Alex Asigno

Stefan Everts collected his fifth win in a row after pole position, two holeshots and two complete victories in front of 17,400 spectators this afternoon at a sun-bathed Sugo circuit for the Grand Prix of Japan and the fifth round of the 2006 FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship. The Belgian guided his YZ450FM to both chequered flags to extend his 100% record this season and walked away with a 92nd career success. After his seventh consecutive moto triumph Everts is now controlling the series by 61 points at the top of the standings. The Sugo circuit had been meticulously prepared; the natural terrain was carefully mixed with sandy soil and wood chippings to maintain a soft texture. The surface created various racing lines but became rough and bumpy very quickly, meaning that the smallest of errors would prove costly. The 33 year old gained his second pole position of the season on Saturday with a lap-time a second faster than Kawasaki's Tanel Leok. Fine weather conditions blessed raceday for the fourth consecutive Grand Prix. Everts blasted out of the gate for the first moto of 35 minutes and two laps duration and the potency of the YZ450FM was again apparent as he gained the holeshot and had a lead of almost five seconds after three laps. The World Champion was on cruise control from that point and led the pack until the chequered flag for his second consecutive Japanese moto triumph after owning the second sprint last year. For nine circulations (from 21) the Yamaha Intur Sports team flew in formation as Cedric Melotte held second spot. The Belgian eventually fell back into a frantic scrap for podium positions with Ken De Dycker, Steve Ramon and Tanel Leok. A mistake on the final lap demoted the disappointed number '4' to sixth. Everts re-enacted his authoritative performance in race two for a clear victory ahead of Steve Ramon, who clinched second spot on the podium. A holeshot and rapid few opening laps was the main difference in one of the Champion's more straight-forward Grand Prix. He deservingly went on a lap of honour to acknowledge the support and cheers of the Japanese public. Former AMA competitor and now contesting the Japanese Championship, Akira Narita was 11th on his YZ450FM and finished in the top ten with ninth in the second moto after a decent race fighting with some of Europe's fastest riders. Reigning national champion Takeshi Koikeda was 22nd with the YZ250. Yamaha now hold a 41 point lead in the Constructors Championship. In two weeks time round six will take place at the Sevlievo circuit in Bulgaria. Stefan Everts, Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team: "I won my first Championship in 1991 and to win here in Japan in my final year feels very nice. I have had a long career and a lot of support from many people and manufacturers so I must say thank you to the Japanese people for the memories. We have a lot of wins now but I am looking ahead, not behind, and I have to try and keep this form. I would like to win everything so we will keep on working hard and see what happens. It was special to win here for Yamaha. They have given us a lot of support and it has been great to be a part of the family; I hope we can do many things together in the future." Cedric Melotte, Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team: "I always seem to start well but cannot carry the speed. It was better at the beginning of the season. Last week I made a blood test and I am missing some iron and vitamins. I took some tablets for this GP but after the first 15 minutes of each moto I felt empty. I was light-headed and my muscles were heavy. It is frustrating and I don't know what is wrong. This has been a bad weekend." Carlo Rinaldi, Team manager: "It has been another great victory; Stefan was just perfect and there is not much more that we can say. The bike was great and the rider was great so that is excellent for us. The distance over the others was big because Stefan was so strong. Cedric had the speed to compete with the top riders but not the physical condition and at this stage it is a bit of a mystery. He is working hard and has satisfied many physical tests but the results say that something is wrong. We are in Japan but there was not more pressure on us because the preparation and organisation was very good. It was like racing at home because the Japanese people helped us so much, they fulfilled all of our requests and then some more." Laurens Klein Koerkamp: "In 2005 we won both MX1 and MX2 in the first Japanese GP for ten years in Yamaha-land so we thought that it would not be easy to do it again this time. To win all four heats at this GP was amazing and very good for Yamaha. We have always said the standard of the motorcycles was already very high, obviously there are some small changes for top level racing but the decent base is there and this is the best thing we can give to the Yamaha guys." Race classification MX1 Round: 5 - 2006 GP of Sugo, Japan Circuit: Sugo Circuit Length: 3737 Race: 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 S. Everts Yamaha BEL 40' 42.166 2 K. De Dycker Honda BEL +14.150 3 T. Leok Kawasaki EST +15.944 4 S. Ramon Suzuki BEL +23.606 5 B. Jorgensen Honda DNK +29.783 6 C. Melotte Yamaha BEL +42.607 7 J. Noble Honda GBR +48.686 8 J. Barragan KTM ESP +54.238 9 M. Priem Yamaha BEL +55.718 10 M. Van Daele Honda BEL +57.720 11 J. Bill Yamaha GBR +1' 9.842 12 K. Strijbos Suzuki BEL +1' 14.101 13 D. Theybers Suzuki BEL +1' 15.622 14 A. Narita Yamaha JPN +1' 30.186 15 A. Pyrhonen TM FIN +1' 34.744 16 J. Lindhe KTM SWE +1' 44.269 17 K. Masuda Honda JPN +1 lap(s) 18 J. Garcia Vico Honda ESP +1 lap(s) 19 K. Kaga Suzuki JPN +1 lap(s) 20 T. Koikeda Yamaha JPN +1 lap(s) Race 2: 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 S. Everts Yamaha BEL 39' 44.664 2 S. Ramon Suzuki BEL +23.136 3 J. Barragan KTM ESP +30.861 4 K. Strijbos Suzuki BEL +37.393 5 M. Van Daele Honda BEL +40.505 6 M. Priem Yamaha BEL +46.230 7 J. Noble Honda GBR +49.265 8 K. De Dycker Honda BEL +54.644 9 A. Narita Yamaha JPN +58.827 10 D. Theybers Suzuki BEL +1' 2.228 11 K. Kaga Suzuki JPN +1' 7.661 12 T. Leok Kawasaki EST +1' 14.840 13 A. Pyrhonen TM FIN +1' 20.349 14 K. Masuda Honda JPN +1' 21.317 15 C. Melotte Yamaha BEL +1' 39.598 16 S. Idehara Yamaha JPN +1' 44.791 17 J. Lindhe KTM SWE +1 lap(s) 18 K. Ohkawara Yamaha JPN +1 lap(s) 19 T. Koikeda Yamaha JPN +1 lap(s) 20 M. Hiratsuka Kawasaki JPN +1 lap(s) Championship standings MX1 Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Stefan Everts Yamaha BEL 242 2 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 181 3 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 168 4 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 165 5 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 151 6 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 150 7 Cedric Melotte Yamaha BEL 105 8 Manuel Priem Yamaha BEL 99 9 Sebastien Tortelli KTM FRA 99 10 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 93 11 Julien Bill Yamaha GBR 77 12 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 77 13 James Noble Honda GBR 77 14 Antti Pyrhonen TM FIN 69 15 Brian Jorgensen Honda DNK 68 16 Javier Garcia Vico Honda ESP 60 17 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL 58 18 Stephen Sword Kawasaki GBR 40 19 Johnny Lindhe KTM SWE 23 20 Aigar Bobkovs Honda LVA 21 Manufacturers standings MX1 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Yamaha 242 2 Suzuki 201 3 Kawasaki 181 4 KTM 180 5 Honda 171 6 TM 69 MX2 : Mackenzie repeats Japanese success at Sugo Round: 5 - 2006 GP of Sugo, Japan Circuit: Sugo Date: 21 May 2006 Crowd: 17400 Temp: 25ºC Weather: Sunny Bike it Yamaha UK Dixon Racing rider Billy Mackenzie remains undefeated at the Japanese Sugo circuit as the Scot went 1-3 on his YZ250FM in the two MX2 motos to claim his second career Grand Prix success and Yamaha's first of 2006. The second race was won by World Champion Antonio Cairoli to give manufacturer a perfect 4-from-4 score at their home event. The track was dry, bumpy and technical as the organisers at the Sugo circuit again excelled in presenting a tough and interesting layout for the riders. The warm conditions aided towards a hard day's work for the stars of the MX2 class as 17, 400 spectators looked on. 22 year old Mackenzie, who celebrated his maiden triumph at Sugo in 2005, passed Ricci Racing's Kenneth Gundersen on the second lap of the first race to control the rest of the pack. Kawasaki's Christophe Pourcel was closing at one stage but 'Mac' kept a steady three second advantage to notch his first 25 point haul of the season and the fourth of his career. Cairoli had ended the first lap in the lead but crashed in an incident that also involved Marc de Reuver. The Italian had to fight hard to gain fourth place while Gundersen was not content with the set-up on his machine and crossed the finish line in ninth, taking 11th later in the day for a lacklustre eigth overall. Cairoli was strong off the start in the second moto and his holeshot was swiftly converted into a sizzling series of laps that dragged him away from Mackenzie and the pursuing de Reuver. Mackenzie was demoted to third from that position he kept a small distance over Gareth Swanepoel to ensure overall victory. Cairoli was alone at the front and his win marked the third of the season and fifth from ten motos for Yamaha. Ricci Racing's Alessio Chiodi struggled through the weekend after crashing and injuring his right knee during the second practice session. The Italian was taken for a scan that revealed that nothing was broken but the former Champion was in a lot of pain. He manfully tried to complete the qualification heat but withdrew after a few laps. Thanks to only 30 riders contesting the MX2 class Chiodi was also able to discount the Last Chance session and took to the gate in last place to bravely aim for some points. He managed to score 5 for 16th in race one and repeated the position in race two despite a small spill just before the finish line. The World Championship picture now looks more interesting as series leader Tyla Rattray crashed and could not pick up any points from Moto2. Cairoli is currently fourth and 32 points behind new number one Christophe Pourcel while Mackenzie is only 12 points behind his Yamaha compatriot in fifth. The teams and riders now start the long journey back to Europe before beginning to prepare for the Grand Prix of Bulgaria, due to take place at the Sevlievo circuit in two weeks. Billy Mackenzie, Bike it Yamaha UK Dixon Racing: "I always like coming to Japan! To leave here with a win is incredible and everything that I could have asked for. We have been working hard on the bike and we had some new parts supplied by Rinaldi this weekend and they really helped. The bike had a little bit more bottom-end which is what I needed. The track was really nice. I have to get my starts sorted but when that happens I'm sure I will be upfront more often. Last year I had some good races but also some bad ones so I have been working on being more consistent this season. There are still many GP's left and I am confident that we can move up the championship standings still." Antonio Cairoli, De Carli Yamaha: "We changed the bike last week and I practiced my starts and it really helped today. I took the holeshot twice and the situation is better now off the line. In the first moto Marc passed me after the whoops for the lead but I stayed close to him and when he went down after hitting some wet mud I fell also. I was fast but I lost a lot of time because I crashed again and it meant that I was always fighting back. Now I must work a little bit more on my condition and hope for some more luck!" Alessio Chiodi, Ricci Racing: "I had some bad luck yesterday because I had a good feeling with the track in practice but I crashed in next session when I lost the rear end of the bike. I'm not sure if it was my mistake but right afterwards my knee was hurting so much I was sure something was broken. The doctor said the bone was OK but now I need to get the ligaments checked out. Ten points today is better than nothing and a big injury." Kenneth Gundersen, Ricci Racing: "It was a hard day. In the first race I had a good start and was leading for a lap or two but then I crashed and finished ninth. In the last race I had a really bad start and I was struggling. We had some set-up problems. It wasn't a good weekend for me and will hopefully be better next time." Race classification MX2 Round: 5 - 2006 GP of Sugo, Japan Circuit: Sugo Circuit Length: 3737 Race: 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 B. MacKenzie Yamaha GBR 40' 27.246 2 C. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA +12.249 3 M. De Reuver KTM NED +22.606 4 A. Cairoli Yamaha ITA +26.790 5 D. Philippaerts KTM ITA +28.677 6 T. Rattray KTM RSA +38.296 7 G. Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA +41.888 8 T. Searle Kawasaki GBR +52.492 9 K. Gundersen Yamaha NOR +54.515 10 S. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA +55.594 11 A. Boissière Yamaha FRA +57.845 12 C. Nunn KTM GBR +1' 0.655 13 R. Goncalves KTM POR +1' 2.793 14 M. Nagl KTM GER +1' 24.448 15 L. Seguy Yamaha FRA +1' 43.036 16 A. Chiodi Yamaha ITA +1' 51.859 17 Y. Kojima Suzuki JPN +1' 57.798 18 M. Monni KTM ITA +1 lap(s) 19 Y. Ozaki Yamaha JPN +1 lap(s) 20 M. Watanabe Yamaha JPN +1 lap(s) Race 2: 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 A. Cairoli Yamaha ITA 40' 1.774 2 M. De Reuver KTM NED +5.927 3 B. MacKenzie Yamaha GBR +10.002 4 G. Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA +13.618 5 C. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA +33.536 6 C. Nunn KTM GBR +36.838 7 T. Searle Kawasaki GBR +41.246 8 A. Leok Yamaha EST +43.951 9 R. Goncalves KTM POR +44.995 10 D. Guarneri Yamaha ITA +54.406 11 K. Gundersen Yamaha NOR +54.586 12 M. Nagl KTM GER +1' 6.943 13 M. Monni KTM ITA +1' 26.580 14 S. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA +1' 42.911 15 L. Seguy Yamaha FRA +1' 44.950 16 A. Chiodi Yamaha ITA +1' 51.338 17 D. Philippaerts KTM ITA +2' 9.160 18 M. Watanabe Yamaha JPN +1 lap(s) 19 K. Fukaya Honda JPN +1 lap(s) 20 Y. Ozaki Yamaha JPN +1 lap(s) Championship standings MX2 Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 196 2 Marc De Reuver KTM NED 194 3 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 181 4 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 162 5 Billy MacKenzie Yamaha GBR 150 6 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 120 7 Carl Nunn KTM GBR 119 8 Alessio Chiodi Yamaha ITA 111 9 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 111 10 Tommy Searle Kawasaki GBR 105 11 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 90 12 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 87 13 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 70 14 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 64 15 Luigi Seguy Yamaha FRA 63 16 Anthony Boissière Yamaha FRA 50 17 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 46 18 Patrick Caps Honda BEL 46 19 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 45 20 Manuel Monni KTM ITA 42 Manufacturers standings MX2 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Yamaha 225 2 KTM 223 3 Kawasaki 200 4 Honda 81 5 Suzuki 6

Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards will start from the third row of the grid in the Grand Prix of France tomorrow after setting the seventh and ninth fastest times respectively in this afternoon's qualifying practice. The session took place in dry conditions with ambient temperatures reaching 18ºC after the sunshine finally overpowered the thick black clouds that hovered over the Le Mans circuit and caused the third free practice session to be held in wet conditions during the morning. The improved weather allowed Valentino Rossi to continue the evaluation of Yamaha's latest chassis, with both of his YZR-M1 machines fitted with the updated specification following positive initial results yesterday. Edwards continued working on the standard version, with similar updates planned for the American at the next round in Italy, and again lapped consistently as one of the fastest riders throughout the session. After setting the pace in yesterday's dry free practice sessions, both Rossi and Edwards have found a good race set-up for their machines but they were unable to turn their pace into a top grid position after struggling to use their qualifying tyres to full potential in the late push for times. Valentino Rossi (7th; 1'34.840, 28 laps) "Today I am happy because we worked in the right way and found a good race setting for the bike. When we used the very soft tyre at the end of the session we again found some vibration problems caused by the extra grip but it's not such a problem on the race tyres. Anyway, looking at the qualifying results from the last few rounds the third row is an improvement and I think there is the possibility of a good result tomorrow. Myself and Colin have been at the top through all the practice on race tyres so we know we have a good pace compared to the other riders. To be honest I expected a better position this afternoon so I am a little disappointed but it is not a disaster. Now we wait to see what the weather does tomorrow, hope for a dry race and then try to turn around our recent bad luck in the race." Colin Edwards (9th; 1'34.970, 28 laps) "The track was a little slippery today, I guess after the rain this morning, and I didn't have the same level of grip on the front tyre. I wasn't as comfortable but we did a good job on the race tyres and my pace is decent. I think there's only three of us lapping in the 1'35s on race tyres so we've got every chance to do something in the race - it's just a shame about the chatter on the qualifying tyres because we could have been much further forward on the grid. I did four or five laps trying to break the 1'35 mark and eventually hit 1'34.9 on the last one but there was no way to go any faster. All things considered the third row isn't bad - there are a few guys who will go backwards tomorrow and a few others who will be tough to get past but, as I said before, we have the pace. Now it's a case of holding that throttle open longer than anyone else into turn one and seeing where we can get from there." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "Unfortunately we missed out a little on the qualifying tyres because we couldn't use them properly but we're not too worried. On the whole the two days of practice have been very good for both riders and they both have good race pace. The only concern now is that they both have a good start in the race. We were able to set-up the new chassis for Valentino but also the older bike is working very well for Colin. Tomorrow is a good opportunity to get more information and confirm our direction with development but of course we also need points. Our aim for tomorrow is to close the gap between us and the championship leaders." Weather again plays havoc for Tech 3 Yamaha Team For the third time in as many races, the weather had a detrimental effect on progress for the Tech 3 Yamaha Team and tyre suppliers, Dunlop. All plans were thrown out of the window when the heavens opened before the morning's final practice session ensuring a wet track. The afternoon's qualifying battle although dry, was overshadowed by strong winds that added to the team's woes. Riders, Carlos Checa and James Ellison qualified in 14th and 17th positions respectively, but in a carbon performance from Friday's encouraging sessions the overall gap to the leaders in qualifying also narrowed. Additionally, relative novice Ellison is getting closer to his teammate and in doing so both riders are amidst a bunch of more fancied teams on other tyre brands on the grid. Carlos Checa (14th, 1'36.260, 49 laps) "This morning we tried an intermediate rear and we gained some information if it's conditions like that tomorrow. At this stage we know what tyres we will try no matter whether wet or dry. It is clear in my mind the tyres we will use depending on the conditions to fight with the guys that are close to us. On the qualifying tyres I had a wheelie problem and couldn't open the throttle fully in some areas of the track as the grip is good enough to make a good lap and also we had some chattering when we tied to be faster in qualifying. If it's a strange situation like this morning when it was wet then dry or the opposite we must make a strategy. We know we have nothing to lose so we can take a risk and then our choice will not be conservative, it will be risky. The bike is working quite well and we know some tyres that work ok but we only did 50% of the race total on this tyre The Yamaha is very suited to this track and we also have the speed to match it with many of the other teams. The other Yamaha with Edwards is not too far in front of me and this gives me confidence but like everyone else we have lost much time because of the weather but I'm quite confident the bike will work quite well here tomorrow. Our position hasn't changed so when we make the top 10 we will make a party. We tried our best and we know the limitations we are facing. I hope that we can grow together with Dunlop and finally get something to fight for the next level. We know the gap we must close with the top guys and that we must continue to improve which Dunlop is trying very hard to do." James Ellison (17th 1'37.019, 48 laps) "I'm not too unhappy as I am closer to Carlos than ever being less than 0.8 second behind. We also had a problem right at the end of the session that slowed us a bit. The Dunlop qualifying tyres need a few laps to get right up to speed and we just ran out of time as I was quite confident I had another half a second improvement. If we had got that last lap in I would've been a lot closer to Carlos. He knows how to ride the bike and had a lot more experience and my main aim to get right on his times. I know we're down the back but we had a lot of things we wanted to try this weekend. It's the same old story but again the weather played its part. I don't care what it is tomorrow I'm not really bothered although I'd prefer it to be dry because we now have a pretty good set up for the dry. This morning was a bit of a waste as the circuit was very greasy with all the oil coming through so we didn't get a very good wet setup. So if it's not dry I want it to be lashing down - nothing in between." Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "Today was not an easy day with the weather conditions we have had. Soaking wet to start this morning then finishing almost dry. Then it was dry this afternoon with a lot of wind so it has been difficult for everybody. We did quite a few laps with some of the race tyres and we had some interesting results. Then we tried some qualifying tyres and we continued to supply Dunlop with more information so they can continue the development program. This is definitely a good track fro Carlos, who has had some good results here and being at home of course the team wants to do well. The first day was very encouraging because we were just over a second off the best lap but today has been so different. Because of the wet morning, in half of the qualifying session we had to do many laps to find a race tyre. It went reasonably well but after yesterday we thought we could have been better on the grid so we are a little disappointed, especially with the weather. It is supposed to be very wet tomorrow and we have been going quite well with a lot of water on the track so who knows what will happen. Compared to what we have I don't think we are doing a lot worse than the others when you look at the other Yamaha team on another brand of tyre. We also are surrounded by other teams with other tyre brands as well. At this stage we are making improvements at every race as we test and race all in the same weekend. It may not be what everyone on the outside wants to see, we would love to be fighting at the front but, the reality is that in such a competitive sport as MotoGP we can't expect to have immediate success overnight. It all takes time and we should look at how long some others have taken to taste the success they are now enjoying." Round: 5 - 2006 MotoGP Le Mans Circuit: LeMans Circuit Length: 4180 Lap Record: 1' 33.678 (Valentino Rossi, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 33.678 (Valentino Rossi, 2005) Date: 20 May 2006 Temp: 18ºC Session 1 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 1 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP 1' 33.990 2 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN 1' 34.201 3 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA 1' 34.636 4 R. De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 1' 34.780 5 M. Melandri Honda ITA 1' 34.795 6 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA 1' 34.802 7 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 1' 34.840 8 S. Gibernau Ducati ESP 1' 34.870 9 C. Edwards Yamaha USA 1' 34.970 10 N. Hayden Honda USA 1' 34.988 11 C. Stoner Honda AUS 1' 35.430 12 C. Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1' 35.705 13 M. Tamada Honda JPN 1' 36.058 14 C. Checa Yamaha ESP 1' 36.260 15 K. Roberts Team Roberts KR USA 1' 36.501 16 T. Elias Honda ESP 1' 36.582 17 J. Ellison Yamaha GBR 1' 37.019

