Booth-Amos aiming to reign in Spain for final MotoGP round

Having achieved a best finish of eighth in Australia, he was again involved in a crash racing in the penultimate round, which ended any hopes of another positive finish.

The 23-year-old, from Newport, had headed to the Sepang International Circuit, for the Malaysia GP, full of confidence having clocked the the fifth fastest lap time of the entire race during the previous Moto 3 battle around the famous Philip Island track in Australia.

But Sepang was yet another new track for Booth-Amos, who had to settle for a qualifying position of 25th on the grid during a weekend filled with tricky conditions.

Following the previous excellent results for the Shropshire rider and his South African team-mate, Darryn Binder – who had finished in sixth – just a few days earlier at Phillip Island, both CIP-Green Power racers had been hoping for more success.

Binder was straight out of the traps during practice, 14th place overall, meaning he immediately secured a spot in Q2, eventually posted the sixth-fastest qualifying time.

Meanwhile, Booth-Amos, qualified in 25th but once the flag dropped both riders suffered crashes, with Binder's race ended on the ninth lap while running in seventh.

Booth-Amos had risen six positions to 19th by just the fourth lap and it looked like another top result might be on.

After crashing following a collision with another rider, he managed to get back on track and crossed the line in 21st.

Booth-Amos said: “Overall, it could have been a good weekend. My fastest lap in the race is only three tenths off the fastest time.

"However, I made a mistake and crashed. There were some positives as my race pace was pretty good. We are now preparing for the last round in Valencia.”

CIP-Green Power racing team owner Alain Bronec added: "Tom had to work twice as hard to come back. Unfortunately, he crashed with another rider but he finished the race.”

Booth-Amos should be heading to the final race in Valencia, following a gruelling 19-round campaign, with confidence despite his most recent crash.

Having show he clearly has the pace following his top-eight finish in Australia, he now heads to a country he knows very well.

After winning the British Motostar championship in dominant fashion in 2017, he signed for the British Talent Team and entered the Junior World Championship a year later – a series raced entirely around Spanish circuits, bar one, which was held in Le Mans, France.

Booth-Amos eventually moved to Valencia while competing in the junior series and, vitally, has also ridden the track before.

He showed glimpses of his huge potential during 2018, including the penultimate round in Albacete when he qualified in 13th place and finished fifth, which easily marked his best result of an injury-plagued campaign.

He had also been leading the opening race before of the championship suffering a crash, which marked the beginning of a run of injuries that plagued his campaign.

However, he did enough to secure a debut ride with the French-based CIP-Green Power racing team.

And although his plans for 2020 are still in limbo, the racer and his team working hard behind the scenes are hopeful he will be back on the MotoGP grid next year.

The final round of MotoGP takes place in Valencia, Spain, November 15-17.