West and Neukirchner make significant progress at Assen

At the legendary Dutch TT in Assen, MZ factory riders Anthony West and Max Neukirchner celebrated their best race of this year’s Moto2 season so far.

In poor weather conditions with a dark, overcast sky and a wet track that started to dry up towards the end of the race, rain king West blasted from his 20th starting position to 13th place within one lap, kept on pushing and crossed the chequered flag in a fantastic fourth position. His German team-mate showed a similar kind of determination: Due to an electrical problem in qualifying, Neukirchner had to start from the very last position on the grid, but hunted most of the Moto2 field down to finish in an incredible tenth position.

“Things looked grim in practice for us, but then our riders shone in the race and turned things around”, beamed MZ CEO Martin Wimmer, who doubles as West’s crew chief for the time being. “We are very happy today. Hopefully, Anthony’s result was a turning point after all the bad luck he had in this season so far. We’d really like to continue at this level!”

Anthony West- 4th: "I was able to defend myself for the whole race without getting under pressure from other riders – a great feeling! I knew there were a few guys behind me who only waited for their chance, but I managed to increase the gap and pull away. I am really happy with this result, which was very important for us. For the first time with this bike, we’ve had a good set-up!”

Max Neukirchner – 10th: "I wonder if this has ever happened in the Moto2 category: To start dead-last and to end up in the top ten! This race has been phenomenal. At the beginning, I needed a while to find my rhythm and my concentration, but then I got faster and was able to ride consistently until the end. When it started to rain again in the last laps, I just thought: Please let this race end! My rear tyre was really worn and offered hardly any grip any more. Now we are more than happy. My congratulations to Anthony, I am happy for him and his fourth place!"