The Camel Yamaha Team get back to European territory this weekend as they look to bring their MotoGP World Championship points quest back on track in France, following a disappointing run of races on unfamiliar shores. The legendary Le Mans circuit, which has intermittently played home to the MotoGP World Championship since 1969, has been a fixture on the calendar for the last six seasons and this year plays host to the fifth round of an incredible campaign that has already seen four different winners. Reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi is one of those - his sole victory so far coming in the second round at Qatar - but he is aiming to put an end to the parity this weekend as he aims to recover from a largely disappointing run of early season results. A first-corner crash at Jerez and technical problems in the last two rounds at Istanbul and Shanghai mean the Italian lies 32 points adrift of current leader Nicky Hayden (Honda), but the most pressing issue for Rossi is to finally overcome the problems that have restricted development of the 2006 version YZR-M1 machine so far. The 4,180m track holds happy memories for the Camel Yamaha Team, with Rossi having taken pole position and the lap record on his way to victory last season, when he was joined on the podium by his team-mate Colin Edwards. A repeat result is the target for both riders this Sunday, with Edwards having recorded his first top-three finish of the season just days ago in China, when he also extended his run of points-scoring finishes to 25 - a number only previously achieved by Grand Prix legends Mick Doohan, Wayne Gardner, Eddie Lawson and Valentino Rossi. Valentino Rossi: A critical time MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi knows that the time is right to turn around his early misfortune and start picking up serious points in his bid to defend motorcycling's premier-class crown for the fifth successive season. The Italian currently lies sixth in the general standings but he is well aware that a change in fortune can spark a good run of results over the next few weeks and dramatically improve his situation. "Sunday was the second time in the first four races that we've scored virtually zero points and on both occasions it hasn't been our fault," reflects Rossi. "Luck has definitely not been on our side but the most important thing now is to sort our problems out as soon as possible because we have a run of important races coming up - starting at Le Mans. The next four or five rounds in Europe are the 'main course' of the season and it is a critical time for us. "We have got some new things to try at Le Mans so hopefully they can help us find a good base set-up but still have enough room for improvement to keep the pace with our rivals over the weekend. We are up against good riders on good machinery and we have to be at our maximum level to be able to beat them. I am already a few points behind the leader but the championship is very long, I have a lot of confidence in my team and we have time to put things right. "Le Mans is not one of my favourite tracks but last year it was very good for us. I took pole position, the fastest lap of the race on the final lap and the victory and Colin was also on the podium, so it was a perfect weekend for us. We hope this weekend can be the same." Colin Edwards: Repeat podium the target Colin Edwards has his sights firmly set on consecutive podium finishes following his first top-three result in nine months at China on Sunday. Edwards also scored his maiden rostrum of 2005 in round four, which took place at Le Mans one year ago, when he led the race for several laps before eventually conceding positions to Valentino Rossi and Sete Gibernau. The Texan is hoping that can be a good omen for a repeat success this time around. "I seem to like round four of the season and I was really pleased it came good for me again in China," smiled Edwards. "Last year's podium at Le Mans was the kick-start to a decent run of results for me so I hope that can prove to be the case this time around. It's no secret that we've been having problems with the bike but we're working hard and if we're capable of winning races and taking podiums when we're in trouble then just think what we can do when everything is running smoothly! "I don't mind Le Mans as a circuit too much - it's a real 'stop and go' track, as everybody says, with hard braking, tight corners and hard acceleration. We'll have some work to do with the set-up of the bike but this track was good for us last year so hopefully it can prove a little bit easier to adapt to and not as critical in terms of the problems we've had at the last few circuits." Davide Brivio: Keeping our heads down Camel Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio is looking forward to the relative normality of life on the road as the MotoGP World Championship returns for a seven-week spell on European shores. After a gruelling start to the season including flyaway trips to Qatar, Turkey and China, the team's trucks - home to their travelling workshops and offices - will roll into Le Mans this week to provide a focal point for the hard work to begin. "After such a difficult start, which nonetheless has given us one win with Valentino and Colin's recent podium, I hope the next few weeks in Europe will be like a new beginning to the season for us." says Brivio. "The races coming up are crucial but all we can do is keep our heads down and continue to work hard on solving the problems we have found this year. There is clearly a lot of room for improvement but we know from the performances of Valentino and Colin already this season that the bike has real potential, so we are excited about finally seeing it performing to its maximum. Hopefully that can be at Le Mans. "The engineers at Yamaha have been working very hard to make sure that is the case and Valentino will have a new chassis available from the first practice session on Friday. We will compare it with the current one and will decide later if we will use it or not. We will also remain there for a test on Monday to continue with our development. Last year we had a very good weekend at Le Mans, which finished with both of our riders on the podium, so it would be nice to repeat that result! If we can shake off the bad luck that has been following us around the world recently then we have plenty of reason to be confident." Technically speaking: Le Mans according to Jeremy Burgess Le Mans is an archetypal stop-go track, with the added complication of one of the highest speed turns on the calendar, just after the short start-finish straight. There are several hairpins and chicanes, calling not just for balance and control under hard and repeated braking, but a neat and swift transfer from full braking to full acceleration on the exit of the corners. With nine right-handers and only four lefts, the track is also particularly hard on one side of the tyres, but according to Valentino Rossi's Chief Mechanic Jeremy Burgess there are no hidden secrets to the track in terms of machine set-up. "Le Mans as a circuit is probably the least technical on the whole calendar - it doesn't really have any stand-out features or characteristics that set it out from the rest, certainly not in a positive way," says Burgess. "You need good acceleration out of the slow corners, which is why we struggled there on our first visit with the M1 in 2004 because we were trying out new engines before tackling the true horsepower tracks like Barcelona, Mugello and Assen. "Last year we had a fully-developed bike so we were able to make the minor adjustments that this circuit requires and both Valentino and Colin were fast. Clearly with so much hard braking you need firmer fork settings and spring rates on the front, and then a slightly softer spring on the rear so that the rider can hold his line on the exit. That's it really - there are no secrets to Le Mans!" Valentino Rossi: Information Age: 27 Lives: London, UK Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 GP victories: 80 (54 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 161 (101 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) Pole positions: 40 World Championships - 7 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP) Colin Edwards: Information Age: 32 Lives: Conroe, Texas Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 First GP: Japan, 2003 (MotoGP) GP starts: 52 x MotoGP World Championships - 2 World Superbike ,p> Le Mans Lap Record: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2005 - 1'33.678 Le Mans Best Lap: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2005 - 1'33.226 2005 Results 1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha, 44'12.223 2. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Honda, +0.382 3. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha, +5.711

The UFO Corse Yamaha team claimed their best results of the 2006 World Enduro Championship at round three of the series, the GP of Euskadi staged at Gernika, Spain, where team riders Stefan Merriman and Johnny Aubert claimed a day win each in the highly competitive Enduro 2 class. Having both performed well at the GP of Portugal, where they also claimed a day win each, it was Merriman who was first to top the E2 class podium in Gernika after a consistent and incident free performance on day one. On day two Aubert claimed the win and moved to the top of the 2006 Enduro 2 world championship standings. With conditions wet and slippery on day one Merriman claimed the E2 class win and 25 important world championship points largely due to making fewer mistakes than his rivals. Remaining upright on all tests Stefan finished 15 seconds ahead of team-mate Johnny Aubert to make it a Yamaha one-two. Finishing third was Finn Samuli Aro. On day two WEC debutant Aubert simply proved too fast for his Enduro 2 class rivals and placed 47 seconds ahead of Merriman who claimed the runner-up spot. Despite having reversed their finishing order from day one Aubert's and Merriman's performances again ensured that Yamaha claimed a decisive one-two result with Aubert also moving to the head of the E2 world championship standings. Placing third, as he did on day one, was Samuli Aro. Johnny Aubert Enduro 2 class - Day 1 Second, Day 2 First: "I know that I am fast in muddy and rutted conditions but when I heard that the race was going to be difficult I thought that I would struggle, especially in the time checks. Finishing second on day one and winning day two is much better than I ever thought I could do. I am so happy to have won again, especially now that it puts me in the lead of the Enduro 2 world championship. I made one big mistake on the extreme test on day one, which cost me some time, but apart from that it went well. I did also make one mistake on one of the difficult up hills on the enduro test but I was pushing hard at the time so mistakes happen when you are riding hard. Despite my errors I wasn't so far behind Stefan so I knew that if I could ride well on day two I could win. Day two went really well for me. I felt good all the day, although a little tired at the end, and put in some really good test times. I didn't make any big mistakes, in fact my only mistake was hitting neutral once on the motocross test on lap two. I am really, really happy with the way the race has gone for me. Leading the world championship is fantastic." Stefan Merriman Enduro 2 class - Day 1: First, Day 2: Second: "It's been a good weekend for me finishing in first and second in the Enduro 2 class, which I'm pleased with. Obviously I would have liked to have won on both days but Johnny Aubert was really fast on day two. Mika Ahola was actually a little faster than me on day one but he made a big mistake on the enduro test, which lost him a lot of time. I rode consistent on day one and that really helped me. I didn't have any problems and things went really well. On day two I found things really hard. Not being the biggest of riders it takes every bit of my energy to hold on to the bike when I'm pushing hard, especially on a long enduro test like we had. The race was a little too hard, I think. All the riders were really tired at the end of the first day and then at the end of the second day they were absolutely exhausted. We were lucky with the weather really because if it had rained hard on either day then it would have been extremely difficult." Race classification Enduro 2 Round: 3 - Gernika, Spain Circuit: Gernika Race: 1 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 S. Merriman Yamaha AUS 39' 58.620 2 J. Aubert Yamaha FRA +40' 13.180 3 S. Aro KTM FIN +40' 36.810 4 M. Ahola Honda FIN +41' 43.410 5 P. Edmondson Honda GBR +41 ' 43.410 6 F. Planet KTM FRA +41' 50.300 7 C. Guerrero GasGas ESP +42' 15.530 8 X. Galindo KTM ESP +42' 23.910 9 A. Belotti KTM ITA +42' 34.130 10 A. Beconi Beta ITA +42' 53.710 11 N. Paganon Husqvarna FRA +42' 57.500 12 E. McConnell TM GBR +43' 19.960 13 C. Nambotin Husqvarna FRA +43' 25.640 14 E. Albepart Honda FRA +43' 39.360 15 F. Dini Yamaha ITA +43' 51.510 16 A. Botturi Aprilia ITA +43' 58.500 17 J. Curvalle Kawasaki FRA +44' 30.900 18 E. Memmi Sherco FRA +45' 31.110 19 J. Simoncini Suzuki ITA +46' 23.360 20 V. Salonen HusaBerg FIN +46' 43.080 Race 2: 1 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 J. Aubert Yamaha FRA 51' 41.940 2 S. Merriman Yamaha AUS +52' 29.600 3 S. Aro KTM FIN +52' 55.990 4 C. Guerrero GasGas ESP +53' 11.890 5 M. Ahola Honda FIN +53' 11.500 6 P. Edmondson Honda GBR +53' 50.290 7 X. Galindo KTM ESP +54' 50.570 8 A. Belotti KTM ITA +54' 27.520 9 C. Nambotin Husqvarna FRA +55' 21.260 10 F. Dini Yamaha ITA +55' 2.510 11 N. Paganon Husqvarna FRA +55' 21.260 12 E. McConnell TM GBR +55' 23.440 13 A. Botturi Aprilia ITA +55' 31.660 14 V. Salonen HusaBerg FIN +56' 44.240 15 F. Planet KTM FRA +56' 52.920 16 F. Mancinelli Beta ITA +59' 52.920 17 J. Simoncini Suzuki ITA +59' 45.060 Championship standings Enduro 2 Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 130 2 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 128 3 Stefan Merriman Yamaha AUS 123 4 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 122 5 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 83 6 Cristobal Guerrero GasGas ESP 81 7 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 73 8 Paul Edmondson Honda GBR 62 9 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 52 10 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 49 11 Andrea Beconi Beta ITA 47 12 Euan McConnell TM GBR 44 13 Andrea Belotti KTM ITA 43 14 Alessandro Botturi Aprilia ITA 41 15 Nicolas Paganon Husqvarna FRA 31 16 Petteri Silvan KTM FIN 28 17 Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 27 18 Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 21 19 Christophe Nambotin Husqvarna FRA 20 20 Riku Rihelainen HusaBerg FIN 19 Manufacturers standings Enduro 2 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Yamaha 140 2 KTM 128 3 Honda 122 4 GasGas 85 5 Beta 52 6 HusaBerg 49 7 TM 43 8 Aprilia 41 9 Husqvarna 39 10 Sherco 31 11 Suzuki 13 12 Kawasaki 10 Enduro 1 : Micheluz faces gruelling conditions succesfully Round: 3 - Gernika, Spain Circuit: Gernika Date: 14 May 2006 Crowd: 6000 Temp: 24ºC Weather: Sunny Just as at the second round of the 2006 World Enduro Championship the UFO Corse Yamaha team were without the services of Spaniard Arnau Vilanova for the GP of Euskadi, staged in Gernika, Spain, due to the team's number one Enduro 1 class rider being unable to compete through injury. In his absence Italian Maurizio Micheluz, who claimed his best ever world championship result at the GP of Portugal one week earlier, again performed well aboard his WR250 to finish in sixth on both days of competition. Hoping to improve on his fourth place finish on day two at the second round of the WEC series Micheluz rode consistently on day one in Spain despite the wet and extremely challenging conditions. Finishing close behind former 125cc World Enduro Champion Petri Pohjamo on day one, Maurizio was one of just 12 Enduro 1 class finishers on day two - an indication of just how tough the race was. Having placed in sixth on both days Maurizio is now placed in sixth in the Enduro 1 world championship standings just 12 points behind the fifth placed rider. Reigning Enduro 1 world champion Ivan Cervantes topped the E1 class on both days finishing ahead of team-mate Alessandro Belometti on day one and ahead of Italian Simone Albergoni on day two. Maurizio Micheluz Enduro 1 class - Day 1 sixth, Day 2 sixth: "It has been a good weekend for me really. It was an extremely hard race on both days, but a good one. I crashed several times on day one and lost a lot of time, which affected my result a little. I wasn't able to match the pace of the top three riders in the E1 class, so I know I have some work to do on my speed, but I was happy with my riding. I finished in sixth on both days, which I am happy with so it has been a good enough race for me." Race classification Enduro 1 Round: 3 - Gernika, Spain Circuit: Gernika Race: 1 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 I. Cervantes KTM ESP 40' 50.200 2 A. Belometti KTM ITA +41 ' 8.170 3 B. Oblucki Husqvarna POL +41' 9.540 4 S. Albergoni Honda ITA +41' 35.040 5 P. Pohjamo TM FIN +42' 44.750 6 M. Micheluz Yamaha ITA +43' 2.440 7 H. Rodrigues Yamaha POR +43' 36.600 8 N. Deparrois Husqvarna FRA +43' 41.860 9 P. Bergvall Suzuki SWE +44' 5.900 10 J. Gauthier Honda FRA +44' 16.400 11 M. Hartmann KTM GER +44' 47.850 12 J. Jou Yamaha ESP +46' 42.170 13 E. Gutkin TM FRA +47' 57.040

Camel Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards charged from the front row of the grid to the podium today with a determined performance in the Grand Prix of China. Whilst his team-mate Valentino Rossi was denied the chance to challenge for a top three spot after pulling in with a tyre problem on the sixteenth lap, Edwards reaped the rewards of a blistering start to the race, when he snatched the hole-shot and led the field over the opening stages. In sunny and warm conditions Edwards set a scorching pace that only a handful of riders were able to follow, but finally succumbed to pressure from Dani Pedrosa (Honda) on lap ten, the young Spaniard forcing his way past and taking his team-mate Nicky Hayden along for company. Rossi, meanwhile, had been making positive progress through the field, working his way up from thirteenth on the grid to fifth place in the race before bad luck struck once again. The Italian began to feel that there was something wrong with his bike and initially thought it was being caused by the rear tyre. After a swift change he attempted to rejoin the race, only to return to the pits next time around after realising the problem was coming from the front tyre. Edwards consolidated third place for his first podium appearance of the season as Pedrosa held off the challenge of Hayden to clinch his maiden MotoGP win. Colin Edwards (3rd; + 14.634) "I got a really good start and just decided to go as fast as I could over the opening laps. I was close to losing control on a couple of occasions but I decided that I'd rather crash out of the lead today than miss my chance of finishing on the podium, which meant I just couldn't back off. I had some chatter and I could only push the bike so hard; if I went any faster than 2'00.7 then the chatter forced me to slow down, so I didn't have much choice but to hang in there! The freight train came past with Dani and Nicky but I couldn't hang on to the back, they were both just too fast. We've had some problems this weekend and I didn't expect to be on the podium but I can't thank my team, Yamaha and Michelin enough for the way they worked to put me in a competitive position. I think I scored my first podium in round four last season too, so hopefully this can be a sign to kick on from here." Valentino Rossi (DNF) "I didn't get a bad start to the race and I passed a lot of riders but I had a battle with Marco Melandri that cost me some time. Some of his moves were quite strong, which I could understand if we were fighting for the win on the last lap but not for eighth place at that stage of the race. Anyway, the bike felt good but just as I got my pace to 2'00.1 it suddenly started to feel wrong and I thought I had a problem with the rear tyre. I came in to change it but as I went back out I realised it was actually the front tyre, so that was the end of the race for me. I'm really disappointed because I felt in the race that I had the pace to at least pass Hopkins and Edwards, so as far as I am concerned we have lost 16 points and a podium, which would have been a good result after the problems we've had this weekend. We've lost some ground in the championship so I am feeling very disappointed right now but there is a long way to go yet." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "First of all my congratulations to Colin and all his crew - they have kept going after a difficult start to the season and today they got their reward. Third place is good and I hope it can be the start of much better things from him for the rest of the season. Valentino had a bad day, and even if we had changed the front tyre the first time he came in, it would have taken too long and the race would have already been lost. He has been very unlucky this year - firstly with the incident in the first corner at Jerez and now this time with the tyre. It's always upsetting when your results are decided by things that are out of your control but there is nothing he can do about it, only look forward to making up for lost ground over an important run of races in the next few weeks." Step forward in tyre consistency for Tech 3 Yamaha Team Some may say that finishing 14th and 17th in the Polini Grand Prix of China is an unacceptable result, but the Tech 3 Yamaha Team believes that after a weather effected weekend, positive steps have been made in the consistency of the Dunlop tyres, and are confident that now that has been attained, it will lead to further progression in the remaining races of 2006. By the completion of the today's race, Carlos Checa and James Ellison finished closer to many teams than in any of the season's previous races. Now that the question of the durability of Dunlop tyres has been answered, the next item on the team's agenda is to increase the performance and believe that the next level will be possible in the near future. Carlos Checa (14th, Fastest lap 2'02.610) "We have been working hard through the weekend and we knew that it was going to be difficult but our mission has been to reduce the difference to the large second group of bikes. We have come far in making the tyres last the distance but now our objective is to ensure that we improve our level of performance to lower our lap times over the entire distance. We haven't got the speed in the middle of the turn, especially in acceleration at the moment, but now that the tyres are lasting we need to increase the performance so we can go faster for longer and not be so far off in lap times. What Dunlop has been able to do in these four races makes me confident that they will be able to improve in the areas we need, to bring the lap times down and get even closer to those that are in front. I don't want to be negative but when the lap times are not there, everyone should be concerned. I knew that this was the situation in Dunlop when I came here so it is no surprise. I must carry on and fight against this situation and improve. We must not give up, - completely the opposite - we must work harder, more harder than the others if we want to catch them. I think we can improve one or two steps. The top level will be difficult if we compare with the other tyre rivals but we have to keep trying". James Ellison (17th, Fastest lap 2'03.139) "We're improving the durability of the tyres, but then the side grip dropped away and at a place like China where you're on the side of the tyre for a long period this is going to cost you a lot. To compensate for this I couldn't run the lines I wanted to, so I had to get over the front more. Don't get me wrong, we've made a big step with consistency but towards the end of the race I couldn't carry the corner speed I wanted. Obviously we still have work to do with the bike and the tyres to get the whole package working. The Dunlop guys have got a heap of new stuff coming to Le Mans and the test afterwards. They have been working very hard to improve the situation so we'll see what happens". Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "I am reasonably happy, although you can't jump up and down when you are finishing 14th and 17th, but I think that is the best race of the season for us so far. There was no major drop off in the lap times, the pace wasn't good enough to be in front but we were quite close to Kenny (Roberts Jr) with a factory engine on Michelin's and not far from de Puniet. We are happy with race distance durability but now we have to upgrade the performance because I think we need to be a second a lap quicker to be with the group we are looking at. "We have made some quite big improvements since the start of the project. There are another 13 races to go; Carlos working the way he is working, giving good feedback; James being closer than where he has been before; we have a two-days test after the French Grand Prix next week: hopefully Dunlop will continue the progression we are seeing. We go out of China with the feeling we have done quite a good Grand Prix". "We are seeing progress, everyone is working so hard and we must not stop. We must continue pushing and pushing." Race classification MotoGP Round: 4 - 2006 MotoGP Shanghai Circuit: Shanghai Circuit Length: 5451 Lap Record: 1' 59.318 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 59.009 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2006) Race: 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP 44' 7.734 2 N. Hayden Honda USA +1.505 3 C. Edwards Yamaha USA +14.634 4 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA +19.265 5 C. Stoner Honda AUS +23.061 6 M. Tamada Honda JPN +23.879 7 M. Melandri Honda ITA +24.101 8 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA +24.467 9 S. Gibernau Ducati ESP +28.358 10 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN +33.851 11 T. Elias Honda ESP +35.316 12 R. De Puniet Kawasaki FRA +52.004 13 K. Roberts Team Roberts KR USA +56.293 14 C. Checa Yamaha ESP +1' 3.575 15 A. Hofmann Ducati GER +1' 11.172 16 J. Ellison Yamaha GBR +1' 23.075 17 J. Cardoso Ducati ESP +1' 35.150 Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP 1' 59.318 Championship standings MotoGP Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 72 2 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 59 3 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 57 4 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 54 5 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 52 6 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 40 7 Toni Elias Honda ESP 37 8 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 35 9 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 28 10 Sete Gibernau Ducati ESP 25 11 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 24 12 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 20 13 Kenny Roberts Team Roberts KR USA 20 14 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 13 15 Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 10 17 James Ellison Yamaha GBR 3 Manufacturers standings MotoGP Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Honda 90 2 Ducati 59 2 Yamaha 59 3 Suzuki 29 4 Kawasaki 28 5 Team Roberts KR 20 Team standings MotoGP Pos. Team Points 1 Repsol Honda Team 129 2 Fortuna Honda Team 91 3 Ducati Marlboro Team 84 4 Camel Yamaha Team 75 5 Honda LCR 52 6 Kawasaki Racing Team 36 7 Rizla Suzuki 33 8 Konica Minolta Honda 24 9 Team Roberts KR 20 10 Tech3 Yamaha 13 11 Pramac D'Antin 3

