Garry McCoy proved a point today at Valencia, as the former GP winner once again outpaced Kawasaki team-mate Andrew Pitt and put his ZX-RR an impressive 14th on the grid for what will be his final team green race tomorrow.
Following intense cortisone treatment at the Clinca Mobile for an asthma attack, McCoy's health improved dramatically today after he had considered withdrawing yesterday afternoon.
"I've been to the Clinica for cortisone treatment after every session and I felt a whole lot better today. Yesterday was tough, I nearly stopped riding," admitted the Aussie.
McCoy used the morning free practice session to spend time fine tuning the set-up on the revised "softer feel" Ninja ZX-RR chassis made available for the final GP of the season. McCoy has elected to race this machine, after posting his fastest qualifying lap on the bike, which also features modified engine mountings.
"In the morning session we were able to de-bug the set-up on the softer chassis option and it felt more comfortable than the standard ZX-RR, so that's the bike I'll race," explained Garry. "Tomorrow is my last day of work with Kawasaki and I'd like to make it a good race, especially at this track where I've won the GP, been third on the podium and qualified on the front row; I'll be giving it a big go as usual."
Putting aside bruising and minor ligament damage in his right shoulder Pitt made an early surge in final qualifying and held an impressive 12th on the grid for much of the session.
As the pressure mounted late in the session the Australian responded with an even faster lap time and, although slightly disappointed not to make the most of his final qualifying run, he was happy with an effort that knocked 1.7s from his Friday time.
