Britain's James Ellison rounded off a very busy period in the MotoGP World Championship with yet another points scoring ride when he brought the PBMUK Aprilia ART home in a fine 14th place at the Mugello circuit in Italy.

After qualifying in 16th position and fifth place Claiming Rules Team (CRT) specification rider, the 31-year-old from Kendal got a good start to run with a couple of the prototype bikes including nine-times World Champion Valentino Rossi in the early stages.

Continuing his battle with the CRT riders, the Cumbrian rider was strong for the duration of the race and at the flag at the end of 23 laps, was just a third of a second off 13th place and the regular front-running CRT Aspar Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro and 11 seconds behind CRT winner Randy De Puniet meaning the Penrith-based team claimed third in the CRT class.

The result sees Ellison consolidate 16th position in the MotoGP World Championship having scored points in the last four successive races. The PBMUK team has moved up a place to tenth in the team standings at the half way point in the championship and lie third in the CRT rankings in their debut season in MotoGP.

James Ellison:

"I really enjoyed the race. I got a really good start and was clinging onto to Rossi until near the end of the first lap but I folded the front and lost the tow and then got passed by Pasini whilst under pressure from Hernandez. I had a real good battle with Hernandez and managed to make a gap from him and start to pull in Pasini with a couple of laps to go. I had to pass him a couple of times to make it stick and thought 13th place was in the bag until Espargaro passed me down the start and finish straight. I pushed so hard on the last lap to stay with him and was glued to his back wheel until the end but just didn't have enough to get past. My last lap was only a tenth of a second slower than my best so I was very strong at the finish and happy with more points. I'm looking forward to going to Laguna Seca in two weeks time to try to improve again but it's been another great team effort this weekend."

Phil Borley, Technical Director:

"James produced a good ride this weekend. We had a swinging arm modification which gave him a little more confidence and although there were times we struggled during the weekend, it all came together for the actual race. He got a good start and ran a good pace early on before dropping off a little but then he picked it up towards the end with some aggressive riding which saw him pick up places. Overall we are pleased as this was a satisfying round for us and we look forward to the Laguna race in the USA later this month."

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