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Yamaha signs Eugene Laverty to complete 2011 World Superbike Team

Yamaha has signed a contract with current World Supersport title contender Eugene Laverty to join the Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team on the YZF-R1 alongside MotoGP rider Marco Melandri for the 2011 season. 24 yr old Laverty from Northern Ireland is a proven racer, having come second to Yamaha’s reigning World Supersport Champion Cal Crutchlow in the 2009 championship with four race wins. He is currently just 12 points behind the lead in the current standings with two further rounds to go having taken seven race wins and five pole position starts so far this season. Laverty is no stranger to Yamaha, taking time out from the 250cc MotoGP Championship to enjoy two wild card World Supersport rides in 2008 in place of injured rider Fabien Foret. The young rider adapted quickly, scoring an impressive podium finish with third in his second outing at Vallelunga. “It’s great to have a contract signed at this stage while still fighting for the title in the Supersport class. I desperately want to win this year before moving on,” said Eugene Laverty. “When I rode the Yamaha YZF-R6 in World Supersport in 2008 I was having a tough time in 250s, it’s nice that Yamaha brought me to the fore and are now giving me the opportunity within superbike. Ben Spies winning the championship in 2009 and Cal Crutchlow now stepping up and winning races shows the bike and team are more than capable so the rest is up to me. I think with the team support and a good testing schedule we can start the 2011 championship ready to be competitive from the first race and be on the podium as early as possible. Having a teammate like Marco Melandri is great, he has a wealth of experience to learn from so I’m going to enjoy riding with him.” “We’ve been very impressed with Eugene in the World Supersport Championship,” said Yamaha Motor Europe Racing Manager Laurens Klein Koerkamp. “He is a very talented racer who has shown great dedication to training, is focussed on victory and we know he’s a great person to work with. We have proved with Cal Crutchlow that we have the facility to bring young riders through from World Supersport, continue to nurture and develop them in World Superbike and provide them with further opportunities in MotoGP if the situation is right. We look forward to working with Eugene and believe he has the talent to continue through with Yamaha into the future.”
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Philippaerts pulls through to 6th at bumpy Loket

DP in Czech Rep. David Philippaerts endured a hard day of work at a rutty and one-line Loket circuit for the Grand Prix of Czech Republic and the twelfth stop of fifteen on the 2010 FIM MX1-GP World Championship calendar. The Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team star showed typical aggression and determination to finish in 6th position overall against the odds. Loket was a difficult layout to deal with after two days of rainfall created a swampy surface on Saturday and the qualification heats were cancelled in favour of a Timed Practice. The rain finally stopped in the afternoon and welcome sunshine and warmer temperatures began to dry the terrain on Sunday. Philippaerts did his best on the works YZ450FM - already a winner of two Grands Prix in its maiden season - across the bumpy course and sealed 4th in the first moto. Two mistakes in the second race saw the 2008 world champion and former double winner of the Czech round having to fight back from a position outside the top twenty-five to reach a respectable 9th. De Dycker Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team's Ken De Dycker was 14th overall. The Belgian is still not fully race-fit after his Swedish arm injury and lacks bike-time on his YZ450FM. De Dycker did his best to record 11th in the first moto but then ran wide on a tight corner in the second race and became stuck in the slimy pool of mud that was a reminder of the atrocious weather that blighted the circuit for the previous two days. The 25 year old could not recover his machine. Philippaerts still holds 3rd in the world championship standings but will need 53 points from a possible remaining total of 150 to supersede Clement Desalle. He lays 12 ahead of Max Nagl. De Dycker is 6th although some distance from the top five. The Grand Prix of Brazil at the new circuit in Campo Grande will take place in two weeks time and rounds fourteen and fifteen will be hosted by Lierop (Netherlands) and Fermo (Italy). DP talks to press David Philippaerts, Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team: "In the first moto I struggled to get a good rhythm and I was disappointed because I started in second place but finished in fourth. In the second race I had two crashes - one when I lost control under braking and another when I got on the gas out of a turn and the rear just slipped away - I had some good speed after that and came back from very far to get inside the top ten, so that felt better. We will try our best in Brazil and look ahead to defending third place in the championship; that has to be our main goal now in the final three rounds." Ken De Dycker, Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci Motocross Team: "The first race was not good for me. I was able to get around the problems I've had with my arm in Lommel because I know the track very well, but here it was much harder and I had to hold on up the hills with my fingers sometimes. I'm still not 100% so I have to work on that. The clutch started to slip a little in the second moto and I had to keep the bike wide-open on the downhill but this meant I ran a bit wide and hit the mud. I tried to give the bike some gas to get out but it was stuck." Circuit Length: 1630 Crowd: 21,000 Weather: Cloudy
Last Years Winner: Clement Desalle 2010 GP of Czech Republic 08/08/2010 Race 1 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Tanel Leok Honda EST 39'08.429 2 Antonio Cairoli KTM ITA 0'03.457 3 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 0'07.250 4 David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 0'27.771 5 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 0'29.930 6 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'53.331 7 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 1'11.257 8 Nicolas Aubin Kawasaki FRA 1'12.146 9 Evgeny Bobryshev Honda RUS 1'15.536 10 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 1'21.500 11 Ken De Dycker Yamaha BEL 1'27.372 12 Gareth Swanepoel Honda RSA 1'29.401 13 Joshua Coppins Aprilia NZL 1'34.280 14 Jonathan Barragan Kawasaki ESP 1'38.218 15 Cedric Soubeyras KTM FRA 1'40.680 Race 2 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli KTM ITA 40'34.824 2 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 0'03.037 3 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 1'06.778 4 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 1'09.320 5 Tanel Leok Honda EST 1'10.907 6 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 1'11.841 7 Evgeny Bobryshev Honda RUS 1'17.435 8 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 1'21.038 9 David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 1'41.461 10 Joshua Coppins Aprilia NZL 1'48.010 11 Tom Church CCM GBR -1Laps 12 Julien Bill KTM CHE -1Laps 13 Jimmy Albertson Honda USA -1Laps 14 Matthias Walkner KTM AUT -1Laps 15 Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA -1Laps 17 Tom Soderstrom Yamaha SWE -1Laps Rider Standings 08/08/2010 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli KTM ITA 531 2. Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 447 3. David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 394 4. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 382 5. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 376 6. Ken De Dycker Yamaha BEL 309 7. Tanel Leok Honda EST 290 8. Xavier Boog Kawasaki FRA 276 9. Evgeny Bobryshev Honda RUS 270 10. Davide Guarneri Honda ITA 213 11. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 201 12. Joshua Coppins Aprilia NZL 184 13. Gareth Swanepoel Honda RSA 182 14. Rui Goncalves KTM POR 177 15. Anthony Boissière TM FRA 145 23. Tom Soderstrom Yamaha SWE 47 24. Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 46 28. Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 22 30. Kyle Chisholm Yamaha USA 20 36. Alvaro Lozano Yamaha ESP 14 37. Grant Langston Yamaha RSA 12 54. Rob van Vijfeijken Yamaha NED 1 Manufacturer Standings 08/08/2010 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. KTM 560 2. Suzuki 497 3. Yamaha 448 4. Honda 399 5. Kawasaki 332 6. Aprilia 192 7. TM 145 8. CCM 25 9. Husqvarna 4 RACE REPORT 08/08/2010 Second podium of 2010 for Paulin GP on the podium The Grand Prix of Czech Republic at the Loket circuit gave Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team's Gautier Paulin his second podium result of 2010 with 3rd overall and his second on the agile and formidable YZ250FM. The twelfth round of fifteen in a rapidly passing FIM MX2-GP World Championship took place in front of 21,000 spectators and across a soft, rutted and bumpy track that had been hit by unrelenting rainfall on Thursday, Friday and part of Saturday. The Czech hard-pack became a wavy and difficult beast to master with a single racing line cutting through many other still-soaked and boggy sections of track. Paulin was the best Yamaha rider on this testing terrain and although the talented Frenchman could only grab 6th in the first moto due to a mediocre start (he won an impressive last lap duel with good friend Christophe Charlier) he was alert from the gate in the second race and rode a consistent set of lap-times in the forty minute duration to cross the line in 3rd; and then toast the same overall ranking with the Italian factory crew. Osborne at Loket In 9th overall was Bike it Cosworth Yamaha's Zach Osborne. The American claimed that he is still feeling the physical effects of his crash and concussion only two weeks ago in the British Championship. The 20 year old was among the quickest riders throughout the rain of Saturday and had high expectations on a track he clearly enjoys. He felt fatigued in the first moto however and 11th place was the best he could manage. Later in the day a brighter outing led to 8th. 10th belonged to Yamaha Monster Energy Gariboldi's Harri Kullas. The young Finn had the speed to again place himself in the top ten and should have taken two positions more than 10th in the first moto after some mistakes - particularly with three laps to go - saw him lose at least three places. He crossed the line with 11th in the second sprint. Team-mate Christophe Charlier had a decent opening to the day by running in-and-around the top six for most of the race and was finally nudged to 7th by Paulin on the last circulation. The second affair ended prematurely when the 2009 European Champion pulled out with a sore back after a first lap fall in front of the pack while holding 3rd place. Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team's Alessandro Lupino was 14th overall and took points in both motos. Osborne is 16 points behind Shaun Simpson who holds 5th place in the MX2 standings. Kullas is 10th and 19 points in front of Paulin in 11th. Charlier is 13th and two positions ahead of Lupino. A long trip to Brazil for the inauguration of the Campo Grande circuit will take place in two weeks time with the world championship set to finish by mid-September after visits to Holland and Italy. Paulin at Loket Gautier Paulin, Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team: "I have been working hard to get back to my level and my main problem at the moment seems to be getting over this habit of one bad start and one good start. I was far behind the leaders at the beginning of the first moto but I feel quite content with this result overall because the bike and the team are great and I am gaining more confidence all the time with my riding. My aim will be two good starts in Brazil now and then the final two races!" Zach Osborne, Bike it Cosworth Yamaha: "I struggled today. I seemed to have about fifteen good minutes in me and then I felt like I was going through the motions. I think the concussion still has a bit of an effect and I should have had myself evaluated after the crash but I guess I didn't want to know because I'm fighting for a top five slot in the world. I think the track got the better of me a little bit today. It was very 'single-line' out there and that's make it tough. I'm having a hard time at the moment and we will work through it." Harri Kullas, Yamaha Monster Energy Gariboldi: "It was a hard track and I'm not so strong on this type of terrain yet but I know I can be in the top ten every moto. The first race went well until the last lap when I made a mistake not jumping the double and lost a position, which was frustrating. I made too many errors. I hit some soft mud out of the gate in the second race and this dragged me back a bit. I was fourteenth on the first lap and rode back to eleventh. I was lapped at the end so I know my speed was not the best! I will train more now and see what happens in Brazil." Christophe Charlier, Yamaha Monster Energy Gariboldi: "I'm happy with the first moto, I started well and had a good rhythm. Gautier just passed me at the end but I thought it was a good ride. I was third at the beginning of the second moto but slid out on the jump and was lucky that no-one hit me. I hurt my hip a little bit and could not finish but I hope for more good starts in Brazil." Circuit Length: 1630 Crowd: 21,000 Weather: Cloudy
Last Years Winner: Gautier Paulin 2010 GP of Czech Republic 08/08/2010 Race 1 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Ken Roczen Suzuki GER 39'33.781 2 Marvin Musquin KTM FRA 0'30.926 3 Jeffrey Herlings KTM NED 0'35.408 4 Jeremy Van Horebeek Kawasaki BEL 0'37.549 5 Shaun Simpson KTM GBR 0'52.968 6 Gautier Paulin Yamaha FRA 0'56.169 7 Christophe Charlier Yamaha FRA 0'57.223 8 Arnaud Tonus Suzuki CHE 1'00.372 9 Joel Roelants KTM BEL 1'01.813 10 Harri Kullas Yamaha FIN 1'11.753 11 Zach Osborne Yamaha USA 1'28.754 12 Matiss Karro Suzuki LVA 1'36.901 13 Martin Michek TM CZE 1'45.822 14 Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 1'56.300 15 Dennis Verbruggen KTM BEL -1Laps 16 Alessandro Lupino Yamaha ITA -1Laps 18 Glenn Coldenhoff Yamaha NED -1Laps Race 2 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Marvin Musquin KTM FRA 38'58.574 2 Ken Roczen Suzuki GER 0'00.516 3 Gautier Paulin Yamaha FRA 0'43.397 4 Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 0'58.354 5 Jeremy Van Horebeek Kawasaki BEL 1'14.565 6 Shaun Simpson KTM GBR 1'24.314 7 Arnaud Tonus Suzuki CHE 1'28.202 8 Zach Osborne Yamaha USA 1'29.270 9 Joel Roelants KTM BEL 1'29.793 10 Valentin Teillet KTM FRA 3'41.077 11 Harri Kullas Yamaha FIN -1Laps 12 Alessandro Lupino Yamaha ITA -1Laps 13 Martin Michek TM CZE -1Laps 14 Dennis Verbruggen KTM BEL -1Laps 15 Matiss Karro Suzuki LVA -1Laps Rider Standings 08/08/2010 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Marvin Musquin KTM FRA 527 2. Ken Roczen Suzuki GER 449 3. Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 404 4. Jeffrey Herlings KTM NED 391 5. Shaun Simpson KTM GBR 329 6. Zach Osborne Yamaha USA 313 7. Jeremy Van Horebeek Kawasaki BEL 302 8. Joel Roelants KTM BEL 298 9. Arnaud Tonus Suzuki CHE 293 10. Harri Kullas Yamaha FIN 254 11. Gautier Paulin Yamaha FRA 235 12. Jake Nicholls KTM GBR 198 13. Christophe Charlier Yamaha FRA 193 14. Dennis Verbruggen KTM BEL 148 15. Alessandro Lupino Yamaha ITA 143 20. Mel Pocock Yamaha GBR 52 25. Ceriel Klein Kromhof Yamaha NED 26 28. Loic Larrieu Yamaha FRA 25 30. Travis Baker Yamaha USA 15 31. Glenn Coldenhoff Yamaha NED 15 35. Max Anstie Yamaha GBR 9 37. Vince Friese Yamaha USA 8 41. Rudi Moroni Yamaha ITA 5 51. Ed Allingham Yamaha GBR 2 Manufacturer Standings 08/08/2010 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. KTM 576 2. Suzuki 473 3. Kawasaki 424 4. Yamaha 414 5. Honda 97 6. TM 35
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Yamaha and KTM positions on Italian rider selection for MX of Nations

