For Fuchs Kawasaki riders Andrew Pitt and Garry McCoy the Valencia Grand Prix was a two man contest, as the Australian pair staged an almost race long ZX-RR duel in the finale to the
MotoGP season... as they fought over 18th place.
After qualifying on the fourth row both riders had hoped to score World Championship points, with Pitt eager to back-up his 12th place finish in this race a year ago. However both riders were shuffled down the order in the hectic charge for track position in the opening lap.
From around one third distance of the 30 lap race fading grip levels became the controlling factor for Pitt and McCoy, leaving them with little choice but to race each other – which they did with enthusiasm, swapping positions frequently during the middle stages as they battled both front and rear end slides.
"The bike was really sliding around and I couldn't carry any corner speed," said 18th placed Pitt. "I had a good dice with Gaz, but it felt like we were tripping over each other and looked like he was in as much trouble with grip as I was. I would have liked to have been closer to the front than a year ago here, but it makes it hard work when you're riding around on basically the same bike."
Valencia was McCoy's final race aboard the troublesome ZX-RR - his farewell to the Kawasaki squad being a massive, tyre smoking pit lane burn out, a show enthusiastically received by his hard working pit crew.
"That was bloody hard work," said the Australian. "The rear tyre took a big drop in grip after about ten laps and that just made the front chatter really bad and I was struggling to keep it in a straight line. I battled with Pitty for a few laps and there were some close calls because I could make time on him driving sideways up behind through the long left onto the straight; but in the end there wasn't a lot of motivation to take big risks for 18th when I've won this GP and been on pole here.
