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After his hard fought third in yesterday’s Portuguese Grand Prix, Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi was back out on track today for a one-day test at Estoril. The team are anxious to take every chance to continue the crucial development process between the Yamaha M1 and the Bridgestone tyres and today’s test was focused on just this. Rossi tested a wide range of new rubber compounds with an eye to the next race in China, at which Bridgestone has a strong record, and the 29-year was very p

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo is recovering well after undergoing a successful operation on his right arm. The 20-year-old has suffered from pain due to Compartmental Syndrome, often referred to as ‘Arm Pump’, during the first three races and the operation was performed yesterday afternoon by Dr. Xavier Mir, head of arm surgery at the Institut Universitari Dexeus in Barcelona. The procedure, which is fairly common amongst MotoGP riders, aims to loosen the muscle compression inside the a

Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team rider Noriyuki Haga could not have had two bigger contrasts in his raceday at Valencia, taking a superb win in the second 23-lap contest, but crashing out of the opener at high speed. His team-mate Troy Corser was rewarded for a consistent first race ride with a podium finish in third, and then went on to score a fighting fifth in race two. Corser's podium came in a race where 20 riders finished and there were many high profile incidents. Corser was a lonely third

The opening Grand Prix of the 2008 FIM MX1-GP World Championship has been a busy but positive outing for the Yamaha Monster Motocross Team as David Philippaerts and Josh Coppins took fifth and sixth positions respectively through the deep, dark and technically challenging sand at the Eurocircuit in Valkenswaard today. After unveiling the new all-black liveries for the YZ450FMs in front of an extravagant fire display on Friday evening for a group of international media, (a gallery of images can

Chad Reed moved up to third place in the all-time AMA Supercross victories table after clinching the 34th win of his career and the eighth of the 2008 championship at the Texas Stadium in Dallas last Saturday. The Australian led from the second lap until the chequered flag for his second triumph in the space of a week. The 25 year old owned the thirteenth round of seventeen and now stands 27 points ahead of Kevin Windham. In front of more than 46,000 fans, Reed enacted a fine performance to fo

A two day test for the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team at their home circuit of Monza was expected to be an opportunity to run the latest Pirelli development tyres in readiness for the Monza round on 11 May. With the high-speed 5.793km track drenched with rain on both days, however, the team had to adapt their plans. Noriyuki Haga and Troy Corser went to these tests, held at a circuit only a short distance from their Gerno di Lesmo team headquarters, with the natural confidence that a race win (f

Last week at a sunny Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia on Spain’s east coast, a gathering of Yamaha racing teams and riders from thirteen countries occupied thirty-one pit-boxes at the MotoGP venue to take part in the sixth edition of the distinguished YRT (Yamaha Race Training) programme. Fifty teams and one hundred and one riders from national Supersport standard to FIM Superstock 1000 level meant that over three hundred personnel filled the site. The objective was to improve the participant

The Fiat Yamaha Team's young Spanish rookie Jorge Lorenzo, who boasts an outstanding record of two pole positions and two podiums from his two MotoGP starts, put in more impressive work today during a one-day test in Jerez. After joining his team-mate Valentino Rossi as part of a Fiat Yamaha double podium yesterday, he posted the fastest time of the day and completed a total of 94 laps. Another day of Andalucian sunshine today provided Lorenzo and his crew with the chance to work on general se

Yamaha has long recognized that not only many women ride motorcycles, but that they like to ride fast on a race track too. The most recent proof comes in the shape of current Womens’ Road Racing European Champion in the 1000 class Nina Prinz, who will team up with Yamaha in 2008. Twenty-five-year-old Nina, from Mannheim/Leutkirch in Germany, won all three 2007 European Women Championship races sanctioned by the UEM (European Motorcycle Union). This success landed her with the opportunity to de

Having missed the official FGSport tests in March the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team had to work particularly hard on the first day of the Valencia race weekend to set times just inside the top ten of the 30 riders who entered this third round of the 2008 season. Corser's best time was only 0.618 seconds from fastest man Max Neukirchner (Suzuki) and put him ninth in a session where the top 15 riders qualified within a second of provisional pole. Haga was tenth, only 0.124 seconds from Corser, as

The Yamaha Monster Motocross Team will be hoping to strike extra fear into their FIM Motocross World Championship rivals in 2008 thanks to a new alliance with Monster Energy drinks. The factory-backed Grand Prix squad – now entitled ‘Yamaha Monster Motocross Team’ thanks to the title sponsorship - will benefit from a high-profile three year joint programme with one of the new powerful movers in motorcycle racing for their attempt on the MX1-GP title. On the eve of the first Grand Prix of fifte

As with the opening two rounds of the '08 World Enduro Championship, Simone Albergoni recorded the UFO Corse Yamaha team's best results in the Enduro 1 class at the Grand Prix of Spain in Sitges. Narrowly missing out on a podium result on day one when he finished fourth, Albergoni placed a comfortable third on day two and now holds the same position in the E1 championship standings. Although unsatisfied with his performances on the opening day, Simone showed that he had the speed to run with h

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 o

In the week where Yamaha released their YZ production models for 2008, Yamaha Motocross Team's Josh Coppins and De Carli Yamaha's Antonio Cairoli placed the YZ450FM and YZ250F on the top steps of the MX1 and MX2 podiums respectively for the fifth time this season at Sevlievo for the Grand Prix of Bulgaria and the eighth round of fifteen in the FIM Motocross World Championship.   Coppins gained his fifth victory of the year, with results of second and first, and has extended his tally of moto tri

Team Yamaha Ricci’s Nicolas Aubin ended an impressive breakthrough season in which he won his first Grand Prix, finished a career-best sixth in the MX2 World Championship and by assisting France to second place in front of a huge 74,000 crowd packed into the impressive Budds Creek circuit, Maryland USA for the 61st Motocross of Nations. On a typically American track that was quick, technical, lined with jumps and blessed with hot sunshine. The temperatures in the mid 30’s gave the racing an ext

Yamaha De Carli Team rider Antonio Cairoli secured the 2007 Italian championship title at the last of round of the six race championship held at the Gazzane di Preseglie track in Brescia. Cairoli, as defending 2006 champion, entered the last round with a ten points lead on fellow Yamaha rider Manuel Monni and managed to seal his championshipby winning the first moto, while his closest rival placed seventh when penalized for overtaking under a yellow flag. Needing only two points from the second