Knowing that he had to gamble everything on a fast start to try to overcome the 30 horsepower disadvantage of his Yamaha 500, McCoy jumped fractionally early and was penalised with a stop-go penalty.

On lap seven, two laps after rejoining the race, the bumpy Valencia track surface caught McCoy out as he tried to make up for lost time. McCoy's early departure left the race open to a Honda V5 parade with Brazilian Alex Barros narrowly eclipsing world champion Valentino Rossi after a race-long duel.

Despite this disappointing end to an injury troubled season, McCoy is being courted by Japanese bike giant Kawasaki as lead rider for its new Moto GP squad in 2003.

McCoy will stay on in Valencia to participate in a test session for Kawasaki on Tuesday.

With his current WCM team under financial pressure following the departure of major sponsorship and unable to confirm bikes for next year, McCoy has come into calculations with other factory teams. Kawasaki team manager Harald Eckl said: "Kawasaki need a rider with a lot of experience and professional attitude as part of the Moto GP project and Garry certainly fits that profile and he is being seriously considered for a place in our team."

In the Valencia race McCoy settled into seventh place for the opening three laps before being advised of his start offence and serving his stop-go penalty on lap five.

McCoy said: "There was no choice but to go all out in the last race for a 500 two-stroke and I was on the front row on a track I really like.  "I was keen to get the holeshot and maybe try to hold the four-strokes up for a while and make a race of it.

"I had watched the 125 and 250cc starts and the red lights where being held a longer than normal and I figured I had counted the extra time OK, waited a bit longer but it was just a fraction early.

"It's a bit disappointing but I had to take the risk.

"It's all over for the 500s now, end of an era, the 500s are gone but not forgotten.

"When I rejoined the race I wasn't really pushing but we had made some set-up changes for the bumps here and I was just on the brakes and bounced a little on a bump and lost the front end."

Of Tuesday's Kawasaki test, McCoy said: "Now it's all over for the 500s I'm keen to have a run on a four-stroke and the Kawasaki opportunity is a good one. The bike (ridden by fellow Australian Pitt) finished 12th and in the points in the Valencia GP so it appears there is plenty of potential as this is only a prototype in its fourth race.

"I would have liked to have been a on a four-stroke earlier than this and it will take a little adapting after being on a two-stroke all season but I'm ready for a new challenge."