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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Former double world championship runner-up Josh Coppins will enter a third year with Yamaha and the Yamaha Monster Motocross Team after putting pen to paper to extend his current deal this week. The popular New Zealander, who presently sits third in the 2008 FIM MX-1 series as the calendar reaches its tenth stop this weekend in South Africa, has won six Grand Prix in a potent combination with the YZ450FM, including a memorable debut success at Valkenswaard for the opening round of 2007 and almo

Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd is delighted to announce that it has signed a new one-year deal with current Tech 3 Yamaha team rider Colin Edwards. Edwards will continue to race with the Tech 3 Team alongside Briton James Toseland in 2009. The Texan has agreed the new one-year contract for the 2009 MotoGP World Championship after enjoying the best spell of his premier class career with Herve Poncharal’s Tech 3 Yamaha squad. The 34-year-old has already scored two podium finishes, four top five finishes a

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd is delighted to announce that it has signed a new two-year agreement with Valentino Rossi. The seven-time world champion will continue to race with the Yamaha Factory Racing Team for the 2009 and 2010 MotoGP World Championships. The 29-year-old Italian joined Yamaha in 2004 and since then he has won two world championships, 32 races and taken 20 pole positions for the Japanese factory. He is currently leading the 2008 rider championship, having taken three wins and a furt

Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) moved from fourth to third in the championship standings after securing a second and a fourth place finish at Brno, as his team-mate Noriyuki Haga rode with all his spirit and skill to take sixth in race one and salvage a seventh from a pitlane start in race two. Corser was on top form once more on raceday and in the 500th World Superbike race, the 13 points he took for his race two fourth place put him into overall third place in the championship, 12

Low winter sunshine bathed 20,000 spectators at the scenic Nelspruit circuit for the Grand Prix of South Africa and Yamaha Monster Motocross Team's David Philippaerts finished 4th overall and saw just one point chipped away from his lead at the top of the series; the gap now at eleven. Josh Coppins was 6th on the YZ450FM and remains third in the standings. The tenth round of fifteen in the 2008 FIM MX1-GP World Championship visited the southern hemisphere for the first time since 2006 (after t

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi took his first career win on American soil today, emerging victorious after an epic duel with Casey Stoner at Laguna Seca. The Italian, who signed a new two-year deal with Yamaha this week, has now won four races this season and is 25 points clear at the top of the championship. Rossi started from second and was able to pass Stoner on the brakes during the first lap to take the lead. From then on it was clear that the pair were in a class of their own tod

Starting the second half of the 2008 World Enduro Championship in style Italian UFO Course Yamaha rider Simone Albergoni narrowly missed out on claiming the Enduro 1 class win on day one of the Grand Prix of Wales, claiming an eventual second place behind Yamaha France rider Marc Germain. With the opening day of the fifth round of the series the wettest of the calendar so far, it also proved to be one of the hardest, but despite the atrocious conditions the two Yamaha riders battled one anothe

Jorge Lorenzo will be wearing a cast on his left foot for the next ten days, in order to recover from the clean fractures he sustained to his third, fourth and fifth metatarsal bones last Sunday. The Fiat Yamaha rider was taken directly to the USP Institut Universitari Dexeus in Barcelona upon his return from Laguna Seca, in order to undergo a series of examinations by Dr. Xavier Mir. The Spaniard was injured in a crash on the opening lap of last Sunday’s U.S. Grand Prix, the final round befor

Three time British Supersport champion Karl Harris has signed up to the Yamaha World Supersport Team for the British round of the 2008 World Supersport Championship at Brands Hatch on 2nd August. With proven previous Supersport experience and currently riding for the Rob Mac Yamaha British Superbike team, he was a natural choice for the ride. Karl steps in to replace rider Fabien Foret after the Frenchman suffered a serious crash in qualifying at the Brno round of the championship. Foret crack