Camel Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards will start from the front row of the MotoGP grid in tomorrow's Grand Prix of China after setting the third fastest time in a dramatic single qualifying session today. After battling through torrentially wet conditions yesterday, the riders enjoyed a cloudy but dry free practice this morning as they sought to find a suitable dry set-up for their machines. The afternoon started in similar conditions but a brief rain shower midway through the session confined the riders to a tense spell in their pit garages before a thrilling late shootout for grid positions. Whilst Edwards battled for the top spot with eventual pole setter Dani Pedrosa (Honda) and second-fastest John Hopkins (Suzuki), his Camel Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi was unable to repeat the kind of form that saw him dominate proceedings in the wet conditions yesterday. The Italian was one of several riders to struggle with a lack of dry practice time as he looked to iron out set-up problems and find his pace. He now faces another battle through the pack after setting the 13th fastest time, meaning he will start from the fifth row of the grid. Colin Edwards (3rd; 1'59.383, 15 laps) "This has been a really strange weekend because we started off by finding a setting for the wet and then converted it to the dry - usually it is the other way around! I felt so comfortable with the bike yesterday and I was disappointed when I saw that I was down in thirteenth, but I knew the reason for that and I was really confident about today. I can't really explain why we were off the pace in Turkey but have been right on it here in China, because we have hardly touched anything with the bike, just played around with the suspension. We've got some chatter in certain areas of the track but it's worse when the grip is good, especially when we put a qualifying tyre on. On race rubber you can hardly notice it so I think we have a good setting to go the distance tomorrow and I am happy with my tyre choice. I've had some decent starts to races so far this season but haven't been able to maintain the pace, so hopefully I can turn that around tomorrow. It feels good to be back on the front row." Valentino Rossi (13th; 2'00.720, 18 laps) "For sure we have a lot of problems and it's disappointing to be back in this position again after such a good day yesterday. When the grip becomes normal again, like today, we have a lot of chatter and it's very hard to ride the bike. Really this situation is quite bad, as the chatter has returned again today and it is similar to how it was in Jerez. Now we have to start from the fifth row and so it's going to be a very hard race. We have talked a lot tonight in the garage and now we will try some things in the morning during warm-up and hope that we can make some final improvements. Now I need to ride a defensive race, try not to make any mistakes and try to take as many points as possible." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "A very good result for Colin - it's been a while since he was on the front row so it is good to see him back there. He seems much more comfortable on the bike and it's good to see that he is able to ride it so effectively. Unfortunately Valentino wasn't able to follow up his good performance from yesterday with a similar result today, so we will have to take a look at the data with the engineers and try to come up with some ideas for the warm-up tomorrow." Clouds clear to allow progress for Tech 3 Yamaha Team The rain clouds of the opening day cleared sufficiently to permit steady progress for the Tech 3 Yamaha Team during Day Two of the Polini Grand Prix of China at the technically demanding Shanghai International Circuit. However, the solitary qualifying session for all important grid positions was briefly interrupted when a light sprinkling of rain covered the circuit to curtail proceedings for a quarter of the one-hour period. With a new batch of Dunlop qualifying tyres, team riders Carlos Checa and James Ellison secured 14th and 17th positions respectively, the most encouraging aspect for the team being both riders are closer to the leading lap times than in previous Grands Prix. With race weekend's doubling as tyre tests, it has confirmed that the team is heading in a positive direction in both wet and dry conditions. Carlos Checa (14th, 2'01.052, 18 laps) "Considering everything that has happened with the weather, it hasn't been too bad. In the morning session on race tyres we have found a direction to move forward and now physically I'm feeling ok after my injuries from Jerez. I have all my strength and gives me more confidence to push hard for the entire race which is quite important to me. I hope tomorrow can be a dry race as we have a few solutions to try in the warm-up and we'll see if we can improve a few other areas to make better and better. The front tyre is working quite well, but the rear we need to increase grip and stability. We already know the race tyre but after the break in qualifying we couldn't run any more race tyres tests as we had to use the new qualifying tyres to make sure we kept within range of the others". James Ellison (17th. 2'02.088, 16 laps) "The qualifying tyres are working quite well now. We've made a massive improvement compared to what we have done previously. I'm also just a second from Carlos and that is the closest I've been all year which is another encouraging sign for me. Tomorrow in warm-up we're going to try the race tyre I prefer which is a slightly bigger one and run the whole session with it. With the bigger tyre we have found the stability we were missing so that's a good confidence boost and if the temperature is hotter as the forecast indicates that's going to help us as well. We've been making big improvements every session this weekend and we're getting closer on the race set up considering we really only had that one hour session this morning. During a meeting we have to test qualifying, slicks and wet tyres so it's hard to find a race setup but that's what we have to do. After four races we've now found a good direction to push forward and unlike other teams we have no data from previous years to work on so with everything considered I think that we are finally making the progress we have been aiming for". Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "We've had a good two days and given a lot of information to Dunlop about wet weather tyre development. Carlos found a good feeling with his tyre for the dry and so did James. We've done all our times since Qatar on race tyres but now the qualifying tyres seem to be working well. Carlos is in between Elias and Rossi which shows we are between good riders and different bikes. I'm very pleased with James this afternoon. I'm sure when James gets some more confidence he will improve a lot. Hopefully the race will be dry, because nobody has done a lot of laps but we are happy. We are progressing and we are improving. We won't win the race or be on the podium tomorrow but we are performing our mission as we started from scratch with Dunlop. Also, now that Carlos is recovered I think it will help him racing more aggressively and more comfortably". Round: 4 - 2006 MotoGP Shanghai Circuit: Shanghai Circuit Length: 5451 Lap Record: 2' 13.716 (Alex Barros, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 59.009 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2006) Date: 13 May 2006 Temp: 19ºC Session 1 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 1 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP 1' 59.009 2 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA 1' 59.373 3 C. Edwards Yamaha USA 1' 59.383 4 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN 1' 59.570 5 N. Hayden Honda USA 1' 59.574 6 S. Gibernau Ducati ESP 1' 59.639 7 C. Stoner Honda AUS 1' 59.890 8 M. Melandri Honda ITA 2' 0.014 9 R. De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 2' 0.044 10 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA 2' 0.078 11 M. Tamada Honda JPN 2' 0.176 12 C. Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 2' 0.304 13 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 2' 0.720 14 C. Checa Yamaha ESP 2' 1.052 15 T. Elias Honda ESP 2' 1.275 16 A. Hofmann Ducati GER 2' 1.972 17 J. Ellison Yamaha GBR 2' 2.088

Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi returned to the top of the MotoGP time sheets today as hard work during practice and testing following the last round at Istanbul began to bear fruit on the opening day of the Grand Prix of China. In soaking conditions caused by a steady downpour of fine rain throughout the day, Rossi repeated the form that saw him take a wet victory at the Shanghai circuit last season with the fastest times in both today's free practice sessions. After setting the pace by just 0.002 seconds from Casey Stoner (Honda) in the morning, the Italian moved up a gear in the afternoon to improve his time by almost three seconds, holding off the challenge of Loris Capirossi (Ducati) by 0.355 seconds with an exemplary display of wet-weather riding. Meanwhile, his Camel Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards also reported improved feeling with his YZR-M1 machine following positive progress during the Turkish test session, although the American was struggled to turn that into outright pace this afternoon. Valentino Rossi (1st; 2'09.393, 36 laps) "In Turkey we were able to understand some of the problems we were having with the bike and we found some good solutions. The modifications we made using that data here this morning were really good and now I can ride the bike at 100%. Even though it was wet the grip levels were very good, I was able to get a lot of lean angle in the corners and it was really good fun to ride as I want to. I'm really happy because I was fastest in both free practices today and this is a good sign for the weekend. The bike is working well in the wet but I think the solutions we have found for the setting will also work in the dry. Hopefully we will get the chance to find out tomorrow because the worst scenario would be to have another day of wet practice and then a dry race on Sunday." Colin Edwards (13th; 2'11.838, 24 laps) "I'm reasonably happy with today. We did some good work on the setting of the bike but when we got it to where I wanted to push for a good time we had a minor setback with the tyre and I had to go for a different compound, which didn't quite work out. The main thing is that I'm comfortable with the bike and I'm confident I can go much quicker tomorrow whether it's wet or dry. We basically started out with the dry setting we found in Turkey and made small adaptations for the wet conditions here. We found a really good suspension solution at the end so now we just need to put the whole package together with the right tyres tomorrow and run with it." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "That was a very good session, especially after the problems we had in Istanbul. The engineers made some good steps with the setting and, thanks to their good work at the test in Turkey, Valentino was able to be fast again today. Watching him ride to the best of his ability is always very enjoyable and the situation here is clearly very different to what we found when it rained in Turkey. As far as Colin is concerned his lap time today does not reflect his true potential here. He has found a good setting and, although he couldn't finish the session off as he would have liked, there is a lot more to come from him. We have started off well at other races this year and not ended up with the right result so we have to make sure this good work continues right through until Sunday afternoon." Rain dampens proceedings for Tech 3 Yamaha Team Although the rain overshadowed proceedings, the conditions gave the Tech 3 Yamaha Team an excellent chance to continue testing the ever improving range of Dunlop wet weather tyres. Both riders tested many different combinations of tyres during the two, one-hour practice sessions and recorded valuable data should the showers continue for the remainder of the weekend with Carlos Checa and James Ellison in 16th and17th positions respectively. Carlos Checa (16th, 2'14.914, 36 laps) "It has been a busy day testing tyres and these wet conditions have given us a perfect chance to find a direction to head with the amount of wet-weather tyres Dunlop has for us. But it's what we have to do to continue and hope we can improve further soon. I am not very happy as I'm five seconds off but that is what happens sometimes when we are testing at the same time as trying to find a setup. Now we have to find the tyre to settle on should these conditions continue over the weekend". James Ellison (17th. 2'15.880, 36 laps) "From this morning we made some adjustments by lowering the bike and softening the bike right off and it worked well as the lap times started to come down. We tried a few different tyres during the session and the last tyre we tried was pretty good. Carlos liked it as well so we have something to work on in the morning but we just have to find a way of generating more heat in the side of the tyre which is the problem we're having. Once we do that we should be in much better position. Testing during a meeting is a bit hard but at the end of the day that is what we are here for". Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "Although the positions of Carlos and James are not the best, we are quite satisfied with the work that has been done today because again, we have done a few hours in the rain and they both have been through a lot of different tyres. "It's a tough job but this is "year one" with Dunlop in MotoGP with a factory bike and they have a lot to learn and a lot to understand to catch up to the other brands. We have to go through this testing program - that is something we have to do - and not everything we test is always suitable. But this is our mission and we have to continue. I'd like to thank my riders - especially Carlos - for the good job he is doing. Hopefully, by the end of the season, with all the tyre testing we do during a Grand Prix, we will be a lot closer. The target is to be a pretty competitive in 2007 but we're not going to catch up with the other two immediately." Round: 4 - 2006 MotoGP Shanghai Circuit: Shanghai Circuit Length: 5451 Lap Record: 2' 13.716 (Alex Barros, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 59.710 (Sete Gibernau, 2005) Date: 12 May 2006 Temp: 17ºC Free Practice : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Free Practice 1 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 2' 9.393 2 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA 2' 9.748 3 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA 2' 10.007 4 S. Gibernau Ducati ESP 2' 10.187 5 N. Hayden Honda USA 2' 10.247 6 M. Melandri Honda ITA 2' 10.411 7 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP 2' 10.815 8 C. Stoner Honda AUS 2' 11.016 9 M. Tamada Honda JPN 2' 11.313 10 R. De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 2' 11.425 11 C. Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 2' 11.438 12 K. Roberts Team Roberts KR USA 2' 11.615 13 C. Edwards Yamaha USA 2' 11.838 14 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN 2' 12.496 15 T. Elias Honda ESP 2' 12.807 16 C. Checa Yamaha ESP 2' 14.914 17 J. Ellison Yamaha GBR 2' 15.880

The whirlwind start to the 2006 MotoGP World Championship continues next weekend as the paddock's globetrotting journey heads eastwards across Asia to the Shanghai International Circuit in China. After visiting Spain, Qatar and Turkey in the opening three rounds of the series, the Camel Yamaha Team take their points quest back to the skies for another 'flyaway' race, before returning to start a European road trip that covers seven races in nine weeks - starting at the Le Mans circuit in France only seven days after the Chinese event. Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards arrive in the country known locally as 'The Big Land' with a mixed bag of results under their arms after an unpredictable start to the campaign. Rossi followed up a first-corner fall at Jerez with victory in Doha before battling to fourth place in Istanbul after a weekend dogged by technical difficulties and bad weather. It has been a similar story for his Texan team-mate, who has shown excellent pace in practice but has yet to find a set-up package that will enable him to compete for race victories and podiums. The Shanghai circuit was designed by architects Hermann Tilke and Peter Wahl and its layout was inspired by the shape of the Chinese character 'shang', which stands for 'high' or 'above'. Other symbols represented in the architecture of the circuit facilities originate from Chinese history, such as the team buildings, which are arranged like pavilions on a lake to resemble the ancient Yuyan-Garden in Shanghai. One of the circuit's most impressive features is the extraordinary main grandstand, which holds capacity for 29,000 spectators and provides a spectacular view of almost 80 percent of the circuit. Valentino Rossi: Tight and technical After taking a surprise wet-weather victory at this circuit last season, Valentino Rossi is hoping for an identical result in different conditions this time around. The torrential rain that fell during the inaugural event at Shanghai one year ago set the scene for one of the most impressive performances of Rossi's career but, given the choice, the World Champion is hoping for a much more straightforward way to demonstrate his superiority next Sunday. "Out of all the victories in my career, China last year was the one I least expected because of the problems we had with the bike during the weekend and with the rain on race day," explains Rossi, who became the all-time record points scorer in Grand Prix history thanks to his fourth place finish in Turkey last week - a result that outs him fifth in the championship. "It was the first time I had won in the wet on the Yamaha, so it was a special victory, but this year I would definitely prefer a dry race. The 2006 version M1 didn't work as well as we had hoped in the wet practice sessions in Turkey and we need as much dry track time as possible to get the bike setting as I like it." Like Turkey the Shanghai circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke, but it is much more similar to the German architect's other effort at Sepang in Malaysia, with tight bends and long straights that, according to Rossi, make the rider's skill in setting the bike up even more important. "My first impressions of the circuit last year were very good but then it wasn't as much fun as I expected," explains the Italian. "It is actually quite tight and technical and is very much a Formula 1 track, so all the riders have a lot of hard work to do finding the right setting for the bikes. It is not ideal for MotoGP - it is a very demanding circuit and it will test the riders and the bikes to the maximum." Colin Edwards: Expect the unexpected Colin Edwards says he is unsure about what to expect in China after experiencing such mixed fortunes at each of the opening three rounds this season. Like his team-mate, the American is hoping for favourable circumstances from the opening practice in order to gather crucial set-up data for the 2006 version YZR-M1 machine. "Because we had so little dry time at Shanghai last year I think there is a big question mark for everybody about what is going to happen," says Edwards, who currently lies ninth in the championship on 19 points. "It will be important to find a good setting for the bike as quickly as possible so that we can get some endurance testing in before the race and make sure we don't have the problems we've struggled with in previous weekends. This is a very important Grand Prix for us and we simply have to end it with a decent result before the championship heads back to Europe. "The test at Istanbul on Monday was quite beneficial because it gave us an idea of the lap times we could have done in the race if we weren't interrupted by the rain on Saturday, which was encouraging, although it didn't win us any points back! We got a lot of laps in, which is what we need right now, so the engineers have some good data to work on over the next week before the race and I'm confident they can come up with something for us in China." Davide Brivio: Positive thinking Camel Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio is looking towards the Grand Prix in China as a major opportunity to turn around the team's early-season fortunes. Having enjoyed a particularly fruitful weekend in Shanghai at this stage last season, the Italian is hoping the event can prove to be a turning point for the team at the start of a critical phase of the championship. "Last year's race in China was very important for us because we won, and won well, in the wet and this helped us to find the solutions to some problems we had with the dry setting, so we are hoping it can be the same this time," says Brivio. "It has been a difficult start to the season but despite the bad luck of Valentino's crash in the first round at Jerez he is still very close to the top. We're looking forward to seeing what both he and Colin are capable of when the problems are solved and hopefully that can start in China. "Now we have eight races in eleven weekends, which is a lot and puts pressure on everybody. For example our drivers will be going straight from China to pick up the trucks and driving them to France without a break, but I think it is worse for the riders because they have no time to rest. In any case the next three months are the core of the season and a period where the situation regarding the championship becomes much clearer. The conditions are the same for everybody so we have to make sure we work to the best of our abilities and come through with a good share of the points." Technically speaking: Colin Edwards' suspension technician Robert Gronlund Despite being drawn by the same hand as the Istanbul Circuit in Turkey, Shanghai has different characteristics that bring to mind closer comparisons with the other Herman Tilke circuit of Sepang. Combining fast straights and hard braking zones with a series of slow and difficult corners, bike set-up is again a question of finding a compromised balance, whilst the big unknown this weekend will be the conditions - with last year's mixed bag of weather and the typically hot and humid climate making grip levels a complete mystery until Friday morning practice. "In some ways Shanghai is similar to Turkey but in other ways it is very different," explains Robert Gronlund, Colin Edwards' Ohlins suspension technician. "For instance, it doesn't flow as much as that track but it does have a mixture of fast corners and very hard braking zones, so in terms of the set-up the key is again to have a good compromise - especially with the suspension. The bike needs to turn well into the slow corners because, like with the final section in Turkey, you can lose a lot of time there. "The thing about Shanghai is that we have only been once and it was sometimes wet and sometimes dry, so we have a very limited amount of data. Really we're not worried about that though because we feel we made an important step during the test in Turkey. We have reduced the vibration problems we had at Jerez and Qatar and found a solution to the difficulties we had at Istanbul - just generally making the bike easier to ride. A lot will depend on the grip levels at Shanghai and it certainly won't be easy, but we are looking forward to it." Valentino Rossi: Information Age: 27 Lives: London, UK Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 GP victories: 80 (54 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 160 (100 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) Pole positions: 40 World Championships - 7 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP) Colin Edwards: Information Age: 32 Lives: Conroe, Texas Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 First GP: Japan, 2003 (MotoGP) GP starts: 51 x MotoGP World Championships - 2 World Superbike Shanghai Lap Record: Alex Barros (Honda) 2005 - 2'13.716* Shanghai Best Lap: Sete Gibernau (Honda) 2005 - 1'59.710 Shanghai 2005 Results*: 1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 50'02.463 2. Olivier Jacque (Kawasaki) +1.700 3. Marco Melandri (Honda) +16.574 8. Colin Edwards(Yamaha) +31.033 * Wet Race

Having produced two impressive results at the opening round of the '06 WEC series, his first ever world championship enduro competition, UFO Corse Yamaha rider Johnny Aubert again showed just how talented a rider he is by claiming his first ever WEC win on day two in Portugal. In doing so Aubert made it the perfect weekend for the UFO Corse Yamaha squad as Stefan Merriman claimed top honours in the E2 class on day one. On day one Merriman made up for his disappointments at the opening round of the series in Sweden and placed 19 seconds ahead of Finn Mika Ahola and a further 13 seconds ahead of Finn Samuli Aro. Finishing in fourth position, due in part to having struggled on the event's difficult extreme special test, Johnny Aubert placed in fourth. On day two Aubert made none of the mistakes that had slowed his progress on day one and wanting to simply stand on the podium the former motocross racer claimed his first WEC victory. Winning seven of the day's eight special tests Aubert placed 23 seconds ahead of Mika Ahola with Merriman in third. In the E2 world championship standings Aubert is placed third, five points behind class leader Aro, with Merriman fourth. Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha Enduro 2 class - Day 1 fourth, Day 2 first: "It's absolutely fantastic to have had such a great weekend and to have won my first ever world championship enduro race. I still can't believe it. When I saw the motocross and enduro tests I was confident that I could do well, but when I saw the extreme test I thought that I would really struggle. On day one I did find it difficult on the extreme test, and that affected my result. I also had a one big crash on the enduro test. "On day two I wanted to improve my extreme tests and fight for a position on the podium, and I did that. I felt really good on day two - on all the special tests. Winning my first world championship race in my first season of enduro is fantastic. I want to thank the UFO Corse Yamaha team for all there help and support and I hope I can continue with my good results. " Stefan Merriman (UFO Corse Yamaha Enduro 2 class - Day 1: first, Day third: "Winning on day one was great because things certainly didn't go to plan at the first round of the series in Sweden. I had a really good day, and enjoyed the event although it was really difficult. I got stuck on the extreme test, like most riders did, but that was my only real problem. "Day two was also good but Johnny was just faster than me. The tests got a lot rougher and I struggled a little with the long ruts in the corners. I pushed as hard as I could but it just wasn't enough. I know that with refinements to the bike's set-up I will be able to go faster so I'm looking forward to the next race in Spain. " 'Manxman' David Knight claimed top honours on both days in the Enduro 3 class finishing ahead of Finn Marko Tarkkala with Sweden's Bjorne Carlsson claiming third on both days. Race classification Enduro 2 Round: 2 - Guimaraes, Portugal Circuit: Guimares Race: 1 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 S. Merriman Yamaha AUS 37' 16.200 2 M. Ahola Honda FIN +37' 21.550 3 S. Aro KTM FIN +37' 34.670 4 J. Aubert Yamaha FRA +37' 47.050 5 P. Edmondson Honda GBR +38' 10.500 6 F. Planet KTM FRA +38' 32.600 7 X. Galindo KTM ESP +38' 33.410 8 C. Guerrero GasGas ESP +38' 36.440 9 E. Albepart Honda FRA +39' 13.660 10 A. Beconi Beta ITA +39' 16.980 11 A. Botturi Aprilia ITA +39' 44.240 12 A. Belotti KTM ITA +39' 46.550 13 F. Dini Yamaha ITA +39' 51.230 14 A. Toresson Suzuki SWE +39' 56.700 15 J. Curvalle Kawasaki FRA +40' 9.680 16 N. Paganon Husqvarna FRA +40' 38.680 17 E. Memmi Sherco FRA +40' 41.140 18 J. Pedrero Sherco ESP +40' 51.120 19 V. Salonen HusaBerg FIN +41' 19.670 20 G. Canova Husqvarna ITA +41' 26.190 Race 2: 1 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 J. Aubert Yamaha FRA 36' 37.550 2 M. Ahola Honda FIN +37' 0.790 3 S. Merriman Yamaha AUS +37' 31.980 4 S. Aro KTM FIN +37' 48.920 5 C. Guerrero GasGas ESP +38' 22.910 6 P. Edmondson Honda GBR +38' 37.720 7 F. Planet KTM FRA +38' 40.320 8 F. Dini Yamaha ITA +38' 56.140 9 A. Beconi Beta ITA +39' 2.520 10 X. Galindo KTM ESP +39' 4.900 11 E. McConnell TM GBR +39' 7.430 12 A. Belotti KTM ITA +39' 8.620 13 E. Albepart Honda FRA +39' 47.060 14 A. Botturi Aprilia ITA +39' 54.450 15 N. Paganon Husqvarna FRA +39' 55.110 16 V. Salonen HusaBerg FIN +40' 1.390 17 E. Memmi Sherco FRA +41' 10.880 18 J. Pedrero Sherco ESP +41' 26.730 19 F. Mancinelli Beta ITA +41' 38.640 20 G. Canova Husqvarna ITA +41' 47.760 Championship standings Enduro 2 Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 88 2 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 88 3 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 83 4 Stefan Merriman Yamaha AUS 76 5 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 62 6 Cristobal Guerrero GasGas ESP 49 7 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 46 8 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 41 9 Andrea Beconi Beta ITA 36 10 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 35 11 Paul Edmondson Honda GBR 31 12 Alessandro Botturi Aprilia ITA 28 13 Petteri Silvan KTM FIN 28 14 Euan McConnell TM GBR 26 15 Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 21 16 Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 20 17 Riku Rihelainen HusaBerg FIN 19 18 Andrea Belotti KTM ITA 18 19 Patrik Wicksell KTM SWE 15 20 Nicolas Paganon Husqvarna FRA 11 Manufacturers standings Enduro 2 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Yamaha 90 2 Honda 88 2 KTM 88 3 GasGas 53 4 HusaBerg 41 5 Beta 36 6 Sherco 28 6 Aprilia 28 7 TM 25 8 Husqvarna 17 9 Suzuki 7 10 Kawasaki 6 Enduro 1 : Micheluz scores best career result at Guimaraes Round: 2 - Guimaraes, Portugal Circuit: Guimares Date: 7 May 2006 Crowd: 7000 Temp: 20ºC Weather: Dry UFO Corse Yamaha team rider Arnau Vilanova was still unable to compete in the second round of the '06 World Enduro Championship due to having injured his left foot while practicing at his home in Spain prior to the event. Portuguese rider Helder Rodrigues and UFO Corse Yamaha rider Maurizio Micheluz produced Yamaha's best results in the Enduro 1 class. With Rodrigues placing fourth on day one, Micheluz finished in fourth on day two to claim his best ever world championship result and in doing so lifted himself to sixth position in the Enduro 1 world championship standings. At the head of the class Italian Simone Albergoni claimed his first win of the '06 season by topping the podium on day one. Locked in a close battle with reigning E1 world champion Ivan Cervantes just four seconds separated the pair at the end of the day. Placing in third on day one was Italian Alessandro Belometti. On day two the top two finishing positions from day one were reversed with Cervantes claiming the win, 30 seconds ahead of Albergoni. Again placing third was Belometti. Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 eighth, Day 2 fourth: "The race was really difficult - not only the special tests but also the course because of the rocks and dust. But it has been a good weekend for me. I am really pleased to have finished fourth on day two because it is my best result in the WEC so far. Day one went pretty well for me and I was pleased with the way I was riding. But day two was much better. "I had a big crash on the enduro test, which made things hard for me but on day two I felt a lot better. The tests were really difficult but I enjoyed them. I didn't really have any problems so I am really happy. " Race classification Enduro 1 Round: 2 - Guimaraes, Portugal Circuit: Guimares Race: 1 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 S. Albergoni Honda ITA 38' 8.000 2 I. Cervantes KTM ESP +38' 12.900 3 A. Belometti KTM ITA +38' 50.090 4 H. Rodrigues Yamaha POR +39' 16.780 5 B. Oblucki Husqvarna POL +39' 53.930 6 M. Hartmann KTM GER +39' 46.830 7 P. Pohjamo TM FIN +40' 7.030 8 M. Micheluz Yamaha ITA +40' 14.910 9 N. Deparrois Husqvarna FRA +40' 55.980 10 P. Enes KTM FRA +41' 2,152.000 11 J. Jou Yamaha ESP +41' 35.030 12 F. Blanc KTM FRA +41' 38.290 13 F. Ferreira Yamaha POR +41' 5,255.000 14 M. Patrao Suzuki POR +42' 48.000 15 A. Mendes Yamaha FRA +43' 342.000 16 R. Hubers Yamaha NED +49' 2.330 17 S. Helio Yamaha ESP +1,13' 14.100 18 A. Fernandez Yamaha POR +1.14' 2,712.000 Race 2: 1 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 I. Cervantes KTM ESP 37' 38.210 2 S. Albergoni Honda ITA +38' 8.640 3 A. Belometti KTM ITA +38' 29.650 4 M. Micheluz Yamaha ITA +39' 0.610 5 P. Pohjamo TM FIN +39' 3.150 6 F. Blanc KTM FRA +39' 28.410 7 H. Rodrigues Yamaha POR +39' 35.800 8 B. Oblucki Husqvarna POL +39' 48.210 9 M. Hartmann KTM GER +40' 8.100 10 N. Deparrois Husqvarna FRA +40' 35.300 11 A. Raphael Kawasaki FRA +40' 35.930 12 J. Gauthier Honda FRA +40' 38.550 13 J. Jou Yamaha ESP +41' 20.350 14 M. Patrao Suzuki POR +41' 38.500 15 A. Mendes Yamaha FRA +42' 46.410 16 F. Ferreira Yamaha POR +42' 51.880 17 R. Hubers Yamaha NED +43' 39.260 18 A. Fernandez Yamaha POR +59' 27.900 Championship standings Enduro 1 Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Ivan Cervantes KTM ESP 94 2 Simone Albergoni Honda ITA 83 3 Petri Pohjamo TM FIN 73 4 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 68 5 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 65 6 Mauricio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 61 7 Helder Rodrigues Yamaha POR 55 8 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 46 9 Peter Bergvall Suzuki SWE 40 10 Freddy Blanc KTM FRA 37 11 Robert Carlsson Yamaha SWE 26 12 Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 23 13 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 23 14 Pär Olsson Yamaha SWE 19 15 Joan Jou Yamaha ESP 18 16 Leit Holm KTM FIN 15 17 Mario Patrao Suzuki POR 14 18 Fernando Ferreira Yamaha POR 13 19 Alexandre Mendes Yamaha FRA 12 20 Pedro Enes KTM FRA 11 25 Andre Fernandez Yamaha POR 6 27 Santos Helio Yamaha ESP 4 Manufacturers standings Enduro 1 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 KTM 94 2 Honda 83 3 TM 73 4 Yamaha 66 5 Husqvarna 65 6 Suzuki 54 7 Kawasaki 10

