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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

Yamaha Motor Italia riders Andrew Pitt and Noriyuki Haga go into tomorrow's Monza races in good spirits after a strong showing in today's final qualifying sessions. Both riders have run consistently at the top of the timesheets, with Pitt third and Haga fourth at the end of the two one-hour qualifying sessions. Both men were to lose places in their grid deciding one-lap superpole runs, but with the leading riders covered by just fractions of a second around this long and fast circuit, Pitt and

Noriyuki Haga gave the Tifosi plenty to cheer about with a fine podium finish at Monza today. The ever-popular Yamaha Motor Italia star equaled his best ever result around the historic circuit with third place in race two to the delight of his locally based team and a large and passionate crowd. Race one saw Haga involved in a three-way battle for second place with Troy Corser (Suzuki) and Alex Barros (Honda), which ultimately saw him finish fourth at the end of 18 grueling laps. For race two t

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

The whirlwind start to the 2006 MotoGP World Championship continues next weekend as the paddock's globetrotting journey heads eastwards across Asia to the Shanghai International Circuit in China. After visiting Spain, Qatar and Turkey in the opening three rounds of the series, the Camel Yamaha Team take their points quest back to the skies for another 'flyaway' race, before returning to start a European road trip that covers seven races in nine weeks - starting at the Le Mans circuit in France o

Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi returned to the top of the MotoGP time sheets today as hard work during practice and testing following the last round at Istanbul began to bear fruit on the opening day of the Grand Prix of China. In soaking conditions caused by a steady downpour of fine rain throughout the day, Rossi repeated the form that saw him take a wet victory at the Shanghai circuit last season with the fastest times in both today's free practice sessions.  After setting the pace

Camel Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards will start from the front row of the MotoGP grid in tomorrow's Grand Prix of China after setting the third fastest time in a dramatic single qualifying session today. After battling through torrentially wet conditions yesterday, the riders enjoyed a cloudy but dry free practice this morning as they sought to find a suitable dry set-up for their machines. The afternoon started in similar conditions but a brief rain shower midway through the session confined t

Camel Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards charged from the front row of the grid to the podium today with a determined performance in the Grand Prix of China. Whilst his team-mate Valentino Rossi was denied the chance to challenge for a top three spot after pulling in with a tyre problem on the sixteenth lap, Edwards reaped the rewards of a blistering start to the race, when he snatched the hole-shot and led the field over the opening stages. In sunny and warm conditions Edwards set a scorching pac

The UFO Corse Yamaha team claimed their best results of the 2006 World Enduro Championship at round three of the series, the GP of Euskadi staged at Gernika, Spain, where team riders Stefan Merriman and Johnny Aubert claimed a day win each in the highly competitive Enduro 2 class. Having both performed well at the GP of Portugal, where they also claimed a day win each, it was Merriman who was first to top the E2 class podium in Gernika after a consistent and incident free performance on day one.

The Camel Yamaha Team get back to European territory this weekend as they look to bring their MotoGP World Championship points quest back on track in France, following a disappointing run of races on unfamiliar shores. The legendary Le Mans circuit, which has intermittently played home to the MotoGP World Championship since 1969, has been a fixture on the calendar for the last six seasons and this year plays host to the fifth round of an incredible campaign that has already seen four different w

Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards will start from the third row of the grid in the Grand Prix of France tomorrow after setting the seventh and ninth fastest times respectively in this afternoon's qualifying practice. The session took place in dry conditions with ambient temperatures reaching 18ºC after the sunshine finally overpowered the thick black clouds that hovered over the Le Mans circuit and caused the third free practice session to be held in wet conditions durin

Stefan Everts collected his fifth win in a row after pole position, two holeshots and two complete victories in front of 17,400 spectators this afternoon at a sun-bathed Sugo circuit for the Grand Prix of Japan and the fifth round of the 2006 FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship. The Belgian guided his YZ450FM to both chequered flags to extend his 100% record this season and walked away with a 92nd career success. After his seventh consecutive moto triumph Everts is now controlling the series b

Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi's unfortunate start to his MotoGP World Championship defence continued today as the Italian rider was hit by another bout of bad luck at Le Mans, where he was forced to retire from the lead with an engine problem. This time his team-mate Colin Edwards was also hit by the jinx, the American being pushed wide in the second corner of the race and running into the gravel traps. The silver lining to the day for the team on a cloudy day in France was that Edward

Britain's Silverstone circuit is the venue for this weekend's fifth round of the 2006 Superbike World Championship. So far the season has been a case of so near but so far for the Yamaha Motor Italia squad. In the eight races run so far this year, Noriyuki Haga has twice finished on the third step of the podium and never finished lower than fifth place. One DNF (crashing on the final lap while contesting the lead at the first race in Qatar) puts Haga fifth in the championship, although the Japa

Yamaha Motor Italia rider Noriyuki Haga shone in first qualifying at a damp and windy Silverstone today, ending the day in fourth place with team-mate Andrew Pitt an equally strong sixth. Morning practice took place in wet conditions and although the track was mostly dry for the one-hour afternoon qualifying, the tricky conditions caught out many big name riders and led to two stoppages caused by riders crashing. Haga, who gave the Yamaha YZF-R1 its first world superbike podium finish at Silve