Westy signs on with Stiggy World Supersport campaign
Australia’s Anthony West will compete in the 2009 Supersport World Championship on a Stiggy Motorsports Honda.
The 27-year-old is no stranger to world Supersport competition, winning two races and finishing third in another when he deputised for fellow Australian Kevin Curtain on a Yamaha in last year’s championship.
West was all set to continue his association with Yamaha after the all-conquering cameo, before getting the call up from Kawasaki to go MotoGP racing.
However, West has failed to make an impact in the world’s premier class of racing, and he will be replaced by Italian Marco Melandri after the final two rounds in Malaysia and Spain.
West will then start a pre-season campaign with Stiggy as he looks to become the fourth Aussie to win the world Supersport title.
“I’m very happy to be joining the Stiggy team. Stiggy is a friend an old teammate from 2003 in 250GP,” said West.
“I remember saying to him one day that he should start his own team because none of the other teams knew how to do it right, and to my surprise he did!
“Over the last couple of years I heard from everybody in the industry that the Stiggy team it’s one of the better ones in the championship. To have a team boss that knows what it’s like to race and knows what racing is all about is just great!
“After a difficult year in MotoGP I need to race on a bike that can win, and in Supersport together with team Stiggy I can. For 2009 I have only one goal – to win.”
West’s teammate for 2009 hasn’t been announced, but it could certainly be an all-Australian equip with Sydney’s Josh Brookes currently one of the incumbents.
Stiggy is also going world Superbike racing in 2009, with Briton Leon Haslam one of the riders, and the other also still to be confirmed.
Australia’s own home of motorsport, Phillip Island Circuit, will kick off the 2009 world Supersport Championships from Friday February 27 to Sunday March 1, 2009.