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Stiggy Racing Honda>>West salvages low qualifying results with top ten finish

June 04 2009

Superbike World Championship
Stiggy Racing Honda

Round 07, Salt Lake City
Sunday, May 31st
Supersport Race

The seventh race in the Supersport World Championship started with a delay at the Miller Motorsports Park in Utah today, due to a red-flagged and re-started Superbike race earlier.

The Stiggy Racing Honda pairing of Anthony West and Gianluca Vizziello had been struggling throughout the weekend to get their bikes on competitive form for the 18-lap long Supersport race. West qualified a low 22nd on the grid in yesterday's session, while team mate Vizziello came through just slightly better in 18th position.

West came through the first lap in 18th position, and determinedly set out to launch the attack for a connection with the front group. He swiftly graduated through the field, with his best overtaking actions in the latter half of the race.

Despite struggling to set competitive lap times in the qualifying sessions leading to race day, West posted his fastest lap of the weekend in the final minutes of the race while running on the last thread of his tyres. West managed to impressively salvage his performance over the weekend, and turned his low qualifying position into a top ten finish.

Team mate Vizziello followed West's progression forward through the field, but deteriorating grip of his tyres prevented him to push further–as his lap times dropped down, he took 15th place at the flag.

Anthony West, 10th:
" I am still not very happy with my results, even though it is good to come back from 22nd to tenth. It's a position on the grid I should not hold in the first place. I struggled to find my confidence on the bike. At the end of the race, on used tyres, I felt a lot more comfortable than I have been all weekend. We have been able to improve the front of the bike, and I hope that marks a step in the right direction. The team is working very hard to prepare my a good package, so I hope I can turn it around for the next race. "

Gianluca Vizziello, 15th:
" I had a good start from my 18th place on the grid. Towards the end of the race I just lost all grip in my tyres, and my bike started to slide uncontrollably so I dropped back down to 17th position. It's not what I had hoped for, and we will have to find some improvement for the next race.

Johan Stigefelt, Team Manager:
" Anthony has made a huge step forward from his qualifying position to his finish. We have worked hard over the weekend to solve the issues and prepare him a better package. To see him push this hard to improve his position in the race is just something we have to be happy with. It shows us he is a fighter, and that we have made steps forward with the settings. Gianluca was fighting for a 12th position, but was struggling with the grip of his tyres in the last laps and dropped back in the list. We will set other targets for the next race, but for now I am more then happy. "

Results Supersport Race:
1. K. Sofuoglu
2. E. Laverty
3. C. Crutchlow
10. A. West
15. G. Vizziello

Championship standings:
1. C. Crutchlow, 135 points
2. E. Laverty, 126 p
3. K. Sofuoglu, 108 p
6. A. West, 66 p
18. G. Vizziello, 10 p

Stiggy Racing Honda is sponsored by Hotbodies Racing and uses our windscreens on all of their bikes. Hotbodies Racing specializes in manufacturing high-performance parts for high-performance sportbikes, and is the North American distribution of KR Tuned performance parts. Hotbodies Racing is the market leader in Undertails, Huggers, Windscreens, Flush-Mount Signals, Megaphone Exhausts and full-race Bodywork. Hotbodies Racing supports the sport with sponsorship around the world and encourages dealer and distributor inquiries. For more information visit: www.HOTBODIESRACING.com.