<HTML>If it must be in the up position to start, it could be a contactbreaker. If your ped stops running when you flip the switch down then I'm pretty sure it is. I'm not familliar with your ped, but my Vespa has something similar. The purpose of a contactbreaker is to be able to kill the engine. On my Vespa it opens up a hole in the cylinderhead so the engine loses compression and dies. Yours could be an electric contactbreaker that cuts the electrics to the sparkplug. Or I could be totally wrong.</HTML>