Source: MotoGP.

Queenslander Anthony West started the 2014 Moto2 World Championship in fine form with a ninth place finish at the Losail Circuit in Qatar.

The veteran sliced his way through the field from 26th on the grid to 10th – later boosted to ninth after Takaaki Nakagami was disqualified with an illegal air filter.

West’s result saw him score a strong haul of points despite his lowly qualifying performance in the QMMF Racing team’s home race.

“I think it is a good way to start the season and I am happy with the race,” West said. “The top 10 is where we should be, so I am happy. But I am disappointed with the weekend in general because of my qualifying. I ruined a lot of races last year with not qualifying so well and I think this is another one where I could have been a lot better.

“But the result is still quite strong. Last year, we crashed here and didn’t score any points, now we scored points and had a good race. We now need to continue to work on the bike. I had a lot of problems with the traction and it was hard to hold off the group behind me.

“I need to work harder and change my mental approach to qualifying, which is something I thought I fixed, but I haven’t. I hope we can improve from here and I don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t.

“I just need to relax a bit more instead of stressing myself, but still work hard. This is my goal for the next race!”

West’s wildcard local teammate Mashel Al Naimi was ruled out of the race with clutch problems.