Yamaha Motor Europe and KTM Sport Motorcycles were disappointed to learn of the press release on Saturday 7th August by the Italian Motorcycle Federation (FMI) revealing that Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team’s David Philippaerts and Red Bull KTM’s Tony Cairoli have been unable to be considered for the final selection for the Italian team due to certain conditions to represent their country in the 2010 Motocross of Nations at Thunder Valley in Colorado on September 26th. After discussions with the Italian Federation, in which Yamaha Motor Europe and KTM Sport Motorcycles were willing and fully open for negotiation regarding representation on the official Italian team jersey, we were disappointed to learn that 2008 MX1-GP World Champion Philippaerts and reigning MX1-GP World Champion Cairoli (presently 3rd and 1st in the 2010 standings respectively) were eliminated from the final short-list. We would like to clarify that both riders are available but the condition of the FMI that there will be no space allowed at all for the manufacturer or its sponsors on the front of jersey is not acceptable to both Yamaha and KTM. The FMI was only prepared to open two tiny spaces on the sleeve of each jersey and despite several efforts from Yamaha and KTM a compromise for a frontal space was not reached. Yamaha and KTM had already accepted for the FMI to decide the base colour and to add their own sponsors on the jersey, if not in conflict with existing team partners. Discussions of this nature are not unusual for the Motocross of Nations with many riders, teams, brands and companies represented by the three best riders from each country around the globe coming together under one umbrella. For virtually all other teams a compromise as proposed by Yamaha and KTM is considered very much acceptable for all parties involved. Other countries allow the riders to use their regular GP clothing without or virtually without any modification. Manufacturers and title sponsors/partners finance a whole season of international and national racing activities up to and including the Motocross of Nations; this includes staff, infrastructure, technical support and development, all at considerable cost. In our opinion visible manufacturer and sponsor branding is a necessary requirement to allow top athletes to continue to represent their teams and importantly shine and bring positive attention for their respective nationalities at the very highest level. Yamaha and KTM sincerely regret that both riders will seemingly not be able to enter the Motocross of Nations for Italy in 2010, which we regard as a fantastic event for motocross followers all around the world and prestigious for all participants. Yamaha and KTM remain open to a solution so that fans of motocross and the Italian team in an era when the country is proving to be strong in the discipline will not be deprived. Yamaha Motor Europe N.V. and KTM Sport Motorcycles
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Philippaerts takes 4th in Limburg

