Who is Chris Burns?

The 2003 MotoGP season will see 22 year old Chris Burns make his premier class debut for the Harris-WCM team, alongside Ralf Waldmann, and thus mean the Newcastle based Brit will make the massive jump from British Superstock to World Grand Prix.

For those who may not know much about Burns and his impressive - if underfunded - Motorcycling career so far, which includes a brief stint in 125cc GP's, here's a quick profile...

Chris Burns:

Born: June 12, 1980 and educated at Ponteland High School, Newcastle, England.

1983: Coming from a well known motorcycle racing lineage, Burns began riding motorcycles at the age of three.

1987: Began competing in schoolboy motocross at seven, winning the North East Motocross Club Championship in his first season.

1995: Off road racing success continued into his teens, when he made the switch to short circuit road racing. In this first full season riding a Honda RS125, he won 53 races from 59 starts.

1996: Entered the British Superteen Championship for riders between 15 and 20 years old, campaigning a 125 Cagiva. 1996 is recognised as the most competitive season ever for this British Championship, which he dominated, setting pole position and winning all but a few rounds.

1997: The prize for winning the previous year's Superteen Championship was a Honda RS125 race bike to campaign in the 125 British Championship. Burns set five lap records, finished second once and won four rounds in the early part of the season before being head hunted by the German UGT 125 Grand Prix team.

Here he partnered World Champion Kazuto Sakata in the remaining World Championship Grand Prix rounds before rounding off the season with a resounding lap and race record breaking win in the final British Championship round at Donington Park.

1998: Voted British Superbike teams' Young Rider of the Year in his first season racing large capacity four-stroke machines. Partnering 11 times Isle of Man TT winner Phillip McCallen in the Motorcycle City 600cc British Supersport Championship, Burns was a consistent top ten finisher proving himself to be mature beyond his years, adaptable and highly competitive in a close fought championship.

1999: His objective was to compete in the blue riband British Superbike Championship as a privateer, but promised sponsorship funds failed to materialise. Burns was then offered a British 125 Championship ride some way into the season, setting three lap records en route to winning the last four rounds before being voted British Supercup Privateer of the Year.

2000: Entered the European Superstock Championship on a Yamaha R1, finishing second at the UK's Donington Park round, before setting lap records and winning at Monza and Hockenheim.

Injuries at the Misano (Italian) round sidelined him for the next two rounds, but he fought back to finish third overall in the Championship.

2001: Entered the hard fought British Superstock Championship and immediately demonstrated his ability to take the title. However, he was once again hit by funding problems as the team sponsor withdrew after only five rounds - whilst he was 2nd in the Championship, forcing withdrawal from the next two rounds.

Fortunately, Roundstone Suzuki stepped in to offer him a ride for the rest of the year, but the damage had been done and he ended the season 7th overall.

2002: Re-signed for Roundstone Suzuki, giving him the stability and a strong foundation for the year ahead. The result was nine podium (top three) finishes, including four wins.

Such success gained high profile wild card entries to the European Championship, providing Burns with the opportunity to demonstrate his prowess on the world stage. He led both European rounds at the Silverstone and Brands Hatch World Superbike meetings from start to finish, (in front of a 127,000 sell out crowd at Brands Hatch, the biggest attended single day sporting event in the UK).

The 2002 British Championship was decided at the final Donington Park round where unfortunate mechanical failure forced Chris to retire in the opening laps.

2003: Signs with Harris WCM for a year's racing in the MotoGP World Championship.