Anthony West
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Anthony West (born July 17, 1981 in Maryborough, Queensland) is an Australian motorcycle racer competing for the Kawasaki Motors Racing Team in the MotoGP class of the Grand Prix motorcycle racing. West has been competing in grand prix motorcycle racing since the late 1990's but only made the move to elite MotoGP class in 2007. West has been dubbed as "The Rain man" for his ability to perform well under wet weather conditions which he attributes to his dirt track racing background.
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Personal Life
Australian born Anthony or "Ant" for short is a resident of Fuschl, Austria. The 5-foot-8, 143-pound rider enjoys jet-skiing, motocross, supermotard, and mountain-biking when he is free from his commitments.
Early Career
West began his motorcycle racing career with dirt track racing in 1993. A year later, he competed in the 100cc Dirt Track Championship and placed third in the tournament before moving on to the Australian 125cc Dirt Track Championship. In 1995, he placed 3rd in the 125cc category then claimed the championship in 1996 to add up to the Australian 125cc Long Track Championship he also won that same year. By 1997, he would switch to road racing and would bag the 80cc Bronze Cup title in Suzuka, Japan. In 1998, he returned to his homeland and claimed the Australian 250cc Production Championship while also making his debut in the 125cc class of the World Championship, where he placed 3rd. His accomplishments also netted him the 'Rider of the Year' award.
250cc
By 1999, West joined the Shell Advance Honda team and made his debut in the 250cc World Championship aboard a Honda TSR250, securing a 12th place finish after scoring 66 points in 16 races. He retained his spot at Honda the following year, this time competing on a Honda RS250 with better results after climbing on 6th place in the championship standings.
500cc
In 2001, West moved to the 500cc category and competed under the Dee Cee Jeans Racing Team. He would finish the championship scoring minor points in 12 of the 16 races to place 18th overall in the standings. The next season, the Australian rider failed to secure sufficient sponsorship and was forced to sit out from competitions that year.
250cc
West returned to active competition in 2003 and caught a ride with the Aprilia team and after a slow start, would secure a place in the podium in three straight rounds, (3rd in Catalan and British, and his first ever grand prix win in the Dutch TT). After adding another podium with a runner-up finish in his home race, West wound up in 7th place in the championship standings with 145 points. 2004 was not as good as the previous year as West failed to land a podium, with four retirements, and was even sidelined in the final two races to settle for an 11th place finish in the standings.
In 2005, West encountered a road block after lack of development of the machine and several mechanical failures forced him to sit out most of the season. The only consolation was his podium on a wet British motorcycle Grand Prix at Donington Park (2nd place). He ended the year ranked in 17th place in the standings with a mere 30 points and got his deal with KTM broken after a disagreement over the safety of the developmental 250cc bike. He moved over to the Kiefer Bos Racing team for 2006 and made some progress in the championship standings with an 11th place finish.
MotoGP
West started 2007 as a 250GP privateer on Team Sicilia Aprilia, riding a semi-factory LE Aprilia into a disappointing turnout with a best result of ninth after the fourth round of seventeen, leading him to quit the team. He made a career decision by moving over to World Supersport as a reliever to injured compatriot Kevin Curtain at the official Yamaha WSS team. He proved just how good he is when riding a competitive bike after placing third with a couple of wins in three starts and putting him on the 5th spot in the 600 Supersport World Championship after 9 rounds (had raced in only three), prompting Yamaha to give him a full-time ride.
Kawasaki, however, had a better offer as the team wanted West to ride aboard the Ninja ZX-RR for the Kawasaki Racing Team in MotoGP in lieu of Olivier Jacque who retired in June 2007. Apparently, Kawasaki won his services and West bought out his contract at Yamaha. His debut on a MotoGP paddock took place via the British Grand Prix where he did well at the start of the competition only to crash and relinquish his 4th position to end up 11th at the race's conclusion. He continued to progress in his first few races with Team Green as he placed 7th at Laguna Seca and 8th at the Sachsenring. Unfortunately, those were the best finishes he had for the season as he failed to cash in on several fast starts with some errors, including one in Malaysia where he was given a ride through penalty that negated his 5th place start and put him on 15th spot by race's end. He ended up 15th in the championship standings with 59 points in his MotoGP debut.
Though West was originally signed only for 2007, he was asked to stay for 2008 to team up with John Hopkins after former teammate Randy de Puniet moved over to Honda LCR.
