September 11th, 2008 by R.J.

As we head into round 14 of the 2009 MotoGP season, which is being held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the very first time, Kawasaki’s John Hopkins and Anthony West are in an optimistic mood.

West, who has recently struggled with front-end issues aboard his Kawasaki race machine is looking to gain a strong result at this new circuit. The 27-year-old Australian, who scored a career best Grand Prix finish with a fifth place at Brno, has been working closely with his crew to improve the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR to give him more confidence into the turns.

Although the recent post-race test at Misano didn’t completely abolish the problem, he believes that steps forward have been made and he can continue his progression this weekend.

“Indianapolis is a new challenge for everyone as no-one knows the track. I’m hoping this will give us a little bit of an advantage, as it should be more of an even playing field”, commented West. “At Misano we struggled with the front-end of the bike, and although we managed to make some improvements in the post-race test, there is still work to do. I stayed in Italy following the event where I’ve been doing a lot of cycling and training ready for this weekend, so I’m feeling relaxed and ready for the challenge. We’ll go and try to get as many laps under our belt on Friday to put us in the best possible position for the race, and it will be a case of trying to capture as much data as we can, then going from there. I’m looking forward to it and I hope we can get a strong result.”

Hopkins is looking forward to racing his Ninja ZX-RR at his home event this weekend; especially after missing out on the Laguna Seca round due to injury. The 25-year-old Kawasaki pilot is hoping to make amends in front of a home crowd, especially after making further improvements to his race machine at the Misano post-race test.

Hopkins had this to say:
“I’m really excited about Indianapolis as it’s my second home round and unfortunately I missed Laguna Seca because I was injured. Not only that, but I grew up around the racing world, and although two-wheeled motorsport is my favorite, the family would all get together to watch races like the Brickyard and the Indianapolis 500 at this track”, he explained. “It’s a very special feeling to be racing in MotoGP there, and although I’m not familiar with the circuit, I’m incredibly motivated for this event. I’ve been studying the track layout and Olivier tested the Ninja ZX-RR earlier this year, so we have a little bit of feedback from that, but being in front of my home fans at such an incredible place is going to be fantastic - I just can’t wait to get out there.”