Injured West to race with painkillers.

Ant West will be given painkilling injections and tablets before racing in tomorrow's 250cc motorcycle grand prix at Phillip Island, after injuring a hand in first practice yesterday.

The Australian, who is sixth in the GP250 championship after 15 rounds, made the decision after evaluating an injection in his injured finger before riding in today's second and final qualifying session. He said the injection lessened the discomfort in qualifying, and he hoped it would have the same effect in the Australian Grand Prix.

The 19-year-old injured the outside finger of his left hand when he was flung off his Shell Advance Honda NSR250 by a strong gust of wind in yesterday's opening qualifying session. His left hand was caught under the machine and layers of skin were torn off the middle knuckle of the finger.

"There was a huge hole in my finger," West described, "I could see the bone and the knuckle. They gave me a 'local' yesterday, then took out a piece of the damaged knuckle and gave it a skin transplant. It's a temporary thing, and I'll need some more work on the finger after this weekend.

"I'm going to give the race a go," he added bravely, "Today, I tried a painkilling injection for qualifying and it was better, so I'll have another one just before the race. The team have also shortened the clutch lever, and I'm using an extra large glove which we've split down the back so I can get my finger into it.

"We're going to tape up the sore finger to the one next to it. The finger is sore, and it doesn't make riding the bike any easier for sure. It hurts quite a bit through the really fast and tight sections, when you're braking and you've got all the pressure on your hands."

Despite the injury, West qualified a creditable 15th on the 4.5km Phillip Island circuit with a best lap time of 1min 35.987secs in
today's second session. He rode a total of 69 laps in the two practice sessions and two qualifying sessions over the two days, in spite of the pain from his injuries.

Japan's Shinya Nakano will start from pole position, ahead of Chesterfield Tech 3 Yamaha team-mate and championship leader Olivier Jacque of France. The remaining two front-row grid positions were secured by Japan's Daijiro Katoh on a Axo Gresini Honda, and Italian Marco Melandri on a works Aprilia.

Jacque leads the championship with 252 points, ahead of Nakano on 242, and Katoh on 243. West has 137 points, with best results of fourth in the Dutch and Portugal rounds of the championship.