DP19 in Lommel Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team's David Philippaerts put in a noteworthy performance at Lommel in front of almost 24,000 spectators to finish arguably one of the toughest rounds of the FIM MX1-GP World Championship in 4th position overall. The Italian motored to 4th and 6th in the two motos of the Grand Prix of Limburg under bright skies for the eleventh round of fifteen in the 2010 season. After scoring 10th and 9th in the past two years the technically and physically difficult lumps and bumps of the Lommel sand seemed to be an unhappy hunting ground for the Italian but two excellent starts - in which he fully utilised the potency of the 2010 YZ450FM to rally his way around the open first turn into the top three -helped the 25 year old bury his Belgian jinx. DP19 was part of a four rider tussle for 3rd in the first moto and pushed his energy levels fully into reserve to make sure of 4th by the end of the 35 minutes and 2 laps. Another pulsating encounter with Clement Desalle was ended in the second race after the 2008 world champion tipped off his machine briefly while trying to overtake the Belgian. He lost ground but still kept a decent rhythm in testing conditions to classify 6th. De Dycker at home GP Brand-mate and Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team's Ken De Dycker entered his home event with memories of his 2009 success at the same venue but fully aware that his lack of riding time through the summer break as a consequence of his gruesome arm injury in Sweden would be a disadvantage. The German GP winner was not among the leading troupe but did well to finish 7th and 5th for 6th place by the end of the day. In the world championship standings Philippaerts defends 3rd spot by 16 points from Max Nagl and trail Desalle by 41. De Dycker is 6th and needs 42 over Steve Ramon to breach the top five. On the same weekend the tenth round of twelve in the MX3 world championship took place at Schwedt in Germany. Carlos Campano had amassed nine moto wins from eighteen prior to the meeting and headed the series by 15 points on his YZ450F. The Spaniard was victorious again with a 2-1 scorecard and extended his advantage to 20 points over Alex Salvini. The Grand Prix of Czech Republic will take place at the fast and hard-pack Loket circuit next weekend; the site of a David Philippaerts victory in 2008. Philippaerts David Philippaerts, Yamaha Monster Energy MX Team: "I did not have the best start yesterday in the heat race but the team did some good work and we were much better today. I had a good line around the first corner and tucked in behind Nagl, who always seems to be right at the front. So I was really happy with the performance and the tactic at the start and it made things easier for sure. I was riding well in the first moto and was consistent with the lap-times and this is important at Lommel. I had a crash with Desalle in the second moto, and incidents like this are part of the sport. I liked the track more this year compared to 2009; it is faster and more similar to somewhere like Lierop, which I really enjoy and for my style is better. To finish fourth overall is very good for me here and I am in good shape. We go to Loket now and I like this place. I won in 2008 because I was angry from my result in Lommel the week before and I took a podium result last year in difficult times. We will see what we can do next week. The bike is running well and we will keep on working." Ken De Dycker, Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team: "Today went OK and I was not expecting too much. With everything that has gone on in the last weeks and not being able to ride because of my arm I have to be happy with seventh and fifth. I was perhaps a bit too slow in the first moto but I wanted to save something for the second. The second was better and I think with some training this week I will be sharper for Loket. Normally I don't get blisters but my hands are covered in them now so that's just an indication of the bike time I have missed since Sweden." Crowd: 23,500 Weather: Changeable
Last Years Winner: Maximilian Nagl 2010 GP of Belgium 01/08/2010 Race 1 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli KTM ITA 40'00.981 2 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 0'12.951 3 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 0'24.246 4 David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 0'34.721 5 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'41.527 6 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 1'10.355 7 Ken De Dycker Yamaha BEL 1'22.494 8 Gareth Swanepoel Honda RSA 1'24.510 9 Joshua Coppins Aprilia NZL 1'25.710 10 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 1'39.053 11 Davide Guarneri Honda ITA 1'56.411 12 Evgeny Bobryshev Honda RUS 2'04.620 13 Tanel Leok Honda EST -1Laps 14 Jonathan Barragan Kawasaki ESP -1Laps 15 Manuel Priem Aprilia BEL -1Laps 20 Rob van Vijfeijken Yamaha NED -1Laps Race 2 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli KTM ITA 39'59.056 2 Tanel Leok Honda EST 0'34.683 3 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 0'40.531 4 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 0'54.689 5 Ken De Dycker Yamaha BEL 1'10.895 6 David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 1'15.116 7 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 1'18.419 8 Joshua Coppins Aprilia NZL 1'27.807 9 Evgeny Bobryshev Honda RUS 1'30.103 10 Gareth Swanepoel Honda RSA 1'32.359 11 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 1'44.043 12 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 1'56.372 13 Jonathan Barragan Kawasaki ESP 2'14.025 14 Davide Guarneri Honda ITA 2'21.006 15 Yentel Martens KTM BEL 2'28.769 Rider Standings 01/08/2010 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli KTM ITA 484 2. Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 405 3. David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 364 4. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 348 5. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 341 6. Ken De Dycker Yamaha BEL 299 7. Xavier Boog Kawasaki FRA 276 8. Tanel Leok Honda EST 249 9. Evgeny Bobryshev Honda RUS 244 10. Davide Guarneri Honda ITA 213 11. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 181 12. Gareth Swanepoel Honda RSA 173 13. Joshua Coppins Aprilia NZL 165 14. Rui Goncalves KTM POR 153 15. Anthony Boissière TM FRA 145 21. Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 46 24. Tom Soderstrom Yamaha SWE 43 28. Kyle Chisholm Yamaha USA 20 31. Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 16 33. Alvaro Lozano Yamaha ESP 14 35. Grant Langston Yamaha RSA 12 53. Rob van Vijfeijken Yamaha NED 1 Manufacturer Standings 01/08/2010 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. KTM 513 2. Suzuki 455 3. Yamaha 418 4. Honda 358 5. Kawasaki 318 6. Aprilia 173 7. TM 145 8. CCM 11 9. Husqvarna 4 RACE REPORT 01/08/2010 Paulin and Kullas impress at Lommel GP in Lommel Yamaha Monster Energy riders Gautier Paulin and Harri Kullas were the stand-out YZ250F riders through the many waves and ripples of the demanding Lommel circuit for the Grand Prix of Limburg in Belgium. The eleventh round of fifteen in the FIM MX2-GP World Championship was attended by 23,500 spectators who saw Paulin put on a display of improved sand riding to place 5th overall while rookie Kullas equalled a season-best with 6th. Clouds partially obscured sunshine throughout the day at the flat and busy venue that gave the world's best their first deep sand outing of 2010. As expected, Lommel represented a heavy and difficult meeting. Paulin was buried well within the pack around the opening corners of the first moto and this cost him ground to the pace-setting group but the Frenchman quickly found his rhythm to rise to 7th. In the second race he was hotter out of the gate and made better in-roads to his rivals ahead, moving to 4th which he held without hassle until the flag. His ranking of 5th was an improvement of seven positions over the standing he managed twelve months ago at the same circuit (slightly different in terms of layout). Harri Kullas Kullas was a welcome sight with the leaders around the first section in both races. The Finn, negotiating his maiden GP at Lommel but with many training laps of experience in the Belgian terrain, rode superbly despite rear brake fade in the two motos for two 6th positions. Yamaha Monster Energy Gariboldi team-mate Christophe Charlier crashed with Alessandro Lupino in the first moto and both riders retired. Charlier managed 13th in the second affair. Bike it Cosworth Yamaha's Zach Osborne had a disappointing day to take 12th. The American had sustained a concussion last Sunday in the fifth round of the British Championship and was not fully on-form for the harsh requirements of Lommel. His best result was a 10th in Moto2. Osborne is still Yamaha's highest rider in the standings and holds 6th, needing 8 points to move into the top five. Kullas is 10th and 33 points ahead of Paulin. Charlier holds a respectable 13th despite missing two rounds due to a thumb injury. As with the MX1 class the MX2 field will now travel east and to Loket for the Grand Prix of Czech Republic and round twelve that will precede the trip to Brazil. Paulin Gautier Paulin, Yamaha Monster Energy MX Team: "I am feeling strong but I had one bad start - in that first moto - and one average start where I was in the top ten but not closer enough to the front. These were the main problems today that prevented me getting nearer the leaders. I was not competitive in the sand last year but now I feel that I can race with the sand specialists. The track was rough with many bumps but overall I am quite happy with my riding here after a lot of sand training in Belgium over the last few weeks." Harri Kullas, Yamaha Monster Energy Gariboldi: "I was quite fast all weekend and knew my speed was near the top five. Together with my dad I worked out a good strategy for the starts and it worked really well. I rode with a consistent pace but ten minutes before the end I lost my rear brake so I had to adapt to that and lost the back of Simpson. In the second moto it was a very similar situation and Roelants passed me at the end but the brake fade was another mystery; but still, you have to deal with these things in motocross, it is tough for us and also the bikes out there. I am happy with the result and this was one of the hardest GPs for sure." Zach Osborne, Bike it Cosworth Yamaha: "It was a tough weekend for me. Coming from last weekend and a concussion but still winning a moto I think I deluded myself as to how much that crash in Britain had affected me, so I came here with big expectations and leave highly disappointed. I struggled with the track all weekend. I rolled the dice and went for it in the last race; gambling like that is not a good thing but it worked out for me and I was pleased to get tenth. Damage limitation was pretty good." Crowd: 23,500 Weather: Changeable
Last Years Winner: Marvin Musquin 2010 GP of Belgium 01/08/2010 Race 1 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Ken Roczen Suzuki GER 40'03.130 2 Marvin Musquin KTM FRA 0'15.298 3 Jeffrey Herlings KTM NED 0'32.719 4 Joel Roelants KTM BEL 0'37.586 5 Shaun Simpson KTM GBR 0'49.812 6 Harri Kullas Yamaha FIN 1'01.090 7 Gautier Paulin Yamaha FRA 1'16.896 8 Arnaud Tonus Suzuki CHE 1'30.922 9 Jeremy Van Horebeek Kawasaki BEL 1'40.112 10 Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 1'54.227 11 Ceriel Klein Kromhof Yamaha NED 2'12.371 12 Matiss Karro Suzuki LVA 2'22.030 13 Dennis Verbruggen KTM BEL -1Laps 14 Nikolai Larsen Honda DNK -1Laps 15 Glenn Coldenhoff Yamaha NED -1Laps 17 Zach Osborne Yamaha USA -1Laps Race 2 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Jeffrey Herlings KTM NED 41'49.178 2 Ken Roczen Suzuki GER 0'07.430 3 Marvin Musquin KTM FRA 0'17.879 4 Gautier Paulin Yamaha FRA 0'28.301 5 Joel Roelants KTM BEL 0'37.546 6 Harri Kullas Yamaha FIN 0'44.946 7 Shaun Simpson KTM GBR 1'10.698 8 Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 1'24.977 9 Jeremy Van Horebeek Kawasaki BEL 1'37.362 10 Zach Osborne Yamaha USA 1'48.973 11 Arnaud Tonus Suzuki CHE 1'48.973 12 Jake Nicholls KTM GBR 1'03.893 13 Christophe Charlier Yamaha FRA 1'57.890 14 Ceriel Klein Kromhof Yamaha NED 2'21.910 15 Nick Triest KTM BEL -1Laps 17 Glenn Coldenhoff Yamaha NED -1Laps 18 Mel Pocock Yamaha GBR -1Laps Rider Standings 01/08/2010 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Marvin Musquin KTM FRA 480 2. Ken Roczen Suzuki GER 402 3. Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 379 4. Jeffrey Herlings KTM NED 371 5. Shaun Simpson KTM GBR 298 6. Zach Osborne Yamaha USA 290 7. Joel Roelants KTM BEL 274 8. Jeremy Van Horebeek Kawasaki BEL 268 9. Arnaud Tonus Suzuki CHE 266 10. Harri Kullas Yamaha FIN 233 11. Gautier Paulin Yamaha FRA 200 12. Jake Nicholls KTM GBR 198 13. Christophe Charlier Yamaha FRA 179 14. Dennis Verbruggen KTM BEL 135 15. Alessandro Lupino Yamaha ITA 129 20. Mel Pocock Yamaha GBR 52 25. Ceriel Klein Kromhof Yamaha NED 26 26. Loic Larrieu Yamaha FRA 25 29. Travis Baker Yamaha USA 15 30. Glenn Coldenhoff Yamaha NED 12 33. Max Anstie Yamaha GBR 9 36. Vince Friese Yamaha USA 8 40. Rudi Moroni Yamaha ITA 5 51. Ed Allingham Yamaha GBR 2 Manufacturer Standings 01/08/2010 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. KTM 529 2. Suzuki 426 3. Kawasaki 388 4. Yamaha 379 5. Honda 92 6. TM 19
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Crutchlow takes double victory and claims Silverstone for Yamaha

Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike YZF-R1 rider Cal Crutchlow made it two in a row today at Silverstone, delivering the double win at his home race. The British rider ended a flawless weekend´s riding with a masterful display of race craft. A good start from pole position in race one saw him quickly into second behind Johnny Rea. Crutchlow then played the waiting game, comfortably following the Honda rider just 0.1 seconds behind until mid race before taking the lead. He surrendered briefly to Rea but then re-took quickly and pulled away to build a 1.6 second lead as he crossed the line to claim his maiden win of the championship. Race two saw a repeat of the first with Crutchlow quickly settling in behind Rea, again maintaining a gap of just 0.1 to 0.2 seconds until just three laps from the end when he again pulled out to take the lead. The Yamaha YZF-R1´s incredible pace saw him take the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap, building a two second advantage as he crossed the line to deliver the long awaited double victory for Yamaha. Team mate James Toseland made the most of his less than perfect grid position start in both of today´s two superbike races. The first saw him move as high as sixth whilst chasing down the Aprilias of Max Biaggi and Leon Camier before finally settling for eighth at the line. The second race saw an even more determined Toseland pushing on hard. The British rider spent much of the race battling with Leon Haslam for fourth place having carved through the ranks and taken championship leader Biaggi mid race for fifth. The battle between the two Brits went to the chequered flag with Toseland less than four tenths behind Haslam across the line. Cal Crutchlow´s incredible performance means he leaves Silverstone having jumped up from tenth to fifth in the rankings, now sitting on 188 points, 55 points behind Carlos Checa in third. Team mate James Toseland remains in sixth place, now on 179 points as they head to the Nurburgring at the beginning of September after the summer break. Cal Crutchlow Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team, (1st, 1st) ?We´ve been trying so hard all year to achieve a win, I´m ecstatic that it has happened at my home race. It´s been a tough weekend with all the Brits trying hard but we knew we had the pace. We were worried about tyre wear but it wasn´t too bad. It was a little bit cooler in the first race which helped our bike as well. We now need to carry on and fight for the rest of the season. It´s been a dream come true today, three Brits on the podium for both races is brilliant. The British fans have been fantastic, they came out today and gave us tremendous support all round the circuit, a brilliant day for me, a brilliant day for Yamaha, Sterilgarda and all our other sponsors. All credit to Johnny Rea he rode really well in both races but I was able to pick him off with a couple of laps to go.? James Toseland James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (8th, 5th) ?Race one was ok, the set up we used wasn´t perfect but I made the most of it. We made a massive change from race one to race two, we switched to something closer to what Cal was using in the first race, it´s the first time we tried it and it really helped us. Hopefully we´ve found a good direction for the next race. A big thanks to the team for the change between the races, it got me from where I was in the first to not too far off the podium in the second. Leon Haslam rode a great race and really covered his lines, I could have been more aggressive with him but I didn´t want to spoil his championship chances.? Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager ?This kind of feeling has been missing and finally I got it back today. Cal delivered a fantastic weekend, he proved that he was the fastest here in all the practices. He rode two really good races, I have to give my compliments to him, he rode perfectly. These results come thanks to all the efforts the team have put in over the last few months. James also proved he was fast and on the pace, the crash yesterday was unfortunate and mean that he couldn't do the last Superpole heat and so had a less than perfect start. He had some problems in the first with the balance of the bike but was much better in the second. We came here with big expectations and finally we have some good results.? Circuit Length: 5902 Crowd: 65000
Lap Record: 2'05.259 (Cal Crutchlow, 01/01/2010) Fastest Lap Ever: 2'04.091 (Cal Crutchlow, 27/05/2010) 2010 WSB Europe - Silverstone 01/08/2010 Race 1 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 37'47.851 2 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 0'01.621 3 Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 0'11.433 4 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 0'15.874 5 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 0'17.085 6 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 0'17.532 7 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 0'18.250 8 James Toseland Yamaha GBR 0'18.938 9 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 0'22.997 10 Troy Corser BMW AUS 0'25.830 11 Max Neukirchner Honda GER 0'30.972 12 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 0'31.808 13 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0'32.193 14 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 0'33.206 15 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'34.207 Race 2 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 37'48.348 2 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 0'02.070 3 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 0'08.834 4 Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 0'13.232 5 James Toseland Yamaha GBR 0'13.258 6 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 0'13.568 7 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 0'13.963 8 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 0'14.432 9 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0'16.399 10 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 0'19.874 11 Ruben Xaus BMW ESP 0'26.268 12 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 0'28.003 13 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 0'28.550 14 Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 0'30.117 15 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'30.415 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 2'05.259 Rider Standings 01/08/2010 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 373 2. Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 313 3. Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 243 4. Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 204 5. Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 188 6. James Toseland Yamaha GBR 179 7. Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 177 8. Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 164 9. Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 160 10. Troy Corser BMW AUS 155 11. Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 151 12. Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 123 13. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 71 14. Ruben Xaus BMW ESP 69 15. Luca Scassa Ducati ITA 53 Manufacturer Standings 01/08/2010 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Aprilia 385 2. Suzuki 334 3. Ducati 297 4. Yamaha 256 5. Honda 254 6. BMW 174 7. Kawasaki 58
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Flawless Lorenzo romps to victory as Rossi makes triumphant return to podium

Jorge Lorenzo Jorge Lorenzo took a brilliant sixth victory of the season at Laguna Seca today, romping home to win by over three seconds from Casey Stoner. His team-mate Valentino Rossi made a triumphant return to the podium just seven weeks after breaking his right leg, overhauling Andrea Dovizioso during a thrilling last ten laps to finish third. Starting from pole for the fifth time in a row, Lorenzo lost ground to his rivals at the fearsome downhill turn one and was relegated to third first time around. For the first few laps there was little he could do except hang on behind Pedrosa and Stoner but on the sixth lap Stoner ran wide and Lorenzo stormed through to take second. By now Pedrosa was nearly a second clear but Lorenzo's pace had begun to improve and he started to push as hard as he could and exert some pressure on his fellow Spaniard. On lap twelve, with the gap now narrowed to half a second, Pedrosa crashed out and left Lorenzo in the lead and from then on it was plain sailing for the 23-year-old as he expertly controlled his advantage over Stoner to bring it home and take his second win on US soil. Today's victory was his 11th in MotoGP, his 32nd in all classes and his 10th successive podium. Rossi had suffered all weekend with pain in both his leg and his shoulder and today looked like it was going to be a tough day for the reigning champion, unable as he was to make any further headway after passing Nicky Hayden for fifth position. Once Pedrosa had crashed out however and with Ben Spies exerting pressure on him from behind Rossi's fighting instinct kicked in as he spied a podium possibility, gradually closing down a two second gap to Dovizioso to come within striking distance with six laps remaining. On the 27th lap he made his move and passed his countryman, managing to hold him off over the last couple of laps to make a popular return to the podium. With exactly half of the season gone Lorenzo heads the championship with an impressive 72-point lead over Pedrosa, whilst Rossi is 120 points adrift of his team-mate in fifth position. Both riders will enjoy a two and a half week holiday now and the Italian will be more glad than anyone for the time off, during which he will be working on his fitness in an effort to be back to his best next time out in Brno. Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 1stTime: 43.54.873 "I am so happy to win here at Laguna Seca, it's something I've always dreamed of. I rode so well today, right on the limit and I had to push very hard to stay in touch with Dani. He is always so strong on race day but I knew if I kept the pressure on him then there was a chance he would make a mistake and I would be able to catch him. I'm sorry he crashed but from then on it was very easy for me because I had a big gap from Casey. I really enjoyed riding my M1! I have a big lead in the championship but there is half of the season left and it wouldn't be the first time a rider has lost the title with such a big lead, so we can't take anything for granted. I am really looking forward to some time to relax now after two very busy months. Thanks to everyone in my team for doing a brilliant job." Valentino Rossi - Position: 3rdTime: +13.420 "The start of the race was very hard for me because I had a lot of pain and I was far from the podium. But then I saw Pedrosa on the gravel and I just had to try to catch Dovizioso! I just pushed as hard as I could for a few laps and that brought me closer to him and then I couldn't give up, somehow I caught him and it was a great feeling to pass him to take third. It's a great result after my injury and it felt so good to be back on the podium in front of the fans. There are so many people I have to thank who have helped me to get back to this position. I am very happy that we have some time off now because I have a lot of work to do on my body to try to be back to my best for Brno, which I love. Wilco Zeelenberg - Team Manager "This was a fantastic ride from Jorge. It was clever to push Dani to the limit but not easy as well because Jorge is the championship leader and he had the most to lose, he really had to ride at the maximum to do this. We're happy Dani isn't hurt and now we have an amazing 72-point lead as we break for the half-way point of the championship. Six victories and three seconds is brilliant, thanks to Jorge for doing such a great job but also to all of the team, everyone deserves their holidays! Davide Brivio - Team Manager "This was a great race and the result is so much more than we expected today. These were supposed to be the two 'rehabilitation' races for Valentino after his big injury while he just got used to being back on the bike, but he's come fourth and then third which has amazed us all. This track was very demanding on his body and he had a hard time all weekend but he was still able to battle for the podium. It was brilliant and we're so happy now. Everyone is looking forward to a break but also to coming back strongly in the second half of the season." Super sixth for Spies, seventh for Edwards at Laguna Seca Ben Spies had a big home crowd on the edge of their seats at the spectacular Laguna Seca track today after the Texan produced a brilliant podium challenge in the American MotoGP race. The 26-year-old made a fantastic start from the second row and instantly gained three places by the first corner. Spies lost a few places as the frantic pace increased in the early laps, but gradually building his confidence with his rear Bridgestone tyre, he started a rousing fightback in front of a passionate home crowd of 51,436 fans in California. Spies was over half-a-second adrift of an intense battle involving compatriot Nicky Hayden and fellow Yamaha YZR-M1 rider Valentino Rossi shortly before the halfway stage. Reeling off a series of impressive fast laps, Spies was able to hunt down Hayden and expertly pass the 2006 world champion on lap 21. Next in Spies' sights was reigning world champion Rossi, who was himself honing in on Italian Andrea Dovizioso in an exciting battle for the podium. But just as Spies was preparing to make a decisive move on Rossi, he made a small mistake in the braking zone for the final corner on lap 25. Spies lost over three seconds and despite a heroic effort in the closing stages he was unable to regain the fifth place lost to Hayden. Spies though was still satisfied with his performance, his pace as the race reached its climax undoubtedly good enough to have put him in podium contention. Colin Edwards produced his best result of the season in front of his home crowd to score a thoroughly deserved seventh position. The 36-year-old showed all of his experience to patiently stalk Marco Simoncelli and Marco Melandri in the opening laps as the trio became embroiled in a thrilling fight for seventh. Edwards passed Melandri on lap 10 exiting the spectacular Corkscrew section and he grabbed seventh from Simoncelli on lap 15. Edwards' superior pace saw him immediately pull away from the Italian duo to secure a seventh that puts him on the fringes of the top ten in the overall standings. Ben Spies - Position: 6thTime: +19.037 "I got a really good start and was third but then for the next couple of laps I just couldn't get my speed up fast enough. The group in front pulled a bit of a gap on me but once I found my rhythm I caught Nicky and Valentino pretty quickly. I passed Nicky and got right on the back of Valentino and it was a good fight with him. I was actually going to attack him on the next lap when I had a problem entering the final corner on lap 25. I ran wide and lost out and although it wasn't the podium I wanted in front of my home crowd, I'm happy because I had the speed to come through the field and I had the speed to be on the podium. I couldn't quite finish the job and that was down to me. But I'd rather leave here knowing I could have been on the podium rather than leave here in eighth place and not on the pace. I can't ask for a lot more because I'm in the top six again, leading non-factory rider in the race again and putting up a strong fight, so I'm not too upset." Colin Edwards - Position: 7thTime: +40.721 "I'm really happy with the way I rode all weekend and there was nothing more I could have done. Fighting for seventh is not really where I wa nt to be in my home race, but compared to where I have been recently it is a big improvement and thanks to all my guys at the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew for all their effort. I had a good early battle with Melandri and Simoncelli and that was fun and I made a couple of good moves on them because I was quite a bit faster. Once I got by Simoncelli I put my head down to see if I could break them and that's what I did. But I couldn't even see the group in front of me and I just slowed my pace up a little bit because it made no sense to crash out of my home race when I was never going to catch them up. I was pretty much stuck in seventh all weekend and I never really had the pace of the leading group. But I'm closer to where I know I should be and the upgrades from Yamaha were a help and I can look forward to a good break confident of a strong second half of the season." Herve Poncharal - Team Manager "We can't deny that we leave for the well earned summer break with a small amount of disappointment because Ben was looking really strong and I think he had a great chance of claiming the home podium he desperately wanted. He got a great start and it took him a few laps to find his best rhythm like a few times this season. But then he was able to set some really fast lap times and he was able to pass Nicky and close right on Valentino. We were hoping for a podium at that stage though we know it would not have been easy because Valentino was riding at an incredible level. Ben was right behind him and looking strong for the last few laps and the home fans were super excited by his attacking riding. Unfortunately Ben ran wide in a couple of places and lost crucial time and that was something out of his control. He is a little disappointed and I understand that because he couldn't fight right to the end. But we're happy with his performance because his spe ed was undoubtedly good enough for the podium. I'm really happy with Colin's performance and I think it was easily his best weekend of the whole season. He was pushing at his maximum every lap of every session and he was strong in the race, passing Melandri and Simoncelli, who don't just lie down and make it easy. A sixth and seventh is a decent result for us and helped us consolidate our fourth position in the Team World Championship, so we can return refreshed and ready for a strong second half of the season in Brno Circuit Length: 3610 Temp: 23 Weather: Dry
Lap Record: 1'23.915 (Colin Edwards, 01/01/2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'20.700 (Casey Stoner, 20/07/2008) Last Years Winner: Daniel Pedrosa 2010 MotoGP United States - Laguna Seca 26/07/2010 Race 1 - 32 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 43'54.873 2 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 0'03.517 3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0'13.420 4 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 0'14.188 5 Nicky Hayden Ducati USA 0'14.601 6 Ben Spies Yamaha USA 0'19.037 7 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'40.721 8 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'47.219 9 Mika Kallio Ducati FIN 0'52.813 10 Loris Capirossi Suzuki ITA 0'52.814 11 Roger Lee Hayden Honda USA 1'14.089 12 Alex De Angelis Honda SMR 1'14.666 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1'21.376 Rider Standings 25/07/2010 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 210 2. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 138 3. Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 115 4. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 103 5. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 90 6. Nicky Hayden Ducati USA 89 7. Ben Spies Yamaha USA 77 8. Randy De Puniet Honda FRA 69 9. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 53 10. Marco Simoncelli Honda ITA 49 11. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 48 12. Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 41 13. Loris Capirossi Suzuki ITA 36 14. Mika Kallio Ducati FIN 31 15. Aleix Espargaro Ducati ESP 28 21. Wataru Yoshikawa Yamaha JPN 1 Manufacturer Standings 25/07/2010 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 215 2. Honda 175 3. Ducati 133 4. Suzuki 48
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Lorenzo keeps podium record intact while Rossi seals remarkable fourth place

