Top ten at Donington marks return to form for West

After finally overcoming the traction problems that have plagued him since the beginning of the year Anthony West was relieved to feature in the top ten for the first time in 2008 - in MotoGP´s visit to England on Sunday.

On the other side of the Kawasaki box John Hopkins was left frustrated, as a technical issue with his Ninja ZX-RR forced him out of the race on lap seventeen.

Anthony West - tenth

`This result shows exactly what we are capable of and I hope it will only get better from here. The bike finally feels rideable, and I was able to push right up until the end of the race, so I´m really pleased with a top ten finish. We´ve made a massive step forward and I feel so much more confident in the wet or dry than I have done previously. The next round at Assen is one of my more favoured tracks so I´m really looking forward to racing there.´

John Hopkins - DNF

`It´s difficult to express how frustrated I feel after today´s race. I got away from the start pretty well, but then James Toseland highsided right in front of me exiting the first turn and, while he slid off the track, I had to brake almost to a standstill to avoid his bike. This left me dead last on the opening lap, but I got my head down and fought my way back through the field, eventually passing Anthony to take tenth position. I think it was possible to close the gap on the group ahead of me, but then the bike just stopped at the Old Hairpin. Obviously we need to figure out what caused the problem. With the next race less than one week away I don´t want to dwell on what went wrong today but, rather, look forward to making amends next weekend in Assen.´