WSB : Abe back to the front in Valencia

Yamaha's world superbike riders overcame a lack of traction to bring home a good haul of points at round three of the series in Valencia today. Norick Abe was the leading Yamaha rider, ending the day with a pair of fourth places and only narrowly missing out on a podium finish in his second outing. The Japanese star was in superb form all weekend after his Yamaha Motor France squad brought along a new specification engine for the race. The team, which uses and is responsible for development of Yamaha's YEC kit parts, worked hard after below par performances in Qatar and Phillip Island. In both races Abe made good starts and worked hard to battle with fellow Yamaha rider Noriyuki Haga. In the afternoon's second race the two-time 500cc Grand Prix winner looked like coming home third for what would have been his first ever superbike podium, only to be passed by Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) on the final lap. Despite a little disappointment at missing out on third, Abe was delighted with the performance of his R1 and at being back running with the leaders. Yamaha Motor Italia riders Haga and Andrew Pitt had a tough day struggling with set-up problems. For Haga, the two races were virtually carbon copies of each other, holding third for much of the race but succumbing to Lanzi and Abe in the final few laps. The Japanese rider suffered electrical problems in both outings, affecting his machine's quick shift system and the power delivery of the engine. Despite the first race problems, Haga was able to bring his R1 home in fifth place. Set-up changes and the replacement of various electrical components brought hope of a better result in race two and, after a good start, Haga was challenging eventual winner Troy Bayliss (Ducati) in the battle for second. Unfortunately for Haga the problem reemerged and his lap times dropped off, drawing him into the clutches of Abe and Lanzi. Despite his disappointment at not battling for the podium, Haga had the consolation of moving up two places in the championship, leaving Valencia in fourth place. Pitt also had two similar races, unable to fix the front end grip problems he faced all weekend. The Australian came home tenth in the first race following a bad start and finished ninth in race two, at the back of a three-way battle for seventh with Kawasaki riders Chris Walker and Regis Laconi. Yamaha Motor France's improved fortunes allowed Shinichi Nakatomi to show his true colours. The Japanese newcomer grabbed two 12th places in a wonderful display of aggressive riding on his R1. After a somewhat lonely race one, the second outing saw Nakatomi was involved in an intense four-way battle for tenth that included no less than multiple Grand Prix winner Alex Barros (Honda) and former superbike world champion James Toseland (Honda). In the end Nakatomi finished just a tenth of a second behind Toseland, but claimed Barros as a scalp. Both Valencia races were won by Bayliss, with defending world champion Troy Corser (Suzuki) second both times. In the championship, Bayliss extends his lead to 22 points over second placed Corser with Toseland third and Haga fourth. Pitt slips back one place to sixth, with Abe's 26 points taking him up to eighth place overall. The next round takes place at Yamaha Motor Italia's local Monza circuit in two weeks' time. Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "Two good results today, so I am very happy with that. In the second race compared to the first I had a better feeling but in the beginning the top two were gone and in a different world. I caught up with Lanzi then tried so hard to catch Haga. When I passed him I tried to make a gap but by that stage the tyres were spinning a lot. I think the Ducati has good traction in that condition, because Lanzi was very fast at the end. So I am a little disappointed to miss the podium but the whole day was a big improvement over the first rounds, so I am very happy." Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "After qualifying we knew that this was going to be a tough race but the problems we had today made it impossible to fight for the podium. In the first race the traction was not so good but I thought I could take third until the engine lost power. For the second race the feeling with the bike was better but the problem came back and there was nothing I could do when Abe and Lanzi came past." Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "In the first race we also tried something different on the start and it didn't work, which gave me a lot of work to do. We made some improvements to the bike after qualifying and between the races but I was still struggling for front end grip. The bike was actually quite good for the first ten laps but when it went off I couldn't push as hard as I wanted to. I was able to run with guys like Toseland and Laconi but the confidence in the front end wasn't there and I couldn't make a pass." Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "I'm pleased to have two good races and score some championship points. The main difference this weekend was that the team has made the bike a lot better than at the first two races, so I could go fast and have some good battles in the second race. We had three days of testing here as well so that also makes a difference." Martial Garcia (Team Manager - Yamaha Motor France) "We found the correct settings today and adapted well to the tyres. We made tests all winter with the old tyres but are now racing with the new ones, which are much better but they do increase chattering and sometimes that means we are lost in the set-up. In the Misano test we recovered confidence and we can see the results now." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "It has been a difficult weekend for us. Noriyuki's bike developed an electrical problem which caused some problems with the engine power. We replaced the sensors between the races but it did not fix the problem. Andrew had problems with front end grip but rode well to get some good points. To be honest, we know that Valencia is not one of our best circuits but we are an ambitious team with a goal of winning the championship so even though we came here knowing it would be difficult we are never satisfied with fifth places. On the positive side, Noriyuki has moved up the championship table to fourth and when you consider that he was seventh in the championship this time last year we are clearly going in the right direction."  Race classification WSB Round: 3 - Spain Circuit: Valencia Circuit Length: 4005 Lap Record: 1' 35.007 (Neil Hodgson, 2003) Fastest Lap Ever:  1' 34.633 (Neil Hodgson, 2003) Race: 23 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   T. Bayliss Ducati  AUS  37' 4.634  2   T. Corser Suzuki  AUS  +2.765  3   L. Lanzi Ducati  ITA  +14.225  4   N. Abe Yamaha  JPN  +17.126  5   N. Haga Yamaha  JPN  +18.225  6   Y. Kagayama Suzuki  JPN  +18.495  7   R. Xaus Ducati  ESP  +22.693  8   R. Laconi Kawasaki  FRA  +24.233  9   J. Toseland Honda  GBR  +28.799  10   A. Pitt Yamaha  AUS  +28.946  11   A. Barros Honda  BRA  +34.558  12   S. Nakatomi Yamaha  JPN  +37.151  13   M. Fabrizio Honda  ITA  +43.368  14   D. De Gea Honda  ESP  +45.753  15   F. Foret Suzuki  FRA  +46.586  Race 2: 23 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   T. Bayliss Ducati  AUS  37' 6.508  2   T. Corser Suzuki  AUS  +0.790  3   L. Lanzi Ducati  ITA  +15.133  4   N. Abe Yamaha  JPN  +16.004  5   N. Haga Yamaha  JPN  +16.929  6   F. Nieto Kawasaki  ESP  +17.056  7   C. Walker Kawasaki  GBR  +19.967  8   R. Laconi Kawasaki  FRA  +21.395  9   A. Pitt Yamaha  AUS  +21.801  10   M. Fabrizio Honda  ITA  +32.166  11   J. Toseland Honda  GBR  +32.259  12   S. Nakatomi Yamaha  JPN  +32.355  13   F. Foret Suzuki  FRA  +32.648  14   A. Barros Honda  BRA  +33.875  15   S. Martin Petronas  AUS  +38.052  Fastest Race Lap:   Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   T. Corser Suzuki  AUS  1' 35.374  Championship standings WSB Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Troy Bayliss Ducati  AUS 125  2   Troy Corser Suzuki  AUS 103  3   James Toseland Honda  GBR 86  4   Noriyuki Haga Yamaha  JPN 64  5   Alex Barros Honda  BRA 62  6   Andrew Pitt Yamaha  AUS 58  7   Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati  ITA 47  8   Norick Abe Yamaha  JPN 40  9   Michel Fabrizio Honda  ITA 34  10   Ruben Xaus Ducati  ESP 33  11   Roberto Rolfo Ducati  ITA 32  12   Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki  ESP 29  13   Yukio Kagayama Suzuki  JPN 24  14   Regis Laconi Kawasaki  FRA 22  15   Chris Walker Kawasaki  GBR 21  20   Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha  JPN 8  23   Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha  FRA 3  Manufacturers standings WSB Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Ducati 126  2  Suzuki 113  3  Honda 91  4  Yamaha 84  5  Kawasaki 40  6  Petronas 4  WSS : Curtain completes Yamaha's century of supersport podiums Round: 3 - Spain Circuit: Valencia Date: 23 April 2006 Crowd: 42000 Temp: 21ºC Weather: Sunny Yamaha scored its 100th podium finish in the Supersport World Championship with a second place for Yamaha Motor Germany's Kevin Curtain in Valencia today. Curtain's podium makes Yamaha the first manufacturer to reach that milestone in a class in which it has consistently been