certainly not where we hoped to be. The track here is quite difficult to master, as the grip levels at different parts of the circuit are inconsistent and this makes setting up the bike quite difficult. I was struggling to get the machine to change direction and this track requires a lot of momentum through the tight turns, which we just couldn't achieve today. We also suffered with a lack of rear traction, a problem that haunted us earlier in the season. We have a lot of work to do overnight on our dry set-up, but if it rains tomorrow then we know from yesterday's times that a good result could well be on the cards."

Naoya Kaneko: Kawasaki Technical Manager
"In wet conditions our machine worked exceptionally well here, but in the dry we certainly have more work to do in order to find a more competitive package. John found a big improvement with a different tyre option during qualifying this afternoon and Anthony also reduced his lap time throughout the two sessions today, so the situation is improving, but it wasn't enough to put us in better positions on the grid. We need to analyse the data from today and we'll make a plan for tomorrow's warm-up, although it's not yet clear what the weather might bring during the race."

INDIANAPOLIS GRAND PRIX - QUALIFYING TIMES
1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha 1'40.776; 2. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team +0.084; 3. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha +0.401; 4. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +0.495; 5. Ben Spies (USA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +0.688; 6. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP +0.716; 7. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JIR Team Scot +0.968; 8. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team +0.978; 9. Toni Elias (SPA) Alice Team +1.110; 10. James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha +1.121; 16. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing Team +1.897; 19. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing Team +3.155

Poor Westy.... One day on top of the heap, the next back down at the bottom!!

But if its wet he may well just come up through them all and finish top 10!!