Noriyuki Haga gave the Tifosi plenty to cheer about with a fine podium finish at Monza today. The ever-popular Yamaha Motor Italia star equaled his best ever result around the historic circuit with third place in race two to the delight of his locally based team and a large and passionate crowd. Race one saw Haga involved in a three-way battle for second place with Troy Corser (Suzuki) and Alex Barros (Honda), which ultimately saw him finish fourth at the end of 18 grueling laps. For race two the Japanese star made some small changes to the suspension of his YZF-R1, allowing him to lead the way with Corser and Troy Bayliss (Ducati) until a lack of grip in the closing stages forced him to consolidate his podium finish. Team-mate Andrew Pitt also gave two stirring performances despite failing to get off the line cleanly. The Australian found himself boxed in at Monza's notoriously slow first chicane, which meant that he was unable get away with the leading group. In both races Pitt was able to run similar lap times to the leaders, allowing him to work his way up to the second group. In both instances he was able to finish at the head of the pack, for fifth place in race one and sixth in race two. Bayliss won both races to extend his lead in the championship to 36 points over Corser, who was third and second in today's races. Haga lies fifth in the championship but with a reduced gap to third. The Yamaha rider is just four points behind James Toseland (Honda) and two adrift of fourth placed Barros. Yamaha Motor France's riders had mixed fortunes in Monza. World superbike rookie Shinichi Nakatomi continued to impress with a season best tenth in race one and 12th in race two. The Japanese rider came from 20th on the grid and was dicing with illustrious company throughout the races, one of whom was team-mate Sebastien Gimbert, who finished 12th in race one before retiring with clutch problems in the second. But Norick Abe suffered a nightmare in Monza and received no reward for a gritty performance. After missing the Saturday practice sessions through injury, Abe must have wished he had stayed in his motorhome after becoming one of seven riders to go down in a first corner pile-up in race one. For race two he came from 27th on the grid to finish the race 16th, a fine performance for a rider suffering neck and wrist injuries but unfortunately not one which brought any championship points. Despite his failure to score, Abe remains in the championship's top ten, dropping just one place to ninth. Nakatomi moves up to 17th and Gimbert 22nd. The next race takes place at the Silverstone circuit in three weekend's time. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "I'm very happy to finally get on the podium in Monza. We had two hard races and in the second I thought that I could stay with Bayliss and Corser but I had a small problem with rear grip. Our bike has worked very well this weekend and I am pleased for that I can make this good result at the home race of my team. I am now looking to get another good result in Silverstone as this is a track I like very much and where we had the first podium for the R1 last year." Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "It was all about making a good start and unfortunately in both races I couldn't get cleanly through the first chicane. I thought that I rode well and my lap times were the same as the guys in the front group but they had already made a break and it was impossible to catch them. I'm disappointed as I expected more and thought we could be on the podium today but in both races I beat the guys I was racing with and that's about as much as I could do." Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "I was too far behind on the start but on the track I could catch people. After ten or 11 laps I was catching again but l missed a gear and lost about five positions. After that, I had to work very hard but we got some points in both races. It was a positive for us." Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) "It was a difficult weekend, for the team and for me. We had big problems with the clutch. In the first race it was not so bad but the second race was no good for me." Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "We had very bad luck this weekend. My big crash on Friday was my mistake but also caused by the rainy conditions. So in first race I made a good start but somebody made a big mistake and many riders went out. That one was not my fault. In race two my right hand was in more pain than the first race and we didn't not have ideal settings because we had to miss practice sessions." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "On Friday we felt that a podium was possible and although it didn't go so well in final qualifying I was confident that both riders could challenge after a good performance in the warm-up this morning. I'm pleased for Noriyuki because on Thursday he said to me that he never finishes on the podium here. Andrew also rode well and has been strong all weekend, so we can go to Silverstone confident of challenging for the podium again." Martial Garcia (Team Manager - Yamaha Motor France) "Nakatomi confirmed his good result of the first race in the second one, although this time there was no big crash like in race one, so more riders finished. Gimbert had a big problem with the clutch so he could not ride the bike. For Abe the situation was clear and he only rode for the team, only for us, so true thanks to him. He tried his heart out but missed a point by only one position in race two." Race classification WSB Round: 4 - Italy Circuit: Monza Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1' 46.815 (Troy Bayliss, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 46.815 (Troy Bayliss, 2006) Race: 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 32' 23.100 2 A. Barros Honda BRA +3.982 3 T. Corser Suzuki AUS +4.216 4 N. Haga Yamaha JPN +4.395 5 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS +13.605 6 K. Muggeridge Honda AUS +13.665 7 R. Laconi Kawasaki FRA +14.066 8 R. Rolfo Ducati ITA +19.170 9 L. Lanzi Ducati ITA +25.729 10 S. Nakatomi Yamaha JPN +28.350 11 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR +29.639 12 S. Gimbert Yamaha FRA +30.354 13 F. Foret Suzuki FRA +43.838 14 L. Alfonsi Ducati ITA +44.312 15 I. Clementi Ducati ITA +44.530 Race 2: 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 32' 17.705 2 T. Corser Suzuki AUS +1.916 3 N. Haga Yamaha JPN +6.479 4 A. Barros Honda BRA +10.227 5 J. Toseland Honda GBR +11.910 6 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS +17.551 7 K. Muggeridge Honda AUS +17.720 8 F. Nieto Kawasaki ESP +17.825 9 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR +22.873 10 R. Rolfo Ducati ITA +31.603 11 L. Lanzi Ducati ITA +31.610 12 S. Nakatomi Yamaha JPN +34.282 13 F. Foret Suzuki FRA +35.273 14 M. Fabrizio Honda ITA +35.306 15 R. Xaus Ducati ESP +40.552 16 N. Abe Yamaha JPN +51.516 Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 1' 46.815 Championship standings WSB Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 175 2 Troy Corser Suzuki AUS 139 3 James Toseland Honda GBR 97 4 Alex Barros Honda BRA 95 5 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 93 6 Andrew Pitt Yamaha AUS 79 7 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 59 8 Roberto Rolfo Ducati ITA 46 9 Norick Abe Yamaha JPN 40 10 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 37 11 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 36 12 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 34 13 Chris Walker Kawasaki GBR 33 14 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 31 15 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 30 17 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 18 22 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 7 Manufacturers standings WSB Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Ducati 176 2 Suzuki 149 3 Honda 124 4 Yamaha 113 5 Kawasaki 57 6 Petronas 4 WSS : Roccoli tops the R6s in Monza Round: 4 - Italy Circuit: Monza Date: 7 May 2006 Crowd: 90000 Temp: 22ºC Weather: Sunny Italian youngster Massimo Roccoli had his best result as a world supersport rider, bringing his Yamaha YZF-R6 home fourth at Monza today. The Yamaha Team Italia rider survived a last lap scare when he touched Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) as he entered Parabolica corner for the final time. The pair, who had an intense battle in last year's superstock 1000 race at Monza, crossed the line side-by-side with the Yamaha man getting the verdict by just two-tenths of a second. Roccoli had been running a quiet race just behind the leading group for much of the 16 laps, only to be caught as he succumbed to arm pump in the latter stages of the race. He was unable to fend off the challenge of championship leader Sebastien Charpentier (Honda), who was charging through the field after a ride-through penalty, but successfully defended his place from Sofuoglu and the intense race-long battle between Yamaha Motor Germany's Broc Parkes and Ducati rider Stuart Easton. After qualifying down in 11th position Parkes had a difficult race. He found himself baulked at the first chicane and after picking off a few places he was unable to find a way past Easton and came home a disappointed seventh. It was day that promised so much but delivered so little for Yamaha Motor Germany. Kevin Curtain led for much of the way, until a technical problem halted him with four laps remaining. The Australian had been involved in a thrilling battle with eventual winner Yoann Tiberio (Honda) when his engine expired at the end of the home straight. Despite failing to score Curtain retains his second place in the championship standings. Third place for Charpentier sees him extend his lead over Curtain to 31 points with second-placed Monza finisher Robbin Harms (Honda) a further eight points adrift in third. Parkes remains fifth in the championship with Roccoli sixth. Roccoli's team-mate Gianluca Vizziello was another rider to leave Monza without any points. The Italian had been in sparkling form to qualify second but he spectacularly crashed out of sixth place after being baulked by another rider on lap three. Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia) "I got a good start and felt that I could fight for the podium today, but in the end I had some problems with my arm. When Charpentier came past me I wanted to try and stay with him but he was just too fast and I had to concentrate on getting the best result possible. The pain in my arm made it hard for me when entering the corners but I was determined to get a good result and when Sofuoglu passed me I fought straight back. I'm happy to get a good result today and finishing so close to the podium has only made me more determined." Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) "The main problem was qualifying back on the third row. I was able to make some good progress until I came across a Ducati that I had difficulty getting past. Sometimes I was able to get past on the brakes but I was never quite able to make enough of a break to stop him coming back at me down the straights." Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) "It's disappointing not to be able to take advantage of Charpentier's penalty and to take some points back but that's life and no one will go through a season without some bad luck, so hopefully this is ours for the season. There are still a lot of positives to take from this weekend and we just have to work hard and focus on Silverstone." Gianluca Vizziello (Yamaha Team Italia) "I'm not happy because I knew that I could fight for a good position and possibly the podium today. Someone cut across me going into Ascari so I had to brake hard and this made me crash out with Fujiwara." Race classification WSS Round: 4 - Italy Circuit: Monza Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1' 51.403 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 51.403 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2006) Race: 16 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 Y. Tibero Honda FRA 30' 14.618 2 R. Harms Honda DNK +1.924 3 S. Charpentier Honda FRA +4.255 4 M. Roccoli Yamaha ITA +7.224 5 K. Sofuoglu Honda TUR +7.499 6 S. Easton Ducati GBR +9.015 7 B. Parkes Yamaha AUS +9.117 8 J. Stigefelt Honda SWE +10.866 9 X. Fores Yamaha ESP +10.997 10 S. Chambon Kawasaki FRA +21.842 11 T. Lauslehto Honda FIN +25.332 12 S. Cruciani Honda ITA +25.478 13 D. Checa Yamaha ESP +26.654 14 V. Kallio Yamaha FIN +34.012 15 K. Andersen Suzuki NOR +38.406 Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 S. Charpentier Honda FRA 1' 51.403 Championship standings WSS Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 91 2 Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 60 3 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 52 4 Yoann Tibero Honda FRA 48 5 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 38 6 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 36 7 Xavi Fores Yamaha ESP 30 8 Johan Stigefelt Honda SWE 28 9 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 27 10 Joshua Brookes Ducati AUS 21 11 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 17 12 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 16 13 Christian Zaiser Ducati AUT 15 14 Sebastien Le Grelle Honda BEL 12 15 Stuart Easton Ducati GBR 10 25 David Checa Yamaha ESP 3 26 Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha BEL 2 Manufacturers standings WSS Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Honda 100 2 Yamaha 73 3 Ducati 33 4 Kawasaki 14 5 Suzuki 7 European Superstock : Corti tenth in Monza Round: 2 - Italy Circuit: Monza Date: 7 May 2006 Crowd: 90000 Temp: 22ºC Weather: Sunny Yamaha Team Italia rider Claudio Corti finished tenth in today's second round of the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup at his local Monza circuit. Starting from tenth on the grid following a gear selection problem in the second qualifying session, the YZF-R1 SP rider made a superb start to lie third at the end of the opening lap. The 18-year-old from Como struggled for traction and slipped back into a fierce battle for seventh place but found himself slipstreamed across the finish line. In a photo finish, fellow R1 SP riders Ilario Dionsi and Matteo Baiocco passed Corti across the line - the three Yamahas covered by just one hundredth of a second at the finish. Emilio Rocamora was 11th on another Yamaha, a further two hundredths of a seconds behind. Italian Alessandro Polita (Suzuki) led from start to finish to take his second win of the season, with Riccardo Chiarello (Kawasaki) and Ayrton Badovini (MV Agusta) making it an all Italian podium. With two of the ten rounds gone, Polita leads with a perfect 50 points, 18 ahead of second placed Badovini. Corti is the top placed Yamaha rider, with 14 points in ninth place. Claudio Corti (Yamaha Team Italia) "I made a good start but after a few laps I lost all feeling with the bike. From then all I could think about was getting some points for the championship. It's not good but at least I have scored some points today." Race classification FIM Superstock 1000 Cup Round: 2 - Italy Circuit: Monza Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1' 51.212 (Alessandro Polita, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 51.212 (Alessandro Polita, 2006) Race: 11 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 A. Polita Suzuki ITA 20' 31,118.000 2 R. Chiarello Kawasaki ITA +0.357 3 A. Badovini MV Agusta ITA +9.079 4 A. Martinez Mas Kawasaki ESP +9.449 5 L. Scassa MV Agusta ITA +9.531 6 D. Dell'omo Suzuki ITA +10.066 7 D. Sacchetti Kawasaki ITA +15.548 8 I. Dionisi Yamaha ITA +16.711 9 M. Baiocco Yamaha ITA +16.714 10 C. Corti Yamaha ITA +16.725 11 E. Rocamora Yamaha ESP +16.979 12 L. Napoleone Suzuki FRA +19.278 13 S. Saltarelli Kawasaki ITA +25.388 14 M. Jerman Suzuki SVK +28.751 15 P. Solli Yamaha NOR +30.366 Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 A. Polita Suzuki ITA 1' 51.212 Championship standings FIM Superstock 1000 Cup Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Alessandro Polita Suzuki ITA 50 2 Ayrton Badovini MV Agusta ITA 32 3 Luca Scassa MV Agusta ITA 22 4 Riccardo Chiarello Kawasaki ITA 22 5 Alex Martinez Mas Kawasaki ESP 20 6 Ivan Silva Kawasaki ESP 20 7 Denis Sacchetti Kawasaki ITA 19 8 Enrique Rocamora Yamaha ESP 18 9 Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 14 10 Danilo Dell'omo Suzuki ITA 13 11 Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 12 12 Ilario Dionisi Yamaha ITA 9 13 Simone Saltarelli Kawasaki ITA 9 14 Sheridan Morais Suzuki RSA 9 15 Richard Cooper Honda GBR 4

Yamaha Motor Italia riders Andrew Pitt and Noriyuki Haga go into tomorrow's Monza races in good spirits after a strong showing in today's final qualifying sessions. Both riders have run consistently at the top of the timesheets, with Pitt third and Haga fourth at the end of the two one-hour qualifying sessions. Both men were to lose places in their grid deciding one-lap superpole runs, but with the leading riders covered by just fractions of a second around this long and fast circuit, Pitt and Haga are confident they can challenge at the front in what looks like being a pair of thrilling races. Haga, who was fastest in yesterday's practice session, went into superpole as the fourth fastest rider but was hampered by a vibration from the rear of his machine. The Japanese star parked his machine immediately after crossing the finish line, with the source of the vibration being traced to a faulty component. The problem caused Haga to slip back to 10th on tomorrow's grid, although the rider is confident of running with the leaders in tomorrow's races. Pitt ended regular qualifying as one of only three riders to break into the 1:46 bracket but was unable to replicate his best time on his superpole lap. The Australian was hampered on his flying lap due to the engine mapping switch not being set to the optimum position. Despite this handicap, Pitt was on schedule to take pole position at the second intermediate point, only to make a mistake on entry to the Parabolica corner. He ended the day in sixth position, confident he can make a good start and join the leading slipstreaming group around this unique circuit. Yamaha Motor France's three riders missed out on superpole at Monza. Frenchman Sebastien Gimbert was 18th fastest in the two one-hour sessions, only just missing out on a top 16 superpole place when his best time was eclipsed in the dying moments of the second session. Norick Abe missed the morning's final qualifying session as a result of the crash he had yesterday. Abe's best time of 1:49.497, set in Friday's less favourable conditions, was still good enough to qualify him for the races and the former MotoGP rider has been passed to ride by medical staff. Should he be fit enough to ride, he will start tomorrow's races from 27th. Team-mate Shinichi Nakatomi improved his Friday time by over a second to start from 20th place in his first visit to the historic circuit. Pole position for tomorrow's races goes to world champion Troy Corser (Suzuki) from his countryman Troy Bayliss (Ducati). Alex Barros (Honda) and Regis Laconi (Kawasaki) complete the front row. Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "My superpole lap wasn't that great. We only realized afterwards that we were using the wrong engine map setting and that would have cost us a little bit of power. Probably someone knocked it when they were taking the bike back to the pits after I ran out of fuel, but it's not a big deal, as I made a mess going into the last corner of my superpole lap and that has probably cost us a place on the front row. I'm quite happy though, because we are able to do good lap times on the race tyre. It's all about getting away with the leading group around here and from the second row I'm quite confident that won't be a problem for us." Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "I felt a problem from the back of my bike throughout the superpole lap, a banging or vibration that said something was not right. I also had some fluid come up on my visor as I went into Parabolica, so I thought that it was best to park the bike at the end of the straight, just in case something serious was wrong. Superpole was not so good but for the race I think we are in good condition. The races will be close but I will try my hardest to go for the win." Massimo Meregalli (Team Corodinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "Noriyuki wasn't as fast today as he was yesterday but I am confident that he will find his best form for the races as he always does. Andrew was also able to do a good race simulation today and we are ready for what should be some interesting races." Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "We made some progress today and I was able to go faster in the afternoon practice session than I did in qualifying. This looks good for the race and after some good results in Valencia hopefully we can find some more points in the races tomorrow." Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "I am planning to race tomorrow but today I had too much pain in my back and wrists to ride. It was a very big crash and thankfully I cannot remember anything about it. Nothing is broken and the doctors say that I can race, although I decided not ride today so that I can be in the best condition for tomorrow." Round: 4 - Italy Circuit: Monza Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1' 47.434 (Troy Bayliss, 2002) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 46.058 (Troy Corser, 2006) Date: 6 May 2006 Temp: 23ºC Session 2 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 2nd Qualifying Superpole 1 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 1' 47.591 1' 46.564 1' 46.058 2 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 1' 47.043 1' 46.984 1' 46.360 3 A. Barros Honda BRA 1' 47.769 1' 47.218 1' 46.511 4 R. Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1' 47.763 1' 47.352 1' 46.597 5 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR 1' 48.530 1' 47.866 1' 46.978 6 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 1' 47.793 1' 46.985 1' 47.015 7 K. Muggeridge Honda AUS 1' 49.764 1' 47.414 1' 47.082 8 J. Toseland Honda GBR 1' 47.751 1' 47.094 1' 47.133 9 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1' 48.828 1' 47.199 1' 47.156 10 N. Haga Yamaha JPN 1' 47.007 1' 48.026 1' 47.627 11 R. Rolfo Ducati ITA 1' 48.334 1' 47.959 1' 47.975 12 F. Foret Suzuki FRA N/A 1' 47.935 1' 48.009 13 L. Lanzi Ducati ITA 1' 48.575 1' 47.937 1' 48.170 14 F. Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1' 49.578 1' 47.869 1' 48.240 15 M. Fabrizio Honda ITA 1' 48.070 1' 47.927 1' 48.969 18 S. Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1' 48.871 1' 48.208 20 S. Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1' 49.890 1' 48.414 27 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 1' 49.497 N/A WSS : Vizziello speeds to second in Monza Round: 4 - Italy WSS Circuit: Monza Date: 6 May 2006 Temp: 22ºC Weather: Sunny Gianluca Vizziello was the leading Yamaha rider in today's final world supersport qualifying session at Monza. The Yamaha Team Italia rider gunned his R6 around the fast Italian circuit in 1:51.753, an average speed of over 186kph, to take second on the grid for tomorrow's 16-lap race. The local rider won a national championship race at the circuit last weekend and would love to become the first man to win a world championship race on the latest model YZF-R6 in what is just his and the bike's fourth race in the class. In a close qualifying session, Yamaha Motor Germany's Kevin Curtain continued his run of front row starts, claiming fourth spot with a best time of 1:51.878. Vizziello's team-mate Massimo Roccoli had his best performance of the season in fifth but, by contrast, Yamaha Motor Germany's Broc Parkes suffered his worst qualifying of the year at Monza. He was one of the few riders who failed to improve his Friday time and will start from the third row, in 11th position. The Australian put his lowly position down to nothing more than being unable to put a consistent lap together but is confident of improving in the race. Pole position for tomorrow's race goes to championship leader Sebastien Charpentier (Honda). Round: 4 - Italy WSS Circuit: Monza Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1' 52.635 (Chris Vermeulen, 2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 50.580 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2006) Date: 6 May 2006 Temp: 22ºC Session 1 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 2nd Qualifying 1 S. Charpentier Honda FRA 1' 51.061 1' 50.580 2 G. Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1' 52.460 1' 51.753 3 K. Fujiwara Honda JPN 1' 51.844 1' 51.829 4 K. Curtain Yamaha AUS 1' 52.038 1' 51.878 5 M. Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1' 53.501 1' 52.006 6 R. Harms Honda DNK 1' 53.021 1' 52.082 7 K. Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1' 52.313 1' 52.645 8 Y. Tibero Honda FRA 1' 52.444 1' 52.466 9 S. Le Grelle Honda BEL 1' 53.479 1' 52.525 10 J. Stigefelt Honda SWE 1' 52.861 1' 52.530 11 B. Parkes Yamaha AUS 1' 52.602 1' 52.687 12 C. Zaiser Ducati AUT 1' 52.706 1' 52.915 13 S. Chambon Kawasaki FRA 1' 53.722 1' 52.762 14 B. Veneman Suzuki NED 1' 53.526 1' 52.877 15 S. Cruciani Honda ITA 1' 53.221 1' 52.922 16 K. Andersen Suzuki NOR 1' 54.575 1' 52.949 18 X. Fores Yamaha ESP 1' 54.949 1' 53.235 20 V. Kallio Yamaha FIN 1' 53.755 1' 53.612 21 D. Checa Yamaha ESP 1' 53.863 1' 53.623

