Harada secures 500 ride

Tetsuya Harada has finally secured his deal to ride a 500 in the 2002 world championship.

The 31-year-old former world 250 champion will be run by Shell Advance team boss Jeff Hardwick but not under the banner of the fuel giant.

Hardwick said: “I know the sponsors want to do their own announcement so there’s not much I can say. At the moment though we are setting up a workshop in Italy and should begin testing in early January. I will effectively run one 500 rider and two 250 riders with different sponsors. ”

The sponsor of Harada’s team is rumoured to be Pramac, a long established Italian firm specialising in power and handling systems.

Hardwick’s 250 riders are Katja Poensgen and Alex Dubon.