Ant West - No Ride for 2012

[Tourn46]

Admittedly I am not a fan of Ant West, nor do I see any reason as to why he'd be taken up into MotoGP at this stage in his career...

However, it's pretty sad when someone is expected to pay such a large sum of money themselves to ride a bike in a championship. Is this something we will be seeing more of?

Will we hit a point where MotoGP becomes a rich boys playground? Karel Abraham springs to mind... although I am of the persuasion that he's done just about enough in regards to speed/results to warrant a space on the grid.

[Cam D]

That's sad for Ant, but not surprising at all. Many riders have paid for their rides in the past. I have read that Alex B, Carlos and Fonzi all brought a lot of money with them and teams gave them the preference because of this. Ant has shown many times that he has enough skills to race a bike close to it's limit. Whether he can set up a bike says as much about the team as it is about the rider, his stint on the 600 Yam proved that. I was led to believe that his bike in Moto3 was fairly average (Krop can probably let us know if it was or wasn't), but he still managed some good singular rides ..... which is all you can expect from non-competitive machinery. It's a question I have been trying to get answered for quite a while, I even Googled it, but I still can't find the criteria that determines if riders have done enough to be considered worthy of a Motogp ride jks....

edit: I think Krop ran a piece on Stefan not being able to get a Motogp ride recently and he had (from memory) 5 mill to bring with him.

[Kropotkin]

That's sad for Ant, but not surprising at all. Many riders have paid for their rides in the past. I have read that Alex B, Carlos and Fonzi all brought a lot of money with them and teams gave them the preference because of this. Ant has shown many times that he has enough skills to race a bike close to it's limit. Whether he can set up a bike says as much about the team as it is about the rider, his stint on the 600 Yam proved that. I was led to believe that his bike in Moto3 was fairly average (Krop can probably let us know if it was or wasn't), but he still managed some good singular rides ..... which is all you can expect from non-competitive machinery. It's a question I have been trying to get answered for quite a while, I even Googled it, but I still can't find the criteria that determines if riders have done enough to be considered worthy of a Motogp ride jks....

edit: I think Krop ran a piece on Stefan not being able to get a Motogp ride recently and he had (from memory) 5 mill to bring with him.

West had a massive problem at MZ: Martin Wimmer. Wimmer is the original mad professor, and would keep coming in and making changes to the set up without telling anyone else about it. West's results improved massively when Warren Willing became Ant's crew chief, who ensured that Wimmer was kept out of the garage. Wimmer meant well, but he just did not work methodically, and made it a nightmare to work for him.

[Cam D]

“I (ANTHONY WEST) will not race in moto gp this year or any other race because I can not find sponsorship to pay the SPEED MASTER team, Because all teams are asking for money from the riders only the rich can race in motogp / moto2 / moto3, I can not even afford to ride a year for free, As i have YET to be payed from my former team MZ Germany Moto2 team. I had my car mx bike and my house for sale trying to keep the ride and even gave the house as a guarantee if I did not find the money but was not enough. I will most likely not race any more and will [return] to australia to find a normal job. Sorry to my fans.”

If that's true, then it's poor form that MZ haven't paid him. You work... you get paid.

[Pantah]

Just heard this today and all I can say is......that's sh.t !

[SP_won]

All the best to Ant for the future whatever it brings.
And thanks to Krop for the Wimmer insight.

[oldboyonrgv]

Thats todays sport of motorcycle racing - someones making money and it aint the riders or teams......Its killing the sport

[chc-pr]

Thats todays sport of motorcycle racing - someones making money and it aint the riders or teams......Its killing the sport

While I agree this is bad news for Ant, I am truely astonished that so many of you seem surprised that this money thing is happening. The idea that this is a consequence of the present economic situation is just plain wrong. Motorsport has ALWAYS worked on the principle that riders and drivers pay for their seats/rides - except for a very few at the very top - and that means SOME of say an F1 grid or a MotoGP grid.

It may not be as simple as a direct buying of a place as it will be that in effect with the cost being paid for by a sponsor who, when you start digging, is directly linked to the person doing the racing.

When I was actively competing, I started to become aware of this becuase I found that the 'sponsors' of competitors were as often as not an uncles' family friend's or some other such related peron's business.

Even at the professional level it was not what it seemed. The top F3 drives as it was then were supposedly 'free'. What this meant was that the teams accepted the driver on the basis that if they couldn't bring enough sponsorship (which was usually in the order of £100,000s), then the driver had to agree to th eteam getting a percentage of any future earnings - and it was not a trivial percentage. I was given to understand that F3000 was the same - and I know some F1 drives were like that so see no reason it would be different now.

Even if you do find a properly sponsored drive/ride - then it is still usually not as it seems. I was offered a part sponsored drive to do the European Endurance Championship once by a team serious about winning - they offered to pay about 2/3rds of the 'cost' (at the time I had run out of money so couldn't take it up sadly) but even that was down to the principle driver having connections to the main sponsor and he wanted to have a team of guys he could race with and have a chance of winning with - so I was potentially an indirect beneficiary of this same nepotism.

