BBC Sport Online columnist Jeremy McWilliams reflects on the major change which helped earn him a point-scoring finish at the Catalunya MotoGP.

While I think a top 10 place was attainable, I was happy to finish 12th and pick up four valuable championship points in Barcelona.

We took a gamble on Sunday by using the new chassis developed by the team and it paid off by getting me to the finish.

The chassis should really have undergone more testing rather than going straight into racing but it gave us greater durability from the tyres and it was the only choice we could make in the circumstances.

I could not do the same lap times as with the old chassis on which I qualified in 12th but it offered a lot more consistency in the race.

Good battle

My teammate Nobuatsu Aoki will now test the new frame as we only had one this weekend and hopefully we will both be able to use it at the British Grand Prix in July.

The whole thing was Kenny Roberts' idea and I am pleased to say that it has completely cured my pumping problem.

The race itself wasn't much fun.

I lost side grip but even so the bigger bikes were holding me up, then getting away on the straight.

They were overtaking me on the fast parts and then I was regaining my position on the twistier parts of the circuit.

I had a good battle with Aprilia rider Regis Laconi and it was good to get the better of him after his complaint at Jerez led to me losing two points.

I went back to the standard Bridgestone tyres and although they were not ideal, they worked alright.