Youichi Ui on the Harris WCM machine at Motegi

to NEWS

Japanese 125 ace Youichi Ui scored a valuable championship point for the team with a great MotoGP debut ride.

Though he found adapting to the big four stroke very difficult having had not a single lap of testing prior to normal GP practice on Friday he applied his tremendous race experience and brought the Harris WCM machine home fifteenth to score a championship point and put himself in the record books.

"I had a great weekend," said Ui. "I loved riding the bike even though it was very difficult. The main problem I had was getting used to the engine braking. We could not get it to work consistently the way I wanted and the inconsistance made finding the limit going into the corner just about impossible."

"I know that with more time I could do a lot better but I still really enjoyed the whole experience. I couldn't believe it when Peter asked me to ride. I had not been able to sleep for a couple of weeks because I was going to miss the Japanese Grand Prix and I knew that about 150 members of my fan club had bought tickets already and they were going to be disappointed as my 125 team did not want me to race any more."

"Before the race I had decided that I really wanted to finish even though I knew that I was not fit enough to keep up a good pace on a MotoGP bike. Of course it is a different kind of fitness to riding the 125. I also knew that I was going to be lapped according to the practice times and I did not want to get in the way of the quick guys. Of course I scored points because of the six guys who crashed at the first corner.... that's racing."

The team asked Ui to ride at the last minute when Michel Fabrizio failed to turn up for the Grand Prix of Japan. For the rest of the season James Ellison will ride and he may be joined by Chris Burns depending on the fitness of his wrist. Burns broke his scaphoid at Donington and though he tried to ride in Portugal, found it too painful.