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Valentino Rossi took the runner-up spot in the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring today and moved back to the top of the championship, after Dani Pedrosa crashed out of the lead on lap five. Rossi's Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo was another victim of the first fully wet race of the season, sliding out of the race on the third lap. This morning's practice was run on a damp track but the weather worsened through the middle part of the day and the MotoGP race began in heavy rain. Rossi, st

Noriyuki Haga and Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) used their two days of official testing time at the Vallelunga circuit to prepare for the next races, and came away from Vallelunga with positive results all round. The sessions were a combined official FGSport outing and a Development Teams Test for Pirelli, and both Noriyuki and Troy found some advantages in the latest specification of control tyres. With track temperatures climbing to over 60°C on the final afternoon most riders s

The Yamaha World Supersport Team arrived in Vallelunga with a clear aim in mind and after exhaustive tests in high temperatures, both Broc Parkes and Fabien Foret found real improvements in the real-world race set-up of their Yamaha YZF-R6 machines. Parkes finished the test outright second fastest but more importantly he found an improved base set-up, even in the hot conditions of a Roman summer. The Qatar race winner also made good work in evaluating Pirelli’s latest batch of development tyres

There are few more historic and scenic motorsport circuits in the world than Spa Francorchamps, situated in the depths of southern Belgium. The venue was an appropriate setting for the 2008 Bikers’ Classics, an event attended and enjoyed by 40,000 people over three days that saw a glittering and nostalgic array of machinery and former world champions, Grand Prix victors and racers from a by-gone era turn back the clock. The Bikers’ Classics is unique and nowhere is there such a gathering of mo

25,000 spectators scaled the rocky hill beside the Uddevalla circuit to watch Yamaha Monster Motocross Team's David Philippaerts take third position and extend his lead in the series at the Grand Prix of Sweden and the ninth round of fifteen in the 2008 FIM Motocross World Championship. Frequent light rain covered the venue and the slippery conditions did not prevent the Italian registering his sixth podium finish from a possible nine on his works YZ450FM. Team-mate Josh Coppins, winner of the l

Yamaha Monster Motocross Team's Josh Coppins emphatically aced his first victory of the 2008 MX1-GP World Championship with a double moto sweep at a sun-drenched and packed Talkessel circuit in Teutschenthal for the Grand Prix of Germany. The eighth round of fifteen in the series saw the Kiwi take his first spoils since Bulgaria 2007 and his first double since Mantova 14 months ago; rising to second position in the standings as a consequence. David Philippaerts was fourth and keeps the champions

Pole position starter Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) looked set for his first win of the 2008 season on two occasions at Misano but he had to settle for a second in race one and a good points score of fifth in race two after running off track and ultimately avoiding a crash. He also set a new lap record, 1'37.580, on lap two of race two, which he led for 10 laps. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) struggled hard in qualifying and the first race, finding himself only 19th

Tech 3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards was involved in more late drama at Assen today as a stunning surge from the back of the field was rewarded with third place. For the second time in three years, Edwards was involved in dramatic incident at the final chicane with Nicky Hayden as he snatched third from his fellow American just metres from the finish line. Fourth at the start of the last lap, Edwards produced a brilliant display of overtaking to come from dead last on the opening lap as he narro

Yamaha kicked off the Misano racing weekend with a very different sport in the San Marino sunshine yesterday. Yamaha riders Troy Corser, Noriyuki Haga, Fabien Foret, David Checa and Shinichi Nakatomi were found not on the race track, but up in the Italian hills at the Vallugola Golf Club. A new initiative, the Yamaha Champions Challenge, took to the greens to confirm to people that the Yamaha brand is also successful away from the racetrack. The Yamaha riders, a group of lucky racing fans and

Double Women’s World Cup winner and current leader of the inaugural FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship, Yamaha Van Beer’s Katherine Prumm, will miss this weekend’s Grand Prix of Germany at Teutschenthal after breaking her left collarbone while training in Belgium on Tuesday. The 20 year old suffered a relatively slow speed tumble on her YZ250F but the impact was enough to force a complicated fracture to the collarbone and the New Zealander underwent surgery immediately to have a plate in

Valentino Rossi finished a worthy runner-up at Donington Park today, unable to catch Casey Stoner on this occasion but surviving a mid-race battle with Dani Pedrosa to extend his lead at the top of the championship. Today was Rossi's 200th Grand Prix and this his 142nd podium since he opened his account with a third place at the 1996 Austrian GP in the 125cc class. It was also a good day for Rossi's team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who put his recent injuries and yesterday's poor qualifying behind him t

The 2008 World Enduro Championship will be the last for the decorated UFO Corse Yamaha Racing Team as they plan to stop racing activities at the end of this season. After ten years including four world titles, seven honours at the ISDE and four consecutive Italian championships, the Italian crew will pull out of competitive commitments at world level as team owners. The squad are one of the powerhouses of World Enduro backed, by Yamaha Motor Europe and Yamaha Motor Italia. They earned three 25

In the second round of the Women’s Road Racing European Championship at the TT circuit of Assen Nina Prinz again showed her class leading abilities on her Yamaha YZF-R1. As with the first round, there was no real competition for the German Yamaha rider. The reigning European champion from Mannheim / Leutkirch was quickest all weekend, and never looked as if she was going to struggle with the competition. In the qualifying sessions, the Superstock Yamaha YZF-R1 proved it’s superior abilities in

Italian Simone Albergoni once again led the UFO Corse Yamaha team's Enduro 1 class assault of the World Enduro Championship where at the Grand Prix of Poland he finished in 4th and 3rd places aboard his WR250F. With a break of just over two months since the third round of the series was held in Spain Albergoni was determined to maintain his good run of results in this year's WEC series and despite missing out on a podium result on Day1 claimed a well deserved 3rd place on Day2 to maintain his

Yamaha Monster Motocross Team's Josh Coppins returned to the podium with second position overall at an overcast St Jean d'Angely for the Grand Prix of France and the seventh event of fifteen in the 2008 FIM MX1-GP World Championship. Team-mate and series leader on the works YZ450FM, David Philippaerts, had a tough and unlucky day in front of 30,000 spectators and did not finish the second race to place 18th overall. The established and impressive circuit, located near La Rochelle on the west c

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) stormed to a superb double win at the Nürburgring in Germany today, winning back-to-back 20-lap races to re-ignite his championship challenge. He also takes away the new lap record, thanks to a blistering 1'56.892, set on lap 11 of race two. His team-mate Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) was unlucky not to score a podium in race one but was battling for the outright win with Haga in an unbelievable race two, before the threatening rain fel