In 2004 he nearly retired after the mentally and physically draining previous season and started it without a ride. But his pedigree could not be ignored and he was soon called up to stand in at Virgin Mobile Yamaha in the British Superbike series. He immediately turned the Teams season around taking the bikes and Teams only win of the year and also putting it on the podium. Despite missing many rounds he beat all the other riders in the team and finished top Yamaha in Britain. It was also the only season in his career that he never crashed, not even in practice. At the end of the season he also raced in the last few MotoGP's ( World Championship) for Kenny Roberts Proton team. His best result an impressive 12th place in Qatar.