Yamaha Motor Italia rider Noriyuki Haga gave his team reason to cheer at their home race as he sped to provisional pole position for Sunday's races at Monza. Light drizzle throughout the afternoon's one-hour qualifying session meant a reduced number of laps for the 30 superbike entrants but, despite the tricky conditions, Haga's best lap of 1:47.007 was only a fraction slower than Neil Hodgson's three-year-old ultimate lap record. Team-mate Andrew Pitt was happy with his day's work. The Australian ended the day in seventh but felt he could have been higher after taking a cautious line through the fast Parabolica curve. Both riders have been able to take advantage of improvements to their YZF-R1 machines, including a new specification swingarm. The team is hoping for dry conditions in tomorrow's final practice and qualifying sessions to allow them to make further improvements for Sunday's two 18 lap races, for which the final grid positions will be decided in tomorrow's superpole session. Yamaha Motor France had a tough day in Monza with Norick Abe destroying his machine in a spectacular highside mid-way through the session. The Japanese rider lost control of his YZF-R1 while exiting the Ascari chicane and was taken to hospital for precautionary checks. Tests confirmed that the rider has not broken any bones, although the team will wait until the morning before deciding if he is fit enough to take any further part in the weekend. Frenchman Sebastien Gimbert was the team's fastest rider, in 15th, with Japanese rookie Shinichi Nakatomi ending the day 23rd on his first visit to the circuit. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "A good session. We've made some changes to the bike and they seem to be working well here. The team has brought a new swinging arm for us to try and it seems to have some benefits, although there are also a few disadvantages too. We need to test more tomorrow to make a final decision, but the bike feels good. I ran a lot of laps along with Troy Bayliss and we were able to have some fun passing and repassing each other. Hopefully we can make some more improvements for the race. The team has many fans and sponsors here this weekend and I have some friends coming over from Japan tonight. I hope that we can put a good performance on for them." Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "We've come to Monza with a new set-up and so far it's working well for us. I'm feeling really confident with the bike and should probably be higher than seventh. On my fastest lap I was up at the first two splits but lost it all at the end. I probably just took it too easy going into Parabolica as I could see the spots of rain beading on my visor and wasn't sure how much grip there actually was. I'm quite happy though. We should be able to make some more improvements tomorrow and I'm confident that we'll be up there on Sunday." Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "It's a shame we couldn't do as many laps as we'd like because of the conditions today, as I must learn this circuit. We are not sure what the weather will be tomorrow but I am ready to improve whatever the conditions." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "It's been a good day but I don't want to get carried away as it is only Friday. We weren't sure what to expect here as this is a fast track and top speed isn't perhaps our strength but the riders are happy with their bikes and it seems that the new swingarm we are using is also a step forward. We'll see what tomorrow brings but for now we are all satisfied with our day's work." Martial Garcia (Team Manager - Yamaha Motor France) "Norick had a bad crash today and we will decide tomorrow if he can race or not. He had a bit of a bang on the head, although the doctors say that nothing is broken. We will let him rest and see how things are in the morning." Round: 4 - Italy Circuit: Monza Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1' 47.434 (Troy Bayliss, 2002) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 46.981 (Neil Hodgson, 2003) Date: 5 May 2006 Temp: 19ºC Session 1 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 1 N. Haga Yamaha JPN 1' 47.007 2 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 1' 47.043 3 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 1' 47.591 4 J. Toseland Honda GBR 1' 47.751 5 R. Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1' 47.763 6 A. Barros Honda BRA 1' 47.769 7 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 1' 47.793 8 R. Xaus Ducati ESP 1' 47.852 9 M. Fabrizio Honda ITA 1' 48.070 10 R. Rolfo Ducati ITA 1' 48.334 11 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR 1' 48.530 12 L. Lanzi Ducati ITA 1' 48.575 13 M. Neukirchner Ducati GER 1' 48.712 14 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1' 48.828 15 S. Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1' 48.871 16 I. Clementi Ducati ITA 1' 49.226 19 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 1' 49.497 23 S. Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1' 49.890 WSS : Curtain third fastest in Monza Round: 4 - Italy WSS Circuit: Monza Date: 5 May 2006 Temp: 19ºC Weather: Dry Yamaha Motor Germany star Kevin Curtain was the leading R6 rider in qualifying for Sunday's fourth round of the Supersport World Championship at Monza in Italy. In dry but overcast conditions, the 40-year-old Australian was under the lap record pace as he set the third fastest time around the historic speedbowl, recording a best lap time of 1:52.038. Curtain was satisfied on what is his first visit to Monza with the latest YZF-R6. The squad are are taking advantage of a new specification front tyre from Pirelli. Both Curtain and his team-mate Broc Parkes have tested the tyre with good results and are delighted to have it available on a race weekend. Yamaha Team Italia rider Gianluca Vizziello, who won the national supersport championship race at Monza the previous weekend, ended the day sixth with Parkes alongside him on the provisional second row of the grid, in seventh. Massimo Roccoli was 14th fastest on the second Yamaha Team Italia R6, with Yamaha GMT94's David Checa 19th in his first world supersport outing of the year. Championship leader Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) was the fastest man today with a 1:51.061 lap. Final practice for Sunday's race takes place tomorrow afternoon. Round: 4 - Italy WSS Circuit: Monza Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1' 52.635 (Chris Vermeulen, 2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 51.061 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2006) Date: 5 May 2006 Temp: 19ºC Session 1 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 1 S. Charpentier Honda FRA 1' 51.061 2 K. Fujiwara Honda JPN 1' 51.844 3 K. Curtain Yamaha AUS 1' 52.038 4 K. Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1' 52.313 5 Y. Tibero Honda FRA 1' 52.444 6 G. Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1' 52.460 7 B. Parkes Yamaha AUS 1' 52.602 8 J. Stigefelt Honda SWE 1' 52.861 9 R. Harms Honda DNK 1' 53.021 10 S. Cruciani Honda ITA 1' 53.221 11 T. Lauslehto Honda FIN 1' 53.307 12 S. Le Grelle Honda BEL 1' 53.479 13 M. Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1' 53.501 14 B. Veneman Suzuki NED 1' 53.526 15 M. Berger Kawasaki FRA 1' 53.662 16 S. Chambon Kawasaki FRA 1' 53.722 17 V. Kallio Yamaha FIN 1' 53.755 18 D. Checa Yamaha ESP 1' 53.863 24 J. Enjolras Yamaha FRA 1' 54.695 25 X. Fores Yamaha ESP 1' 54.949 27 C. Peris Yamaha CAN 1' 55.100 29 D. Garcia Yamaha ITA 1' 55.472

Following Sundays' Turkish Grand Prix, the Camel Yamaha Team stayed on to test in Istanbul, making the most of a dry day after a rain-interrupted weekend as they searched for improvements to the 2006-spec YZR-M1. Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards, who finished fourth and ninth respectively in the MotoGP race, had continued to experience problems throughout the weekend and were unable to find a perfect race set-up. Yesterday's test was therefore aimed at finding a better base setting and gathering yet more data in order to provide the Yamaha engineers with more information to work with ahead of the next race in China. It was a fruitful day's work and the Team was able to make up for the time lost to the rain on Saturday, with both riders finding a marked improvement to their settings and posting some good lap times. Edwards completed 60 laps with a best time of 1'53.31, whilst Rossi's fastest time of the day was 1'53.61 after 72 laps. The MotoGP paddock will reconvene in just over a week's time for the fourth race of the season in Shanghai, China, where Valentino Rossi took victory in the rain last year. Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "Once again we decided to take the chance to stay on and test after the race, as we saw this weekend that we still have work to do. Yesterday was a very important test for us as we continued from what we did during the weekend and tried a few more ideas in order to try to improve, and hopefully to fix, the problems that we've been having this season. We made some good progress with both riders and found a better setting for the bike and this was reflected in the lap times, which were better than those that Colin and Valentino set on Friday, when it was dry. Our work this weekend was interrupted by the rain on Saturday and we weren't able to find a good setting in time for the race, but yesterday we achieved that so hopefully that will help us in China. All this information will help the Yamaha engineers in their work over the next week, and now we look forward to a better situation for both our riders in China." Camel Yamaha Team Times: 1. Colin Edwards, 1'53.31 (60 Laps) 2. Valentino Rossi, 1'53.61 (72 Laps)

Round four of the Superbike World Championship sees the series move to the historic Monza circuit in Italy, the fastest racetrack on the entire calendar. With top speeds often exceeding 300kph down the long home straight, the first of three Italian races this year is always an exciting slipstream battle on this unique circuit. For the Yamaha Motor Italia world superbike team this race takes on an extra importance, as their headquarters is based just a few kilometres from the circuit. While the points on offer are exactly the same as at the 12 other rounds of the championship, the emotional boost of a good result in their backyard will provide extra motivation for the team and their riders - especially after a difficult weekend at the last round in Valencia. Both the team's riders struggled for traction at the Spanish circuit, with a pair of fifth places for Noriyuki Haga and a couple of top tens for Andrew Pitt, keeping both riders in the top six of the championship - Haga fourth and Pitt sixth. And while historically the Monza circuit may not be one of the strongest for Yamaha's YZF-R1, both riders are confident that they can fight up front this weekend. Fans' favourite Haga had a difficult time in Monza last year, finishing ninth and 11th in the two races. This season the Japanese rider has consistently been among the frontrunners, finishing third once, fourth twice and fifth twice in the five races he has finished. Surprisingly Haga has never won in his adopted homeland. The Japanese star has won 19 races in his illustrious superbike career, but his best results in Italy are two third places (Monza 2002 and Imola 2005). Despite this, Haga still looks forward to Monza, as he explains: "Monza is not such a difficult track and good fun... if you have a fast bike! Valencia was difficult for us in many ways but now we must put it behind us and look forward to the championship. Monza is a very important race for the team and I will be doing my best to get a good result for them. Monza was my worst race of 2005 but our bike is definitely much better now than it was this time last year and our top speed is generally quite good, so if we can find a good setting and get away with the front group then anything can happen." With fifth and sixth place finishes, team-mate Pitt was the highest placed Yamaha rider at Monza last year. "Front end grip was the big problem at Valencia but it shouldn't be a factor in Monza. At Valencia you are leaned over on the side of the tyre for so long but Monza is completely different, mostly long straights and slow corners. Because of the slipstreaming it is important to get away with the leading group at Monza. Our starts have been pretty good this year so there is no reason why we can't be up there in the races." Yamaha will also be represented by the Yamaha Motor France team in Monza. The squad travel to Italy in high spirits after gaining their best results of the season in Valencia, where Norick Abe scored two fourth places and fellow Japanese rider Shinichi Nakatomi scored his first world championship points with a pair of 12ths. The team's other rider, Sebastien Gimbert, returns at Monza after missing Valencia due to his world endurance commitments. As always, Yamaha will be well represented in the supporting classes at Monza. In the Supersport World Championship, Yamaha Motor Germany riders Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes lie second and fourth in the points after three rounds. Italian young guns Massimo Roccoli and Gianluca Vizziello are both running in the top ten of the series and go to Monza having finished first and second in the Italian championship round there last weekend. One rider who will not be present in Monza is last year's FIM Superstock 1000 champion Didier van Keymeulen. The Belgian had been riding a Yamaha YZF-R6 for the Moto 1 squad in world supersport but has split with the team following irreconcilable differences regarding machine and team set-up. Roccoli and Vizziello's Yamaha Team Italia team-mate Claudio Corti was another winner in the national championship race, won the superstock class. After taking a top 10 in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup opener in Valencia, the European Superstock 600 champion is looking for his first world championship win at his home circuit this weekend.

Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi made up valuable points in the MotoGP World Championship title chase after charging from eleventh place on the grid to take fourth overall in today's Turkish Grand Prix. Despite making a quick start from his lowly grid position, the Italian made a mistake on lap two and dropped as far back as twelfth. However crucial changes made to the setup of his YZR-M1 before the race then allowed him to pass no fewer than seven riders, as he lapped at the same pace as the leading group over the course of the race. By the time he had made his way through the pack it was too late for the Italian to challenge for the podium but a crash for Dani Pedrosa (Honda) on the final lap boosted his final position to fourth. Today's result makes Rossi the highest point-scorer of all time in the Grand Prix World Championship, overtaking Max Biaggi. Rossi's Camel Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards made a decent start and remained in touch with the leaders for the opening laps but was unable to make any further progress and ended the race in ninth - the same position he had started from on the grid. At the front Marco Melandri (Honda) repeated his win from last season but was pushed all the way by Casey Stoner (Honda), who led the race until three corners from the end, when Melandri made his definitive pass. Nicky Hayden (Honda) was left to snap up the final podium position after Pedrosa's misfortune, the Spanish youngster tumbling out at turn one on the final lap when attacking Melandri and Stoner. Valentino Rossi (4th; + 6.209) "I got a good start off the line but I had been thinking about the first corner incident at Jerez and what had happened to Lorenzo in the 250 race, so I decided to go to the inside and it cost me four or five places. I made the positions back by the end of the first lap but I made a mistake under braking on lap two and lost three seconds and the chance for a podium today. We have had so many problems this weekend but we solved some of them in time for the race with some big modifications after the warm-up this morning and then the bike was okay, especially in the second half of the race when I really enjoyed riding it. It will be interesting to see how much more progress we can make in the test tomorrow because it is a long championship and the most important thing right now is not where we are in the standings or the points difference to the leader - the priority is to get the bike working as we know it can. This is a tough series and when you have problems you don't lose one or two places, you lose ten. It looks like there was a great battle at the front - it's a shame I wasn't involved! Looking at the championship right now I would say the top seven all have a chance to win the title but there is a long way to go yet." Colin Edwards (9th; + 22.847) "We didn't get it done at all this weekend and we need to sit down and work out why. It was always going to be a tough race today but I just didn't have the feeling or confidence with the bike to go out and battle with the guys we should be running with, which is the front group. We've got a test tomorrow and I'm keen to get out there and get as many laps in as possible. It's hard to overcome problems like the ones we're experiencing now because you don't get enough time during a Grand Prix weekend, so we'll get as much data together as we can before China. We simply have to come up with something for there because this situation can't go on for any longer." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "Looking at Valentino's race pace he could have easily been on the podium today, or even won the race, which is a big plus point for us considering the problems we have had. On lap three he was seven seconds down but he finished closer to the winner than that, despite having to fight past so many riders. Even so this has not been a satisfactory weekend for us and we know we still have a lot of work to do, starting in tomorrow's test. We have two very positive riders and this mood runs all the way through the team, so we will be working very hard tomorrow. The changes we made to Valentino's bike today are encouraging but now we have to further this development. It was a tough Grand Prix but we have come out of it with many positives." Disappointing weekend for Tech 3 Yamaha Team The variable weather conditions that prevailed over the Istanbul Park Circuit during the Grand Prix of Turkey, cast a giant cloud over the efforts of the Tech 3 Yamaha Team that contributed to a disappointing weekend for all involved. After the improvement of the previous Grand Prix in Qatar, Carlos Checa and James Ellison were determined to continue the momentum but their efforts over the three days were not rewarded as they finished in 15th and 18th positions, respectively. However dark the cloud may appear, there was a silver lining as the unpredictable conditions ensured that the team logged important data to furnish the team's tyre supplier, Dunlop, for the remaining 14 rounds of the 2006 season. Carlos Checa (15th; + 59.855) "We started the race with a completely new setup starting from zero again and trying a new tyre so we didn't know what to expect. I had a good start and pushed hard but on the third lap I lost the front and ran off the track. I tired again but I had another slide and decided to back off a little and settle into a good rhythm to save the tyre. This worked a little as I was able to get my fastest lap near the end of the race. I also had some trouble with my shoulder near the finish as there are so many left hand corners here. "'It wasn't the best setup but with so much time lost we had to make a decision and unfortunately we went the wrong way. The way the weekend went I am not very happy but like I keep saying, this is a development year for Dunlop in MotoGP and it is most important that we supply them with as much information as possible so they can progress. When they go forward, we go forward and that is the main aim. That will help us as the season continues with the next race in China, and hopefully, my shoulder will be 100% by then." James Ellison (18th; + 1 lap) "It's like I'm making excuses all the time and its getting tiring but we haven't found a proper setting to start with. It's no one's fault as we're all working hard to try and find what we're looking for. It's not just us either as all four Yamaha riders seem to be struggling to find a decent setup. I thought for sure after the progress we make in Qatar we would have an even better weekend here and get a decent result. "On Friday we knew which direction to go, but I think, as it wasn't as warm today as on Friday it didn't help us. It's a combination of getting things to work and unfortunately the combination we tried today didn't work. I'm really disappointed." Herve Poncharal - Tech 3 Yamaha Team Director "It was certainly a tough weekend but the positive point is that we worked hard with dry tyres on day one, we did the same with the wet tyres on day two and we have given a lot of useful information to Dunlop. "Truthfully the race was not as bad as it looks. We were consistently quicker in the race than we were on Friday and Carlos's last laps were his fastest. Sure it wasn't fast enough but Carlos is still having problems with his left shoulder and we go out of here with some ideas of how to improve. "I can't say we are happy to finish where we were but I think we have been working quite well and I want to thank Carlos for being very constructive and very positive. With a rider like him I'm sure we can go forward and improve." Race classification MotoGP Round: 3 - 2006 MotoGP Turkey Circuit: Istanbul Circuit Length: 5378 Lap Record: 1' 52.877 (Toni Elias, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 52.334 (Sete Gibernau, 2005) Race: 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 M. Melandri Honda ITA 41' 54.065 2 C. Stoner Honda AUS +0.200 3 N. Hayden Honda USA +5.458 4 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA +6.209 5 T. Elias Honda ESP +6.587 6 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA +16.682 7 C. Vermeulen Suzuki AUS +16.777 8 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN +21.537 9 C. Edwards Yamaha USA +22.847 10 M. Tamada Honda JPN +30.483 11 S. Gibernau Ducati ESP +30.543 12 R. De Puniet Kawasaki FRA +34.284 13 K. Roberts Team Roberts KR USA +45.112 14 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP +53.525 15 C. Checa Yamaha ESP +59.855 16 A. Hofmann Ducati GER +1' 1.241 17 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA +1' 38.628 18 J. Ellison Yamaha GBR +1 lap(s) Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 T. Elias Honda ESP 1' 52.877 Championship standings MotoGP Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 52 2 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 51 3 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 45 4 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 41 5 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 40 6 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 32 7 Toni Elias Honda ESP 32 8 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 22 9 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 19 10 Sete Gibernau Ducati ESP 18 11 Kenny Roberts Team Roberts KR USA 17 12 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 14 13 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 13 14 Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 8 15 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 7 17 James Ellison Yamaha GBR 3 Manufacturers standings MotoGP Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Honda 65 2 Ducati 51 3 Yamaha 43 4 Kawasaki 22 5 Team Roberts KR 17 6 Suzuki 16 Team standings MotoGP Pos. Team Points 1 Repsol Honda Team 84 2 Fortuna Honda Team 77 3 Ducati Marlboro Team 69 4 Camel Yamaha Team 59 5 Honda LCR 41 6 Kawasaki Racing Team 26 7 Rizla Suzuki 20 8 Team Roberts KR 17 9 Konica Minolta Honda 14 10 Tech3 Yamaha 11 11 Pramac D'Antin 2

