Kawasaki riders Garry McCoy and Andrew Pitt completed first qualifying for Sunday's Valencia Grand Prix feeling decidedly second hand as the ZX-RR pilots were each struck down with different disabilities.
McCoy ended the hour 19th, with Pitt a tenth of a second behind in 20th position, but immediately after the session both headed for the Clinica Mobile; Pitt for treatment to an injury following a crash and McCoy as a result of a severe bout of asthma.
McCoy, who will leave Kawasaki on Sunday, arrived at Valencia still suffering the effects of asthma and the demanding Ricardo Tormo circuit, together with the windy conditions, combined to worsen his symptoms.
"Today was more about my physical condition than the bike; I don't feel that flash and I'm off to the Clinica for some treatment," said Garry immediately afterwards. "Earlier this week I had asthma pretty bad and this morning I felt okay, but in qualifying my chest was very painful and I've got a cold as well and the cool weather and wind really knocked me around."
The Australian's condition meant that he was unable to fully evaluate a 'softer' and more flexible chassis on his green machine, and again commented on the lack of machine development this year.
"Today took me back to when I first rode the ZX-RR in testing here one year ago; the bike feels better, but also similar in many ways, and even after 12 months of riding it doesn't feel like a huge difference," stated the downbeat former GP winner. "I tried the softer chassis for one run in qualifying, but I need more time on it to play around with the set-up; it seems to wheelie a bit too much and for the moment I prefer the standard ZX-RR."
Meanwhile, Pitt at least began the session in full health, but 40minutes later he was nursing bruising to his right shoulder and wrist, plus a mild headache, when he lost the front at turn three, the first right-hander, and was forced to complete the session aboard his spare machine.
