Anthony West (motorcycle racer)

Infobox MotoGP rider
Name = Anthony West


Caption = Anthony West in 2005
Nationality = flagicon|Australia Australian
Birthdate = birth date and age|df=yes|1981|07|17
Birthplace = Maryborough, Queensland
Bike number = 13
Current team = Kawasaki Motors Racing
Championships = 0
Race Starts = 118
Race Wins = 1
Podiums = 5
Poles = 0
Fastest laps = 1
Points = 664
Last season = 2008
Last position = 18th (16 pts) - In Progress

Anthony "Ant" West (born 17 July 1981 in Maryborough) is an Australian Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He has won one race, the 2003 Dutch TT in the 250cc class. He is known as "The Rain Man" because of his ability to ride well in the extreme wet, which he attributes to a dirt track racing background. [cite news|url=http://www.bikesportnews.com/news/antwest.html|title=A Quick Chat with Rainmeister Ant West|date=2007-07-09|publisher=Bike Sport News|accessdate=2007-08-25]

500cc

In 2001, he was a 500cc rider for the Dee Cee Jeans Racing Team, scoring minor points in 12 of the 16 races to place 18th overall.

In 2002, he had a year away from motorcycling as he could not gather enough sponsorship to secure a factory Aprilia ride.

250cc

In the 2003 and 2004 seasons, West rode for the Italian Abruzzo Racing team, running a privateer Aprilia both years. 2003 was the more successful of the years, he won a race and achieved three additional podium places.

2005 was supposed to be his big break, but a factory deal with KTM saw him miss three quarters of the season due to a lack of development and several mechanical failures. However, West rode the KTM to a podium place on debut, placing second in the rain soaked British Grand Prix at Donington Park.

In 2006, West rode for the Kiefer Bos Racing team, again on a Privateer kit Aprilia due to a disagreement with KTM the year before, over the safety of the developmental 250cc bike.Fact|date=February 2007

2007

Early in the 2007 season, he rode in the 250cc World Championship on a semi-factory, LE Aprilia run by Matteoni Racing. A disappointing start to the season saw West unable to match the times he set on the Kiefer Bos bike in 2006, with a best result of ninth after the fourth round of seventeen, leading him to quit the team.

However, West showed that he definitely has the ability to achieve great results when he has a competitive bike under him, after riding through the field from 18th to 3rd while standing in for injured compatriate Kevin Curtain on a Yamaha R6 at the Monza round of the 2007 World Supersport Championship in his very first visit to the track. Then, in the following World Supersport round at the historic Silverstone circuit, West took victory in the wet. He won again at Misano. [cite news|url=http://moto.gpupdate.net/en/news/2007/06/21/west_to_replace_jacque_at_kawasaki/|publisher=gpupdate.net|title=West to replace Jacque at Kawasaki|accessdate=2008-08-25|date=2007-06-21] These results left him 5th in the championship after 9 rounds, even from only doing 3 of them.

Following the retirement of Olivier Jacque in June 2007, he was offered the position to race with the Kawasaki Racing Team in MotoGP and will ride for the rest of the season aboard the Ninja ZX-RR, buying out his contract with Yamaha to do this. [cite news|url=http://www.dailymotos.co.uk/noticia/anthony-west-gets-a-kawasaki-motogp-ride-for-the-reminder-of-the-season/10363|publisher=Daily Motos|title=Anthony West gets a Kawasaki MotoGP Ride for the remainder of the season|date=2007-06-21|accessdate=2008-08-25] He made a good debut at the British Grand Prix, reaching 4th position, but then crashing and eventually finishing 11th. [cite news|url=http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/60135|accessdate=2008-08-25|title=West reckons victory was possible|publisher=autosport.com|date=2007-06-24] His first four races each saw him finish progressively higher, with 7th at Laguna Seca and 8th at the Sachsenring. [ID=262581&FS=|publisher=motorsport.com|accessdate=2008-08-25|title=KAWASAKI CELEBRATE A TOP TEN TRIPLE AT LAGUNA|date=July 22, 2007] . He was 7th again in the wet at Motegi, but could have been even higher. Starting 6th, he jumped the start fractionally - by the time the ride-through penalty was handed out, he was leading the race. Team-mate Randy de Puniet came 2nd amidst an all-Bridgestone podium, emphasising the missed opportunity. In his home country's Grand Prix the Australian errors at the end caused him to finish 12th while hometown boy Casey Stoner won.At the following race in Malaysia, Sepang, West qualified an impressive 5th behind team-mate Randy de puniet but was yet again given a ride through penalty, this time for lining up incorrectly on the starting grid. West climbed his way back through the field to 15th capturing one championship point.

2008

West remains with Kawasaki full-time for 2008, joined by John Hopkins. However, he is not achieving great success, and has spent much of the season as the last of the 18 regular riders in the championship. There was improvement at Brno however; he qualified 6th in the wet and carried the form over into a dry race, finishing 5th in a race dominated by Bridgestone tyred bikes.

2009

It had already been announced on the Saturday at Brno that West would not be riding for Kawasaki in the 2009 season. Kawasaki has offered him a ride in another championship (which would likely be the Supersport World Championship, in which he competed briefly in 2007); West did not immediately reveal whether he had accepted or declined this offer.

However, due to Kawasaki team manager Michael Bartholemy's stated desire to keep West in the Kawasaki family, West is said to be in the running for the rumoured 3rd Kawasaki bike ride, which would be run by Jorge Martínez 'Aspar', who runs the Aspar 125cc team [http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/69906] .

Career statistics

By season

References

External links

* [http://www.antwest13.com/ AntWest13.com] - Official site