Nakano's lead washed away.

Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano was left eighth place in Sunday's Australian Grand Prix, after rain on lap six forced him to relinquish a five second lead.

Nakano had got a flying start from second place on the grid, taking the lead into the first turn and immediately pulling away from the chasing pack. Intermittent rain made conditions difficult, but the 28-year-old was in a class of his own during the opening laps.

By the time the rain had increased to the point where the white flag was shown to the riders - to indicate they could return to the pits, to change to bikes with a wet set-up - Nakano had pulled out a five second gap on second placed Sete Gibernau.

As the rain continued to fall steadily, the majority of the MotoGP riders returned to the pits at the end of lap eight, for a somewhat chaotic switch to their spare machines, leaving Nakano virtually alone on track, as he continued to push hard in the tricky conditions.

One lap later and Nakano also pitted, but despite rejoining the race in second place, the Kawasaki pilot was quickly demoted to sixth as he tried to get a feel for the full wet tyres fitted front and rear. Nakano continued to push hard as the track dried out, wearing out his wet tyres in the process and leaving him to settle for eighth place at the line.

"Well, I think that's the best start I've ever had in MotoGP!" smiled Shinya. " There was some rain from the start, but I could feel that the grip was still there, so I pushed as hard as I could from the off. I couldn't believe it when I saw I had a two second lead at the end of the first lap, which had increased to over three seconds by the end of the next. Then it started raining. I stayed out for an extra lap, but it was difficult to manage the pace out there on my own. I came in on the next lap, switched bikes, and then got swallowed up by the leading group as I tried to get a feel for the grip offered by the full wet tyres.

"Then it dried out a bit and I used up all the tyres chasing the leaders, which left me with a problem when it started raining again. In the closing stages, although the bike was moving around a lot, I still thought I could overtake Loris, but then when I closed onto his rear wheel it was obvious straight away that it would have been too risky to try and pass. Eighth isn't the result I was looking for today, so that's a little disappointing, but now I must focus on the Japanese Grand Prix next weekend, which is obviously important to me as it's my home race," he concluded.

"Shinya got a fantastic start, and rode brilliantly to build up such a big lead in difficult conditions. If it had stayed dry then I'm positive we would be celebrating a podium finish now," admitted team principal Harald Eckl.

Nakano's team-mate Randy de Puniet finished eleventh.