Motorbike aces reflect on final races of 2019 campaign

What that will be remains to be seen but the Newport ace was still happy to round off his debut campaign in the premiere class of motorbike racing with a solid finish.

During a year littered with mechanical failures and crash, the 23-year-old still managed a highest finish of eighth in the Moto 3 class of the MotoGP and then ended his season on Sunday with an 18th in Spain.

Booth-Amos struggled with his KTM machine throughout the weekend, qualifying 30th on the grid. But once the flag dropped he was able to move up 12 places to finish in the top 20, on a track that he knows better than most of the others on the MotoGP calendar – as many of his races this year had been on tracks he had seen for the first time – but had never brought him much luck.

Booth-Amos, who decided earlier this year not renew his contract with the French-based CIP-Green Power team for 2020 and will be replaced by Max Kofler, said: “It was another difficult weekend in Valencia. I had some problems with the feeling of the bike. It’s also not my favourite track. I was injured last year and I don’t have very good memories of the place. Before the red flag, I made a good start and I was quickly around 18th place.

“During the second race, I didn’t have any grip – I don’t know why.

“The season is now over and I look forward to starting a new adventure.”

Team owner Alain Bronec added: “The last race of the year took place in difficult conditions. A lot of riders crashed.

“Tom made it to the finish line in 18th position despite a long-lap penalty after exceeding the limits of the track.”

Meanwhile, Michael Rutter has had time to reflect on his record-breaking ninth Macau GP win – and has gone as far as saying he was embarrassed by result. The Bridgnorth veteran was handed the win when the result was declared after just one lap was completed on Saturday, following two red-flag incidents.

It meant Rutter claimed the win ahead of his MGM by Bathams Racing team-mate Peter Hickman, who had looked instoppable form and had taken the lead early in lap two.

“Obviously I’m disappointed that the race didn’t run the full distance,” he said. “It would have been good to see how the whole thing played out over the distance, especially tyre wear.

It’s also a shame for all the teams that go to so much time and expense to race at Macau, for it to be such an anticlimax. Bottom line, we all go there to race.

“However, the main thing is that everyone involved in the two accidents are okay.

“I’m a bit embarrassed about being awarded the win after just one lap, but I’ll take it anyway. Peter was riding really well and was going to be extremely hard to beat.

“I’m sure he’ll be back next year and keen to set the record straight.

“Now we’ll start looking at 2020, and will have some exciting news that we’ll be announcing in the next few days.”