Having undergone surgery on an old wrist injury in December, the former 250cc and Supersport pilot has been limited in the training he's been able to complete ahead of pre-season testing - where he is expected to ride at 100 percent for six hours a day, for three consecutive days.
West has also had to adapt to the mental pressure of testing, with literally hundreds of different component, tyre and setting combinations to evaluate and then communicate to Kawasaki's technical staff.
"I think Anthony's had a bit of a wake up call over the past two weeks," said Bartholemy. "He did a good job coming into the team midway through last season and scoring points on a bike he'd never ridden before, but now he's learning just how much work goes into developing a factory
MotoGP bike like the Ninja ZX-RR ahead of the first race.
"He's been hampered by the wrist operation he had in December, but I think even he'd admit that he underestimated just how hard testing was going to be physically. Now we need to look at his training program over the coming weeks, to ensure he's at least approaching full fitness for the
Jerez and Qatar tests," declared Bartholemy.
West finished January's Sepang test just 15th fastest and was 14th and last during the final day of testing at his home Phillip Island circuit on Friday, when he was the sole Kawasaki rider out on track following a groin injury for
John Hopkins. West completed more than 100 laps on Friday, including a race simulation, and looked visibly tired when he returned to the pit box for the final time.
"These last two weeks have been a tough introduction to pre-season testing for me," admitted the Australian. "After the wrist operation in December, I knew I wasn't going to have the training time that I probably needed, but I was surprised at just how physically demanding I've found these two tests. And when you start to tire on the bike, it makes concentrating on the evaluation process with whatever component, setting or tyre you're testing all the more difficult.
