West looks to avoid Edwards speculation
Added on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor
West's days at Kawasaki looks to be numbered
Anthony West has committed to extra time in training ahead of this weekend’s MotoGP round in Mugello despite speculation about his future.
The Kawasaki rider has struggled to cope with the step from 250cc and currently sits bottom of the championship standing with just five points from four rounds.
Those results are believed to be testing the patience of Kawasaki bosses, with speculation that the Japanese marque are looking to ditch their underperforming rider.
That speculation grew last week as Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards admitted that he had spoken to Kawasaki officials at Le Mans, a race with saw West finish in the points for only the second time this season.
“I’m not hiding anything and I spoke to Kawasaki for the first time in Le Mans but a lot has got to happen,” Edwards told MCN. “I am looking at everything and seeing what it is out there. I’m fishing and they are fishing just seeing what is going on.”
Kawasaki manager Michael Bartholemy also added to the doubts over West’s future, suggesting that the team are looking for candidates for 2009.
“I have a list of people I am interested in,” confirmed Bartholemy. “Sure we have a list but I am not going from one meeting to another meeting. I can wait a bit.
“I want to give a chance to Anthony and I would like to start in Catalunya. I want a clear idea then of who can be the candidates and then really go into negotiations from Catalunya.”
But West has looked to avoid the speculation this week and believes that two weeks away from the race track can help to build his apparently fragile confidence.
“Le Mans was tough, but I got back to my new home in Belgium and tried to put it behind me by training even harder for Mugello.
“One of the good things about living so close to our team boss is that there is always one of his friends around to go training with, whether it be running, cycling or mountain biking.
“Ahead of the Italian Grand Prix I’m also going to head down to Austria to do some downhill mountain biking, so I’ll be raring to go by the time I get to the track.
“The Mugello circuit is not one of my favourites, and I’ve never ridden a MotoGP bike there before, but with the information we gleaned from the post race test in France, I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to make another big step forward this coming weekend.”
