Nobby Ueda: The rain master of Mugello.

Nobby Ueda turned rain master in yesterday's Italian GP, taking the first Grand Prix win for the Honda powered TSR chassis, with a dominant ride in the tricky conditions.

The race had been stopped after just two laps due to light rain falling on the circuit, then as the riders were completing their Warm-up lap before the restart (in dry conditions) the heavens opened and heavy rain fell once again!

So, a third start was needed, and this time 'wets' were fitted by all, but ironically the rain had now stopped and tyre choice would be crucial as the track dried out.

Ueda had chosen full wets, but wisely started the race slowly to build heat into his tyres to get a feel for the track surface. Nobby spent the first few laps down in 8th place, from his sixth placed start, but began moving forward from lap six, taking a place every lap, until he reached third.

By this point Gino Borsoi continued to lead local hero Simone Sanna by about ten bike lengths, but Ueda was still closing fast on the blue TSR machine, and Sanna was helpless to stop him stealing second on lap 14 of 20.

Just one lap later the 33 year old outdragged Borsoi along the start finish straight to take the lead of the race for the first time - and set the fastest lap of the race some 1.14secs faster than the next best time.

Nobby continued to pull away, eventually winning by 3.810secs from Borsoi, with Manuel Poggiali seizing the final podium position for Gilera.

"How was that! I am very happy," said a jubilant Ueda. "The race was very satisfying. I took the early laps very steady to make the tyres get some heat and then I rode very steady and the race was enjoyable. I have much experience of the wet and rode with steady pace and was very comfortable.

"With maybe four laps to go the rain started again and made the pace slower, but 20 laps was very long and with 4 laps to go, I thought no, 4 more laps!! The race felt very long but of course, I am very happy."

Masa Fujii, Chairman of TSR, was equally ecstatic: "We won! F.C.C. TSR won the GP here in Italy! When I was heading for the podium I told Nobby, "Thank you for your great present for us today." He replied, " Congrats for the first win of the TSR original chassis AC10M. Glad I teamed up with TSR!"

"I would like to express my sincere appreciation to our main sponsor F.C.C. led by Mr. Yamamoto, people from Honda, HRC and all other sponsors of course. And our TSR staff, fans.... thank you. We have to keep up the good work to win the championship title!"

Ueda's win moves him up to fourth in the World Championship, just 12 points from new championship leader Gino Borsoi.