West said he rated his dry-weather 12th place in the 500cc Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island in 2001 as one of the best performances of his career. He raced a privately-entered Honda V-Twin and finished ahead of the works V4 machines of Norick Abe (Yamaha), Kenny Roberts (Suzuki), and Carlos Checa (Yamaha). "Coming 12th is nothing special, but I was on a three-year-old 'Twin' and I finished just behind (Alex) Criville's Repsol Honda," said West. "There were 16 V4 factory bikes in the race and you can only judge yourself by what you're riding and what the others have got."
