Anthony West poised for Stiggy Honda debut

Axed factory Kawasaki MotoGP rider Anthony West will make his Stiggy Honda World Supersport debut at the new Portimao circuit in Portugal next week.

The Aussie, who has lost his ZX-RR berth to Italian Marco Melandri after a tough 2008 campaign, will make his debut for the Stiggy Honda outfit next Wednesday.

• Video: Guided lap of the Parkalgar circuit

West, who won two World Supersport races for Yamaha in the early part of 2007 – performances which secured him his big chance with Kawasaki – said: “I test the bike with Stiggy’s team on the Wednesday following the World Superbike race in Portugal. I’ll go to that race on the Sunday and then do the test on the Wednesday.”

West said he was just looking forward to being on a competitive bike next season having struggled to make any impact alongside John Hopkins in MotoGP.

He added: “I’m looking forward to being competitive and hopefully winning some races, which will be a better feeling than being at the back every week. I’m a little sad to leave MotoGP but after this year I’ll just be glad to get some good results and look to the future.”

The future includes plans to switch to World Superbikes in 2010, which had been his original intention for next season.

West said: “I asked Stiggy if I could ride the superbike but it seems its a new bike and not developed yet, and they didn’t want me to get on it. Stiggy wants me on the 600 where I’ve had good results before and if I do well I’ll go up to superbike from there. It’s a step backwards but I’ll be on a competitive bike because it has been pretty depressing this year.”