Nakano 'fantastic' fifth on 'big-bang' debut.

The race debut of Kawasaki's brand new 'big-bang' engine ended with star rider Shinya Nakano claiming a fighting fifth placed finish in Sunday's season-opening Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez.

The Japanese had qualified a head turning fifth, but could the Bridgestone race tyres equal the performance of their renowned one lap qualifier? With the exception of Nakano the answer seemed to be no; his team-mate Alex Hofmann was 11th, the top Ducati was just tenth and lead Suzuki only 14th.

Nakano settled into fifth place on lap one and for much of the first half of the race he rode alone, behind the leading group of four, containing eventual race winner Valentino Rossi. Although pressured by Alex Barros late in the race, Nakano responded to chase the Brazilian home, and at the finish was just 0.7secs behind fourth place.

"This is a fantastic start to the season for Kawasaki's new big-bang motor; I'm obviously very happy," smiled Nakano. "All the engineers at Kawasaki have done an excellent job, the engine was strong and there is more performance to come. Also my Bridgestone tyres were very good in these conditions.

"From the start I pushed very hard, but I just could not stay with the leading group, it was difficult to keep pace riding alone. I kept pushing until the finish and even when Barros overtook me I could follow his pace and I didn't lose any more positions," he stated.

Meanwhile, team-mate Hofmann charged from tenth on the grid to briefly take eighth on the first lap, but then narrowly lost out to a tight bunch that included double World Superbike champion Colin Edwards and premier-class race winners Carlos Checa and Max Biaggi. The German eventually crossed the line eleventh.

"That was a tough battle in the wind and on a very dusty track. I didn't make my best start, but I was able to make some moves and be eighth on lap one," he said. "It was a very fast pace at the front and I had a very good race with the group that included Edwards, Checa and then Biaggi. I was able to run the same pace through most of the race and had no problems with the new big-bang motor or the Bridgestone tyres. I think I showed my potential today against the guys I raced with."

"A very good start to the season with Shinya and Alex in the points, both with very consistent performances," declared team manager Harald Eckl. "This race has confirmed the performance potential of our new firing order motor and the Bridgestone tyres. Thanks to the work of everyone in the Kawasaki Racing Team we now have a very strong platform on which to build for the rest of the season."

Kawasaki will test at Jerez today (Monday) before moving on to Estoril for next weekend's Portuguese Grand Prix.