Contrasting 500cc debuts for Walker / Haslam.

Shell Advance Honda riders Chris Walker and Leon Haslam suffered mixed fortunes in the opening round of the world championship in Japan today.

British Superbike ace Walker (pictured) crashed at the hairpin just before the finish line and therefore failed to complete his first lap in his debut on a factory Shell Advance Honda NSR 500.

"I didn't make such a good start but made up a couple places through turn one and then some more through curves out the back but coming into the final hairpin I braked in the normal place but there was a lot of traffic and everyone bunched up more than I thought they would," explained Walker.

"Then the front started hopping a round on the brakes and I was off. It is a bit disappointing because I came here to try and get a result and just got a bit over enthusiastic on the first lap. Unfortunately when I crashed I hit Cardoso and that was my fault."

"I'm brand new and ready to go, if it was Superbikes I would have another race this afternoon. It's been a pretty tough weekend with the change to a factory Honda grand prix bike. What I have learnt is that the Honda is a great bike but it's not responding to me so I have to change my style and I have to respond to what the bike is doing."

Walker's teenage teammate in the Shell squad, Leon Haslam, rode a brilliant debut 500 GP race to finish 13th and score three world championship points. Haslam was riding a Shell Advance Honda 500 v-twin and had a tough battle with experienced Japanese rival Haru Aoki on a similar machine.

After a braking duel into the final chicane Aoki finished 12th just 0.3s ahead of Haslam.

"I'm really happy with that, scoring points in my first 500 race after going all last season on 125s and scoring points in just one race," said a delighted Haslam. "This is a great team and 500s is where I want to be. It was definitely an experience and better result than I expected and hopefully I can back it up in the races to come.

"In the early laps I was trying to ride the bike too hard and I was spinning up the rear tyre and losing grip at the rear. But then when I started to ride smoother I was consistently on the pace with Aoki on his Honda v-twin.

"About nine laps into the race I got behind Aoki and we had a great battle even right up to the chicane at the final corner. I thought I might have got a round the outside of him on the run to the line but I just couldn't make it. I reckon I was out of the seat four times on the final lap."