Tough race for Red Bull Yamaha.

Red Bull Yamaha team riders, Garry McCoy and Regis Laconi, struggled to carry the team's recent good form through into the 500cc race at Motegi.

The start had seen the majority of the front row (with the exception of Kenny Roberts Jr.) make a poor start, with pole sitter Max Biaggi being the biggest loser - falling back to eleventh. In the meantime those lower down on the grid were rocketing into the top six.

McCoy, eighth in qualifying, attributed the situation to being; "the inside line was not the place to be. Everyone on the outside line got a rocket start down to the first corner, taking it on a racing line at racing speed. The inside runners had to brake to avoid running in to them, as they turned in across our fronts."

When the Yamaha teammates came across the line at the end of the first lap McCoy had dropped down the field to thirteenth, with Laconi, who had started in thirteenth was now directly ahead of McCoy. However the Australian, notorious for his aggressive riding style and racing ability, managed to overtake his teammate on the second lap.

The teammate's status quo remained until on lap thirteen, when McCoy took to the gravel trap under braking "I couldn't brake any harder - I was doing an endo, with the back wheel up in the air - and eventually I ran out of track," he managed to continue (in fifteenth place) but within three laps he had retired after the rear brake disc broke - almost certainly as a result of the off track excursion.

McCoy himself explained "I heard this harsh mechanical noise, so I pulled in the clutch, thinking it must have been that. But it was the rear disc. I'm really disappointed. We were always somewhere in the top eight through the practice and qualifying sessions, so I thought that would have been a good finish, somewhere around there."

The twenty-eight year old was naturally disappointed with the premature end to his race, but knew the size of the task he and the team had been facing at Motegi "It was a track I didn't know, so it was too new to us. We had too much work to do, compared with others who had been here last year. I was a bit sore today from my fall on Saturday but ultimately that wasn't the problem. My right ankle and shin were sore (I couldn't pull my toes up). My left arm and right thumb near the scaphoid were also sore".

Regis Laconi meanwhile would finish the race in eleventh - which although not the performance he had wanted, meant that he kept his 100% points finish record for this year. "I was disappointed with being pushed back on lap 1 to 12th place but when you start on the fourth row it is hard not to lose ground to the leaders which is impossible to make up, especially at a track like this, with a lot of slow corners."

With the final round of the MotoGP's due to take place in just over a week at Phillip Island, Gary McCoy will be racing with the support of his home crowd as arguably the top Australian rider, following the retirement of Mick Doohan.

"The important thing is I wanted to get to the last round, safe, fit and ready to race. I should be all right in a week and a half's time. It's not so much that it's my home race. More that it's at a track I know well, where I think we can race strongly," McCoy commented, before adding "I'll be working to get back in front of Carlos Checa, who's now third in the championship, five points in front of me."

25 year old Frenchman Regis Laconi is equally optimistic "Apart from a little problem with the gearbox, the bike ran well. Now I'm looking forward to having a better run at the last round at Phillip Island in two weeks time," he said.