Anthony West third at Jerez WorldSSP round
Back on the podium, this time powered by a Kawasaki ZX-6RAussie Anthony West has celebrated his return to the world supersport (WorldSSP) ranks with a superb third place in the penultimate round at Jerez in Spain on Sunday, October 22.
Aboard the Puccetti Kawasaki, West finished just 1.652 seconds behind race winner Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team in the 19-lap race, with second place going to Frenchman Jules Cluzel (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda).
It was West’s second WorldSSP podium in 2017, following a third place at his home round at Phillip in February.
“I lost contact with the very front group at the start, but I pushed hard to get back up there and ended up in third place with a few laps to go,” said West.
“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.”
Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) was fifth, and now leads the championship by 20 points over the injured defe4bding champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Puccetti Kawasaki) with just one round to go – at Losail in Qatar from November 2-4.
West is eighth in the standings.
World Superbike: Rea does the double
More pre-eminence from triple world champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team), who won both races on the resurfaced 4.423km Spanish track.
He was joined on the podium by Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) in race one on Saturday, and on Sunday Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Davies completed the dais.
Melandri was on track for victory in race one before being felled by a mechanical problem.
The 2014 world champion, Sylvain Guintoli, returned to action on the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing ZX-10RR and finished with creditable 6-8 results.
Rea is now on 506 points, well clear of Davies and Sykes both on 363.
Other Aussies in action
• In WorldSSP 300: Tom Edwards, Kawasaki, 19th, Reid Battye, Kawasaki, 25th
• In STK1000: Mike Jones, Ducati, fourth
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