Nakano pleased to show his potential

Although Nakano has finished in the points in every race this season and currently holds ninth in the championship, he will be replaced at Gresini Honda by Toni Elias next year.

The Japanese rider spent the Australian race as part of a huge battle for fourth with James Toseland, Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso, and eventually came through to fifth having conserved his tyres for the final laps.

"I got a good start and managed to improve on my pace from practice so I'm really satisfied," said Nakano.

"After the warm-up we decided on a medium compound tyre, which proved to be the right choice because the bike felt really balanced and I was able to stick with a fast group of riders from the start.

"Having chosen a softer compound I obviously didn't want to risk too much in the early stages because I needed to save some rubber for the end and on the final five laps I really pushed hard, taking two riders and crossing the line in fifth.

"It has been a long time since I enjoyed a race like this so today I'm happy I was able to show our true potential and I'd like to thank the team for that."

Nakano has been linked with either Kawasaki's new third bike or stepping down to a testing role for Honda.

Team boss Fausto Gresini said Nakano's result was an important boost for his squad.

"I'm really happy with Shinya's race - he rode very well and was aggressive in the right way, which allowed him to go with a fast group," said Gresini.

"We needed a race like that because it gives us all the motivation to finish the season strongly."

But Nakano's teammate Alex de Angelis, who will stay on for 2009, was unable to add to Gresini's success as he crashed out on the first lap.

"I'm really disappointed with today because I finally managed to get a good start and I'd made up some positions," he said.

"After the first couple of corners I was following (Randy) de Puniet but he made a mistake under braking and I was too close behind him to avoid him. Unfortunately I came out worse and I'm disappointed because today was a good opportunity for us to show our potential."