Australian wildcard West finishes on the World Supersport podium
Australia’s wildcards had the opportunity to shine this weekend, and with a venue full of screaming Australian fans, there was plenty of incentive to put on the performance of a lifetime.
With a total of seven Australians including three wildcards, competing in the World Supersport category this weekend, Australia was well represented when the Supersport race got underway.
With wildcard Ant West (Green Tea X50) impressing in the warm up session this morning, all eyes were on the Aussie when bikes left the grid, making his way into seventh position after only one lap.
By the time the race had reached lap six, Queenslander West had amazingly made his way in to the race lead, leaving spectators hanging over the fence cheering, with the dream of seeing an Australian on the World Supersport podium.
Despite West dropping back to third position behind American Patrick Jacobsen (Honda World Supersport Team) and MV Augusta’s Jules Cluzel for a short time, West made his way back in to the race lead by lap eight, using the home crowd to fuel his outstanding performance.
With a gruelling 18 laps to get through, West began to look more comfortable out in front, with himself and Cluzel pulling away from the group. And when Cluzel crashed on lap ten, it gave wildcard West, the opportunity to go head to head with world champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki).
As the race reached its closing stages, Sofuoglu had managed to stretch out a commanding race lead, and although the Turk had separated himself from the lead group, West maintained his second position.
By lap 14, drops of rain were falling in sector 1-2, and crowds watched on as Australia’s West rose to the occasion. Despite Sofuoglu’s teammate Krummenacher managing to get by West relegating the Aussie to third, West looked in no way to be easing up his charge to the front.
It was on lap 16 that the World Supersport race was turned upside down, when race leader Sofuoglu crashed hard, marking the end of the world champ’s Phillip Island campaign – So with Sofuoglu out, the door was left wide open for West to finish on the podium. With only a short distance separating him from new race leader Krummenacher, West commenced his chase for the Supersport top spot.
With one lap remaining, and West only losing positions down the straight, the Yamaha mounted rider fought hard to get maximum power out of his machine, and maintain second position.
But on the final race down the straight, West once again lost some speed, and was forced to settle for a marginal third spot on the podium, with the machine of Federico Caricasulo reeling him in to snatch away second just on the finish line.
An elated West spoke to the media after his outstanding World Supersport podium.
“I didn’t expect to even get close to where we were. The whole week had started out as a complete disaster and going into yesterday we were still trying to find our way,” a smiling West shared.
“We threw the team together last minute and we met each other for the first time on Monday – They have done great with what we’ve had to work with and we can’t expect more than that with this bike and what we have to go up against.
“It’s a big achievement for the guys, I think we have achieved what we were trying to do here. I’m looking for a ride for the rest of the year and its just another way to show that I’m still here and I’m still on a fight to win races. I’d like to go to the next World Supersport race if I can.
“Its great to get off the bike and have that Australian support behind me. It has taken a lot of determination from the guys, and determination from myself.”
Fellow Australian Supersport wildcard Mitch Levy (Landbridge Racing) concluded the 18 lap race in an impressive 15th place, while Kane Burn’s (Burns Racing) failed to finish.
When the World Superbike category headed to the grid, DesmoSport Ducati’s Mike Jones had already secured himself an ASBK podium by the time he lined up as the Australian wildcard.
Despite starting at the rear of the grid this afternoon, Jones was determined to put on his best performance, and when racing got underway that’s exactly what the Ducati rider aimed to do.
By the time the race had reached the half way mark, Jones had maintained an impressive 14th position, and looked strong and comfortable sitting just inside the the World Superbike top 15.
However, disaster struck Ducati’s Jones, when he crashed soon after, marking the end of his Phillip Island World Superbike campaign.
Despite Jones’ crash, the 22 year old was able to walk away smiling, having still collected his first World Superbike Championship points in his debut race yesterday
Motorcycling Australia would like to congratulate all of the Australian wildcard’s and Australian competitors who have raced on the world stage at Phillip Island this weekend.
Image – Andrew Gosling/tbgsport
