First Chinese start taken-away.

The first Chinese rider to compete in a motorcycle grand prix made his debut at Suzuka, but was denied what would have been a historic race start..

Twenty-one year old Cheung Way On failed to qualify for the 125cc race in the very difficult wet/dry conditions. Due to his lack of experience he did not receive special dispensation to start the race.

First Chinese start taken-away.

The first Chinese rider to compete in a motorcycle grand prix made his debut at Suzuka, but was denied what would have been a historic race start..

Twenty-one year old Cheung Way On failed to qualify for the 125cc race in the very difficult wet/dry conditions. Due to his lack of experience he did not receive special dispensation to start the race.

Way On comes from Hong Kong and was the 2001 China GP 125 Champion. For three successive years between 1998 - 2000 he also won the 125cc class at the Macau Grand Prix street race.

"It has been my aim to go grand prix racing for the last 16 years but the problem in China is collecting the finance to compete at such a high level," explained Way On, who crashed his Honda in the wet Saturday morning practice session.

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