Jorge Lorenzo The German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring today provided a thrilling afternoon's racing, with Jorge Lorenzo finishing second and his resurgent Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi rounding off a remarkable return from injury to finish fourth by a mere whisker. A red flag after nine laps meant the race was restarted, with Dani Pedrosa eventually taking the win after a 21-lap 'second' race. Starting from pole for the fourth race in a row, Lorenzo lost ground to Pedrosa at the start but retook the lead on the first lap and led the way by a couple of tenths for the first nine laps. Rossi meanwhile, back racing just six weeks after breaking his leg, had dropped two places on his grid position to seventh. On the second lap he passed Hector Barbera and then loomed up behind Marco Simoncelli, passing his fellow Italian to take fifth on lap four. The World Champion had more than a second's gap to Andrea Dovizioso but he quickly started to close down on him and was in range on the ninth lap, passing him on the tenth. By then however an incident involving three riders had caused the race to be red-flagged and, with positions then taken from the end of the ninth lap, that left the top five in almost their original grid order of Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Stoner, Dovizioso and Rossi. Thirteen riders restarted the race and it was the same story all over again, with Pedrosa passing Lorenzo into turn one but the championship-leader getting back through before the end of the first lap. The next few laps saw the two Spanish riders in some superb wheel-to-wheel action as Lorenzo tried and failed to shake Pedrosa off, the pair maintaining a nail-biting distance of about a tenth for several laps. After three wins in a row however Lorenzo finally succumbed today and on lap nine he was unable to hold his compatriot off any longer, sensibly deciding to bring his M1 home in second place for 20 points. The 23-year-old has now finished in first or second place at every one of the eight rounds this season. The restart saw Rossi again lose some ground but he passed Hayden second time around to retake fifth and set off in pursuit of the leaders. On the sixth lap he got by Dovizioso but with a near two-second gap to Stoner it looked unlikely that the Italian would make much headway on the Australian. Rossi is always one to amaze however and he was soon lapping at the same pace as the leaders to bring himself within striking distance of Stoner with a third of the race remaining. The final six laps saw some superb action between the two rivals, with Rossi looking as if he had never been away and several brilliant overtaking manoeuvres from both riders. On the penultimate lap Rossi took the lead in what looked like a decisive move but on the final corner Stoner somehow found a way back through and the nine-time Champion was forced to settle for fourth, albeit probably the most impressive fourth position of his career. Lorenzo's championship lead now stands at 47 points from Pedrosa, whilst Rossi moves up one place to sixth. The paddock now heads directly to Laguna Seca in California for the US Grand Prix in one weeks time.
 
 
Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 2ndTime: +3.355 "It's always difficult when a race is split like this and I think I didn't ride quite as well in the second race as I felt I had been doing in the first. Dani was very, very strong and I was on the limit trying to stay ahead. When he passed me I tried briefly to stay with him but he was much faster than me today and I was going to have to take a lot of risks to stay with him; the safest thing for me to do was finish second and take 20 points for the championship. I am happy because I never really liked this track and now I've been second here two years in a row. Now we go to Laguna and I am very excited about racing there again."
Valentino Rossi Valentino Rossi - Position: 4thTime: +5.623 "I didn't expect this! I thought it was maybe possible to make fourth or fifth place but I thought it would be very difficult. In the end I was fourth but I had a great battle with Casey and I was so close to the podium, so this is a fantastic result after missing four races. I need some more kilometres to really recover the feeling and feel completely okay with the bike again, but I think I did a great job and this was a very good comeback, better than we could wish for. I felt a bit of pain in my shoulder but more in the leg when changing direction, but at the end the battle with Casey was such fun that I didn't think about it. Unfortunately though he just got the better of me on the last corner! Thanks to all my team for helping me come back and be competitive like this, we will try to do even better in Laguna." Wilco Zeelenberg - Team Manager "I said before this weekend that we can't win them all and today Jorge rode another very sensible race to finish second and bring home 20 valuable points for the championship. It's a pity about the restart because the final third of the race is generally Jorge's strongest and with the shortened race he didn't have that bonus, but he rode a great race nonetheless and tried his best to stay with Pedrosa, who was a bit faster than us today. This hasn't been one of his best tracks in the past and he had some problems the first day so this is a good result for us all." Davide Brivio - Team Manager "In the end this race was something completely unexpected; one week ago we didn't know if we'd be able to ride here at all and then day by day our targets changed. We would have been happy whatever with a top five today but finally we were really competitive and so close to the podium. It's unbelievable and even more so because we were lapping at the same pace as the leaders. We've never been so excited by a battle for third position! It was very positive; Valentino worked so hard to be here and he made it in style, so now we will continue our plan in Laguna next weekend." Spies storms to battling eighth in Sachsenring Ben Spies continued his fantastic charge towards the top five in the MotoGP world championship standings this afternoon after a richly deserved eighth place in a restarted German MotoGP race. Facing a difficult challenge after starting in a lowly 13th position following an incident-packed qualifying session, Spies was in hot pursuit of a top eight finish when the scheduled 30-lap race was red flagged on lap ten after a three-rider incident. The race was restarted over 21-laps and Spies lost contact with the group in front of him when Mika Kallio crashed at the first corner. The 26-year-old sat in tenth position for the open ing seven laps before he managed to expertly guide his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine by Marco Melandri on lap nine having already disposed of Hector Barbera. At that stage Spies was over five seconds behind compatriot Nicky Hayden, but the reigning World Superbike champion was able to embark on a stunning charge in front of 98,477 fans. His lap times were only bettered by the leading quartet at one stage and Spies was able to lap over a second faster than the group contending fifth spot in front of him. By the end he'd closed to within two seconds of Hayden and Spies was delighted with his pace, confident had he not started so far down the field that he would been able to seriously threaten for a place in the top five. A difficult weekend for Colin Edwards ended in disappointing fashion. Despite numerous changes to the set-up of his Monster Yamaha YZR-M1 machine throughout the weekend, Edwards was unable to discover a setting that allowed him to push at the fast pace he is capable of. And his hopes of maintaining his proud record of scoring points in every race were ended when he crashed out of 16th position shortly before the race was red flagged. Spies and Edwards now turn their attention to the all-important American MotoGP race at Laguna Seca. It is the eagerly anticipated home race for the Texan duo and both are determined to deliver strong results for an expectant and partisan crowd. Ben Spies - Colin Edwards Ben Spies - Position: 8thTime: +20.957 "Eighth place does not reflect what happened on track today and it was quite clear that I could have been much higher. I had the misfortune in qualifying yesterday that was nobody's fault, but starting that far back h urt me today. It wasn't easy to pass Melandri because his bike accelerates really well but once I got by and could run my own race, I was really happy with how I performed. Dovizioso, Simoncelli and Nicky were five seconds clear at that point but I got to just over a second away from them. I was pretty much the fifth fastest guy on the track and I definitely had a fifth place result in me today, but I just had bad luck with the qualifying crash. But I leave with a top eight result and I'm not that far away from fourth in the championship now. Now I'm really looking forward to going home and racing at Laguna Seca. I love the circuit and I will have a lot of support and I genuinely believe I can run in the top five." Colin Edwards - Position: DNF "I got pushed around a bit at the start and lost a bit of time and I was just pushing because what I would lose on acceleration I wo uld try and catch it all up on the brakes. It was my mistake. I ran into the last corner wide and was probably a metre off line and when I tried to pull it back I lost the front. This wasn't the result I wanted going into my home race next week at Laguna Seca but I'm more motivated than ever to get back on track and recover from a pretty difficult period in the season for me. I love Laguna and the atmosphere created by the fans and rest assured I'll be aiming to get myself much closer to the front where I know I belong in front of my home crowd." Herve Poncharal - Team Manager "Ben was once again very impressive this weekend and he showed that he is an expert at learning new tracks. Unfortunately his race was dictated by his qualifying position and being so far down through no fault of his own was difficult. It was a pity because we saw that he had the pace to run in t he group battling for fifth. He was catching them a lot and as always he was very fast at the end of the race. He finished the weekend on a high note and he is really fired up for Laguna Seca next week now. It was a shame that Colin crashed in the first part of the race and unfortunately he has not been able to reach the level of performance we know he can this weekend. He's never given up and worked really hard with his crew but thankfully he wasn't hurt in the crash and I know he is incredibly motivated to perform better at Laguna Seca. The whole Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team is looking forward to Laguna Seca because the support for Ben and Colin will be incredible." Circuit Length: 3671 Temp: 21 Weather: Dry
Lap Record: 1'23.082 (Daniel Pedrosa, 01/01/2007) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'21.067 (Casey Stoner, 13/07/2008) Last Years Winner: Valentino Rossi 2010 MotoGP Germany - Sachsenring 18/07/2010 Race 1 - 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 28'50.476 2 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 0'03.355 3 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 0'05.257 4 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0'05.635 5 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 0'17.158 6 Marco Simoncelli Honda ITA 0'17.757 7 Nicky Hayden Ducati USA 0'17.935 8 Ben Spies Yamaha USA 0'20.957 9 Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 0'22.000 10 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'35.217 11 Loris Capirossi Suzuki ITA 0'45.042 12 Alex De Angelis Honda SMR 0'45.204  
Rider Standings 18/07/2010 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 185 2. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 138 3. Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 102 4. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 83 5. Nicky Hayden Ducati USA 78 6. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 74 7. Randy De Puniet Honda FRA 69 8. Ben Spies Yamaha USA 67 9. Marco Simoncelli Honda ITA 49 10. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 45 11. Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 41 12. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 39 13. Loris Capirossi Suzuki ITA 30 14. Aleix Espargaro Ducati ESP 28 15. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki ESP 25 20. Wataru Yoshikawa Yamaha JPN 1  
Manufacturer Standings 18/07/2010 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 190 2. Honda 162 3. Ducati 113 4. Suzuki 42
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Rossi cleared to ride in Germany

