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STIGGY HONDA: West stars in Valencia race

April 06 2009

World Superbike Championship
Stiggy Racing Honda
Round 3 Valencia
Sunday April 5
WSS Race

Anthony West put in a blistering performance today on his new Stiggy Racing Honda CBR600RR, but lost his 13 lap strong lead in the ultimate lap of the race to Cal Crutchlow.

From his front row start West made a smooth move to the front of the field in an attempt to put his disappointing performance of the last race in Qatar behind him. West and Crutchlow, who started from pole position, tussled the lead before West firmly put the Yamaha behind him halfway the race.

From then on it was West who tried to extend his lead and secure his potential first win for his new team, but Crutchlow managed to pick up the pace in the last minutes and made a move past West on the straight before going into the last lap, leaving West with little to no opportunity to recover his position. West went out today determined to win and deserved to do so but was forced to step back and take second.

West's Supersport result came after a week of hard work by the team as they developed their new bikes and engines and succeeded in their quest to finish their bikes top of the Honda's in a field that is dominated by the Japanese manufacturers' machines.

Anthony West now holds an equal third place in the Championship standings alongside Andrew Pitt and Eugene Laverty, while Gianluca Vizziello sits in 16th position. The latter had to dig deep today to keep up the progression he started this weekend, but managed to ride a consistent race and finished in 11th position.

Anthony West, P2;
"I came here to win this race and am a bit disappointed that I got beaten in the last lap after leading most of the race. But it is definitely a better result then the last race in Qatar where I got beaten by all the others. My mechanics have put a lot of time and work into developing the new engine and the new bikes we got for this weekend and today shows how strong and competitive the bike really is. For the next race we will work on further improving the engine to prepare us even better for the next race. I was so close today and now I just want to win. I like the track in Assen and am eager to take victory there."

Gianluca Vizziello, P11;
"This result was very important for me and the team. I was rather angry with myself after the qualifying sessions. We just couldn't work out what was wrong and where we had to find the improvement. My mechanics made some improvements on the bike and the suspension and the results clearly showed off today. I think that I can make another step forward in the next round in Assen."

Johan Stigefelt, Team Manager;
"We had some issues in the Qatar race and worked hard on finding the solution. It worked out well over the last couple of days and Anthony became faster in each outing. He went out today determined to win he deserved to do so, but unfortunately he made a small mistake in the first corner after Crutchlow had past him and couldn't make up. It's great to come back like this and I'm very pleased to see Anthony confident and happy again. The way he rides the bike is unbelievable and shows the potential. I want to thank my team for all the effort and hard work they have put into making this happen today. Vizziello also made a big step from where he was in qualifying and set his best lap of the race in the second last lap. If he can continue his progress he will be able to make another step in Assen."

Results Supersport Race;
1. C. Crutchlow
2. A. West
3. K. Sofuoglu
11. G. Vizziello

Stiggy 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.