West: plenty more to come despite crash

The Kawasaki rider, who has just had his 2008 contract confirmed, lost control of his bike at Turn 1 of the Misano track in first practice, having been near the top of the timesheets - before seeing the rest of the day washed out because of bad weather.

"Well, that was interesting," said West, who ended up ninth overall. "It was good to get out there and be at the front for a while, and things were going well, but then I came off.

"But the other two Aussies, Chris Vermeulen and Casey Stoner, went down too and I didn't want them to feel embarrassed so I thought I'd join in. Seriously though, it was just a stupid thing as it was slippery out there.

"I went in to turn one, touched the brakes and lost the front. Still, I came back in, went straight out again and my fastest lap of the session was my last, which is a good sign. I've never seen anything like this rain and flooding though. I was looking for the Kawasaki jet ski."

Teammate Randy de Puniet ended up seventh overall in the standings, having lost time early in the session with a technical problem.

"Initially, I wasn't doing so well as I had a technical problem and lost 20 minutes; then I restarted, just as the really heavy rain came down and only managed two laps," said the Frenchman.

"Later on I got up to first place but then ended up seventh. The bike had a good feeling in the wet and I felt the Bridgestones had pretty good grip on the track, considering how wet it was, but I'm looking forward to riding in the dry because I think I can go even faster then.

"By the time the really bad weather began, I was in my motorhome. When I arrived back at the pits I saw what was going on in the box and pitlane. There was no way we could carry on today. It was quite an impressive sight, though."