Valentino Rossi has been officially cleared to ride at this weekend's German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring, six week's after his accident in Italy. The Fiat Yamaha rider was examined by the Chief Medical Officer for this event, Dr. Huber Fischer, who found him fit enough to compete this weekend. Rossi will be present at the Official Press Conference at Sachsenring at 1700 CET today.
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Yamaha Monster Energy MX Team re-signs Philippaerts and Paulin for 2011

DP and GP for 2011 Yamaha Motor Europe is happy to announce that David Philippaerts and Gautier Paulin will again represent the factory Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team for the 2011 FIM MX-GP World Championship. The Italian and Frenchman will extend their current association with the Italian set-up into next year’s campaign. Philippaerts will be aiming to recapture the MX1-GP title he secured in his first season with Yamaha in 2008 while Paulin is slated to attempt the MX2-GP series in which he was primed to be a major protagonist this term until an unfortunate pre-season leg break caused him to miss the first four rounds. Philippaerts gave the new and innovative rear-slating YZ450FM its debut Grand Prix win last month in France and is currently third in the world championship table with four podium appearances from the ten rounds run so far. The 25 year old has also grabbed two pole positions. Paulin has been building up to speed since his return at the Catalan round in mid-May and grabbed his first silverware (and for the team since they last contested the MX2-GP category in 2005) with third position on the YZ250FM last week in Sweden. “2011 will be my fourth year with Yamaha and I am happy to have made a new deal,” said Philippaerts. “We have been working hard this season to get the new bike up to its best level and we have had some very good races and some moments of bad luck on the way. The important thing for me is that I feel at home with the team. They want to win as much as I do and the support is there every week for me to be able to do my best. I think we will have an even better year in 2011.” "The accident at the start of season was a big shame because we had all been working hard to be in the best shape but we are returning now to the level we originally planned for,” commented Paulin. “I am pleased we have reached a deal for 2011 and I know I am in the best place to achieve what I want and reach the same goals that Yamaha and Monster Energy are also pushing for." “We are really happy that David and Gautier will again be among our main title contenders for 2011,” commented Yamaha Motor Europe Racing Manager Laurens KleinKoerkamp. “They are two professional and pleasant individuals and are doing a good job in 2010 with the new machinery and some difficult circumstances in the case of Gautier who was so unlucky with his injury. We will be in the second year of developing the YZ450FM and the YZ250FM and to have riders who are already down the road with this technology is of course an advantage.” “It is clear that signing these two very good riders for another year is important and positive for the team and Yamaha,” said Rinaldi Group Principal Michele Rinaldi. “David will enter another year with what is now still a new bike, and Gautier will be at the form and speed that he is reaching at this moment. I would also like to thank Yamaha Motor Europe and our sponsors, especially Monster Energy, for their excellent support and for allowing our project and team to go on at the highest level.”
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Guarnoni takes third consecutive Superstock victory with the R6 at Brno?

MRS Racing Yamaha rider Jeremy Guarnoni continued his dominance of the European Superstock 600 Championship at Brno this weekend, taking his third consecutive victory in the series on his Yamaha R6. Guarnoni’s R6 has been the machine to beat since round one, the French rider scoring four race wins from six so far this year. He was not the only Yamaha to podium at the Czech Republic round, Martine Corse Yamaha rider Beradino Lombardi also made his presence felt, fighting through to take third on the podium. With four rounds still to run, Guarnoni’s European Superstock 600 Championship lead now tallies 136 points whilst closest rival Florian Marino sits on 106 points in second.
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Crutchlow takes hard fought podium in eventful WSB Brno weekend

Race one at the Brno circuit saw Yamaha Sterilgarda rider Cal Crutchlow made a strong start, taking race favourite Max Biaggi on the second lap for second place. He then set about chasing down race leader Johnny Rea, and was gradually closing in on him when his grip started to drop after several laps. Despite the difficulty Crutchlow kept his focus and managed to hold off the advances of Biaggi until just four laps from the end, initially rebuffing the Italian's attempts to pass before finally surrendering second. He crossed the line in third just four seconds from the lead, and took the fastest lap of the race award, scoring a 1'59.964 on his third lap. Team mate James Toseland fought hard from his tenth place grid start, working his way through to seventh to start chasing down Noriyuki Haga for sixth. Despite also suffering a lack of grip Toseland managed to bring the gap between him and Haga down to 0.1 seconds by the final lap but ran out of time for the pass. Race two and disaster struck for Crutchlow. A defective rear tyre saw the British rider gradually drop back to seventh before pulling in to avoid a crash. The tyre was changed and Crutchlow rejoined, delivering yet again the fastest lap of the race with an incredible 1'59.291, making up a couple of places to finish in 14th. Team mate Toseland had an electronic issue on the start line, relegating him to last at the first corner, 22 places from the front. The British rider then put in an astounding performance, making up 12 places in the next lap and going on to fight his way right through to fourth at the line, taking an amazing 18 places in his fight to regain position. Toseland leaves Brno after the mixed weekend having climbed up a place to sixth in the standings with 160 points. Team mate Crutchlow remains in tenth position on 138 points. The team now head to the riders home race at Silverstone in the UK at the beginning of August. Cal Crutchlow Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (3rd, 14th) "I'm disappointed to be honest, I knew we had the pace this weekend to win. The first race didn't go too much to plan, we had a bit of a problem with rear grip so we made a change for the second race which I thought was going to be really good. I did 12 laps on the rear tyre and to be honest I was just about to crash so I had to pull into change it. The tyre looked brand new after 12 laps where it should have looked worn. We did the last eight laps on a brand new tyre, I did the fastest lap of the race and the tyre looked perfect. I'm disappointed I couldn't take it to the front guys but that's racing, we'll go to Silverstone now and make up for it." James Toseland James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (7th, 4th) "Race one I had a problem with the electronics which weren't working as they should do so I couldn't get the exit speed I needed. I was surprised to finish seventh. It was the same system we ran the day before so we couldn't put our finger on why it changed so much. Race two my launch control didn't engage, so I bogged on the line to start and I was last going into turn one. I thought I wasn't prepared to have next week off feeling miserable so I rode hard and the bike worked really well. I dug deep and went for it and managed to get past 12 guys in the next lap and then keep on pushing towards the front."
Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager "We had an up and down weekend, it's been frustrating again that we've had the speed and pace to achieve great results but issues outside of our control have prevented us. Today during race one Cal didn't have the confidence to find the same speed as yesterday but still a podium was still good. Race two was a very different situation where James after a really bad start did a really great job, going from last position to fourth at the end. Cal had a problem with a defective rear tyre and he had to stop to change the tyre. He then proved that he was probably the fastest man there."
Circuit Length: 5403 Temp: 31 Weather: Very Hot
Lap Record: 1'59.291 (Cal Crutchlow, 01/01/2010) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'58.018 (Cal Crutchlow, 11/07/2010) Last Years Winner: Ben Spies 2010 WSB Czech Republic - Brno 11/07/2010 Race 1 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 40'16.037 2 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 0'02.518 3 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 0'04.071 4 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 0'07.160 5 Ruben Xaus BMW ESP 0'08.602 6 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 0'11.379 7 James Toseland Yamaha GBR 0'11.513 8 Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 0'16.487 9 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 0'20.829 10 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'25.164 11 Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 0'32.602 12 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 0'36.748 13 Broc Parkes Kawasaki AUS 0'39.183 14 Roger Lee Hayden Kawasaki USA 0'59.889 15 Matteo Baiocco Kawasaki ITA 1'05.329
Race 2 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 40'12.236 2 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 0'04.627 3 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 0'13.600 4 James Toseland Yamaha GBR 0'16.372 5 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 0'17.530 6 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 0'21.704 7 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 0'23.769 8 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 0'25.875 9 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 0'30.374 10 Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 0'34.002 11 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'34.691 12 Broc Parkes Kawasaki AUS 0'49.270 13 Roger Lee Hayden Kawasaki USA 1'03.258 14 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 1'08.324 15 Matteo Baiocco Kawasaki ITA 1'14.256
Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 1'59.964  
Rider Standings 11/07/2010 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 352 2. Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 284 3. Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 203 4. Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 189 5. Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 172 6. James Toseland Yamaha GBR 160 7. Troy Corser BMW AUS 149 8. Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 147 9. Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 138 10. Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 138 11. Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 138 12. Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 108 13. Ruben Xaus BMW ESP 64 14. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 61 15. Luca Scassa Ducati ITA 53  
Manufacturer Standings 11/07/2010 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Aprilia 358 2. Suzuki 305 3. Ducati 276 4. Honda 214 5. Yamaha 206 6. BMW 163 7. Kawasaki 56
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Valentino Rossi completes test at Misano

