Moto2 Le Mans: Kenny Noyes Report

Moto2 Report

Kenny Noyes, starting from the pole position in only his third Moto2 Grand Prix, felt comfortable running at the front for the first four laps of the French Grand Prix at Le Mans.

He, eventual winner Toni Elías, and Frenchman Jules Cluzel were running together with in close motorcycle racing formation when Kenny suddenly lost the front on the entry to the Museum Corner and crashed.

There is a slight bump there that has unsettled the Honda-powered Moto2 Promoharris in practice, but this time it produced a front wheel push that he could not catch.

Looking back on the race weekend the Jack & Jones by Antonio Banderas left the Le Mans racetrack pleased with the pole position, the first by an American rider in the intermediate class (250/Moto2) since John Kocinski started from the pole at the Australian 250cc GP in 1990.

Kenny has been strong in the preseason and has fought for he lead both in Spain and in France. The strong performance in Le Mans, in spite of the crash, was especially encouraging because with it Kenny has shown that he can be fast on unfamiliar tracks.

And the next three races, Mugello in Italy, Silverstone in Great Britain and Assen in Holland, like this race, are on tracks where the Kenny has never raced.

The team struggled on Friday but found a good base setting on Saturday for Sunday’s race. The next thing on the "to do list" is to find some needed top speed by working with the aerodynamics.

Kenny Noyes says: "I got a good start and was comfortable running with Toni Elias. I tried passing him a couple of times but he got me right back so I thought maybe if I sat on his rear wheel the two of us could get pull some distance on the pack. The idea was to sit back and follow, even after Cluzel got into the mix, and not take any risks."

"The crash happened on the last curve where there is a little bump where the track has been patched. I had been feeling that bump all weekend and thinking that it could be a problem. I guess this time I was a little quicker when I threw the bike into the corner and it got me."

"It is a complicated track and without a lot of grip, but the fact is I made a mistake and we left town without points. But all in all it was an important weekend for us. We got our first pole and when I crashed out I was running third and feeling comfortable with the pace. This weekend was a big step forward for us."

Le Mans, Sunday, May 23, 2010