strong. Massimo Meregalli's win at Misano in 1997 was the manufacturer's first podium finish in the class and since then Yamaha has gone on to win three manufacturer and a rider's world title with Yamaha Motor Germany's Jörg Teuchert in 2000. Australian rider Curtain made a poor start in today's race, ending the first lap in fourth place but fighting his way through to second at the flag. After moving into second on lap four Curtain had something of a lonely race, six seconds behind race winner Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) but three ahead of third placed Katsuaki Fujiwara (Honda). In a good day for Yamaha Motor Germany, Broc Parkes came home fourth in what is only the third race for the latest model YZF-R6. With showers throughout the weekend limiting the amount of dry practice time both Yamaha's Australian riders failed to find a perfect set-up for what turned out to be a dry race. Having worked hard to move through the pack, Curtain found his rear tyre was unable to provide the grip needed to close down Charpentier and was forced to settle for what was his third second place of the season. Parkes meanwhile had a problem of brake fluid leaking onto his footpegs after the top of the rear brake cylinder was displaced by the rider's boot. Despite not affecting the performance of his machine, Parkes understandably rode cautiously as he was unaware of the source of the fluid. Yamaha's third-generation YZF-R6 was well represented in the race, with six machines in the top ten and several young riders catching the eye. Nineteen-year-old wild-card Jordi Torres equaled his fine qualifying position with fifth in the race, while fellow Spaniard Xavi Fores, 20, ran second in the early laps but faded to eighth at the flag. Yamaha Team Italia riders Massimo Roccoli and Gianluca Vizziello finished just behind Fores, ending the day ninth and tenth respectively. The race was led from lights to flag by world champion Charpentier to extend his lead over Curtain to 15 points in the championship. Parkes moves up to fourth in the points with three of the 13 races completed with Fores and Roccoli sharing fifth place alongside Yoann Tiberio (Honda). Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) "I didn't get the best of starts and by the time I made it through to second Sebastien had got away. I tried hard to catch him but I'd worked my rear tyre too hard and didn't have enough grip. I'm happy enough with the result though. Our bike is still developing and we lost a lot of set-up time here due to the rain. Fair play to Sebastien though, he was the best rider today and deserved to win. Hopefully we'll have a new specification engine at Monza, if not then by Silverstone, and Pirelli will be supplying a new front tyre which we have tested and works much better with our bike." Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) "I suppose I got some points today but I'm not that happy. I realised in the middle of the race that there was some fluid leaking onto the bike and I thought it was maybe oil from the rear shock. It turned out it was the cap that had come off the rear brake master cylinder, but it was always in the back of my mind that something could maybe go on the tyre, so I had to hold back a bit." Jordi Torres (Speed Moto) "I was very nervous at the start of the race and in the first corner a lot of riders passed me. I regained my concentration and started to pass a few other riders. At the end of the race my tyre was pretty much finished but I tried to control the situation I was in and scored fifth place. I am very pleased about that because this is my first race in this championship, which is run at a very high level." Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia) "I rode quite nervously in the opening laps but by lap five I had settled down and was able to make up some positions. With about five laps to go the bike seemed to be straining a bit and although I was still able to have a good battle with Fores I could not quite pass him. We definitely improved our set-up from yesterday and I am quite happy with the result, although I know we must still work harder." Gianluca Vizziello (Yamaha Team Italia) "I was having a good race in front of Massimo until close to the end, when I lost some grip at the front. I had a lot of front end slides and twice saved a crash on my knee. Massimo was able to pass on one of these moments and when I looked behind and saw no-one close I backed off and took a safe finish." Race classification WSS Round: 3 - Spain Circuit: Valencia Circuit Length: 4005 Lap Record: 1' 38.664 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever:  1' 38.664 