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi today rode a motorcycle for the first time since breaking his right leg at Mugello on 5th June. He rode a total of 26 laps at Misano on a YZF-R1 WSB machine, provided by the Yamaha World Superbike Team, and recorded a best time of 1'38.200. Rossi did an initial run of 11 laps at 18.30 CET with a best time of 1'41.000, then a second run of 15 laps at 19.45 CET with a best time of 1'38.200 (unofficial times). The reigning World Champion was able to ride well but he had some pain in his leg and his shoulder. He will now continue with an updated rehabilitation programme and make a decision within the next week as to whether he will ride at the German Grand Prix at Sachsenring, in ten days time. "We made this test in order to understand how we must work from here and to see more or less how I can ride the bike," said Rossi. "The test was positive, because I can at least ride, but there is a lot more to a MotoGP race than to a test like this one. I had some pain in the ankle, the knee and the shoulder, but above all I lacked strength in the shoulder and a bit of movement in the ankle. I would really like to come back at Sachsenring, but it is still too early to say. We still have twelve days and we must wait and see how much we can improve my condition in the next few days. The Superbike today was good and great fun to ride! I really would like to ride at Sachsenring, but we must wait another week before making a decision."
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Yamaha set up for round nine of the World Superbike Championship in Brno

Brno The Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team arrive in the Czech Republic this week in preparation for round nine of the 2010 championship at the Brno circuit. British riders Cal Crutchlow and James Toseland will be looking to build on their current point standings in advance of their home race at Silverstone at the beginning of August. The 5.403km Automotodrom Brno circuit features constant elevation changes and an incredibly steep 7.5% gradient towards the last chicane of the track. The track also features one of the fastest chicanes on the WSB calendar. Both Yamaha Sterilgarda riders know the circuit well, Crutchlow taking pole in qualifying in World Supersport last year, an incredible eight tenths of a second faster than his closest rival. Team mate Toseland enjoyed great success on his last World Superbike outing to Brno, taking a first and a second place finish in 2007. “I’ve got unfinished business at Brno,” said Cal Crutchlow. “I had a really strong qualifying there in Supersport last year and was only two laps from winning the race when an unfortunate mechanical issue forced retirement. I love the track; it’s fast and flowing and should suit our bike really well.” “I’m looking forward to the weekend,” said James Toseland. “Brno is a track I’ve always had good results on. Everyone knows its Max Biaggi’s favourite circuit so it’s going to be difficult for everyone here as it’s probably going to be a strong weekend for Aprilia. Having said that, we worked hard at last week’s test in Imola so I’m looking forward to getting out on the track on Friday to see where we stand.” Brno technically speaking according to Marcus Eschenbacher, Cal Crutchlow’s Crew Chief “Brno is a traditional old-style track with a lot of character, it’s more or less like a rollercoaster with fast flowing corners. It’s really important to have a good flow with the bike, the gearbox has to work very smoothly with the track. Gear changes have to be perfect or you have to change gear in a lean angle which isn’t as efficient for the rider. The Chassis has to be set up to cope with braking hard downhill as a lot of overtaking places are on downhill braking spots, so stability is the key on the chassis. Grip level is not too bad at Brno so we shouldn’t have an issue there. Tyre wear can sometimes be abrasive if there’s a lot of rain but usually it’s ok. The track is pretty wide so the riders can have some really different lines through some areas, especially the fast chicane. We will try to have one bike as it was in the Misano race and one bike with the changes we made at the Imola test to start on Friday and see how Cal gets on.” Brno technically speaking according to Frankie Carchedi, James Toseland’s Crew Chief “Brno is a track with constant elevation changes, wide corners, and a smooth surface. There is an equal number of left and right turns and plenty of overtaking opportunities. During the recent test at Imola we tested numerous different settings mainly in making the Yamaha more absorbent over the bumps with the new Pirelli tyres, especially in high temperatures, as this has been the weak point this year. The team are looking forward to Brno as the smooth surface and fast flow of the track should suit the bike well.” Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager “We are ready as always. James has proven he is good here previously in Superbike and Cal was very impressive last year in Supersport. We will start on Friday with the set up we found at the Imola test, and will make some changes depending on how the riders find the circuit. The test went pretty well overall so we are optimistic that we can use the new Pirelli tyre at the weekend and chase some good results.” Yamaha set up for round nine of the World Superbike Championship in Brno
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Crutchlow comes out on top at Imola test

The Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team headed straight off to Imola following last weekend’s race at Misano, and today completed a two day test in the sweltering Italian sunshine. The team spent the two days testing further areas of electronics, including traction control, wheelie control and launch control. They also worked to find improvements in the chassis, in particular the balance of the bike. At the end of the test it was Cal Crutchlow who came out fastest of the World Superbike riders, recording a time nearly half a second faster than closest rivals. Cal Crutchlow Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (1st, 1’47.478, 125laps) “I’m happy with result of the test but we’ve got to win the races as well. We’ve tried a lot of different settings here, finally the best are close to how we started at the beginning. Hopefully over the summer break we’ll get some new parts and make more of a difference. We’re going to Brno with good confidence and we’ll take away from this test some good positives.” James Toseland James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (11th, 1’49.031, 127laps) “It’s been a bit of a frustrating test for me. We’ve been concentrating over the two days on trying various different settings to try and maximise the grip on the bike as opposed to focussing on getting the fastest lap time. At the end of it I don’t feel I’ve managed to get closer so I’ve been struggling a bit.” Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team “We tested quite a lot of different things here at Imola, including various areas of electronics, we’ve also looked at the chassis to see what we can do to improve the balance. Both riders also spent some time testing some new tyres that Pirelli bought to the test. Cal finished fastest at the end and put in an impressive performance. James was not as fast so we need to look at our data and see what we can do to improve this.”
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Philippaerts 6th at Latvian Grand Prix

