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The official race report service of Kawasaki Racing Team.

22 Október 2017

West Scores Brilliant Third Place

After qualifying sixth in Superpole on Saturday Anthony West (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) completed his Jerez WorldSSP weekend with a podium finish. Axel Bassani (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) struggled with an injured ankle and starting from 18th place on the grid and ended up 14th.

In his first WorldSSP ride for the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing team West proved his versatility and pace with a battling ride to third place after 19 laps. He had been down in eighth place, after getting caught out from his sixth place starting position, but within only eight laps he had caught up to the third placed rider PJ Jacobsen.
 
Passing on lap 12 and pushing forward again, West ended up only 1.652 seconds from the win, scoring 16 championship points. He will ride for the team again at the final round of the season. West is eighth in the championship table.
 
After injuring his ankle in a practice crash Axel Bassani (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) started the race in 18th place and finished it in 14th, scoring two points as a stand-in rider for the injured Kenan Sofuoglu.
 
In the championship Sofuoglu is in second place, now 20 points behind Lucas Mahias. According to his team, there is some possibility that the Turkish rider will be able to compete in the final round, despite fracturing his hip in mid-September at Portimao.
 
The championship finale will be held under floodlights as usual, on Saturday 4th November, at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar.
 
Anthony West, stated: “My start was not too bad but I got stuck on the inside and everyone was quite aggressive in the beginning. I got dropped back after that and I lost contact with the very front group. I pushed hard to get back up there and ended up in third place with a few laps to go. I felt strong with the bike but it was difficult to catch the two guys in front. This was my first time on this bike so third was a good result for me. I did not want to push too hard and crash. I am happy the team gave me the opportunity to ride and I am happy to give the team back this podium result.”
 
Axel Bassani, stated: “I struggled a lot in the beginning because starting near the back I had to fight with a lot of other riders. Then I finally found my pace and I was able to post similar lap times to the riders in front. My ankle hurt a bit and I also felt a small pain in my back. In the end I couldn’t do any more and I tried my best.”
 
Michael Canducci (3570 Puccetti Racing FMI Kawasaki) was 11th today and now sits 14th overall. Part-time ESS rider Rob Hartog (Team Hartog Jenik Against Cancer Kawasaki) was an impressive eighth in Spain, in a field of 31 riders, 25 of whom finished the race.
 
Series regular Gino Rea (Team Kawasaki Go Eleven) was ninth at Jerez, Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) 19th, Kazuki Watanabe (Team Kawasaki Go Eleven) 22nd.
 
Lachlan Epis (Response RE Racing Kawasaki) finished 24th, improving five places on his qualifying position.
 
Nacho Calero (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) crashed at his home round, restarted, but was finally forced to retire in the pits.