Freezing temperatures and heavy rain was not enough to put Anthony West off from taking his first race win for Yamaha today at Silverstone. In a dramatic race for the Yamaha World Supersport Team Broc Parkes crashed out while in second place and West went from 16th to take the race win in appalling weather conditions. Both riders got excellent starts with Parkes going into the lead on the first lap with Yamaha Team Italia rider Massimo Roccoli in second and West making an impressive charge from 16th to 6th. Parkes started to open a gap between him and the rest of the pack as West continued his one-man charge. After passing Roccoli on lap four West set about catching his team mate. By lap ten he had passed Parkes and already put 3.5 seconds between them.
Parkes was maintaining his second place when he crashed on lap 14 at the old hairpin in a low-side slide. Roccoli had been running in third for the majority of the race when he also crashed out on lap 23. The race was then red flagged due to the deteriorating weather conditions giving Anthony West the race win with a comfortable 33 second lead.
Today's race success puts West in seventh place in the championship and only 28 points behind fourth place.
Anthony West (1st - Yamaha World Supersport Team)
"This is a fantastic result especially when you consider my qualifying position. The rain helped in a way because I was finding it very difficult in the dry to find a decent set up. I need more time at tracks I don't know to get the right race setting but the rain leveled the playing field. I wasn't even too confident in my wet set up that we sorted in this morning's session because the session was stopped and re-started and we lost time.
I went hard for the first few laps and I had some big moments which were scary. I had quite a few throughout the race actually so I am glad that the race was red flagged - it was too cold to keep going. I was out there long enough!
I would like to dedicate this win to Kevin Curtain as without him I would not have had this chance to race in World Supersport. I really feel for him being out injured and I hope he gets well soon."
Broc Parkes (DNF - Yamaha World Supersport Team)
"I knew Anthony was going very fast and I tried to follow but there was almost too much of a gap. The crash was so strange, it was really slow and I didn't even crash hard but I broke the footpeg and that ended my race. I just can't believe that I have crashed again, I'm pretty devastated."
Massimo Roccoli (DNF - Yamaha Team Italia)
"I took a lot of risks today. My aim to challenge Fujiwara towards the end of the race for the podium position but I lost the rear and crashed out. I am very disappointed because I have been fast here in the dry this weekend."
Circuit Length: 3619
Temp: 10
Crowd: 55,000
Weather: Very Wet
Race 1 - 28 Laps - WSS Silverstone:
1. Anthony West - Yamaha - AUS 39'16.245
2. Robbin Harms - Honda - DNK 0'33.477
3. Katsuaki Fujiwara - Honda -JPN 0'48.057
4. Fabien Foret - Kawasaki - FRA 0'51.777
5. Gianluca Vizziello - Yamaha - ITA 0'54.295
6. Matthieu Lagrive - Honda- FRA 1'1.579
7. Javier Fores - Honda - ESP 1'50.576
8. Lorenzo Alfonsi - Honda - ITA 1'52.106
9. Julien Enjolras - Yamaha - FRA 1'53.184
10. Barry Veneman - Suzuki - NED -1 Laps
11. Miguel Praia - Honda - POR -1 Laps
12. Sebastien Gimbert - Yamaha - FRA -1 Laps
13. Jesco Gunther - Honda - GER -1 Laps
14. Gregory Leblanc - Honda - FRA -1 Laps
15. Joan Lascorz - Honda - ESP -1 Laps
Best Lap: Anthony West - Yamaha - AUS 1'44.188
Rider Standings:
1. Kenan Sofuoglu - Honda - TUR 145
2. Fabien Foret - Kawasaki - FRA 100
3. Katsuaki Fujiwara - Honda - JPN 69
4. Robbin Harms - Honda - DNK 59
5. Barry Veneman - Suzuki - NED 47
6. Gianluca Nannelli - Ducati - ITA 43
7. Anthony West - Yamaha - AUS 41
8. Andrew Pitt - Honda - AUS 40
9. David Salom - Yamaha - ESP 34
10. Lorenzo Alfonsi - Honda - ITA 34
11. Massimo Roccoli - Yamaha - ITA 33
12. Pere Riba - Kawasaki - ESP 30
13. Broc Parkes - Yamaha - AUS 27
14. Craig Jones - Honda - GBR 25
15. Kevin Curtain - Yamaha - AUS 25
21. David Checa -Yamaha - ESP 20
24. Sebastien Gimbert - Yamaha - FRA 13
Manufacturer Standings:
1. Honda 165
2. Kawasaki 110
3. Yamaha 107
4. Suzuki 54
5. Ducati 43
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