Local weather forecasts predicting heavy rain for today's qualifying session at the Grand Prix of Turkey were borne out today as an early downfall and intermittent afternoon showers thwarted the Camel Yamaha Team's hopes of improving their YZR-M1 machines ahead of tomorrow's 22-lap race. After struggling to find an ideal setting for the demanding Istanbul Park circuit in yesterday's free practices, both Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi had hoped to complete some dry laps before this afternoon's crucial grid decider but they were forced to splash their way through the puddles and battle hard for ninth and eleventh place respectively. Edwards' cause wasn't helped by a heavy fall in the morning session, which left him nursing several bruised joints, whilst Rossi has yet to get comfortable with his bike in either wet or dry conditions. For the second successive race, pole position went to an Australian rookie as Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) showed impressive wet pace with a fastest lap of 2'04.617, holding off the challenge of yesterday's pacesetter Nicky Hayden (Honda) and Sete Gibernau (Ducati), who complete the front row. Colin Edwards (9th - 2'07.334, 21 laps) "I had a big highside this morning and came down heavily on my head, shoulders and knee. It was pretty painful but after two laps back on the bike you soon forget about that. To be honest I felt quite comfortable in the wet but if we want to be competitive in this race we have to find another two seconds from somewhere and I'm not quite sure where at the moment. Our tyre rivals seem to have an advantage but I also have to say 'hats off' to Nicky Hayden - I'm not sure how close he was to ending one of those laps on the floor but he showed that Michelin have a good wet tyre so we clearly need to find the performance from our own bike. Wet or dry we have to pull a result out from somewhere tomorrow, but after this afternoon's session I'm definitely keeping my fingers crossed for sunshine in the morning." Valentino Rossi (11th - 2'07.552, 20 laps) "We're having a lot of difficulty, not just at this track but during this period. Unfortunately the problem with the bike came late in the pre-season and we have not had time yet to fully understand it. It means we are off the pace here in the wet and the dry, but we don't completely understand why. It seems that our tyre competitor is strong here but we can't blame this. Nicky Hayden was very fast all day and after him the next Michelin rider is Casey Stoner; with the amount of MotoGP experience he has in these conditions we should be in front of him. I'm surprised, because last year our bike was really good in the wet and after the new bike worked so well at Catalunya during the rainy pre-season tests I was confident it would be good today as well, but it has been the opposite. I don't have enough confidence in the front to lean the bike over as much as I would like on the entry to the corners and not enough grip on the rear to make it up on the exit. If it's dry tomorrow then we have some things to try in the morning, but if the conditions are the same as today then it's going to be very hard for us." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "We are clearly in a very difficult situation at the moment and we need to first understand our problems before we can work to improve them. The engineers are looking at the data as we speak and seeing if we can come up with something for tomorrow. Our team have shown in the past that they are capable of producing quick solutions and I have full confidence in them; somehow we have to find a better performance in the wet and in the dry conditions." Rain causews frusrtation in qualifying for Tech 3 Yamaha Team The overcast skies and showers that greeted the Tech 3 Yamaha Team at the Istanbul Park circuit today caused many headaches as they searched for a suitable set-up in the miserable conditions at the undulating track. Rainwater pooled at various places on the track during today's sessions, making riding treacherous, but Carlos Checa and team mate James Ellison were determined to work through a variety of options in order to find the best race set-up. Despite their hard work, the contrasting elements over the two days of practice and qualifying conspired to hamper their attempts for a satisfactory solution, and the pair could only manage 15th and 19th positions respectively for tomorrow's 22-lap race. Carlos Checa (15th 2'10.322, 20 laps) "The rain caused many problems for me and I can't say I'm very happy with my qualifying position. We had some settings for the dry to try today but the bad weather changed all of it. If the rain is still here tomorrow it will be important to get a good start to improve my position early. If we can do that and with the direction we are heading in, with our choice of tyres and set-up, we have a chance of a good result. This morning we seemed to have found a good direction in the very wet conditions and this afternoon wasn't so wet but we also made some more good progress, but as I said I am not really happy with the final result. We should remember that Dunlop haven't got very much experience with wet weather tyres on MotoGP bikes, but I think that no matter what the conditions are we have made positive improvements ahead of the race." James Ellison (19th 2:12.298 19 laps) "I would be lying if I said I was happy. With the amount of water on the track and the slower times it was impossible for the tyres to hold their heat on the straight so that made it very difficult when I wanted to start pushing hard into the corners. Dunlop is learning all the time and that is part of being with one of those teams that are developing tyres at the same time. With the feedback we are giving them, I'm confident that it will work well for us in the future considering the experience the other tyre manufacturers have in all conditions." Herve Poncharal - Tech 3 Yamaha Team Director "It was a good chance to have a proper wet tyre test with many tyres to choose from and we proved to be quite competitive. We now have some useful information for Dunlop in our wet weather tyre development. I am confident that we will have a better result in the race than we have had in the dry and wet sessions of the last two days, because we know now which direction to go, even though we did not have enough time to test everything that we wished to." Round: 3 - 2006 MotoGP Turkey Circuit: Istanbul Circuit Length: 5378 Lap Record: 1' 53.111 (Marco Melandri, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 52.334 (Sete Gibernau, 2005) Date: 29 April 2006 Temp: 12ºC Session 1 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 1 C. Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 2' 4.617 2 N. Hayden Honda USA 2' 4.823 3 S. Gibernau Ducati ESP 2' 5.003 4 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA 2' 5.540 5 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA 2' 5.700 6 R. De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 2' 6.102 7 C. Stoner Honda AUS 2' 7.277 8 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN 2' 7.294 9 C. Edwards Yamaha USA 2' 7.344 10 K. Roberts Team Roberts KR USA 2' 7.345 11 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 2' 7.552 12 T. Elias Honda ESP 2' 7.763 13 M. Tamada Honda JPN 2' 8.143 14 M. Melandri Honda ITA 2' 8.393 15 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP 2' 10.956 16 C. Checa Yamaha ESP 2' 10.956 19 J. Ellison Yamaha GBR 2' 12.298

Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards spent the first day of practice for the Grand Prix of Turkey gathering important set-up data after encountering different track conditions to those they enjoyed here season. With this year's event taking place some six months earlier than the inaugural race here last October, overcast skies contributed to cool ambient temperatures of 20ºC and produced low grip levels on track, where Nicky Hayden (Honda) set the free practice pace with a best lap of 1'53.623. Rossi adapted swiftly to the conditions in the morning and set the third fastest time of the opening practice, but he struggled to make any significant improvements in the afternoon and ended up eleventh on the overall time sheets. Edwards, meanwhile, was sixth fastest in both sessions - improving his lap time in the afternoon by 1.4 seconds. With plenty of work still to do the only worry for the riders now is the threat of rain, with dark clouds hovering over the circuit and local forecasts predicting a downfall tomorrow. Colin Edwards (1'54.042, 38 laps) "We started out with the base setting from Qatar but it didn't work very well for us here. Basically we then decided to go with a newer front tyre than the one we've been using in testing and it went much better. Combined with a few tweaks to the suspension I built up my confidence in the front and I was able to lay down some good lap times. In the end we put a pretty consistent run together and I'm happy. We're still getting some vibrations but it's only in a couple of corners and we can work around them with more time on the bike tomorrow; hopefully it will stay dry. The track was really dirty this morning but it started to clean up in the afternoon. If it stays dry then the grip should improve as the weekend goes on, but they're saying it might rain so I guess we'll have to wait and see." Valentino Rossi (1'54.662, 43 laps) "This morning we were fast straight away and this was quite encouraging. We were third and we thought that we would be able to continue in this way during the afternoon. However we made some modifications in order to improve the acceleration and unfortunately we lost a lot of grip in braking. In fact our lap times were more or less the same in the afternoon but the track was about half a second faster - this morning it was quite dirty - and now we are in 11th place. I am a bit worried but also quite positive because we made some changes at the end of the session, back towards this morning's settings, and we improved a lot and set our fastest lap of the day. So far we don't have any vibration and so we hope that it won't appear tomorrow if the grip improves." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "In the morning things went well for Valentino and in the afternoon they went well for Colin so you could say we had a balanced day! The good news is that we have been able to work as we would on a normal weekend, without the distractions caused by the problems we experienced in the first race. We collected a lot of good information today that we can put to use tomorrow and find a way forward with the set-up of the bikes. The only question mark is the rain so the only thing we ask for is at least a few dry laps so that we can evaluate the solutions we come up with tonight. Valentino lost his feeling a little bit this afternoon but we will compare the data from the whole day and find the best way to work tomorrow." Opening day brings highs and lows for Tech 3 Yamaha Team in Turkey The opening day of the third Grand Prix of 2006 at the sensational Istanbul Park circuit proved challenging for Tech 3 Yamaha Team riders Carlos Checa and James Ellison, and the pair finished the day 16th and 17th respectively after the two Free Practice sessions. Despite some set-up troubles, both riders however found some positive aspects from the day and Checa is happy to be almost fully fit again after an injury affected the start of his campaign. The Spaniard is now in a determined frame of mind to get back to the sterling performances he exhibited in pre-season testing. Ellison, meanwhile, showed that he is becoming more comfortable with the Yamaha YZR-M1 as his times get closer to his more experienced team-mate at every outing. Carlos Checa (1'56.838, 42 laps) "Today wasn't the best day. We've been testing the front tyres for a different setting but nothing seems to make a big difference to our times. Hopefully we will find a good direction for tomorrow, especially in the fast areas of the track. We are having a bit of trouble with the grip from the rear, but it seems to be the same for everyone. The Dunlop people are working hard to give us what we desire and every race the tyres are improving. It is only early in the season so I believe it won't be too long before we are a lot closer. I am confident working with Dunlop and hopefully we can get better tyres as soon as possible. My shoulder has improved so much since Qatar which is encouraging, although I still do not have full strength, especially under hard braking." James Ellison (1'56.943, 40 laps) "Today hasn't been too bad to be honest, although it hasn't been as good as we had hoped. We have made steady progress as we're tweaking things here and there. It's a completely different circuit to Qatar so we have a lot to work on but we'll make a few changes to improve the balance. I love this circuit. It is one of my favourite tracks, along with Laguna Seca and Phillip Island, so that helps when it comes to getting things done. With the layout, it has a bit of everything - especially the fast right hander. Doing nearly 300km/h with your knee on the deck and the bike moving underneath you is something very special. Hopefully tomorrow we can make some more progress with our race set-up and set some faster times." Herve Poncharal - Tech 3 Yamaha Team Director "Today was not easy in places. The position on the sheets isn't too important but we have to find some solutions. Carlos has almost recovered from the physical problem at Qatar with his left shoulder, which is encouraging, but we're still not at our full potential. We are quite happy with what is happening with Dunlop and they are working hard. They are listening and bringing new products to every race but at the end of the day we are fighting with two other brands that have been here much, much longer than Dunlop. There are also a lot more riders that can give them feedback and more data to work with. We knew this before we started the season, but we have confidence in Dunlop's capacity. It is only the third race and they have come from nowhere in MotoGP because it the first year for them with a factory machine. We are really not that far away and we will continue fighting. Tomorrow is another day and hopefully we will be in a better position for the race, come Sunday." Round: 3 - 2006 MotoGP Turkey Circuit: Istanbul Circuit Length: 5378 Lap Record: 1' 53.111 (Marco Melandri, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 52.334 (Sete Gibernau, 2005) Date: 28 April 2006 Temp: 20ºC Session 1 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 1 N. Hayden Honda USA 1' 53.623 2 C. Stoner Honda AUS 1' 53.861 3 M. Melandri Honda ITA 1' 53.971 4 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP 1' 54.001 5 T. Elias Honda ESP 1' 54.022 6 C. Edwards Yamaha USA 1' 54.042 7 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA 1' 54.055 8 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA 1' 54.277 9 S. Gibernau Ducati ESP 1' 54.279 10 M. Tamada Honda JPN 1' 54.422 11 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 1' 54.662 12 C. Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1' 54.722 13 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN 1' 54.967 14 K. Roberts Team Roberts KR USA 1' 55.179 15 R. De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 1' 55.700 16 C. Checa Yamaha ESP 1' 56.838 17 J. Ellison Yamaha GBR 1' 56.943

Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi reaches another special milestone in his illustrious career this weekend as he contests his 100th consecutive premier-class race in the Grand Prix of Turkey. The Italian and his team-mate Colin Edwards travel to the Istanbul Park circuit, located 300 kilometres north west of the capital city of Ankara, looking to build on tentative first impressions of the track from last year, when they finished second and seventh respectively in a race won by Marco Melandri. The third round of the current season will also be Rossi's 160th appearance in all classes since making his 125cc debut in Malaysia in 1996. So far he has amassed an incredible tally of 80 victories, his latest coming just over two weeks ago in the Grand Prix of Qatar; a triumph that also moved the 27-year-old level with Mick Doohan on 54 premier-class wins, leaving him second only to the legendary Giacomo Agostini, on 68. The Istanbul Park circuit was designed by famed German architect Hermann Tilke, the man behind the Sepang, Bahrain and Shanghai circuits, and was used for the first time by the MotoGP World Championship last October. The spectacular 5.378 kilometre track features fourteen turns - eight lefts and six rights - and like Phillip Island it has the unusual characteristic of running anti-clockwise. Like the Losail circuit in Qatar, several of the Istanbul track's corners are based on famous bends at other circuits, such as the 'Senna Esses' at Sao Paolo, the 'Spoon Curve' at Suzuka and the 'Eau Rouge' at Spa. Spectators have ideal facilities to enjoy the action, with seating capacity for around 130,000 fans and an impressive main grandstand which can hold up to 25,000. Sunday's schedule will start one hour later than usual, with the red lights due to go out for the MotoGP race at 1500h local time (CET +1). Valentino Rossi: Record Breaker As well as taking him level with Mick Doohan in terms of career wins, Valentino Rossi's victory at Qatar also pulled him to within striking distance of the all-time record Grand Prix points total, currently held by Max Biaggi. Having now scored a total of 2886 points in all classes Rossi will move ahead of Biaggi simply by finishing in ninth place or above this Sunday. However, as always, his only target is victory at one of only two circuits on the current calendar where he has yet to climb onto the top step of the podium in at least one of the three classes. "Qatar was like the start of my championship but we're already behind in the points and we need to do our best to catch up," said Rossi. "My rivals are very strong and we need to be able to fight for the win again in Turkey. Istanbul isn't one of my favourite tracks and we had a really hard time there last year - we had already won the championship and it was difficult to stay 100% focused at that stage of the season, plus we had some set-up problems with the bike. This time we go there feeling fully motivated. "We don't know how the new bike will react at this circuit; I hope that it will go well and that we won't have any vibration problems. There are some fantastic fast corners so if the bike is working well it could be great fun to ride there. We tested again after Qatar and we made some improvements, and although we still haven't completely solved our problems hopefully even if they do reappear at some stage, we're going to be able to cope with them better now." Colin Edwards: Hard work will pay off Colin Edwards is keen to get to Turkey this weekend as he aims to convert the fast and consistent pace he has shown during pre-season testing and Grand Prix practice sessions into a solid race result. Eleventh and ninth place finishes from the first two rounds have not been a true reflection of the Texan's efforts this year and he is keen to turn things around at a circuit he admits he struggled to get to grips with last season. "I have to say I wasn't too enamoured with the track when we rode it last October but I was busy trying to adapt to a new riding style at the time and it didn't make life easier," says Edwards. "This time my riding style is sorted out but we still have a few problems with the bike so we'll have to see how it goes. I was very disappointed with the way things went in Qatar but it has been nice to have an extra weekend off over Easter to mull things over and I can't wait to get out and put it right on the track. "So far this season we've been strong in practice - if anything just struggling a little bit to make the step up on a qualifying tyre but in general the pace on race tyres has been good. We were unlucky at Jerez and I was really confident of a good result in Qatar but we came up against a few problems in the race that hadn't bothered us in practice. The day of tests after the race gave us some good data to work from and hopefully things run smoothly from day one in Turkey." Davide Brivio: An interesting challenge Camel Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio sees this weekend's race as the ideal opportunity to measure early development of the 2006 version YZR-M1 machine at another challenging and demanding venue. After overcoming initial problems in Qatar to end the weekend with a victory for Valentino, the Italian is hoping for more of the same from his team in Turkey and expects the timing of this year's race to favour a more fruitful outcome than last October's event at the same circuit. "Last year Istanbul Park was one of the circuits where we had the most difficulties but that Grand Prix was the penultimate of the season, when everything was already won," explains Brivio. "It will be interesting to see how we go this time around, with the race at the beginning of the year and coming at a time when we really need to get some points for both riders. "It will be a challenging weekend because we still have to fix the problems that we have had with the 2006 version of the YZR-M1. We will test again on Monday in Istanbul after the race, in order to further try to improve the bike. Despite these issues, we showed in Qatar that we can already be competitive and now we have to take that to Turkey. Valentino's win has given the whole team and the engineers a real boost and the motivation is definitely there to try to win again in Turkey." Technically speaking: Anrea Zugna on Istanbul Like all Herman Tilke tracks, Istanbul Park possesses a wide variety of corners and the challenge is further enhanced by plenty of gradients, with the track built on four different ground levels. However, by far the most exciting feature of the layout is turn eleven - a fifth gear bend that is taken at speeds approaching 270km/h, making it easily the fastest corner in the MotoGP World Championship. Combined with some of the tightest chicanes on the calendar, the key to set-up at Istanbul Park is about making compromises. "Istanbul is a tricky circuit because it has some of the fastest corners in the world combined with some of the slowest," explains Andrea Zugna, Colin Edwards' Data Engineer. "In turn eleven you need good stability at high speed to give the rider the confidence he needs to attack the corner, but from turn twelve to the end of the lap you have three very slow chicanes which require good agility; so you have to find a balanced set-up between those two characteristics. "This track is also unique because of the changes of elevation. For example turn one dips downhill before going immediately up again, creating a lot of compression on the front forks. The rider's skill is also very important because there is only really one racing line and they must find it - especially through the three consecutive lefts in the middle of the lap, where it is also very bumpy. It is important that they have confidence in the front through here. Last year Colin struggled a little because it was the first time he used his new riding style but his pace in practice was good and his fastest lap came towards the end of the race so we know the data is good. Hopefully it will make life a little easier this weekend!" Valentino Rossi: Information Age: 27 Lives: London, UK Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 GP victories: 80 (54 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 159 (99 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) Pole positions: 40 World Championships - 7 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP) Colin Edwards: Information Age: 32 Lives: Conroe, Texas Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 First GP: Japan, 2003 (MotoGP) GP starts: 51 x MotoGP World Championships - 2 World Superbike Istanbul Lap Record: Marco Melandri (Honda) 2005 - 1'53.111 Istanbul Best Lap: Sete Gibernau (Honda) 2005 - 1'52.334 2005 Results: 1. Marco Melandri (Honda) 41'44.139 2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +1.513 3. Nicky Hayden (Honda) +6.873 7. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +29.255

Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team rider Stefan Everts steered his YZ450FM to a sixth consecutive victory and the third this season today at a warm Grand Prix of Portugal and the Agueda circulated populated by 15,500 spectators. It was the 90th career success for the reigning number one and came after a gripping first moto tussle with Sebastien Tortelli (KTM). The third round of fifteen in the 2006 FIM MX1 World Championship took place in good weather conditions with sunshine and decent temperatures bathing the fifth and sixth motos of the season. Only 24 hours early the climate had been quite different. Hard rain throughout Friday night and some more showers Saturday forced the FIM to shrink the Saturday practice timetable to conserve the sodden track. With only one free practice before the 30 minute qualification 33-year-old Everts sealed the third fastest lap time. The track was dry and rough for the opening moto and the various ruts provided a nice technical contrast to the faster sections of the course. The first outing of the day was a classic and one of the best performances by Everts in several years. The Belgian fought all race long with Sebastien Tortelli and produced what has to be considered as a contender for the 'over-taking move of the season' by leaping past the Frenchman cresting a jump-on-the-turn to regain the lead early in lap ten. Tortelli kept applying pressure but Everts was faultless and needed to be. Eventually the Frenchman made a mistake on the final circulation and crashed giving the reigning number one an easy passage to the chequered flag. In the second race Everts was fourth going around the second corner but attacked aggressively and passed leader Tortelli in the same bend as earlier in the day. The Frenchman crashed shortly afterwards and dislocated his hip. The severity of the injury is unknown but if he is forced to miss the next Grand Prix then it will leave Everts in a strong position in terms of the Championship. Alone at the front he controlled the moto by a relatively comfortable margin over Jonathan Barragan (KTM). Cedric Melotte continues to find his speed after a pre-season wrist injury but the friendly Belgian suffered with two bad starts and a second moto crash today. The 27-year-old had to dispel a lot of energy to come back from a lowly position in the first moto to ninth and then fell on the tight second corner of the second race and was far behind the field before deciding to retire after another spill. Stefan now heads Tanel Leok (Kawasaki) by 27 points in the world championship standings. After two consecutive rounds within the Iberian Peninsula the fourth test of the series will take place in a fortnight at the Teutschenthal circuit for the Karcher Grand Prix of Germany. Stefan Everts: "It has been a hard day for me, especially with that first moto. I was in the lead but Sebastien was there the whole race and pushing me. I had to ride defensively because I know he is very aggressive and could try anything. The moment he passed me I got him back going up the hill and I think that was an important move that decided the rest of the race. In the second moto I was very aggressive on the first lap and could pass Sebastien in the same place. I tried to pull away but the moment I saw him on the ground I lost my concentration and couldn't really find my rhythm or pace. Jonathan followed me hard and I know he is very fit. It was another tough race but I am happy with this double victory." Cedric Melotte: "I don't know what happened today but it was not a good weekend for me. My jumps were not bad out of the gate but everybody closed me off on the first turn and that happened twice. I had two bad starts and the track was not good for passing. I tried to come back in the first race and ended up ninth; I know I can do better than that but I was feeling a bit lost out there. In the second heat I crashed on the second corner with Brian and took a long time to get going again. I tried hard to come back but lost the front wheel. It was hard to restart again and finally I decided to stop. It was a weekend without any luck and I just want to focus on the next GP now." Carlo Rinaldi: "It was a very good day on Stefan's side as once again he proved that he wants to beat everybody, even if it means riding defensively like he did in the first moto. It looked like Tortelli had a bit more than him but he rode with a good strategy and in a smart way. In the second moto he was quickly in the lead and tried to manage the gap with Barragan but was not riding so well or as smooth as he usually is. It was a bad day for Cedric and I feel very sorry for him because he needs some good results. It was very difficult to come back on this track." NB: In the last few years the manufacturer standings were calculated by FIM based upon the total GP result (combined overall standings after two motos), with 25 points for the manufacturer winning the overall GP. This was remarkable as riders can win 25 points per heat, and therefore a maximum of 50 points per GP. As per 2006 the manufacturer standings of FIM are based upon the same calculations as for the riders championship: for each heat manufacturer points are to be gained, regardless of the overall GP position. Race classification MX1 Round: 3 - 2006 GP of Agueda, Portugal Circuit: Agueda Race: 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 S. Everts Yamaha BEL 40' 11.933 2 S. Tortelli KTM FRA +20.727 3 K. De Dycker Honda BEL +33.544 4 K. Strijbos Suzuki BEL +40.260 5 J. Barragan KTM ESP +44.074 6 T. Leok Kawasaki EST +49.921 7 S. Ramon Suzuki BEL +54.458 8 J. Noble Honda GBR +1' 19.327 9 C. Melotte Yamaha BEL +1' 25.116 10 S. Sword Kawasaki GBR +1' 28.637 11 J. Garcia Vico Honda ESP +1' 30.252 12 G. Crockard Honda GBR +1' 30.862 13 M. Priem Yamaha BEL +1' 33.701 14 B. Jorgensen Honda DNK +1' 36.929 15 P. Leuret Honda FRA +1' 42.669 16 M. Van Daele Honda BEL +1' 50.107 17 J. Bill Yamaha GBR +1' 52.142 18 A. Pyrhonen TM FIN +2' 5.337 19 C. Federici Kawasaki ITA +1 lap(s) 20 L. Freibergs Suzuki LVA +1 lap(s) Race 2: 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 S. Everts Yamaha BEL 39' 23.754 2 J. Barragan KTM ESP +5.746 3 K. Strijbos Suzuki BEL +11.695 4 T. Leok Kawasaki EST +18.728 5 K. De Dycker Honda BEL +22.443 6 M. Priem Yamaha BEL +29.741 7 J. Bill Yamaha GBR +50.317 8 P. Leuret Honda FRA +1' 1.967 9 W. Avis KTM RSA +1' 9.310 10 A. Pyrhonen TM FIN +1' 15.542 11 J. Garcia Vico Honda ESP +1' 18.807 12 L. Freibergs Suzuki LVA +1' 21.424 13 G. Crockard Honda GBR +1' 30.916 14 D. Theybers Suzuki BEL +1' 34.707 15 A. Salvini Suzuki ITA +1' 37.602 16 J. Lindhe KTM SWE +1' 38.460 17 M. Van Daele Honda BEL +1' 39.379 18 S. Sword Kawasaki GBR +1' 40.329 19 K. Salaets Yamaha BEL +1' 40.598 20 B. Jorgensen Honda DNK +1' 48.115 Championship standings MX1 Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Stefan Everts Yamaha BEL 142 2 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 115 3 Sebastien Tortelli KTM FRA 99 4 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 98 5 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 97 6 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 97 7 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 83 8 Cedric Melotte Yamaha BEL 66 9 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 65 10 Manuel Priem Yamaha BEL 53 11 Stephen Sword Kawasaki GBR 51 12 Javier Garcia Vico Honda ESP 44 13 James Noble Honda GBR 42 14 Antti Pyrhonen TM FIN 41 15 Julien Bill Yamaha GBR 39 16 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 30 17 Brian Jorgensen Honda DNK 27 18 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL 25 19 Wyatt Avis KTM RSA 18 20 Gordon Crockard Honda GBR 16 Manufacturers standings MX1 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Yamaha 142 2 KTM 125 3 Suzuki 121 4 Kawasaki 115 5 Honda 97 6 TM 41 MX2 : Cairoli takes first podium of the season Round: 3 - 2006 GP of Agueda, Portugal Circuit: Agueda Date: 23 April 2006 Crowd: 15500 Temp: 20ºC Weather: Changeable MX2 World Champion Antonio Cairoli was third overall today at Agueda for the Portuguese Grand Prix. The De Carli Yamaha representative made the perfect start in the first moto and defended a slender margin ahead of Kawasaki's Christophe Pourcel for the entire race distance. It was his second consecutive moto win after success in Spain last week, but, like the meeting at Bellpuig, the Italian was luckless in the other half of the Grand Prix and was the victim of a collision entering the first turn that caused him to crash and restart last. The world champion showed considerable skill on a layout that was difficult to pass on, rising to 10th - good enough to take his first top three result of the year. The track was very rough and dry after sunny spells on Saturday and clear blue skies throughout race day. The Grand Prix had begun under a dark cloud - literally - as heavy rain battered the circuit through Friday night and forced the MX2 qualification heats to be scrapped in favour of a 30 minute timed practice period. Thankfully the weather did not play further havoc and 15,500 spectators attended encouraged by a decent forecast. Kenneth Gunderson had taken his first podium since 2002 at Zolder and proceeded to notch a moto victory at Bellpuig last week for the first time in three years. The Norwegian was in no condition to play the role of protagonist on this occasion however after feeling sick all weekend. He started well in moto1 and was briefly as high as third but faded back to 12th and had to be assisted into the medical centre for a saline drip. In moto two he tried to gather some points but had to pull out after eight laps. Bike it Dixon Yamaha's Billy Mackenzie was sixth overall. The 22-year-old Scot had marked his first career Grand Prix podium at the same venue for the 2005 Grand Prix of Portugal and was the second Yamaha home in moto one after just being beaten to a possible fifth position by the KTMs of Carl Nunn and David Philippaerts; the trio crossed the line only three seconds apart. In the second moto he was slightly off the pace and had to fend off British championship rival Tommy Searle for sixth. Former three times world champion Alessio Chiodi was the second best Yamaha rider with fifth overall. The veteran was pass the chequered flag in eighth after finally managing to get the better of Rui Goncalves and Searle. The Italian was not assisted by a poor jump from the gate that placed him mid-pack on the opening lap. Later in the day he made a better launch from the line and rode safely to third. Davide Guarneri was again unfortunate after a crash caused him to retire in moto one. He was 15th in moto two. Cairoli is now fourth in the series standings and 39 points behind Tyla Rattray who won for the third consecutive GP. Chiodi is fifth and Mackenzie is tied in seventh. The world championship will reconvene after a one week break at Teutschenthal for the Karcher Grand Prix of Germany on May 7th. Antonio Cairoli, De Carli Yamaha: "The first race was good for me but I am not happy about the second because of the crash at the start. I pushed so hard to close the gap to the other riders and take positions but this track was not an easy one for overtaking. I finished tenth which was OK but it was not a good day for me. Race after race we are getting better and faster. I want to fight with Tyla and he is a very fast rider. We need to be stronger at the start because I showed that I have the speed." Kenneth Gunderson, Ricci Racing: "I don't know what the problem is now but I know I am sick. I need to see a doctor on Tuesday and find out what's wrong. I think it must be a virus or something because I could push for two laps and then after that I was completely finished. I tried in the first moto to get some points but in the second it was impossible." Alessio Chiodi, Ricci Racing: "The first moto was all about a bad start and the track made it difficult to pass. The other riders were fast and it was difficult to catch them. Finishing 8th was not so good and I understood where I needed to improve. In the second moto I was riding with more confidence. My rhythm was fast and I could take third. The track was difficult because in some places you had grip and in others not and it was very rough. I am about 80 per cent satisfied with the result today." Race classification MX2 Round: 3 - 2006 GP of Agueda, Portugal Circuit: Agueda Race: 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 A. Cairoli Yamaha ITA 40' 13.833 2 C. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA +0.890 3 T. Rattray KTM RSA +19.172 4 M. De Reuver KTM NED +33.150 5 C. Nunn KTM GBR +47.112 6 D. Philippaerts KTM ITA +48.536 7 B. MacKenzie Yamaha GBR +50.388 8 A. Chiodi Yamaha ITA +54.435 9 R. Goncalves KTM POR +1' 5.476 10 T. Searle Kawasaki GBR +1' 8.568 11 G. Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA +1' 12.363 12 K. Gundersen Yamaha SWE +1' 26.011 13 M. Seistola Honda FIN +1' 28.273 14 A. Boissière Yamaha FRA +1' 29.044 15 P A. Renet Honda FRA +1' 50.163 16 N. Aubin Kawasaki FRA +1' 31.498 17 M. Monni KTM ITA +1 lap(s) 18 M. Schiffer KTM GER +1 lap(s) 19 J. Wing KTM SWE +1 lap(s) 20 X. Hernandez Yamaha ESP +1 lap(s) Race 2: 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 T. Rattray KTM RSA 39' 11.834 2 C. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA +8.857 3 A. Chiodi Yamaha ITA +17.681 4 P. Caps Honda BEL +22.236 5 M. De Reuver KTM NED +25.641 6 B. MacKenzie Yamaha GBR +27.180 7 T. Searle Kawasaki GBR +30.227 8 C. Nunn KTM GBR +32.700 9 G. Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA +35.124 10 A. Cairoli Yamaha ITA +45.236 11 L. Seguy Yamaha FRA +50.739 12 A. Boissière Yamaha FRA +58.974 13 S. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA +1' 4.029 14 M. Nagl KTM GER +1' 5.196 15 D. Guarneri Yamaha ITA +1' 16.064 16 M. Seistola Honda FIN +1' 18.555 17 N. Aubin Kawasaki FRA +1' 19.248 18 M. Monni KTM ITA +1' 39.370 19 X. Hernandez Yamaha ESP +1' 45.106 20 P A. Renet Honda FRA +1' 59.068 Championship standings MX2 Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 128 2 Marc De Reuver KTM NED 108 3 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 108 4 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 89 5 Alessio Chiodi Yamaha ITA 81 6 Carl Nunn KTM GBR 76 7 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 74 8 Billy MacKenzie Yamaha GBR 74 9 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha SWE 73 10 Tommy Searle Kawasaki GBR 57 11 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 54 12 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 52 13 Patrick Caps Honda BEL 46 14 Luigi Seguy Yamaha FRA 42 15 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 38 16 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 37 17 Antoine Meo Honda FRA 27 18 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 26 19 Anthony Boissière Yamaha FRA 24 20 Pierre-Alexandre Renet Honda FRA 20 24 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 13 28 Xavier Hernandez Yamaha ESP 5 Manufacturers standings MX2 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Yamaha 139 2 KTM 137 3 Kawasaki 110 4 Honda 68

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

Norick Abe had his best qualifying performance of the season, ending the day as the top Yamaha rider after setting the eighth fastest time in superpole. The former MotoGP star is reveling in a new specification engine provided by his Yamaha Motor France squad and has been up with the top riders all weekend. Fourth place in the pre-superpole practice session suggests that Abe should be at the sharp end in tomorrow's races. Yamaha Motor Italia riders Noriyuki Haga and Andrew Pitt will start from the third row in tomorrow's two 23-lap races in Valencia after setting the 10th and 11th fastest time in superpole. Both riders are finding grip levels at a premium on the Spanish track, which is not offering riders the same amount of traction they had at the official FGSport test at the venue several weeks ago. Despite running consistently strongly in race trim, Haga was unable to exploit the potential of his YZF-R1 in the one-lap superpole, struggling for rear end grip in a error-strewn lap. The Japanese star was unable to fully utilise the grip of his soft qualifying tyre and suffered a number of time sapping slides on his flying lap. While Haga lost five places from his position after the two one-hour sessions, Pitt dug deep to gain four places despite not completely eradicating the front-end handling problems that blighted him during Friday's session. The Australian rider survived a minor scare when he lost the front end in the preceding practice session, narrowly avoiding a crash by holding the bike up with his elbow. Yamaha Motor France's Shinichi Nakatomi found himself in the unfortunate situation of being one of the few riders to improve his time in the Saturday morning session but being shuffled back from his provisional grid position. The superbike rookie took over a tenth of a second from his best Friday lap time, but found himself dropped four places to 21st on the final grid as riders below him in the overnight standings found greater improvements. Lorenzo Alfonsi, standing in for the absent Sebastien Gimbert on the other Yamaha Motor France bike, will start from the back of the grid in his first race for the team. The former European superstock rider is not only having his first outing for the team, it is also his first race since suffering a serious injury at the end of last year. Pole position for tomorrow's races goes to world champion Troy Corser (Suzuki) with Troy Bayliss (Ducati), Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) and Steve Martin (Petronas) completing the front row. Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "The whole team is very motivated this weekend. For this race I have a new engine and it feels good, which is creating a good feeling in the team. There was more grip in the afternoon practice than in the superpole and it made the bike slide more easily on my time attack lap. I am happy with eighth. I am making very consistent laps and I hope that I can go and fight at the front tomorrow." Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "Of course, I am very disappointed to be starting 10th. After having a good test here earlier this month we are having traction problems this weekend. The superpole lap was not good. I made one mistake but also the rear traction was not as good as I had when I tried the qualifying tyre in the practice. The races will be very, very difficult for us but we will try to improve the bike overnight and work to get the best result possible." Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "I don't know if it's the rain we've been having or what it is but we just can't seem to get any grip this weekend. I'm lacking confidence in the front end. During the afternoon practice I had a big slide and ended up saving it on my elbow: the bike just went down and my elbow dug in and held me up. We made a lot of changes overnight but nothing seems to be making an improvement. Nori and I both seem to have the same problems and it's going to be a tough race for us tomorrow. The one thing we have on our side is that at least we are able to do consistent lap times over a race distance. Tonight though we will have a look to see what else we can try to make things better for the races." Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "It was a shame we had the wet conditions in the morning as this meant I was unable to improve my time from yesterday. Tomorrow I will aim for a good start and try to get some points. I understand the Valencia track quite well now and I am pleased that we are all finding improvements with our bikes this weekend." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "After two tests in Valencia and Misano we felt that we had made a good step forward, only to come here and find that we are fighting for grip. We came to Valencia using the same settings we had at the test, although now Noriyuki cannot make the same lap times. Our bike seems to be very sensitive to changes in the conditions and tonight we will sit down to try and further understand the problems, although with the surface here in Valencia we might arrive tomorrow morning and find it has changed again." Martial Garcia (Team Manager - Yamaha Motor France) "Second row and top Yamaha is a good result for us. Norick is always very strong here and I am confident he can do some good races tomorrow. Shinichi is improving too but we must also remember that he is working as a development rider for Soqi suspension and this means that sometimes he is a little bit up and down in the sessions. Despite this he is a very consistent racer and I think that we can target some points for him tomorrow." 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) Date: 22 April 2006 Temp: 24ºC Session 2 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 2nd Qualifying Superpole 1 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 1' 34.920 1' 36.640 1' 34.992 2 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 1' 34.963 1' 35.260 1' 35.175 3 L. Lanzi Ducati ITA 1' 35.999 1' 35.926 1' 35.203 4 S. Martin Petronas AUS 1' 35.653 1' 36.811 1' 35.255 5 F. Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1' 36.004 1' 36.211 1' 35.351 6 R. Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1' 36.161 1' 37.668 1' 35.410 7 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR 1' 36.428 1' 35.522 1' 35.452 8 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 1' 35.974 1' 37.257 1' 35.701 9 J. Toseland Honda GBR 1' 36.116 1' 36.571 1' 35.784 10 N. Haga Yamaha JPN 1' 35.658 1' 37.227 1' 36.115 11 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 1' 36.262 1' 37.281 1' 36.214 12 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1' 35.670 1' 37.559 N/A 13 R. Xaus Ducati ESP 1' 35.721 N/A 1' 36.362 14 F. Foret Suzuki FRA 1' 36.026 1' 36.986 1' 36.502 15 R. Rolfo Ducati ITA 1' 36.848 1' 36.348 1' 36.786 16 A. Barros Honda BRA 1' 36.130 1' 37.040 1' 36.887 21 S. Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1' 36.794 1' 36.659 WSS : Front row for Yamaha Motor Germany pair Round: 3 - Spain WSS Circuit: Valencia Date: 22 April 2006 Temp: 21ºC Weather: Sunny Yamaha Motor Germany riders Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes sped their YZF-R6s to the front row of tomorrow's world supersport race in Valencia. Curtain took advantage of the unexpectedly sunny conditions at the Spanish circuit to improve his time from Friday by almost one second to bag second place on the grid, behind world champion and current points leader Sebastien Charpentier (Honda). The Yamaha Motor Germany squad worked hard overnight to change the set-up of the rapidly improving R6, giving Curtain confidence going into tomorrow's 23-lap race. The Australian has already taken second place finishes in each of the first two rounds and would dearly love to add to his three career wins in the class in tomorrow's race. Team-mate and fellow Australian Broc Parkes will start from fourth position, even though he was unable to better his Friday time in today's 45 minute final session. Like Curtain, he worked on finding a good race set-up and is happy with the way his machine is performing. Joining Charpentier, Curtain and Parkes on the front row is Japanese rider Katsuaki Fujiwara (Honda). Two other R6 riders made it to the top 10 in qualifying. Javi Fores and Jordi Torres, two privately entered Spanish riders, ended the day in fifth and 10th places respectively. Round: 3 - Spain WSS Circuit: Valencia Circuit Length: 4005 Lap Record: 1' 38.874 (Alessio Corradi, 2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 37.331 (Chris Vermeulen, 2003) Date: 22 April 2006 Temp: 21ºC Session 1 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 2nd Qualifying 1 S. Charpentier Honda FRA 1' 36.913 1' 37.565 2 K. Curtain Yamaha AUS 1' 38.646 1' 37.698 3 K. Fujiwara Honda JPN 1' 38.141 1' 37.750 4 B. Parkes Yamaha AUS 1' 37.942 1' 38.201 5 X. Fores Yamaha ESP 1' 39.534 1' 38.385 6 R. Harms Honda DNK 1' 38.403 1' 38.672 7 B. Veneman Suzuki NED 1' 38.960 1' 38.448 8 K. Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1' 38.489 1' 39.240 9 Y. Tibero Honda FRA 1' 38.643 1' 39.122 10 J. Torres Yamaha ESP 1' 38.724 1' 38.716 11 K. Andersen Suzuki NOR 1' 39.216 1' 38.772 12 M. Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1' 39.672 1' 38.836 13 J. Stigefelt Honda SWE 1' 39.266 1' 38.971 14 C. Zaiser Ducati AUT 1' 39.003 1' 38.980 15 G. Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1' 39.137 N/A 16 W. De Angelis Honda ITA 1' 39.794 1' 39.216 18 K. Noyes Yamaha USA 1' 39.415 1' 39.412

Noriyuki Haga was in fine form during qualifying for Sunday's third round of the Superbike World Championship, ending the day fourth on the timesheets. Having enjoyed successful tests at Valencia and Misano prior to this event, the Japanese star was able to take advantage of the Yamaha Motor Italia team's continuing development work to put his YZF-R1 to the head of the timesheets for much of the session, only to be displaced in the closing stages. Despite his provisional front row starting position, Haga and his team will work on improving rear tyre grip and endurance ahead of Sunday's two races. Haga's team-mate Andrew Pitt had a difficult first day in Valencia, struggling with set-up problems that saw him slide off at slow speed during the session. The Australian started the day with the settings used successfully during the recent Misano test, only to revert back to the tried and Valencia set-up with limited success. The former supersport world champion was perplexed by the lack of front end feeling offered by his machine and will work with his team on rectifying the situation ahead of tomorrow's final qualifying and superpole sessions. Despite his problems Pitt still ended the day in 14th position. Yamaha Motor France's Norick Abe had one of his best qualifying performances as a superbike rider. The Japanese star, who fought for a podium placing in Valencia last year, was using a new specification engine for the first time and topped the timesheets during the session, ending the day seventh. Team-mate Shinichi Nakatomi was another giving his best showing of the year, finishing the day in 17th. Provisional pole position was today taken by world champion Troy Corser (Suzuki), with championship leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) and Steve Martin (Petronas) making it a trio of Australians at the head of the leaderboard. With weather forecasts predicting a high chance of rain, today's positions could determine the qualifying positions for tomorrow's top 16 superpole session. Noriyuki Haga "Compared to the test here a few weeks ago the grip levels are very low. Our times are not so bad but we must work on making the rear tyre work better, so tonight we will sit with the team and plan some big changes for tomorrow. This is one of my favourite tracks so I hope that we can find the changes to allow us to fight for the lead over the race distance." Andrew Pitt "I've got a problem with the front end and that caused me to crash. We started today with the settings we used at the Misano test, but they just didn't work here. We went back to what we used at the test here last month but I was just losing the front end everywhere. It was bouncing up and down and I just couldn't push at all. We're going to have to sort it out tonight but I'm not getting down about it. We're not far off the pace and if we can sort this problem out then we should be right up there." Norick Abe "My team has worked very hard to improve the engine performance for this race. In the first two races our performances were not so good and at the two tests we had I tried out six or seven engine specifications that did not seem much different. For this race we have another new engine and it is a big improvement. On my time attack lap I came across many slow riders and I was not able to make a faster lap time. I am feeling very confident for the weekend and hope to continue our improvements tomorrow." Shinichi Nakatomi "It's my best qualifying so far and I am happy with the progress we have made. The times are very close and I will be doing my best to make the superpole tomorrow." Massimo Meregalli "It seems that there is some kind of problem on Andrew's bike because we used the settings from when we rode here earlier this month and it is just not right. We are looking at the problem now and will have it fixed for tomorrow. Noriyuki did a good job but we are still not satisfied, we need to work on improving the set-up and will try some different things for tomorrow." Martial Garcia "We have made some good improvements to the bike following the Misano test and our riders have responded with some good performances. I am also very pleased with the performance of our other regular rider Sebastien Gimbert. He is not here this weekend as he is competing at Le Mans with Yamaha GMT94 and has put them on pole position." Parkes second in supersport practice Broc Parkes ended today's first qualifying session for Sunday's third round of the Supersport World Championship in second position. On a circuit that offered little grip following heavy overnight rain the 24-year-old Australian's best lap of 1:37.942 was headed only by world champion Sebastien Charpentier (Honda). Parkes and his Yamaha Motor Germany team-mate Kevin Curtain arrived at the circuit using the settings found at their successful Valencia test earlier this month, only to find that they didn't work as well on the slippery circuit. Despite this the team worked to adapt the bike to the conditions, allowing Parkes to go over half a second quicker than his test time. Curtain ended the day seventh fastest with a lap time of 1:38.646 with 18-year-old Spanish wild-card Jordi Torres eighth on another YZF-R6. Final qualifying takes place tomorrow afternoon.

The Spanish round of the Superbike World Championship takes place at the Ricardo Tormo circuit on the outskirts of Valencia. The modern venue is well known to all the superbike riders, as it is a favourite location for winter testing and the host of the first official FG Sport test, held between round two at Phillip Island and this weekend's third round of the championship. Valencia is a tight and twisty circuit built with spectators in mind. Surrounded by grandstands, fans can see almost the entire circuit from their seat. The favourable winter weather conditions and modern facilities, including sprinkler systems to simulate wet conditions, mean that the circuit is in use throughout the year by everything from trucks to Formula One cars, MotoGP to national championship riders. Perhaps because of this, grip levels can be unpredictable, causing conditions to change by the hour and requiring constant adjustments to the set-up of the bike. Yamaha Motor Italia has been busy since the opening rounds of the series at Qatar and Australia, attending official tests at Valencia and Misano. Valencia was the venue for the first of those tests, ensuring that the Yamaha Motor Italia squad goes into this weekend's race with good settings for their YZF-R1 machines. Haga ended that test sixth overall, testing a whole range of chassis, suspension and electronics parts for his bike. Currently lying sixth in the championship, the Japanese ace was in sensational form in Qatar - finishing third in race two after crashing out of the opener while challenging for the lead on the last lap. Valencia is a favourite of Haga, who has won there in 2000 and 2004, and he is looking forward to this weekend's races. Team-mate Andrew Pitt is currently fifth in the championship. Finishing third in Qatar's opening race, Pitt has been the epitome of consistency with two fifth places also to his credit. The 2001 supersport world champion ended the Valencia test just a few places behind his team-mate, setting the eighth fastest time at the end of the three days. Like Haga, the Australian completed a comprehensive test programme and is confident he has found a good set-up for the weekend's race. With the first two rounds taking place seven weeks earlier, many people see the Valencia round as the 'real' start of the season. Having worked out of flight cases at the fly-away rounds in Qatar and Australia, the teams will have the added advantage of having their full accompaniment of trucks and hospitality units to help them settle in for the main European season. This year sees the championship take in a total of 13 rounds of two races each. Valencia marks the start of 10 European races, with the series due to end with a final flyaway round to South Africa, most likely at the Kyalami circuit, in October. Valencia also plays host to round three of the Supersport World Championship and the opening round of the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup. In supersport, Australian Kevin Curtain lies second in the championship having finished in that position in the opening two races of the season. In superstock, last year's 600cc champion Claudio Corti makes his debut in the 1000cc class as Yamaha looks to make it a hat-trick in the championship. The third-generation YZF-R1 has won the series every year since the bike was introduced for the 2004 season.

