Did anyone mention westy and stoner

[Barrabob]

Didnt see them rate a mention any where else and i know it was pissing down rain but they rode like they wanted to win the whole way round, well maybe they gave up halfway through the last lap but go aussies.

Might be seeing a bit of westy now he has a ride and i find the racing more interesting with the 250s and 125s as diferent people win from week to week against the motogp where its dominated by a italian(would be diferent if he was a aussie).

[Barrabob]

Australia's Ant West provided Austrian motorcycle manufacturer KTM with a sensational debut for its new 250cc world championship machine by finishing second in the rain-affected British Grand Prix at Donington Park today.

The 24-year-old Gold Coast rider completed the seventh round of this year's 250cc series in 49-mins 12.573-secs, finishing 1.236-secs behind race winner Randy De Puniet of France on an Aspar Aprilia. Australia's Casey Stoner, riding a LCR Aprilia, was third in the 27-lap race held in wet conditions. The leading trio had a close battle for most of the race.

West, who won the Dutch Grand Prix at Assen in 2003, started the Donington Park race 15th on the grid. He made an early charge in his first race on the works KTM and led for three laps. West was never out of the top three positions after the third lap, and clocked the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1-min 47.025-secs around the 4km track.

The result by West was his fifth top-three podium finish from 80 grand prix starts in the 125cc, 250cc, and 500cc classes since 1998. He has scored world championship points in 60 of those races.

West joined KTM in the past off-season to spearhead its assault in 250cc grand prix racing. He rode two previous rounds of this year's 250cc series at Le Mans in France and Assen on privately-entered Aprilia and Honda machines while waiting for the KTM to be race-ready.

Before the race at Donington Park, West's only previous ride on the KTM was at a two-day test at Italy's Vallelunga track on July 6-7 in dry weather. The ninth round of the 250cc world championship is the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring circuit on July 31.

ANT WEST QUOTES: "I've been trying to get a factory bike for years. KTM have given me a chance so I'm stoked to get a podium in my first race for them. I never expected this because we had engine problems in practice, and I crashed yesterday (Saturday). In the warm-up I had no rear grip, but my team completely changed the bike and it was much better in the race."

"I didn't know what to expect once the race started because everything is new and I haven't done much racing this year. The conditions were bad. There were layers of water on the track and in some places the bike was sliding when I was barely on the throttle. Despite the weather I was able go sideways into Craner Curves – it felt comfortable, which hasn't been the case on other bikes I've raced here. The KTM has a good chassis"

"It helped having the others up there to race. It means you keep concentrating because there is so much happening. We were all trying to pass each other every lap. I felt I was quicker in some places, but when I was leading I couldn't get away. When I saw 'P1' on my pit board it was a shock. I never expected to be there this weekend. On the last lap I got held up by some backmarkers and then I made a mistake and almost crashed. That's when (Randy) De Puniet to put a gap on me. The only problems I had was my visor fogging up, plus I didn't have a rain suit and my leathers kept filling up with water and getting heavy."

"My team have told me I will have some new engines and parts for the next race so we can keep improving. Tomorrow I'm driving my Motorhome to Dover for the trip to Calais (France), and then it's on to the Sachsenring. I should get to the track on Wednesday."

I would asume that ktm arent dills when it comes to how many horsepower are required to race at the pointy end and it was mentioned that westy had a engine lockup in practice but I think the bike should be ok.

[aardvark]

Yeah, look, it was a great race and all, but lets face it, there's no point watching it, coz there's no bloody Kwakkas!



Just kidding. Go Westy. And Stoner?? What the hell was up with that corner you fucked up you silly twat. Could have been first. Should have been first.

[Neka79]

yep..true....it was an awesome race...much better than the 125, and heaps better than moto (i think..i fell asleep, so it cant of been that good)..
them boys has potential!!
ohh i like the depth of aussie talent...add vermuelan to the mix, and we got 3 world class riders under 24

[Nanna10r]

Was the best Race so far in any of the World Categories, Absobloodylutely pouring down, standing water everywhere, all the boys were having Major "moments", huge level of skill & commitment.
But in the end the frog deserved to win after his "wake up call" where he tank slapped n landed on his Cods then ran across the Grass at 120mph after trying to saty on the outside as Westie passed him with 7 or so laps to go, only to catch them back up by the start of the next lap. Brilliant Race.

GO ANT.
Go Casey.

Cheers Brett

[Barrabob]

Maybe if kwaka ran a couple of 250s they could scout some fresh talent for their motogp bikes, not saying that the existing riders are no good but they would have to be put out to pasture at some stage and theres little hope of getting a hot rider out of the 250s and onto the kwacka you have to scout your own i would say.

Could always throw rossi a bazillion dollars but i think he already has more than he knows what to do with.

Wouldnt think it would be too hard to throw a chassis together and stick a 250 2 stroke together remembering its 80% rider.

[MickLC]

I thought both the MotoGP and the 250 races were fantastic, heaps of lead changes, riders on the limit etc. You've got to hand it to Rossi, he pulled a couple of seconds on the other guys in the pissing rain in one lap...how does he do it?

[Yankee]

just finished watching the races......
DONNIGTON ROCKED!!!! what horrible conditions for everyone (sad to see it took Bautista's magnificent high-side to red flag the 125's, lucky he was okay to come back and do it again!!! )
yeah, bloody rossi is a freak!
and WESTY (my favorite... GO GOLD COAST!!!!) was awesome!!! and i love that KTM!!! (hey, it's got a "K" in the name, should be okay?! can't wait to see them in the the premiere class one day???)
gotta love it!!
hhhhmmmmm, sachsenring next..... bloody rossi and his 4 race lead over 2nd place Melandri, which i hope collin can wrestle from him...... (but then it's a yammy 1-2.... )

-meh

[red_dave]

250's was an awesome race...

[Steve_TLS]

Ant put in the fastest lap of the 250 race on lap 17 and it was faster than all the MotoGP times except for the 2 laps Rossi did his runner on (L22 & L23?).

Great show by the boys.

[HemiDuty]

Maybe if kwaka ran a couple of 250s they could scout some fresh talent for their motogp bikes, not saying that the existing riders are no good but they would have to be put out to pasture at some stage and theres little hope of getting a hot rider out of the 250s and onto the kwacka you have to scout your own i would say.

Could always throw rossi a bazillion dollars but i think he already has more than he knows what to do with.

Wouldnt think it would be too hard to throw a chassis together and stick a 250 2 stroke together remembering its 80% rider.

I know where they could find a couple of KR1Ss.......

[Barrabob]

They would do they just need a little makeover.

We could send captain strapon for inspiration.