So no, its NOT killing the sport - its always been like this and always will be, most just are unaware this has been happening.

PS - it was also the same when I started racing motorcycles as a child, so I see no reason why that would be any different

[breganzane]

Interesting on the Wimmer thing. Can you cast a similar light on Westie's departure from the KTM 250? I recall he had a blinder of a debut ride (wet of course), then some mechanical problems, then the whole ride for the following year fell apart. Aoyama picked up the ride and did very well on it.

[Gustav O]

SO West jumped over from BSB to a non competitive ride in Moto2, Damien Cudlin seem less than happy with that team that sacked him and replaced him with West. I know it is the first session for him but he gets beat by Alex Lundh who is a Swedish Moto2 rookie that has never been to Qatar.... Anyone still believe West belongs in MotoGP?

[Tourn46]

SO West jumped over from BSB to a non competitive ride in Moto2, Damien Cudlin seem less than happy with that team that sacked him and replaced him with West. I know it is the first session for him but he gets beat by Alex Lundh who is a Swedish Moto2 rookie that has never been to Qatar.... Anyone still believe West belongs in MotoGP?

I stand by my original post.

Admittedly I am not a fan of Ant West, nor do I see any reason as to why he'd be taken up into MotoGP at this stage in his career...

[Sloth27]

They should've stuck with Cudlin, at least he was enthusiastic about his role and would've given it his all for the team. West is a never has been with a bag full of excuses...

[Gustav O]

They should've stuck with Cudlin, at least he was enthusiastic about his role and would've given it his all for the team. West is a never has been with a bag full of excuses...

Judging from the tweets I have followd West was very upbeat and enthusiastic but I don´t understand why he wants to change a pretty decent ride in BSB to probably the crappiest one in Moto2? Money?

[Oscar]

Remember that FP1 was the first time West had thrown a leg over the bike.

[WayneG]

And they lost most of a session with a broken exhaust.

[Gustav O]

FP2 he took1.6seconds of that time and narrowly beat Lundh by 2 tenths. Lundh is a rookie at Moto2 and has never been to Qatar. To make it even more interesting he is riding the MZ bike...

Can anyone answer my question why he wanted the QMMF ride instead of the good ride in BSB? Only thing I have seen is that he wants to be in GPs but being on that bike in that team can´t do his career much good imo.

[Kropotkin]

FP2 he took1.6seconds of that time and narrowly beat Lundh by 2 tenths. Lundh is a rookie at Moto2 and has never been to Qatar. To make it even more interesting he is riding the MZ bike...

Can anyone answer my question why he wanted the QMMF ride instead of the good ride in BSB? Only thing I have seen is that he wants to be in GPs but being on that bike in that team can´t do his career much good imo.

The MZ bike is actually an FTR....

West wanted back into the MotoGP paddock, in the hope of something better. A bad move, to the worst team with the worst bike in Moto2. This will not end well.

[Gustav O]

The MZ bike is actually an FTR....

West wanted back into the MotoGP paddock, in the hope of something better. A bad move, to the worst team with the worst bike in Moto2. This will not end well.

The FTR bike that West had at the end of last year if I am not wrong?
Purely looking from the outside it seems like à bad move, imho.

[Tormo4ever]

silly move from west i think. he could ve maybe established himself in bsb , specially considering the high chance of a few wet races. he s in the worst team of moto2, he doesn t stand a chance. i guess he gets a decent check though.

[DaveP]

By all accounts his bridges are well and truly burned in BSB now

[MotoLen]

West wanted back into the MotoGP paddock, in the hope of something better. A bad move, to the worst team with the worst bike in Moto2. This will not end well.

Who actually operates the team? QMMF or another pay-to-play team?

[DaveP]

Best info I can see is here, though hard to know facts for sure - http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/qatar- ... nship.html

"Experienced rider Anthony West has joined the QMMF Racing Team, top racing official Nasser bin Khalifa Al Attiyah confirmed yesterday.

West, the former MotoGP rider, replaces fellow Australian Damian Cudlin.

“We welcome Anthony in our set up,” Al Attiyah, President of Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF), told The Peninsula yesterday.

“We hope his rich experience in bike events will help the QMMF Racing Team do well in the new season,” he added. “I am delighted with our new rider line-up. Everybody in the QMMF team is very motivated and we all look forward to a good start to the 2012 season.

“We can expect a strong performance and good results from both our new riders and we want to thank Dorna, IRTA, and DMM Motorsport for their ongoing support,” Al Attiyah added.

[Kropotkin]

West wanted back into the MotoGP paddock, in the hope of something better. A bad move, to the worst team with the worst bike in Moto2. This will not end well.

Who actually operates the team? QMMF or another pay-to-play team?

QMMF fund the team, but it's actually run by a bunch of Spanish guys.

[Gustav O]

QMMF fund the team, but it's actually run by a bunch of Spanish guys.

Old D'Antin team?

[Kropotkin]

QMMF fund the team, but it's actually run by a bunch of Spanish guys.

Old D'Antin team?

I believe so, but I'm not sure without checking.