Honda rider Ukawa quitting MotoGP
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Honda's Tohru Ukawa is quitting MotoGP
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VALENCIA, Spain -- Japan's Tohru Ukawa is to quit the world MotoGP championship after a poor 2003 season.
The 30-year-old Honda rider, who rode 124 times in 250cc, 500cc and MotoGP made his announcement after retiring from the Valencia GP after a crash with compatriot Shinya Nakano.
Ukawa, who won the South African Grand Prix in 2002 -- his fourth career win -- finished a poor eighth in this year's series and will now work as a test rider for Honda instead.
Ukawa scored 29 podiums in five seasons in the 250cc class after making his debut in 1996.
His best season came in 1999 when he finished runner-up in the championship to Valentino Rossi, a result the pair repeated as team-mates in the MotoGP class in 2002, when Ukawa picked up a further nine podiums.
However, his form dipped in 2003 as team-mate to Max Biaggi in the Camel Pramac Pons team -- and he failed to score a single podium with his best result of the season coming at Jerez when he finished fourth.
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