West expects progress at Misano

The heavily-revised Italian track is a new addition to the MotoGP calendar this season, but West took a victory there in a World Supersport event earlier in 2007. His win was one of the results that encouraged Kawasaki to draft him into their MotoGP squad mid-season in place of Olivier Jacque.

"I'm looking forward to racing at Misano. I won a World Supersport round there earlier this year, so I know the track and its new lay out and, obviously, I've got good memories of the place," West said.

The Australian has struggled to get to grips with qualifying tyres since returning to MotoGP, and his only top ten start so far was earned in the wet Assen session. But West is feeling more confident after working on this problem in the post-race test days at Brno.

"At our testing sessions at Brno, I got to spend some time trying out qualifying tyres, which was great as they're new to me and it's been difficult to use them to their full advantage at the races we've done so far," he said.

"And, as the season progresses, I'm getting to know the ZX-RR more, which should mean we can go to Misano and improve our set-up for the race as, all the time, I'm finding out what works on the bike and what doesn't.

"It'll be good to see what we can achieve at San Marino."

West is still in contention for a 2008 Kawasaki ride alongside John Hopkins, and his prospects received a boost after Brno when current teammate Randy de Puniet announced that he was leaving for LCR Honda.

De Puniet said he also took a step forward in the Brno tests, but believes Kawasaki's progress will be more obvious at tracks quicker than Misano.

"The testing we did at Brno was very constructive and the changes that have been made to the bike were really positive, although I don't know if they'll be obvious at a shorter track like Misano, I'm certain they'll become more apparent at faster circuits such as Motegi and Sepang," he said.

"We also tried many tyres during the tests and that was also very useful.

"It will be an interesting race at Misano, as nobody except Anthony has ridden there, and it could be difficult as obviously we don't have prior knowledge to help with set up. But we're getting some extra practice time on the first day, and I tend to learn tracks quite quickly, so we'll be ready for the race."