Career Stats
| Season | Class | Motorcycle | Race | Win | Podium | Pole | FLap | Pts | Plcd | WCh |
| 1998 | 125cc | Honda RS125 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -t | - |
| 1999 | 250cc | Honda TSR250 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66 | 12th | - |
| 2000 | 250cc | Honda RS250 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 146 | 6th | - |
| 2001 | 500cc | Honda NSR500 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 18th | - |
| 2003 | 250cc | Aprilia RS250 | 16 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 145 | 7th | - |
| 2004 | 250cc | Aprilia RS250 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 88 | 11th | - |
| 2005 | 250cc | Aprilia RS250 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 17th | - |
| Honda RS250 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| KTM 250 FRR | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||
| 2006 | 250cc | Aprilia RS250 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 78 | 11th | - |
| 2007 | 250cc | Aprilia RS250 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 18th | - |
| MotoGP | Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 59 | 15th | - | |
| Total | 118 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 664 | 0 |
| Class | Season | 1st GP | 1st Pod | 1st Win | Race | Win | Podiums | Pole | FLap | Pts | WCh |
| 125cc | 1998 | 1998 Australia | N/A | N/A | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 250cc | 1999-2000,2003-07 | 1999 Malaysia | 2003 Catalunya | 2003 Dutch | 92 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 578 | 0 |
| 500cc | 2001 | 2001 South Africa | N/A | N/A | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 0 |
| MotoGP | 2007 | 2007 Britain | N/A | N/A | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 59 | 0 |
| Total | 1998-2001,2003-07 | 118 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 664 | 0 |
| Yr | Class | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Final Pos | Pts |
| 1998 | 125cc | Honda | JPN | MAL | SPA | ITA | FRA | MAD | NED | GBR | GER | CZE | SMR | CAT | AUS Ret | ARG | - | - | ||||
| 1999 | 250cc | TSR-Honda | MAL 14 | JPN 10 | SPA 17 | FRA 9 | ITA Ret | CAT Ret | NED 10 | GBR 11 | GER 6 | CZE 15 | SMR 15 | VAL 9 | AUS 10 | RSA 9 | BRA Ret | ARG 8 | 12th | 66 | ||
| 2000 | 500cc | Honda | RSA 5 | MAL 6 | JPN 6 | SPA 5 | FRA 5 | ITA 7 | CAT 9 | NED 4 | GBR Ret | GER 10 | CZE 10 | POR 4 | VAL 7 | BRA 5 | PAC 6 | AUS 7 | 6th | 146 | ||
| 2001 | 500cc | Honda | JPN | RSA 14 | SPA 15 | FRA Inj | ITA Ret | CAT Ret | NED 15 | GBR 14 | GER 15 | CZE Ret | POR 12 | VAL 13 | PAC 14 | AUS 12 | MAL 12 | BRA 13 | 18th | 27 | ||
| 2003 | 250cc | Aprilia | JPN Ret | SAF 6 | SPA 5 | FRA 7 | ITA 9 | CAT 3 | NED 1 | GBR 3 | GER 6 | CZE Ret | POR 10 | BRA 8 | PAC Ret | MAL 9 | AUS 2 | VAL Ret | 7th | 145 | ||
| 2004 | 250cc | Aprilia | SAF 16 | SPA 4 | FRA 6 | ITA 10 | CAT 9 | NED 6 | BRA Ret | GER 7 | GBR 6 | CZE 4 | POR 6 | JPN Ret | QAT Ret | MAL Ret | AUS Inj | VAL Inj | 11th | 88 | ||
| 2005 | 250cc | Aprilia | SPA | POR | CHN | FRA 18 | ITA | CAT | 17th | 30 | ||||||||||||
| Honda | NED Ret | |||||||||||||||||||||
| KTM | GBR 2 | GER 10 | CZE 12 | JPN Ret | MAL Ret | QAT | AUS | TUR | VAL | |||||||||||||
| 2006 | 250cc | Aprilia | SPA Ret | QAT Ret | TUR 9 | CHN 9 | FRA 11 | ITA 8 | CAT 9 | NED 8 | GBR 9 | GER 7 | CZE Ret | MAL 15 | AUS 9 | JPN 11 | POR 9 | VAL 19 | 11th | 78 | ||
| 2007 | 250cc | Aprilia | QAT 13 | SPA 9 | CHN Ret | TUR 13 | FRA 10 | ITA 10 | CAT 21 | 19th | 25 | |||||||||||
| MotoGP | Kawasaki | GBR 11 | NED 9 | GER 8 | USA 7 | CZE 12 | SMR 8 | POR 12 | JPN 7 | AUS 12 | MAL 15 | VAL 16 | 15th | 59 | ||||||||
| 2008 | MotoGP | Kawasaki | QAT 16 | SPA 13 | POR - | CHN - | FRA - | ITA - | CAT - | GBR - | NED - | GER - | USA - | CZE - | SMR - | IND - | JPN - | AUS - | MAL - | VAL - | - | - |
Highlights
| Anthony West on his first Visit in the U.S. (2007). |
Sources
External Links
Categories: Australian motorcycle racers | 125cc World Championship riders | 250cc World Championship riders | 500cc World Championship riders | World Supersport riders | MotoGP riders