DP at Kegums A hot and hard Grand Prix of Latvia at the Kegums circuit, flanked by a 17,000 attendance, saw Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team's David Philippaerts score 5th and 6th positions for 6th overall at the ninth round of fifteen in the 2010 FIM MX-GP World Championship. The Italian is currently 3rd in the MX1-GP standings. Winner last week at Teutschenthal, Ken De Dycker took his Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX team YZ450FM to 12th overall and was uncomfortable in the races after tweaking his back in Saturday's Qualification Heat. The racing at Kegums took place on a fine and powdery surface with a shifting terrain and loose berms on top of a hard base; creating a curious mix of sand and hard-pack. It was a tough course physically, simply through the demands of the pointed bumps combined with the fast speed and hefty jumps and waves sections. Philippaerts, who had fully recovered from the effects of a cold that had left him weakened in Germany last weekend, rode hard and fought closely with Tony Cairoli for 4th in the first moto, eventually crossing the finish line in 5th. In a static second race he circulated too far from the rear wheel of Xavier Boog but far enough ahead of Max Nagl to set a comfortable rhythm. De Dycker in Latvia De Dycker, so aggressive, attacking and pro-active at Teutschenthal where he picked up his first win of the season and the second for the YZ450FM had to unveil the same spirit in the first moto after a slip on the opening turn left him last. The Belgian determinedly worked his way up to 10th place. A sore back through a mistimed jump on Saturday counted against him in the second race and after another average start he completed the race distance with 14th spot. The world championship standing is headed by Tony Cairoli, holding a 61 advantage over Clement Desalle and 86 from Philippaerts. De Dycker is 6th and 29 points from the first three. Yamaha Monster Energy MX Teams will catch the ferry north in the coming days to land in Sweden and head to the Uddevalla circuit for the tenth round of the series next weekend. A three week break will follow in July before the final third of the campaign will take place with races in Belgium, Czech Republic, Brazil, Holland and Italy. David Philippaerts, Yamaha Monster Energy MX Team, 6th: "It was a difficult day and I did not like the track. There were many jumps with soft take-offs and landings. To finish fifth and sixth is pretty good because this was a bad GP for me last year so I am happy overall. My riding was good; I was slower than some other riders today but the position was OK. Now I will relax and do a bit of practice for Sweden. Uddevalla is a good circuit for me and I expect to be able to attack more there and go for more points." Ken De Dycker, Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team, 12th: "Yesterday in qualifying I came up short on a jump and hurt my back. It wasn't too bad in the first moto but I really felt it in the second race. I had pain and couldn't hold on anymore. I made a mistake in the first moto and the front wheel just slid away after that it was a difficult race but it went OK. There were a lot of small bumps out there but there was grip on the track and it was good." Circuit Length: NA Crowd: 17,000 Weather: Sunny
Last Years Winner: Antonio Cairoli 2010 GP of Latvia 27/06/2010 Race 1 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 38'54.633 2 Evgeny Bobryshev Honda RUS 0'12.451 3 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'24.131 4 Antonio Cairoli KTM ITA 0'33.514 5 David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 0'39.071 6 Xavier Boog Kawasaki FRA 0'44.621 7 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 0'46.826 8 Davide Guarneri Honda ITA 0'48.973 9 Tanel Leok Honda EST 0'50.444 10 Ken De Dycker Yamaha BEL 0'54.965 11 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 0'56.368 12 Jimmy Albertson Honda USA 1'05.594 13 Anthony Boissière TM FRA 1'15.581 14 Joshua Coppins Aprilia NZL 1'15.767 15 Gareth Swanepoel Honda RSA 1'35.429 17 Tom Soderstrom Yamaha SWE 1'57.472 Race 2 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli KTM ITA 39'44.581 2 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 0'13.410 3 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'25.118 4 Evgeny Bobryshev Honda RUS 0'32.040 5 Xavier Boog Kawasaki FRA 0'37.404 6 David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 0'41.379 7 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 0'42.842 8 Tanel Leok Honda EST 0'44.219 9 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 0'50.391 10 Davide Guarneri Honda ITA 1'09.611 11 Anthony Boissière TM FRA 1'11.865 12 Gareth Swanepoel Honda RSA 1'16.517 13 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 1'18.612 14 Ken De Dycker Yamaha BEL 2'08.195 15 Matthias Walkner KTM AUT -1Laps 17 Tom Soderstrom Yamaha SWE -1Laps Rider Standings 27/06/2010 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli KTM ITA 384 2. Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 323 3. David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 298 4. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 277 5. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 276 6. Ken De Dycker Yamaha BEL 269 7. Xavier Boog Kawasaki FRA 248 8. Tanel Leok Honda EST 207 9. Davide Guarneri Honda ITA 189 10. Evgeny Bobryshev Honda RUS 189 11. Anthony Boissière TM FRA 134 12. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 134 13. Gareth Swanepoel Honda RSA 126 14. Joshua Coppins Aprilia NZL 120 15. Rui Goncalves KTM POR 104 21. Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 46 25. Tom Soderstrom Yamaha SWE 31 27. Kyle Chisholm Yamaha USA 20 28. Alvaro Lozano Yamaha ESP 14 29. Grant Langston Yamaha RSA 12 31. Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 11 Manufacturer Standings 27/06/2010 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. KTM 413 2. Suzuki 373 3. Yamaha 351 4. Honda 289 5. Kawasaki 275 6. TM 134 7. Aprilia 128 8. CCM 11 9. Husqvarna 4 RACE REPORT 27/06/2010 Paulin 5th at Kegums for Latvian GP Paulin in Latvia Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team's Gautier Paulin registered a 5th position finish overall at Kegums for the Grand Prix of Latvia, attended by 17,000 spectators for the ninth outing of fifteen in the FIM Motocross World Championship. The talented Frenchman was the highest-ranked 2010 YZ250FM rider from three Yamaha machines in the top ten of the MX2-GP class. The loose terrain - almost sandy and constantly shifting and churning into new bumps and ruts - presented a hard and physical outing for the riders and although the sunshine brought high temperatures, a breeze and relatively low humidity offered some relief. Despite less than ideal starts that saw him mid-pack in both motos, Paulin marked some decent speed in the tricky conditions. He diligently rose from 15th to 7th in the first race and needed a few circulations to overtake Jake Nicholls and Joel Roelants at the beginning of the second to then lap alone in 4th. Kullas at Kegums In 7th overall for one of his best results of the season was a reinvigorated Harri Kullas who guided his Yamaha Monster Energy Gariboldi YZ250F to 6th and 12th; a brilliant start in the top four in the first moto helping the Finnish teenager to equal a personal best race result. Just behind him in the ranking was Christophe Charlier who rode quickly and sensibly in the wake of several crashes on Saturday. The Frenchman, and European Champion, was 10th and 9th in what was a good Grand Prix for the Italian squad new to the Grand Prix paddock in 2010. Bike it Cosworth Yamaha's Zach Osborne could not stretch his decent run of form to four consecutive podiums. The American crashed on the first corner of the first moto and damaged his silencer. He entered the pits shortly after and fitted a new exhaust but lost almost two laps and was too far adrift of the rear of the field. In the second race he built up his speed slowly and attacked Roelants on the last lap to obtain 5th place (13th overall despite the DNF). Osborne is the highest-ranked MX2 rider in the current world championship standings with 5th and trails Jeffrey Herlings by 37 points. Kullas is 10th and Charlier 12th - both riders in their rookie GP campaigns - while Paulin has dragged himself up to 13th although missed the first four events. Round ten starts the final third of the 2010 FIM MX-GP World Championship next week at Uddevalla for the Grand Prix of Sweden. Gautier Paulin, Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team, 5th: "My best lap-time of the second moto was 0.8 away from the leaders so I know I have the pace. I lost too much time behind Roelants and Nicholls in the second moto so the first three had gone by the time I got into fourth. The track was so difficult and technical and for my style of riding it was physically very tough because you had to be so precise. My concentration, speed and physical condition was good and normally I ride very well on this kind of track but I need to improve my starts and then I will live with the leaders for sure and be going for the podium. I have been training hard to come back to the feeling I know on the bike and I am confident. I will have some rest this week and have a play on the bike to come to Sweden determined to get good results." Harri Kullas, Yamaha Monster Energy Gariboldi, 7th: "I am happy about this weekend because for the last few GPs I have not had much luck. In one month I had two small concussions! In the first race I had a good start and was third in the beginning. I pushed to see what I could do and had a good battle with Roelants for fourth but he was just a bit too fast. I finished sixth by the end and that was OK for me. In the second moto I was in the top ten again but I wasn't so sharp on the first lap and dropped a few places. I worked on getting my rhythm together and overtook a few people including Simpson on the last lap. Seventh overall is a good result but the second race could have been better." Christophe Charlier, Yamaha Monster Energy Gariboldi, 8th: "I was pushed out on the first corner of the first moto and I almost crashed. I had already gone down a few times on Saturday so I wanted to be more careful but I pushed back anyway and had some pain in my back and my arm. The second race was pretty good and I felt like my speed was decent. I had to calm down a bit after Saturday and after some bad luck recently I think this was a step in the right direction." Zach Osborne, Bike it Cosworth Yamaha, 13th: "The crash was my fault. I shouldn't have been in that position and someone ran over the back of the bike and broke the pipe. I stopped in the pit thinking that I could get back out and run on the track with the leaders because when people see them coming they tend to move over and that would have helped win positions but it took a bit longer to change the pipe than we thought and it would have been impossible to get near the points. It seemed pointless to grind out a race on an already difficult track. The second moto was decent. It took me a few laps to get going because I hadn't had a chance to set my pace in the first race. After twenty minutes or so I felt quite comfortable and confident and made some passes. I was not podium material this weekend and I can accept that and go on to next weekend and try to do a bit better. Sweden is a new track but I am keen to do well there." Circuit Length: NA Crowd: 17,000 Weather: Sunny
Last Years Winner: Rui Goncalves 2010 GP of Latvia 27/06/2010 Race 1 - 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Marvin Musquin KTM FRA 40'02.269 2 Ken Roczen Suzuki GER 0'00.701 3 Jeffrey Herlings KTM NED 0'10.349 4 Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 0'32.455 5 Joel Roelants KTM BEL 0'53.511 6 Harri Kullas Yamaha FIN 1'08.966 7 Gautier Paulin Yamaha FRA 1'21.629 8 Shaun Simpson KTM GBR 1'42.337 9 Valentin Teillet KTM FRA 1'43.915 10 Christophe Charlier Yamaha FRA 1'52.417 11 Khounsith Vongsana KTM FRA 2'05.823 12 Arnaud Tonus Suzuki CHE -1Laps 13 Jake Nicholls KTM GBR -1Laps 14 Matiss Karro Suzuki LVA -1Laps 15 Nick Triest KTM BEL -1Laps 17 Mel Pocock Yamaha GBR -1Laps Race 2 - 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Jeffrey Herlings KTM NED 39'22.107 2 Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 0'02.998 3 Ken Roczen Suzuki GER 0'05.224 4 Gautier Paulin Yamaha FRA 0'39.306 5 Zach Osborne Yamaha USA 0'48.873 6 Joel Roelants KTM BEL 0'50.140 7 Marvin Musquin KTM FRA 0'53.176 8 Arnaud Tonus Suzuki CHE 1'06.550 9 Christophe Charlier Yamaha FRA 1'11.730 10 Jake Nicholls KTM GBR 1'21.620 11 Michael Lieb Kawasaki USA 1'33.475 12 Harri Kullas Yamaha FIN 1'42.631 13 Shaun Simpson KTM GBR 1'49.386 14 Valentin Teillet KTM FRA 2'07.758 15 Matiss Karro Suzuki LVA -1Laps 17 Mel Pocock Yamaha GBR -1Laps Rider Standings 27/06/2010 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Marvin Musquin KTM FRA 404 2. Ken Roczen Suzuki GER 330 3. Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 308 4. Jeffrey Herlings KTM NED 286 5. Zach Osborne Yamaha USA 249 6. Shaun Simpson KTM GBR 246 7. Arnaud Tonus Suzuki CHE 236 8. Joel Roelants KTM BEL 214 9. Jeremy Van Horebeek Kawasaki BEL 209 10. Harri Kullas Yamaha FIN 182 11. Jake Nicholls KTM GBR 177 12. Christophe Charlier Yamaha FRA 153 13. Gautier Paulin Yamaha FRA 132 14. Dennis Verbruggen KTM BEL 127 15. Alessandro Lupino Yamaha ITA 111 20. Mel Pocock Yamaha GBR 44 24. Loic Larrieu Yamaha FRA 25 28. Travis Baker Yamaha USA 15 32. Ceriel Klein Kromhof Yamaha NED 9 33. Max Anstie Yamaha GBR 9 34. Vince Friese Yamaha USA 8 38. Rudi Moroni Yamaha ITA 5 44. Glenn Coldenhoff Yamaha NED 2 45. Ed Allingham Yamaha GBR 2 Manufacturer Standings 27/06/2010 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. KTM 442 2. Suzuki 347 3. Kawasaki 316 4. Yamaha 310 5. Honda 72 6. TM 18
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Guarnoni extends European Superstock Championship dominance on the Yamaha R6 at Misano

Jeremy Guarnoni MRS Racing’s Jeremy Guarnoni took another step towards winning the Superstock 600 European Championship on his Yamaha YZF R6 this weekend. Guarnoni was on top form all weekend, scoring his fifth consecutive pole position start of the season to start from the front of the grid. The young French rider battled closely with championship rival Florian Marino, repeatedly touching fairings on the last lap, before gaining a half second advantage to the line to claim his third win of the season. Guarnoni was one of two Yamaha R6’s on the podium and one of sixteen of Yamaha’s Supersport machines that made up the grid start. The championship is now at the half way mark, with five races completed and five to run. The riders now move to Brno in two weeks for round six. Guarnoni leads with 111 points, 25 points ahead of closest rival Marino.
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno