Yamaha second and third in a one-race round

The British weather tried to spoil the seventh round of the World Superbike Championship at Silverstone today but it couldn't take away two podium positions from the Yamaha Motor Italia Team. In a rain-soaked single-race day Haga took second while Corser took his 110th podium position in third. The second race was cancelled after a 30 minute delay to clear water from the track failed to improve conditions.

The day started with a twenty minute warm up session that doubled up as the first opportunity for all the teams to find their wet set up. Corser showed his wet race confidence in the YZF-R1, going second fastest overall in the session. Haga went fifth fastest but had a small crash at the end of the session.

Both Haga and Corser got good race starts with Haga maintaining his second place and Corser moving up to fourth. Within one lap Corser had passed his way up to second, overtaking Haga along the way, and was focusing on catching front man Bayliss. It was on lap four that Corser took the lead until Bayliss re-took it after six laps.

The water soaked track made for difficult race conditions but all three riders were locked in a tight battle for the lead for the remainder of the race. Haga squeezed past Corser on lap 19 and went on to set the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap to give Yamaha their 50th fastest lap of all-time. Both riders held on to their positions to take second and third positions. Yamaha was the only manufacturer today to have all its riders finish.

Shinichi Nakatomi braved the bad weather to put in a strong performance. He finished 13th and took away three points in his most disliked weather conditions and with two broken toes.

Haga now goes into the eighth round at Misano only 23 points behind first place; Corser maintains his fifth position with the 16 points from today's race.

Noriyuki Haga (2nd - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I'm a bit disappointed the race has been cancelled because I have lost out on the chance to take away even more points. The conditions out there are bad but I still would've wanted to race - that's my job and I know the risks. At least no championship points have gone elsewhere.

This morning I had a small high-side crash in the warm up session but it didn't put me off in the race. I was more concerned about my suspension setting which wasn't perfect. The twenty minute session this morning wasn't long enough for me to find the best wet set up so I had to work with what I had. I am surprised at my result and getting fastest lap considering this but it's a good result and I have even managed to reduce the points difference between myself and first place. I'm looking forward to Misano - at least it hardly ever rains there!"

Troy Corser (3rd - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I'm disappointed that the second race was cancelled because I was going well in the wet today and reckon I could've got another podium. I am pleased with my race one result as it's the first time I have ridden the Yamaha in full wet conditions. I was running in first place but just couldn't maintain it because of the conditions and I made a small mistake - when you make a mistake in this weather it can really affect you. I'm happy with the bike and also now with both wet and dry set up. With regard to race two there was so much water on the track I nearly crashed twice on the sighting lap. But to not race is still disappointing."

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "We got a good result today considering the weather. To have both riders on the podium together re-pays all the hard work the team has put in so far this season. Today we have are twelve points closer to the championship win so we are now even more motivated. To see Troy on the podium was great because he's had some bad luck in the last few races. All our energies are now on the next race at Misano as it is our second home race. I would like to thank the team for all their hard work this weekend."

Shinichi Nakatomi (13th - Team Yamaha YZF) "This has been a difficult weekend with my injuries and the weather. I had very little time between races to recover from my crash at Monza; I was in a lot of pain and found it hard to push on the footpeg during the race. But I have found some good setting this weekend and am pleased to finish in thirteenth as the bike was sliding a lot in the rain."

Martial Garcia (Team Manager, Team Yamaha YZF) "It is good to take away three points from this round considering Tomi's pain. He told me that he almost stopped during the race but he fought on to take some points. He now has three weeks to recover which is a good amount of time. It is a credit to him that he finished the race today, I am pleased with his result."   Circuit Length: 3619 Temp: 10 Crowd: 55,000 Weather: Wet     2007 WSB Silverstone 27/05/2007 Race 1 - 28 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 46'2.875 2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 0'2.035 3 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 0'4.568 4 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 0'50.039 5 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'9.696 6 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'20.982 7 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'33.061 8 James Toseland Honda GBR -1 Laps 9 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP -1 Laps 10 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER -1 Laps 11 Vittorio Iannuzzo Kawasaki ITA -1 Laps 12 Luca Morelli Ducati ITA -1 Laps 13 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN -2 Laps

Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'37.005

 Rider Standings 27/05/2007

Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. James Toseland Honda GBR 237 2. Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 214 3. Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 201 4. Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 189 5. Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 151 6. Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 116 7. Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 113 8. Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 90 9. Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 87 10. Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 62 11. Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 60 12. Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 59 13. Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 46 14. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 44 15. Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 40 17. Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 22

Manufacturer Standings 27/05/2007

Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 251 2. Yamaha 237 3. Ducati 234 4. Suzuki 201 5. Kawasaki 88

RACE REPORT 27/05/2007 West gives Yamaha their first Supersport race win of the season    Freezing temperatures and heavy rain was not enough to put Anthony West off from taking his first race win for Yamaha today at Silverstone. In a dramatic race for the Yamaha World Supersport Team Broc Parkes crashed out while in second place and West went from 16th to take the race win in appalling weather conditions.

Both riders got excellent starts with Parkes going into the lead on the first lap with Yamaha Team Italia rider Massimo Roccoli in second and West making an impressive charge from 16th to 6th. Parkes started to open a gap between him and the rest of the pack as West continued his one-man charge. After passing Roccoli on lap four West set about catching his team mate. By lap ten he had passed Parkes and already put 3.5 seconds between them.

Parkes was maintaining his second place when he crashed on lap 14 at the old hairpin in a low-side slide. Roccoli had been running in third for the majority of the race when he also crashed out on lap 23. The race was then red flagged due to the deteriorating weather conditions giving Anthony West the race win with a comfortable 33 second lead.

Today's race success puts West in seventh place in the championship and only 28 points behind fourth place.

Anthony West (1st - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "This is a fantastic result especially when you consider my qualifying position. The rain helped in a way because I was finding it very difficult in the dry to find a decent set up. I need more time at tracks I don't know to get the right race setting but the rain leveled the playing field. I wasn't even too confident in my wet set up that we sorted in this morning's session because the session was stopped and re-started and we lost time.

I went hard for the first few laps and I had some big moments which were scary. I had quite a few throughout the race actually so I am glad that the race was red flagged - it was too cold to keep going. I was out there long enough!

I would like to dedicate this win to Kevin Curtain as without him I would not have had this chance to race in World Supersport. I really feel for him being out injured and I hope he gets well soon."

Broc Parkes (DNF - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I knew Anthony was going very fast and I tried to follow but there was almost too much of a gap. The crash was so strange, it was really slow and I didn't even crash hard but I broke the footpeg and that ended my race. I just can't believe that I have crashed again, I'm pretty devastated."

Massimo Roccoli (DNF - Yamaha Team Italia) "I took a lot of risks today. My aim to challenge Fujiwara towards the end of the race for the podium position but I lost the rear and crashed out. I am very disappointed because I have been fast here in the dry this weekend."   Circuit Length: 3619 Temp: 10 Crowd: 55,000 Weather: Very Wet     2007 WSS Silverstone 27/05/2007 Race 1 - 28 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Anthony West Yamaha AUS 39'16.245 2 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 0'33.477 3 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 0'48.057 4 Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 0'51.777 5 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 0'54.295 6 Matthieu Lagrive Honda FRA 1'1.579 7 Javier Fores Honda ESP 1'50.576 8 Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 1'52.106 9 Julien Enjolras Yamaha FRA 1'53.184 10 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED -1 Laps 11 Miguel Praia Honda POR -1 Laps 12 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA -1 Laps 13 Jesco Gunther Honda GER -1 Laps 14 Gregory Leblanc Honda FRA -1 Laps 15 Joan Lascorz Honda ESP -1 Laps

Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Anthony West Yamaha AUS 1'44.188

 Rider Standings 27/05/2007

Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 145 2. Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 100 3. Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 69 4. Robbin Harms Honda DNK 59 5. Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 47 6. Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 43 7. Anthony West Yamaha AUS 41 8. Andrew Pitt Honda AUS 40 9. David Salom Yamaha ESP 34 10. Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 34 11. Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 33 12. Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 30 13. Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 27 14. Craig Jones Honda GBR 25 15. Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 25 21. David Checa Yamaha ESP 20 24. Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 13

Manufacturer Standings 27/05/2007

Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 165 2. Kawasaki 110 3. Yamaha 107 4. Suzuki 54 5. Ducati 43

RACE REPORT 27/05/2007 Yamaha claim fifth and sixth finishes in bad weather conditions    Michele Pirro and Matteo Baiocco took fifth and sixth place finishes respectively today at Silverstone despite appalling weather conditions. With constant rain since last night the track had become very wet and slippery with lots of standing water.

All the weekend's practice and qualifying sessions so far this weekend had been in dry conditions which meant that no one had been able to find a good wet set up so everyone took the opportunity to use this morning's warm up session as a chance to get some wet settings. The race was also shortened to ten laps due to the weather.

Michele Pirro started on pole, his third of the season so far, with team mate Claudio Corti also on the front row in third. Fresh from his win at Monza two weeks ago, Team Umbria Bike rider Matteo Baiocco started in seventh position.

Pirro made a good start and took the lead on the first lap with Roberts and Aitchison close behind. Despite trying to build up a gap between himself and the pack behind Pirro was unable to shake off Roberts. On lap five Roberts passed Pirro but was unable to maintain it after a near high-side one lap later. Then, on the penultimate lap Pirro had a near crash and ran onto the gravel, losing first place. He re-joined to finish in fifth.

Baiocco and Corti battled together throughout the race for sixth position until an error by Corti saw him drop back to take tenth finishing slot. Baiocco held his ground to take sixth and ten valuable points.

Didier Van Keymeulen's weekend did not go according to plan when he crashed during Saturday's free practice session. He had been showing his potential from the start of the weekend, running fastest in the first free practice and achieving fourth in qualifying one. In the second practice session Didier was on a fast lap minutes before the end when he crashed at the chicane, breaking one of the lower vertebrae in his back and cracking his pelvis. His recovery period is expected to be abut three months.

Matteo Baiocco leaves Silverstone second in the championship and only eight points behind lead-man Aitchison. Pirro moves up to fifth place in his rookie year in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup with only four points separating him from third position. Corti lies in sixth, just three points behind his fellow Yamaha Team Italia rider.

Michele Pirro (5th - Yamaha Team Italia) "I got a very good start today and was two seconds in front when I hit a slippery white line and lost control while passing a back marker. I lost out on a very good opportunity this weekend to improve my championship standing. I am very sorry to the team."

Matteo Baiocco (6th - Team Umbria Bike) "I didn't get a good wet set up and I just tried to survive in the race, which I managed to do. I look forward to Misano, which is my home track, where I promise that the music will be very different!"

Claudio Corti (10th - Yamaha Team Italia) "I didn't have time to set the bike up for the wet today which meant I had a very poor result. I hpe for much better next time."   Circuit Length: 3619 Temp: 9 Crowd: 55,000 Weather: Wet     2007 Superstock Silverstone 27/05/2007 Race 1 - 10 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Brendan Roberts Ducati AUS 17'54.454 2 Mark Aitchison Suzuki AUS 0'3.270 3 Matej Smrz Honda CZE 0'9.170 4 Xavier Simeon Suzuki BEL 0'14.674 5 Michele Pirro Yamaha ITA 0'20.559 6 Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 0'26.737 7 Cederic Tangre Yamaha FRA 0'27.989 8 Loic Napoleone Suzuki FRA 0'27.437 9 Ayrton Badovini MV Agusta ITA 0'32.785 10 Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 0'34.403 11 Lorenzo Baroni Ducati ITA 0'37.299 12 Ilario Dionisi Suzuki ITA 0'37.586 13 Nicolo Canepa Ducati ITA 0'40.906 14 Marko Jerman Suzuki SVK 0'46.422 15 Dario Giuseppetti Yamaha GER 0'58.452

Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Matej Smrz Honda CZE 1'44.768

 Rider Standings 27/05/2007

Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Mark Aitchison Suzuki AUS 78 2. Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 70 3. Nicolo Canepa Ducati ITA 60 4. Michele Pirro Yamaha ITA 56 5. Ilario Dionisi Suzuki ITA 54 6. Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 51 7. Xavier Simeon Suzuki BEL 51 8. Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha BEL 45 9. Brendan Roberts Ducati AUS 35 10. Matej Smrz Honda CZE 31 11. Rene Mahr Yamaha GER 26 12. Cederic Tangre Yamaha FRA 23 13. Marko Jerman Suzuki SVK 23 14. Sheridan Morais Ducati RSA 19 15. Danilo Dell'omo MV Agusta ITA 13

Manufacturer Standings 27/05/2007

Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 101 2. Suzuki 91 3. Ducati 85 4. Honda 43 5. MV Agusta 24 6. Kawasaki 4