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Spies makes it five in a row in Monza

To the delight of The Yamaha World Superbike Team's home crowd rider Ben Spies effortlessly rode his R1 to take an incredible fifth consecutive Superpole of the year, again breaking the lap record in the process. Having spent the two qualifying sessions fine tuning his set up for race day, Spies took it relatively easy for the first two Superpole heats, ensuring he made it through to the final eight without using a qualifier tyre. As the final heat started, out came the new Pirelli qualifier tyre with its distinctive yellow stripe, and the lap time tumbled as Spies displayed what is now becoming almost expected, a scorching Superpole lap and a new lap record. Team-mate Tom Spies had a more frustrating Superpole experience, having started well on a qualifier in the first session he made it through safely to the second. The young British rider's flying lap saw him quick enough through the first two splits to go through to the final session, however he came up against another rider on a slow down lap halfway round the infamous Parabolica corner, losing nearly half a second in the process and sealing his fate outside the top ten for the final heat. Sykes will now start tomorrow's races from the third row of the grid. Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team (1st, 1'44.073) "It's been really good here at Monza this weekend. The approach has been a bit different, we've kind of tried to sneak up on everyone and been working really hard on the race setup through the sessions. We've been working quietly away in the garage and I think the bike is going to be really good in the race. I really wanted to get this one for Yamaha on their home track so it was great to be able to take the Superpole for the team. It looks like it could be a bit of a dogfight tomorrow, hopefully we'll have some guys up there to mix it up and shake up the points a little bit." Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team (10th 1'45.383) "Qualifying was a fairly steady session, we tried a couple more things to cross some boxes, so it was constructive. We got some more information out of it which helped towards the Superpole. We did the first Superpole heat ok, the aim of the game was to get into the top sixteen and we did that. I was fairly confident for the second one, I knew I was on a good lap and everything felt really nice and smooth but coming into the last corner, Kiyonari was in front of me. He was going pretty slowly and then sat up and we nearly came together. I lost half a second there and didn't have time to get back and change tyres for another go. I'm very disappointed as I feel that our race pace for tomorrow is quite strong and we are having to start from row three. Hopefully we can get a good clean start and get through the first chicane and try and go with the leading bunch as I know we can stay with them." Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager "After the pole position we are quite confident that tomorrow we can run a good race. Here in Monza the two races will be really close at the start with a lot of riders in a tight pack for the first half but I think after that just a few riders will fight for the win. I think tomorrow we will see two very good races." Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1'47.434 (Troy Bayliss, 01/01/2002) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'44.073 (Ben Spies, 10/05/2009) Last Years Winner: Noriyuki Haga 2009 WSB Italy - Monza 09/05/2009 Superpole Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Ben Spies     Yamaha     USA     1'44.073 2     Michel Fabrizio     Ducati     ITA     1'44.270 3     Ryuichi Kiyonari     Honda     JPN     1'44.642 4     Max Neukirchner     Suzuki     GER     1'44.900 5     Noriyuki Haga     Ducati     JPN     1'45.096 6     Jonathan Rea     Honda     GBR     1'45.170 7     Max Biaggi     Aprilia     ITA     1'45.605 8     Yukio Kagayama     Suzuki     JPN     1'45.861 9     Carlos Checa     Honda     ESP     1'45.166 10     Tom Sykes     Yamaha     GBR     1'45.383 11     Troy Corser     BMW     AUS     1'45.543 12     Regis Laconi     Ducati     FRA     1'45.663 13     Broc Parkes     Kawasaki     AUS     1'46.638 14     Ruben Xaus     BMW     ESP     1'46.571 15     Shane Byrne     Ducati     GBR     1'46.593 Qualifying 2 Pos.     Rider     Nat.     QUAL I     QUAL II 1     Michel Fabrizio     ITA     1'45.447     1'44.974 2     Max Neukirchner     GER     1'45.962     1'45.224 3     Jonathan Rea     GBR     1'45.919     1'45.373 4     Noriyuki Haga     JPN     1'45.790     1'45.448 5     Max Biaggi     ITA     1'46.054     1'45.748 6     Ben Spies     USA     1'46.013     1'45.755 7     Tom Sykes     GBR     1'45.758     1'45.941 8     Leon Haslam     GBR     1'46.208     1'45.919 9     Yukio Kagayama     JPN     1'45.985     1'46.069 10     Ryuichi Kiyonari     JPN     1'46.171     1'45.988 11     Regis Laconi     FRA     1'47.078     1'46.103 12     Carlos Checa     ESP     1'46.140     1'46.337 13     Shane Byrne     GBR     1'46.164     1'46.690 14     Jakub Smrz     CZE     1'46.363     1'46.264 15     Karl Muggeridge     AUS     1'46.690     1'46.319 25     David Checa     ESP     1'48.920     1'47.868 QUALIFYING 1 REPORT     09/05/2009 Crutchlow and Foret claim the front row Cal Crutchlow made it an incredible fourth consecutive pole position start in a row today. The Yamaha World Supersport rider and the R6 continue to be a devastating combination on any circuit. Crutchlow was on the pace from the word go and never ventured far from the top spot for the duration of the session. In taking pole position he also broke the lap record of 1'49.868 set here last year by Broc Parkes on the Yamaha R6. Team-mate Fabien Foret was also on top form, having won here at Monza last year, the French rider set out today to show he means business and wants the podium again on race day. A fast, consistent qualifying session ensured Foret starts on the front row with his team-mate tomorrow, in 3rd position. Foret also came in under last year's lap record set by his previous team-mate Parkes. Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team, (1st, 1'49.706) "It was a good enough session, I wasn't really happy with the time at the end because I could have gone a lot quicker. We had a few problems with the bike throughout the session. We did our fastest time on the 14th lap of the tyre and then went slower on a brand new tyre so it was a bit weird how that worked. Race pace is good though, I'm looking forward to the race, I think we can hopefully win it tomorrow and gain a bigger lead in the championship." Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (3rd, 1'49.803) "We have a few things we're trying to improve a little bit but I'm actually pretty happy with the package now and tyre wise it's also not too bad so it's looking good. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I've started in fifth a few times now with hardly any time between me and the front row so this time I wanted to make sure I could finish in the front. For me though what is important is to finish on the podium tomorrow." Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team Manager "it was a good qualifying heat. Fabien had a good session, he was happy and fast which was great. Cal is pole again which is fantastic, he still had some difficulties to solve but nothing major. They are both capable of doing a good race tomorrow and it's brilliant to have them both on the front row, the first time this year." Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1'52.635 (Chris Vermeulen, 01/01/2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'49.706 (Cal Crutchlow, 10/05/2009) Last Years Winner: Fabien Foret 2009 WSS Italy - Monza 09/05/2009 Qualifying 1 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Cal Crutchlow     Yamaha     GBR     1'49.706 2     Joan Lascorz     Kawasaki     ESP     1'49.739 3     Fabien Foret     Yamaha     FRA     1'49.803 4     Eugene Laverty     Honda     GBR     1'50.006 5     Mark Aitchison     Honda     AUS     1'50.407 6     Kenan Sofuoglu     Honda     TUR     1'50.636 7     Andrew Pitt     Honda     AUS     1'50.733 8     Gianluca Nannelli     Triumph     ITA     1'50.798 9     Garry McCoy     Triumph     AUS     1'50.828 10     Katsuaki Fujiwara     Kawasaki     JPN     1'50.861 11     Matthieu Lagrive     Honda     FRA     1'50.907 12     Michele Pirro     Yamaha     ITA     1'51.281 13     Franco Battaini     Yamaha     ITA     1'51.429 14     Massimo Roccoli     Honda     ITA     1'51.517 15     Miguel Praia     Honda     POR     1'51.682 23     Doni Tata Pradita     Yamaha     IDN     1'53.025 27     Yannick Guerra     Yamaha     ESP     1'53.351 28     Jose Morillas     Yamaha     ESP     1'56.328
Alex Asigno

