RAIN KING Anthony West lived up to his reputation on the wet Sepang circuit and stormed to the second place at the Malaysian Moto2 Grand Prix, handing his QMMF Racing Team with its best ever Grand Prix result.
The 31-year-old Australian started from 19th position on the grid and hunted down no less than ten other riders on the opening lap to break into the top ten. He continued with the same incredible pace and moved up to sixth after lap two and fourth after lap three. An exciting battle with Italian Alex de Angelis, Briton Gino Rea and local hero Hafizh Syahrin unfolded that made the crowd cheer whenever the front group of four passed the grandstands. Two laps from the end, West left Rea and Syahrin behind to take the second spot on the podium behind winner de Angelis.
Elena Rosell, who ran to the podium to celebrate West’s success with the entire team, had every reason to be proud as well. Starting from 31st place on the grid, the lady racer from Valencia not only reached her goal of fighting with a group of other riders, but got stronger and stronger as the race went on. In 26th position after 12 laps, she gained six more places in the last three laps to finish in 20th position, her personal best in GP racing, when the race was red-flagged because of heavy rain.
“Finally we found what we were looking for during the whole season”, said QMMF Racing team manager Rashid al Sulaiti. “Today, he showed his special skills and his unbelievable feeling in the rain. But we are also making big improvements with the set-up of our new Speed Up bike in dry conditions.
“We struggled a lot in the first part of the season, but now, in the second part, we hope that we can continue on our way up and that we’ll be ready for next year. I want to thank QMMF, the team and our riders. Anthony was simply fantastic today!,” added Sulaiti.
“It’s a long time since I had a result like this and I’m very happy about my comeback on a Grand Prix podium. The last two years have been really difficult for me and at times, my confidence wasn’t great,”commented West after the race.
“But in the last two races, I started to feel really good with the improved bike. This race now is the next push for me to finish the season strong. I really want to thank QMMF for giving me the opportunity to race again. Initially, I thought I was not going to be racing this year at all and now I am back on the podium – things turn around quickly sometimes,”said a delighted West.
“Without QMMF, I wouldn’t be here, but I also want to thank the team as they are a great bunch of people. We all have a laugh, but at the same time, they all have a lot of experience. I am glad that I finally gave them a result that shows how good the team really is.” Recalling the race moments, he said, “The race was crazy.
On the first laps, I seemed to pass lots of people quite easily.
Finally, I caught up with Gino and Alex. They were setting a good pace and I was quite happy just to stay behind them. It was difficult, because sometimes they did really good laps and other times, they were sliding around, so I decided to sit there and watch.
“The conditions were changing constantly, sometimes you could brake hard and other times the track was too slick to do anything. Towards the end, the rain was out of control and I didn’t think I was going to complete.
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