Source: Supplied.

Anthony West’s World Superbike debut could not have been much more striking than Sepang last weekend, as the former grand prix race winner made his debut in WorldSBK and collected a pair of top 10 results, showing his pace in both dry and wet conditions.

Following a ninth place finish on Saturday, the Australian had the challenge of riding the Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R in the wet for the first time, stunningly finishing inside the top five of race two on Sunday afternoon.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” West commented. “I had never raced in World Superbike before, never ridden this bike before and never worked with this team before! It’s been a challenging weekend, but I have been facing a lot of challenges this year, jumping on every sort of bike and racing with every sort of team I could get myself into.

“I would like to stay here in World Superbike, I had a lot of fun riding here this weekend. I think the result was good enough? It was hard work, not knowing the bike, and the bike was not set up very well.

“I just tried to stay on it, get points and do the best I could with it. I’ll be at Donington, I would like to continue with this team, but we still need to talk about that… I think today should help with the discussion!”

West is planning to wildcard the round in World Supersport – his third of the season – if not riding for Pedercini, as the paddock returns west to Europe for Donington Park at the close of this month.