Banbury-based Proton KR rider Jeremy McWilliams suffered both the highs and the lows at last weekend's Australian Moto-GP.

He had the joy on Saturday of clinching pole position, using his lightweight three-cylinder machine to good effect around the sweeping curves of Phillip Island. This was despite being some 18 mph slower than the M1 Yamaha of Max Biaggi through the start-finish straight speed trap.

Then on Sunday McWilliams had the gloom of being eaten up by the might of the ultra-powerful fourstrokes when the lights changed and went off the track trying to catch them on lap four. He dropped to last place.

In a race won by World Champion Valentino Rossi, McWilliams made a gritty fight-back, finally finishing tenth.

He said: "Of course I'm disappointed after the highs of practice, but it was fun racing against those four-strokes as I fought back through the field.

"It was good to see my team-mate, Nobuatsu Aoki, finish seventh with both of us in the top ten."

The four-stroke Honda of Alex Barros led the way from the start, pursued by Rossi, his team-mate Tohru Ukawa and Dutchman Jurgen van den Goorbergh on the two-stroke NSR Honda.

The Italian World Champion rode on the back wheel of Barros' s Honda and the Brazilian started to slow the pace to try to preserve his tyres. With five and a half laps remaining, Rossi took the lead and the outcome looked certain to be decided in a last lap shoot-out.

But Barros tried to outbrake Rossi going into the hairpin and misjudged, running off, up the escape road.

So, Rossi to secured his 50th Grand Prix victory.

Race result

1. Valentino Rossi (Honda) 42m02.041s; 2, Alex Barros (Honda) 42m11.823s; 3, Tohru Ukawa (Honda) 42m13.175s; 4, Daijiro Kato (Honda) 42m13.368s; 5, Jurgen vd Goorbergh (Honda) 42m13.455s; 6, Max Biaggi (Yamaha) 42m22.978s; 7, Nobuatsu Aoki (Proton KR) 42m24.546s; 8, Olivier Jacque (Yamaha) 42m28.683s; 9, Kenny Roberts (Suzuki) 42m28.733s; 10, Jeremy McWilliams (Proton KR) 42m34.035s.