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2006) Race: 23 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Charpentier Honda  FRA  38' 12.713  2   K. Curtain Yamaha  AUS  +6.537  3   K. Fujiwara Honda  JPN  +9.454  4   B. Parkes Yamaha  AUS  +11.750  5   J. Torres Yamaha  ESP  +15.964  6   R. Harms Honda  DNK  +17.007  7   Y. Tibero Honda  FRA  +19.548  8   X. Fores Yamaha  ESP  +22.400  9   M. Roccoli Yamaha  ITA  +22.513  10   G. Vizziello Yamaha  ITA  +24.708  11   B. Veneman Suzuki  NED  +25.317  12   J. Brookes Ducati  AUS  +27.194  13   W. De Angelis Honda  ITA  +31.740  14   T. Lauslehto Honda  FIN  +37.082  15   S. Le Grelle Honda  BEL  +41.951  Fastest Race Lap:   Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Charpentier Honda  FRA  1' 38.664  Championship standings WSS Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Sebastien Charpentier Honda  FRA 75  2   Kevin Curtain Yamaha  AUS 60  3   Robbin Harms Honda  DNK 31  4   Broc Parkes Yamaha  AUS 29  5   Massimo Roccoli Yamaha  ITA 22  6   Xavi Fores Yamaha  ESP 22  7   Yoann Tibero Honda  FRA 22  8   Johan Stigefelt Honda  SWE 20  9   Joshua Brookes Ducati  AUS 20  10   Kenan Sofuoglu Honda  TUR 16  11   Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda  JPN 16  12   Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha  ITA 16  13   Christian Zaiser Ducati  AUT 15  14   Jordi Torres Yamaha  ESP 11  15   Sebastien Le Grelle Honda  BEL 11  21   Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha  BEL 2  Manufacturers standings WSS Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Honda 75  2  Yamaha 60  3  Ducati 22  4  Kawasaki 8 5  Suzuki 5  FIM Superstock 1000 Cup: Corti eighth on Superstock 1000 debut Round: 1 - Spain Circuit: Valencia Date: 22 April 2006 Crowd: 42000 Temp: 20ºC Weather: Sunny European Superstock 600 champion Claudio Corti gave a good display on his first race in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup, finishing eighth on his Yamaha Team Italia YZF-R1 SP. Starting 12th on a circuit dampened by overnight rain, the 18-year-old Italian steadily worked his way through a field of more experienced riders, pipping local rider Alex Martinez (Kawasaki) across the line and almost catching South African superbike champion Sheridan Morais (Suzuki) and the battle for sixth place. After a thrilling race-long battle for the lead, it was Italian Alessandro Polita (Suzuki) who stood on the top step of the podium after a sometimes frantic battle with Spanish wild-card Ivan Silva (Kawasaki). Ayrton Badovini (MV Agusta) was third with Spaniard Enrique Rocamora the leading Yamaha rider, finishing fourth on his YZF-R1 SP. Claudio Corti (Yamaha Team Italia) "This has been a difficult race for me as we have found it difficult to get traction all weekend and I could not ride as well as I would like. When I consider this is my first time racing the R1 then this is not so bad, but I am still disappointed with the result. The next race is at Monza, which is my local track, and I am sure that if the team can make some progress then I can go for the win there."   Race classification FIM Superstock 1000 Cup Round: 1 - Spain Circuit: Valencia Circuit Length: 4005 Lap Record: 1' 39.034 (Massimo Roccoli, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever:  1' 39.034 (Massimo Roccoli, 2005) Race: 13 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   A. Polita Suzuki  ITA  22' 4.712  2   I. Silva Kawasaki  ESP  +0.303  3   A. Badovini MV Agusta  ITA  +3.751  4   E. Rocamora Yamaha  ESP  +5.418  5   L. Scassa MV Agusta  ITA  +5.729  6   D. Sacchetti Kawasaki  ITA  +9.290  7   S. Morais Suzuki  RSA  +9.409  8   C. Corti Yamaha  ITA  +10.143  9   A. Martinez Mas Kawasaki  ESP  +10.149  10   S. Saltarelli Kawasaki  ITA  +13.128  11   M. Baiocco Yamaha  ITA  +18.002  12   R. Cooper Honda  GBR  +25.076  13   D. Dell'omo Suzuki  ITA  +27.910  14   R. Chiarello Kawasaki  ITA  +29.890  15   I. Dionisi Yamaha  ITA  +29.983  Fastest Race Lap:   Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   A. Polita Suzuki  ITA  1' 39.789  FIM Superstock 1000 Cup championship standings Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Alessandro Polita Suzuki  ITA 25  2   Ivan Silva Kawasaki  ESP 20  3   Ayrton Badovini MV Agusta  ITA 16  4   Enrique Rocamora Yamaha  ESP 13  5   Luca Scassa MV Agusta  ITA 11  6   Denis Sacchetti Kawasaki  ITA 10  7   Sheridan Morais Suzuki  RSA 9  8   Claudio Corti Yamaha  ITA 8  9   Alex Martinez Mas Kawasaki  ESP 7  10   Simone Saltarelli Kawasaki  ITA 6  11   Matteo Baiocco Yamaha  ITA 5  12   Richard Cooper Honda  GBR 4  13   Danilo Dell'omo Suzuki  ITA 3  14   Riccardo Chiarello Kawasaki  ITA 2  15   Ilario Dionisi Yamaha  ITA