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Yamaha Motor Italia's Andrew Pitt was the top R1 rider in today's first qualifying session for Sunday's penultimate round of the 2006 Superbike World Championship in Imola, ending the day seventh fastest in a close session that sees the top 14 riders covered by just over a second. The Australian gunned his Yamaha around the long and demanding circuit in best time of 1:50.502, just 0.463 behind the day's fastest rider James Toseland (Honda). Pitt, who lifted the 2001 world supersport crown at th

Yamaha Motor Italia's Andrew Pitt rode a super-smooth lap during today's superpole session to take a front row start for tomorrow's races in Imola, with team-mate Noriyuki Haga on the second row after making big improvements to his machine set-up. Having worked methodically on finding a good race setting throughout the four one-hour practice sessions, Pitt demonstrated his ultimate pace with a blistering 1:49.433 lap time to take third on the grid for tomorrow's races. Despite being almost half

The penultimate round of the 2006 Superbike World Championship takes place this weekend at the famous Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in the town of Imola, the championship's third visit of the year to Italy. The technically demanding circuit is steeped in heritage thanks mainly to its history as a Formula One circuit but it is also famous as a bike venue too, having hosted the classic Imola 200 events during the Seventies and, more recently, Grand Prix and superbike racing. The circuit's surface

Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi now trails MotoGP World Championship series leader Nicky Hayden (Honda) by just twelve points with two rounds remaining thanks to his fourth consecutive podium, his eighth from the last ten races, in Japan today. Rossi took second place in a race dominated and won by Loris Capirossi (Ducati), with Marco Melandri (Honda) completing the podium in a carbon copy of the front row order. The 20-point reward for Rossi moved him another nine closer to Hayden, who

Poland's Bartosz Oblucki and Frenchman Marc Germain shared top honours in the Enduro 1 class at the eighth and final round of the 2006 World Enduro Championship, the GP of France held in Boussac. With conditions far from ideal following heavy rain during the days leading up to the race, as well as during the event itself, the last round of the 2006 WEC series proved to be extremely challenging for all competitors. Performing at his best in the slippery conditions Oblucki placed 14 seconds ahead

Camel Yamaha Team racers Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards began their preparations for the Grand Prix of Japan in ideal fashion today, lapping at the top end of the time sheets throughout both free practice sessions and ending the day with the first and fourth fastest laps overall. Both riders were able to work on their race setting, adapting the machine configuration from the fast and flowing demands of Phillip Island to the stop-start nature of Motegi, before fitting a softer compound rear ty

Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi delighted his legion of local fans with a sensational final lap in qualifying practice for the Grand Prix of Japan this afternoon. Rossi continued his excellent progress with another day of hard work on the race setting of his YZR-M1 before heading out to challenge Loris Capirossi (Ducati) for pole. Unfortunately Rossi's first attempt on qualifying tyres was baulked when a rider crashed in front him, forcing the Italian to make a last-minute pit-stop. It m

The final leg of an exhausting Grand Prix triple-header takes place in Japan this weekend as the chase for the MotoGP World Championship heads north from Australia with Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi now the closest he has been to the series lead since the third round of the season in Turkey. Third place for the Italian at Phillip Island on Sunday moved him to within 21 points of Nicky Hayden (Honda), with this weekend's event at the Motegi circuit in the Tochigi prefecture providing an

Stefan Everts closed a record-breaking career - boasting numbers and results surely never to be equalled - with his fourteenth victory from fifteen events Ernee at the French Grand Prix for the final round of the FIM 2006 MX1 World Championship. The 33-year-old decorated Belgian, 2006 World Champion and ten times title winner across 125, 250, 500, MXGP and MX1 classes scooped his 101st career victory with two double triumphs watched and applauded by 17.000 appreciative spectators. The masses ac

Valentino Rossi clinched the final spot on the podium with a daring manoeuvre in the very last corner of a dramatic flag-to-flag race, the first of its kind in MotoGP, held in mixed weather conditions at Phillip Island this afternoon. The drama started on the warm-up lap when a light shower meant that the race was recalled as wet, giving the riders chance to change tyres on the grid. However, with track conditions still relatively dry they all opted to stay on slicks until the rain intensified -

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 gatherin

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 Austr

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

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

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

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