West's best despite stall, penalty.

The 'angry' Australian clearly crept forward while waiting for the red lights to go out, before rocketing into the lead of a MotoGP race for the very first time on lap two of 24.

The Kawasaki rider was officially given a jump-start penalty moments later, forcing him to ride though the pits, and he rejoined in 14th place. However, the 26-year-old didn't give in and continued to fight his way forwards until he had to pit again, this time to change bikes due to the drying track.

West stalled his ZX-RR during his very first bike swap, and slipped from seventh to 11th while in the pits, but still he rode hard, charging back up to seventh and equalling his previous best MotoGP performance at Laguna Seca, where he'd encountered no such obstacles.

"I could have done so much better," signed Ant. "It was great to lead the race but I'm angry I jump-started. The ride through lost me a lot of time and then I didn't know about changing the bikes because I've never done it before. When I did come in, I stalled and that lost me even more time. I didn't know what was going on and it was pretty nerve-wracking. But the bike felt great today and I felt strong, too, which is why I was able to get to the front. Considering I had to [pit] twice and stalled the bike, I guess seventh's not too bad!"