KUALA LUMPUR: MIE Racing team founder Midori Moriwaki believes Malaysia has all resources, including talent and infrastructure, needed to create a world championship winning rider.
Japan has the strongest racing heritage among all Asian countries in the MotoGP World Championships and they once again proved that through Ai Ogura, who won the Moto2 crown this season.
Midori said it is important to keep giving young talent the opportunities they need to grow and stressed the importance of developing racecraft.
"When Ogura was young he had access to a world-level circuit - just like Sepang - and learnt how to ride a bike from early on," said Midori yesterday.
"It is very important for talent development programmes to keep giving young riders the opportunity to challenge themselves (through racing). This includes through wildcard opportunities.
"Don't just look at the results, young riders need the chance to learn from races.
"It is very important to keep battling (in races), because there are many different types of riders. All riders have different styles of racing, so you need to learn how to face this and plan your strategy.
"Sometimes everybody focuses too much on lap times. Lap times are a good benchmark but if you want to become world No. 1, you must learn how to race against many different types of opponents.
"There has to be balance between the two (racing and lap times)."
Malaysian duo Helmi Azman and Khairul Idham Pawi competed as Moto2 wildcard riders for Petronas MIE Racing RW in the Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia which concluded yesterday.
Khairul was forced to sit out the race after fracturing both his left hand and left foot in a crash with Helmi during qualifying on Saturday.
Helmi escaped with cuts and bruises and went on to finish a decent 23rd in the Moto2 race yesterday.
Helmi had also received a Moto2 wildcard at Sepang last year.
"I am very happy with how Helmi performed in the race, he has improved a lot from last year. He battled with permanent Moto2 riders who race for the whole season. This shows that he has big talent," said Midori.
Midori is the granddaughter of legendary Japanese motorcycle tuner and racing team owner Hideo Yoshimura. Her father, Mamoru Moriwaki, was also a racer.