Schumacher races, rejects 'second career'.

Former seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher has taken part in what his spokesperson described as his first 'official' motorcycle race, during a KTM Trophy round at Misano on Sunday.

Riding a Super Duke 990, the German dropped from third to 14th on the first of the ten laps - before battling back up to fourth place by the chequered flag.

The former Ferrari ace set a fastest lap of 1min 49.612secs in the process, which was only beaten by race winner Andrea Padovani, who posted a best of 1min 49.508secs.

"It was really fun," said Michael, who has recently appeared at various racetracks on different forms of two-wheeled machinery. "At the start I was a bit cautious but also I was not really good at it, therefore I fell back to 14th position. But then to fight yourself through the field was great, and the overtaking was just great too."

After his impressive performance on a Ducati MotoGP bike at Valencia last November, when he steered Casey Stoner's world championship winning machine to within five seconds of Dani Pedrosa's race lap record, some 'excitable' reports tipped Schumacher to make a Superbike or even MotoGP debut - something Schumacher once again explicitly denied.

"This is not the start of a second career. Even if I do a race from time to time that does not mean anything else than I do it because I want to enjoy myself," he said. "I just enjoy motorbiking. I do not have any ambitions to step into any kind of racing series.

"If from time to time I drive a race - like this weekend with the friends from KTM which I race the Super Duke 990 Trophy with - I do it because I like competition.

"But again, I do not want to enter in the kind of machinery I have left at the end of 2006. And I am also not presumptuous enough to imagine I could step into a professional series.

"I want to try myself on two wheels - and one thing is sure: as I did in Formula 1, I strongly take care to not go over the top," he concluded.

Schumacher helped design his own motorcycle helmet for the race, working with long time supplier Schuberth, for whom he will continue to act as 'test rider'.

"Michael worked just as precisely as we knew he did in Formula 1. He made observations that helped us enormously," said Oliver Schimpf, engineering director at Schuberth GmbH.