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2009 Yamaha Motor Italia Superbike riders Ben Spies and Tom Sykes have endured some serious heat on their three day test in Kyalami. The young riders have endured track temperatures approaching 50 degrees as they put the all-new-for-2009 Yamaha YZF-R1 through its paces on only its second outing on track.   Spies was second quickest on day one with an impressive best lap time of 1'41"599(46 laps) in the African sunshine. Team mate Tom Sykes was struck down with a mysterious bug, and he only mana

Yamaha will mark the end of a great era today with a special livery on the YZ450FM of Stefan Everts, as the Belgian celebrates the final Grands Prix of his illustrious career. The 33-year-old lined up on the gate for his first Grands Prix at Faenza (Italy) in 1989 and has since won a total of 100 Grands Prix and 10 world titles. Yamaha is marking the end-of-career occasion with a special livery. The design features all his 100 Grands Prix victories symbolising a chequered flag to mark the finis

Reigning World Champion Stefan Everts, of the Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross team, now has just three more victories to reach a magical and all-time record total of 100 career wins after taking his 97th success and tenth consecutive triumph at Sun City in South Africa today. The 33 year-old Belgian clinched both motos in dominant and now familiar fashion in front of 25,300 spectators to stretch his unbeaten run to ten rounds and nineteen races. A journey of almost 200km was

The Camel Yamaha team return from a three-week holiday next weekend to tackle the first of a final spell of six races that will determine whether reigning MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi can turn around his fortunes and make a sixth consecutive defence of the title he has held since 2001. The Czech Republic Grand Prix takes place at the legendary circuit of Brno, located just over 200 kilometres south-east of the capital city of Prague, where last year Rossi took victory and the lap r

UFO Corse Yamaha rider Simone Albergoni moved into second position in the Enduro 1 world championship standings following the fourth round of the '07 World Enduro Championship series held in Borno, Italy having claimed podium finishes on both days aboard his UFO Corse Yamaha WR250. Placing third on day one of his and the UFO Corse Yamaha team's home GP Simone then stepped one place higher on the rostrum with a second place finish on day two. In claiming a double podium result Simone moved into t

Valentino Rossi brought the house down once again in Mugello today with an emotional seventh straight victory at his home track in front of 96,000 adoring fans. It was the Fiat Yamaha Team Rider's ninth win in total and fifth for Yamaha at this track and also his third win in a row this season, the first time he has won three consecutive races since 2005. His 91st victory is also a first for Bridgestone at this track. Starting from pole for the first time in almost a year, Rossi set nerves on

Fiat Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo rounded off the first test of the 2009 season in strong style, with the Italian finishing second, less than one tenth off Casey Stoner. His Spanish team-mate was seventh and inside the lap record pace for the first time this week.   Rossi continued to focus mainly on electronics on the last day as he looked to fine-tune the 2009 M1 step-by-step. With the stitches in his hand and foot he decided not to attempt a long-run, but was able to

Yamaha's emphatic presence in the MX1 and MX2 World Championship continues as Yamaha Motocross Team's Josh Coppins won his third Grand Prix of the year and Yamaha De Carli's Antonio Cairoli maintained a 100% record with his fourth consecutive success at a sunny and warm Mantova circuit for the Italian round and the fourth meeting of fifteen in the FIM competition. The Mantova layout had been altered slightly from the course that opened the off-road racing calendar in February. The track, with it

A second day of testing in Malaysia today saw the Yamaha Factory Racing Team continue to come on in leaps and bounds with the development of their new prototype 800cc motorcycle. With rain threatening for tomorrow’s third and final day of testing, both Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards elected to take advantage of clear skies and complete their long-run today, the first for either rider on the new bike. Initial feedback was good and Rossi especially was very pleased with the performance of his Y

Gauloises Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards will start the inaugural Grand Prix of Turkey from the second row of the MotoGP grid tomorrow, after lapping fourth and fifth fastest in this afternoon's single qualifying session. After making the most of another extended 90-minute free practice in the morning, the difference between the leading riders was much closer today, with the top six all pulling to within a second of the pole position time of 1'52.334 set by Sete Gibernau (H

WSB : Second row for Yamaha Motor Italia pairing Round: 2 - Australia Circuit: Phillip Island Date: 4 March 2006 Temp: 37ºC Weather: Sunny Yamaha Motor Italia duo Andrew Pitt and Noriyuki Haga bagged second row starts during today's superpole qualifying session for round two of the Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island in Australia. Having ended combined qualifying with Haga third and Pitt sixth, the pairing was a little disappointed at being unable to maintain their positions on the

Noriyuki Haga brought 36 more points and two podiums home for Yamaha in today's World Superbike Championship round at Valencia. Having battled to find the right set-up all weekend, Haga went out today and claimed second in race one, with Corser in fourth. He then had an excellent second race, finishing in third after a race-long battle with James Toseland. In race one Corser made a good start and took the lead by the first turn until lap six when it became evident that he had a grip problem. He

Yamaha Motor Italia enjoyed its best day of the season at Silverstone today, with Noriyuki Haga racing to two second places and Andrew Pitt fighting through from 11th on the grid to take fourth and fifth place finishes. Haga raced into the lead in both outings, only to be caught by championship leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati). The pair had a fantastic battle each time, with the Ducati rider just managing to pull a slight gap on the charging Haga in both races. Having had only limited dry weather p

A year of hard work finally came to an end for the Fiat Yamaha Team today with the last day of testing in Valencia. Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi finished the day first and third, signing off for the winter in strong form. Both riders continued to work on the new evolution YZR-M1, as well as doing some laps on their 2009 bikes in order to compare the new updates. Lorenzo set his best lap towards the end of the day's work and was 0.256 seconds faster than Casey Stoner, with Rossi 0.333 secon

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi fought a race-long battle with Casey Stoner during the Grand Prix of China today, the pair providing a thrilling spectacle until the 16th lap when Rossi was forced to concede victory to the Australian after a small mistake. Despite starting from the front row alongside pole-sitter Rossi, Colin Edwards had a less successful day as he suffered tyre problems from the start and dropped steadily down the order, eventually finishing a disappointing 11th. John Ho

There was an extra guest amongst the media journalists present for the 2008 Factory Media Test at the Parkalgar circuit in Portimao last Monday. Former Formula One star and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher was invited to put on his leathers and join the invited journalists testing out the 2008 Yamaha WSB YZF-R1 machines of Noriyuki Haga and Troy Corser at the all new Portugese circuit.   Schumacher is no stranger to superbikes having completed his first year in the German Superbike