West hoped for better than seventh

The Australian had held second in the early part of the wet qualifying session in Holland, but later fell down the order before jumping back to seventh with his final lap.

West, who has a reputation as a rain specialist, had expected better given the conditions.
 
"I'm not so happy, really," he said. "I was going well at the beginning but I lost that feeling and don't believe we've managed to find a good set-up.

"The bike didn't feel stable, it was moving around a lot and not giving me confidence, so I didn't feel I was able to ride as I'd like to in the rain.

"I was quite surprised the last lap was that much faster as it didn't feel it, particularly.

"Still, I'm ten places further up the grid than I was at Donington, so that's not too bad, and ideally I'd like to stay within the top ten tomorrow. It looks like it might be dry so this grid position will help me at the start of the race.

"I've still got a long way to go though, just trying to catch up."

West had been racing in the 250cc series and Supersports before being called up to replace Olivier Jacque at Kawasaki from last week's British Grand Prix onwards.

His teammate Randy de Puniet qualified third at Assen.