For Kenny Noyes and the Palmeto Kawasaki team it was one of those weekends when you start out just a little bit behind and can’t quite catch up. Things began with some small problems on Friday that cost the team some valuable set-up time and meant that a lot of Friday’s work had to be done during the qualifying sessions on Saturday. The big question was whether to use the softer of the two Michelin rear choices. Finally Kenny went for the softer rear and realized very early in the race that the track had warmed up to the point that the harder tire, the one chosen by eventual winner Ivan Silva, (Inmotec Kawasaki) was the right one. But the trouble just after the start on the change of direction between turns 2 and 3. The rider in front of Kenny suddenly had his rear wheel step out and Kenny had to let off. He was then hit hard from behind by Cardoso and dropped down to ninth. Three laps later he had fought back to fourth, but going into final hairpin on lap 6 he was hit when Silva went for a gap that was closed before he got there. Next week the series moves to the Circuit of Valencia for the final round and the last ride for Kenny on the Kawasaki before starting winter testing for the 2010 Moto2 World Championship. Kenny Noyes #35 4º fast lap 1´43.237 “Today’s race had a couple of incidents that set me back. First of all I got a good start but there was a real funnel of bikes coming out of turn two and just where you go from right to left for turn 3 the rider in front on me had a big moment and I had to get out of the throttle to avoid hitting him, but Cardoso, who was just behind me, couldn’t react in time and he hit me so hard that I ran wide and dropped six places, down to ninth. I was able to come back, finally moving into fourth by passing De Gea and Cardoso both on the brakes for Dry Sack, but about then I realized I had a bad case of the chatters with the rear wheel. We went for the soft tire because the harder one was slow to warm up this morning in the warm-up. But I should have gone with the hard one because the track was a lot warmer and by lap five it was spinning up too much. The biggest incident of the day was when I was running fourth and Ivan Silva got into the hairpin hot on the inside. I never saw him when I leaned it and he hit me so hard that he almost knocked me off the track. I lost a couple of places that I had to fight to get back to fourth again, but by then we were out of touch. So between getting clobbered twice and running out of grip n about lap four, we weren’t better than fourth today. We just have to accept it and keep working for the race in Valencia next week. I’ll do my damnest and plan to really enjoy my last ride in the big Kawasaki.” More, from a press release issued by FTR: FTR MOTO2 MACHINE AND GOWLAND IMPRESS AT JEREZ FTR MOTO’s new Moto2 World Championship machine put in its most impressive display to date as Graeme Gowland – riding in the Joe Darcey Team colours – took an excellent 13th place on the M209 in the Spanish Championship superbike sixth round at Jerez on Sunday. Gowland finished fourth in the 600cc Moto2 class against a full grid of 1000cc superbikes in the CEV Buckler Extreme class. And, in the first full race for the FTR Moto2 machine, Gowland was just 3.5s behind the first-placed Moto2 machine after 17 laps of the 2.752-mile circuit near Gibraltar. Gowland was 19th fastest in the opening qualifying session then improved to qualify in 18th. In the race he further improved his lap time from qualifying by 0.2s, on his way to 13th place. “I’m really pleased with the way the FTR machine went in the race,” said Gowland. “I managed to get through the field a bit in the first half of the race and was hoping to finish even higher but as the tyres became worn then the characteristic of the machine changed. “In all I think we have to be happy with what we’ve achieved this weekend. It’s the first time for all of us at Jerez with the machine and my first race weekend with the FTR prototype so the result is pretty good. We’ve learned a lot and further developed the machine so, overall, great progress.” The Joe Darcey Team now moves to Valencia for next Sunday’s final round of the CEV Buckler Spanish Championship with further improvement expected. FTR director Steve Bones said: “We’re over the moon with just how far we’ve come in such a short space of time. Graeme did the perfect job this weekend and it’s credit to him and the Joe Darcey Team that we’re able to move on to Valencia now with plenty of optimism. “The interest in the machine has been overwhelming and we’ve quite a few riders now wanting us to organise tests for them so they can give the M209 a run for themselves.”