After a near miss with Swan Yamaha, Anthony West has become the latest international star to confirm a place on the 2012
BSB grid.
The Australian - a former 250GP, WSS race winner and factory Kawasaki
MotoGP rider - came close to landing the Swan Yamaha ride in place of the injured Ian Hutchinson, only to be overlooked in favour of Noriyuki Haga.
But West, who had originally been planning to return to
MotoGP this year for the Speed Master CRT outfit, has now secured a seat alongside Patric Muff at Supersonic Racing, which is switching to
BSB from WSBK. The team will run BMW machinery.
"It has been a difficult couple of weeks for me; I obviously lost the ride in
MotoGP and before then I hadn't looked outside of that paddock," said West. "I looked at what John (Hopkins) had done by racing in
BSB last year and I thought it could be a good move for me. I don't know a lot of the tracks, but I have experience of learning fast from the different championships I have raced in before.
"It will also be a new experience riding the BMW Superbike so it is exciting for me; the competition this year looks like it will be the best it has ever been in
BSB so it will be a new challenge. My fans have been a great support to me and it was also their reaction of wanting to see me race in
BSB that pushed me to continue my racing career."
West has raced for MZ in Moto2 for the past two seasons, claiming a best race finish of fourth.
As well as West and Haga, WSS stars Luca Scassa and Florian Marino are also moving to
BSB for 2012. They will take on the likes of reigning champion Tommy Hill, plus former champion Shane Byrne and race winners Josh Brookes, Michael Laverty and Stuart Easton.
The 2012
BSB Championship will see electronic rider aids heavily restricted through the use of a standard ECU - and include a round at Assen, in The Netherlands.
BSB has a 'Showdown' format, where the top six riders in the championship after the Main Season have their points equalised and podium credits added, ahead of the final three-round Title Showdown.
John Hopkins re-launched his career by finishing a very close second to Hill in last year's championship.
Maxime Berger raced a Ducati for Supersonic in
WSBK last season, while Muff scored podium finishes in last year's
BSB Evo class.