The Grand Prix of Spain at Bellpuig has turned out to another positive meeting for the Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross team and the YZ450FM motorcycle. Stefan Everts won the second MX1 moto to claim his 89th career victory and also seize control of the current World Championship standings while Cedric Melotte produced a hard-earned seventh position overall without having too much luck. After a cold and blustery opening Grand Prix of the season two weeks ago at Zolder in Belgium the hot Spanish sunshine was a welcome sight for the teams and riders as they rolled into the paddock for the second round of fifteen in the 2006 MX1 World Championship. The good weather - combined with the Easter holidays - also drew out the fans as 26, 200 defied the plumes of dust that emanated from the dry, hard and rough terrain. Stefan Everts was denied his second pole position by just a tenth of a second on Saturday afternoon by Tanel Leok, and over the course of the two Grand Prix motos of 35 minutes and two laps today the Kawasaki rider again plagued the World Champion. Everts led for eight of the 21 circulations before a mistake coming out of the old whoops section at slow speed saw the Belgian drop to fifth place and give the race to Leok and his pursuer Kevin Strijbos who would prove superior to the flag. Everts composed himself to fight back to fourth, but committed several mistakes in his challenge to Jonathan Barragan and could only secure third place with less than two laps to go. Cedric Melotte rode a good race to tenth after getting stuck in the gate and entering the first corner in last position. The Belgian had a difficult time clawing his way through the field on a course that was not easy for overtaking. He moved past Antti Pyrhonen for tenth, three laps before the chequered flag. Everts blasted back in convincing fashion in the second moto. The 33 year old, wearing his distinctive blue Acerbis livery, led from the first lap until the last and withstood brief pressure from Leok to complete a vintage performance. Stefan has won 50% of the races so far this campaign and now heads the Championship standings by ten points from his Kawasaki-mounted rival. Melotte was fourth over the line in a truer showing of his abilities later in the afternoon. He had been holding third on the YZ450FM, but the energy expelled during his first come-back race began to tell and Steve Ramon was able to relegate him to fourth. The team now face a relatively short trip east across Spain and down to Agueda, some 100km south of Porto, for the Grand Prix of Portugal next weekend. Stefan Everts: "Every time I wear my white kit in the first moto I am riding tense! I felt more relaxed before the race than I did in Zolder and then had a good start so it seemed to be going well but I found that I wasn't comfortable out there. I made a stupid mistake but could then come back to third after a hard fight with Barragan; it was hard to pass him because there were not many lines on the track. Third was good because I knew it gave me more chance of taking the overall. The second moto was much better and the Yamaha worked really well this weekend. I was very satisfied with our performance and we didn't change anything apart from altering the gearing in practice. We tried another tyre also but I ended up using the same model." Cedric Melotte: "The weekend did not start well because I could not get a good lap-time yesterday. I was very disappointed with 22nd but I focussed on making a decent race today. I hit the gate at the start of the first moto and I don't know if it was my fault or the mechanism. Anyway I pushed and came back from last to tenth. In the second race I started better and was third for about half the race but then I slowed down as I got a little bit tired; the first heat was hard. Ramon came through but I kept my rhythm and it was not a bad moto." Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager: "It is another win for us but as usual it is never that easy! Stefan struggled in the first moto and looked tense. Leok was putting on the pressure and Stefan made a silly crash. He came back well but was still making some mistakes. He eventually could pass Barragan for a very important third position and we were satisfied because his main rivals had been so-so. The second race was typical of Stefan. A good start and he made his own rhythm; nobody could catch him and it was perfect. Cedric was very unlucky with the gate. We asked to see the TV replay and it is hard to tell if the gate did not work or it was his mistake so we could not make a protest. Anyway he came back with a lot of determination to tenth. That was good for him because he needs to be in competition with the other guys and return to his true level. His speed was good in the last moto and he showed that he can run at the front. It is understandable that he faded a little because of the effort from the first heat." Race classification MX1 Round: 2 - 2006 GP of Bellpuig, Spain Circuit: Bellpuig Race 1: 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 K. Strijbos Suzuki BEL 39' 17.220 2 T. Leok Kawasaki EST +9.438 3 S. Everts Yamaha BEL +12.955 4 J. Barragan KTM ESP +16.056 5 K. De Dycker Honda BEL +20.073 6 S. Ramon Suzuki BEL +23.507 7 S. Tortelli KTM FRA +51.134 8 J. Bill Yamaha GBR +53.844 9 J. Noble Honda GBR +1' 5.714 10 C. Melotte Yamaha BEL +1' 12.991 11 P. Leuret Honda FRA +1' 14.711 12 A. Pyrhonen TM FIN +1' 16.824 13 M. Priem Yamaha BEL +1' 20.718 14 D. Theybers Suzuki BEL +1' 22.823 15 J. Lindhe KTM SWE +1' 28.458 16 J. Garcia Vico Honda ESP +1' 29.712 17 A. Salvini Suzuki ITA +1' 32.892 18 M. Hucklebridge Kawasaki GBR +1' 34.596 19 M. Van Daele Honda BEL +1' 47.099 20 A. Lozano KTM ESP +1 lap(s) Race 2: 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 S. Everts Yamaha BEL 40' 30.007 2 T. Leok Kawasaki EST +17.460 3 S. Ramon Suzuki BEL +22.900 4 C. Melotte Yamaha BEL +39.465 5 S. Tortelli KTM FRA +46.185 6 K. De Dycker Honda BEL +55.033 7 J. Barragan KTM ESP +1' 0.680 8 M. Priem Yamaha BEL +1' 4.048 9 P. Leuret Honda FRA +1' 9.278 10 B. Jorgensen Honda DNK +1' 12.796 11 J. Garcia Vico Honda ESP +1' 28.469 12 J. Bill Yamaha GBR +1' 31.381 13 M. Van Daele Honda BEL +1' 33.111 14 A. Bobkovs Honda LVA +1' 35.481 15 D. Theybers Suzuki BEL +1' 36.685 16 A. Pyrhonen TM FIN +1' 37.850 17 M. Hucklebridge Kawasaki GBR +1' 39.607 18 J. Noble Honda GBR +1' 52.646 19 K. Strijbos Suzuki BEL +1 lap(s) 20 A. Lozano KTM ESP +1 lap(s) Championship standings MX1 Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Stefan Everts Yamaha BEL 92 2 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 82 3 Sebastien Tortelli KTM FRA 77 4 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 69 5 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 61 6 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 60 7 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 59 8 Cedric Melotte Yamaha BEL 54 9 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 47 10 Manuel Priem Yamaha BEL 30 11 James Noble Honda GBR 29 12 Antti Pyrhonen TM FIN 28 13 Stephen Sword Kawasaki GBR 26 14 Javier Garcia Vico Honda ESP 25 15 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 22 16 Julien Bill Yamaha GBR 22 17 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL 19 18 Brian Jorgensen Honda DNK 19 19 Bas Verhoeven Kawasaki NED 14 20 Mark Hucklebridge Kawasaki GBR 12 Manufacturers standings MX1 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Yamaha 50 2 Kawasaki 42 3 KTM 40 4 Suzuki 38 5 Honda 31 6 TM 9 MX2 : Mackenzie walks the podium in Spain after dramatic Grand Prix Round: 2 - 2006 GP of Bellpuig, Spain Circuit: Bellpuig Date: 16 April 2006 Crowd: 26200 Temp: 22ºC Weather: Sunny Bike it Yamaha Dixon Racing's Billy Mackenzie gained his first podium of the season this afternoon at a warm and sun-kissed Bellpuig circuit in Cataluyna. The steep inclines of the hard and short track that despite constant watering proved to be dry, dusty and very rough with the formation of unforgiving ruts and numerous braking bumps. It was not easy to overtake. Excessive watering to help the terrain cope with all four motos meant that the initial race of the day, MX2 moto1, was a particularly slimy affair. The two MX2 motos of 35 minutes and 2 laps duration threw up two different sets of results. Yamaha managed to own the chequered flag in both races thanks to the resurgent Kenneth Gundersen and a flying Antonio Cairoli respectively but it was Mackenzie with an eighth place and a third position in the second sprint that got to spray the champagne and walk the rostrum. Ricci Racing's Gundersen was again a proactive force in the MX2 field after scoring an emotional top-three finish at Zolder two weeks ago in the wake of more than a year with injury problems. The Norwegian started in third place and soon moved past his team-mate Alessio Chiodi for his first moto victory since 2002, claiming the chequered flag by three seconds from 'Chicco'. Defending World Champion Cairoli was on impressive form during the first qualification heat yesterday as he holeshotted and escaped from the pursuing pack; earning Pole Position. The young Italian hoped for more of the same in the first race but a crash on a slow tight left hander and problems getting re-started meant he fell out of the top twenty and one lap behind the leaders. Mackenzie set his best time on the penultimate lap after earlier making a strong move on Luigi Seguy to take eighth position, however the Scot, who won his debut GP moto here in 2005, was too far behind Carl Nunn in seventh to scale the classification further. The 13 points he bagged would later prove vital in an exciting climax to the day's racing. Gundersen was immediately ruled out of the possibility of a double race win when he fell on the first lap of Moto2. De Carli Yamaha representative Cairoli had already taken the holeshot and proceeded to re-enact his Saturday performance, fuelled by the frustration of his opening race faux pas. Eventual winner Tyla Rattray gave chase but was not able to get within touching distance. Mackenzie meanwhile had held onto the back of the leaders after a better jump from the gate but soon had his hands full deflecting the attentions of Rui Goncalves. The 22 year old needed third place to confirm his podium while also requiring JK Racing's Luigi Seguy to keep Chiodi away from ninth position, which the Frenchman managed to accomplish. The outcome of the top three went down to a nail-biting last lap with both duels extremely close. Finally the race order did not change and Mackenzie was again able to celebrate in front of Spanish on-lookers thanks to his better race position although he was tied on points with Chiodi. Gundersen spent the entire race trying to catch the riders ahead and squeezed into 19th spot. He remains Yamaha's top rider in the young World Championship standings, holding third place, 19 points behind Rattray. Cairoli, Chiodi and Mackenzie are also in the top ten. His team-mate Davide Guarneri was 8th after having earlier retired after a crash. Cairoli's team-mate Mateo Bonini was unable to compete after breaking his right wrist in a Belgian Championship meeting last weekend. The Italian underwent surgery this week and the team will have a better idea in terms of his racing return once the cast is removed in a fortnight and his rehab begins. Billy Mackenzie, Bike it Dixon Yamaha: "To be honest I was expecting a little bit more from myself this weekend. I have been feeling comfortable riding but I know I am still not close to how fast I can go. The guys at the front are quick but there is a lot more to come and I will keep on improving. We have had a few problems at the start of the year but we must build from here. This is the start of the podiums and I want to try to get on the podium steps as much as I can for the rest of the season." Antonio Cairoli, De Carli Yamaha: "I crashed after five laps and I could not start again quickly because the bike was caught in the green fence and I lost one lap there and also many points. I was faster than De Reuver and Rattray but stopped after the crash because I was so far behind. For the second heat I really wanted to win and started very well. The battle between Tyla and I was nice and it was good to come back and win. I am happy with my condition and the speed." Alessio Chiodi, Ricci Racing: "I made a mistake at the start of the second moto and touched Philippaerts out of the gate. I think I was around 15th on the first lap but it was so difficult to pass and it wasn't a good race for me. I tried my best but there was only one line and it was hard to get Seguy at the end. The result is better than Zolder for sure because I was sick there. The first moto today was good because my riding, my condition and the bike were all working well." Kenneth Gundersen, Ricci Racing: "The first race was perfect. I had a good start, passed Chiodi and controlled it the whole way. It was a great feeling to finish first again. In the second race De Reuver cut my line at the start and I was down somewhere between 15th and 20th but then I crashed on the first lap and twisted my knee. After that I rode just to try and get as many points as I can. It is the same knee that I injured last year but it is not a big problem." Claudio De Carli, Team Manager De Carli Racing: "Matteo (Bonini) has been really unlucky. He was injured in the Italian Championship and went to Zolder just to get back on the bike and to start to find his speed again. After Zolder we decided to also compete at Neeroeteren because he was getting better and needed more race time. At the start of the third moto a rider crashed in front of him and he had nowhere to go. He hit the fallen bike very hard and broke his right wrist. He had an operation the day after and now is in a cast that has to remain there for two weeks. He will then have to start a period of rehabilitation to be back as soon as possible." Race classification MX2 Round: 2 - 2006 GP of Bellpuig, Spain Circuit: Bellpuig Race 1: 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 K. Gundersen Yamaha SWE 39' 37.723 2 A. Chiodi Yamaha ITA +2.922 3 M. De Reuver KTM NED +4.024 4 C. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA +4.921 5 T. Rattray KTM RSA +27.297 6 S. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA +40.304 7 C. Nunn KTM GBR +44.649 8 B. MacKenzie Yamaha GBR +48.882 9 L. Seguy Yamaha FRA +50.174 10 D. Philippaerts KTM ITA +53.063 11 T. Searle Kawasaki GBR +1' 10.497 12 M. Seistola Honda FIN +1' 12.233 13 P. Caps Honda BEL +1' 14.934 14 M. Schiffer KTM GER +1' 17.817 15 J. Dougan Honda GBR +1' 20.836 16 A. Boissière Yamaha FRA +1' 21.367 17 X. Boog Yamaha FRA +1' 37.420 18 M. Monni KTM ITA +1' 38.361 19 A. Meo Honda FRA +1' 42.706 20 X. Hernandez Yamaha ESP +2' 4.111 Race 2: 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 A. Cairoli Yamaha ITA 39' 3.713 2 T. Rattray KTM RSA +2.722 3 B. MacKenzie Yamaha GBR +31.055 4 R. Goncalves KTM POR +31.665 5 M. De Reuver KTM NED +46.951 6 D. Philippaerts KTM ITA +50.148 7 C. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA +51.227 8 D. Guarneri Yamaha ITA +1' 0.608 9 L. Seguy Yamaha FRA +1' 1.271 10 A. Chiodi Yamaha ITA +1' 3.247 11 G. Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA +1' 9.648 12 C. Nunn KTM GBR +1' 16.081 13 P. Caps Honda BEL +1' 24.348 14 P A. Renet Honda FRA +1' 32.019 15 N. Aubin Kawasaki FRA +1' 47.976 16 M. Monni KTM ITA +1' 55.744 17 X. Boog Yamaha FRA +2' 0.651 18 A. Boissière Yamaha FRA +1 lap(s) 19 K. Gundersen Yamaha SWE +1 lap(s) 20 X. Hernandez Yamaha ESP +1 lap(s) Championship standings MX2 Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 83 2 Marc De Reuver KTM NED 74 3 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 64 4 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha SWE 64 5 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 59 6 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 53 7 Alessio Chiodi Yamaha ITA 48 8 Carl Nunn KTM GBR 47 9 Billy MacKenzie Yamaha GBR 45 10 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 44 11 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 42 12 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 32 13 Luigi Seguy Yamaha FRA 32 14 Tommy Searle Kawasaki GBR 32 15 Patrick Caps Honda BEL 28 16 Antoine Meo Honda FRA 27 17 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 15 18 Pierre-Alexandre Renet Honda FRA 14 19 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 13 20 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 13 23 Anthony Boissière Yamaha FRA 8 28 Xavier Hernandez Yamaha ESP 2 Manufacturers standings MX2 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 KTM 50 2 Yamaha 40 3 Kawasaki 32 4 Honda 22

Noriyuki Haga was once more the fastest Yamaha qualifier at an official SBK test, and had he not found another rider in his path when running qualifying rubber in the final afternoon session, he may even have had the chance to improve his 1'33.870 best. Troy Bayliss (Ducati) was once more the rider leaving a test session with the fastest time, a new track record 1'33.317. Haga, who had tested new triple clamps and rear suspension linkages on his R1, decided not to continue in the very last moments of the two day test, thanks to the residue left on the track surface after an oil spill at the first corner. He thus had to rely on his best time from the morning session, rather than the final one. Haga's team-mate Andrew Pitt was a top ten rider on his R1, working steadily through revised engine mapping and also losing out on a final chance to set a faster time than his 1'34.469. Times in general were tight, with 14 riders covered by just over a single second, from second to 15th place. A strong ride in the final session from Sebastien Gimbert, on his Yamaha Motor France Ipone R1, put him 11th fastest, a particularly fine performance from a rider who had not ridden at Misano for 11 years. Norick Abe continued to find Misano a difficult challenge on his Yamaha Motor France Ipone R1, with his efforts to go faster often met by stubborn resistance on the tight and twist Misano layout. World Superbike rookie Shinichi Nakatomi was 20th out of 27 riders at Misano, during his first visit to the Italian circuit, which forms the venue for round six of the championships on 25 June. Noriyuki Haga - Yamaha Motor Italia "The balance of the bike was good today and I decided to test a soft tyre. I found Kagayama in front of me but without that happening I think I could have set a lap time closer to Bayliss. When the circuit got covered in oil and then cement dust we decided to stop, so I could not use a soft tyre in the afternoon session." Andrew Pitt - Yamaha Motor Italia "It would have been nice to be further up the list but I just didn't put it together on a qualifying tyre. On race tyres the bike was good and we improved it a lot. The bike is much the same as Valencia, which is a good thing. We don't need to change it much now, which is what we've been looking for for a while. We tuned in the electronics a bit more, to make it even easier to open the throttle earlier. It was all pretty good." Sebastien Gimbert - Yamaha Motor France "All the team worked very hard and the bike was very good compared to the races in Qatar and Australia. For me it was not so hard to get the bike working well here and set some fast times around the circuit. I am very content with the progress and the good work we have all made." Norick Abe - Yamaha Motor France "We tried out many things. Last year I raced here and it was the first time for me. It was the worst race of the year, and this time it still felt no good. So maybe I don't like this track. Step-by-step we did better than before, but compared to most other riders it was not so good. Despite that, I think we are two seconds better than last year. The tyres are much better than last year as well. But I would like to forget this Misano test and just get to Valencia." Shinichi Nakatomi - Yamaha Motor France "I have never been here before so it was important to test and make a race set-up for when we come back in June. It is a very different track, with three fast left hand corners onto the back straight. We worked a lot, and I did 162 laps to learn the circuit better." Massimo Meregalli - Team Coordinator Yamaha Motor Italia "We had a plan and we got all out work done, the only thing we could not do was to go out at the end on soft tyres, because of the dust on the track. But the test was good. The only question mark we have now is the temperature of the track when we return for the race in June. We hope that for the race the bike's performance, which was very good here, is the same." OFFICIAL SBK TESTS WSB: Circuit: Misano Adriatico Circuit Length: 4.060km Temp: 16ºC Weather: Sunny Lap Record: 1' 34.913 (Troy Bayliss, 2002) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 33.317 (Troy Bayliss, 2006) Date: 12-13 April 2006 Classification: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 1 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 1' 33.317 2 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 1' 33.824 3 N. Haga Yamaha JPN 1' 33.870 4 L. Lanzi Ducati ITA 1' 33.933 5 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR 1' 33.984 6 R. Laconi Kawasaki ITA 1' 34.085 7 F. Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1' 34.181 8 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1' 34.266 9 R. Xaus Ducati ESP 1' 34.315 10 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 1' 34.469 11 S. Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1' 34.618 12 F. Foret Suzuki FRA 1' 34.660 13 A. Barros Honda BRA 1' 34.683 14 M. Fabrizio Honda ITA 1' 34.852 15 S. Martin Petronas AUS 1' 34.862 19 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 1' 35.574 20 S. Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1' 35.684 Parkes quickest ever at Misano Misano Adriatico, Italy 13/4/2006 Yamaha Motor Germany rider Broc Parkes finished the second official test of the 2006 WSS season at the top of the timing sheets, with a new Supersport circuit record of 1'36.411 to his credit. His team-mate Kevin Curtain was fourth quickest, having set his fastest lap on the first day of testing, concentrating most of his efforts on machine set-up in preparation for the Misano WSS race in June. In addition to the regular set-up work on the all-new R6 machine carried out by the team, new and existing specifications of Pirelli control tyres were worked through by both Yamaha Motor Germany riders, with Parkes pleased to see the return of his favourite front tyre at this test. Yamaha Team Italia rider Gianluca Vizziello was an impressive third fastest overall, his best of 1'36.892 set in the very last of four Supersport sessions. He was one of three riders under the previous circuit best of former Yamaha rider Simone Sanna during the last session of the Misano test. Christian Zaiser (Ducati) was second fastest, with Vizziello's team-mate, Massimo Roccoli, sixth. Broc Parkes - Yamaha Motor Germany "On top today and happy. The bike was awesome. The main difference for me today was the front tyre, that and getting to know the bike a lot better. At the end of last year we had a particular front tyre that I really liked but for some reason it was not in the allocation for the first races, but for me, as soon as I get it, I can go. This is also a pretty enjoyable track to ride around." Kevin Curtain - Yamaha Motor Germany "This was a very good test for us, and we made the bike a lot better than it was last time we rode. We worked through heaps of stuff on the bike and a whole lot of front and rear tyres. There are no prizes for pole position at a test so I am not bothered about setting the fastest time. The main thing was improving the whole package, and we did that." Gianluca Vizziello - Yamaha Team Italia "Today's performance was the result of some very good development work. At the first two races of the year we had not had the bikes for very long, so most of the engine work was done just before the Valencia tests. Then is Spain we must have tried about ten different settings on the suspension, to find the best. We have put all the best parts together now and the bike was great at this test. I like Misano very much and the whole team did a very good job." Official Misano Test WSS Circuit: Misano Adriatico Circuit Length: 4.060km Lap Record: 1' 37.924 (Katsuaki Fujiwara, 2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 36.411 (Broc Parkes, 2006) Date: 12 - 13 April 2006 Temp: 16ºC Classification: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Best Time 1 B. Parkes Yamaha AUS 1' 36.411 2 C. Zaiser Ducati AUT 1' 36'507 3 G. Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1' 36.892 4 K. Curtain Yamaha AUS 1' 36.927 5 K. Fujiwara Honda JPN 1'37.339 6 M. Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1' 37.372 7 G. Nannelli Ducati ITA 1' 37'483 8 Y. Tibero Honda FRA 1' 37.682 9 D. Checa Yamaha FRA 1'37.745 10 A. Aldrovandi Honda ITA 1'38.238 11 M. Sanchini Yamaha ITA 1' 38.433 12 G. Leblanc Honda FRA 1'38.553 13 S. Chambon Kawasaki FRA 1'38.719 14 J. Brookes Ducati AUS 1'38.756 15 T. Tunstall Hoinda GBR 1'38.775 16 M. Berger Kawasaki FRA 1' 39.214 17 M. Praia Honda POR 1'39.385 18 L. Nedog Ducati SLO 1'39.585