Yamaha and HJC show their support for Abruzzo

Following a very public display of solidarity by the World Superbike Championship riders on the start grid at Assen in support for the Abruzzo community a charity auction is planned to give further help. Yamaha World Superbike Team riders Ben Spies and Tom Sykes have joined others in donating personal items to help raise money for the cause. As an Italian based team, it was only natural that Yamaha wanted to give something special. Following the first free session on Friday at the Monza circuit, Yamaha rider Ben Spies decided he wanted to make it personal so signed the HJC helmet he’d used for the session and handed it over for the auction. Team-mate Tom Sykes took time out after the session to sign some items of Yamaha Racing clothing to join the donations. Both HJC and the Yamaha team were delighted to be able to offer something to help those affected by the tragic earthquake that hit the community of Abruzzo so tragically on April 6th. The items collected from the riders will be up for auction in the World Superbike paddock show at Monza following Superpole on the Saturday afternoon. Racing legend and 2008 World Superbike champion Troy Bayliss will be present to help auction the unique racing items and raise money for the worthy cause.
Alex Asigno

Sykes shines in Monza

Yamaha World Superbike rider Tom Sykes gave a tantalizing glimpse of his race pace today in the first qualifying session at the historic Monza circuit. The British rider put in strong consistent fats laps for the duration of the session, ending it in second place, just over 0.3 seconds behind leader Michele Fabrizio. Sykes had been fast all day and had spent the morning and the qualifying session fine tuning the set up for the weekend's racing. He finished the morning 's free practice session in third place, just behind his team-mate. Ben Spies was in equally reliable form in the Italian sunshine, focusing on tyre wear and race pace he ran consistent laps all day, finishing the afternoon's qualifying session in seventh position, less than 0.3 of a second off Sykes. The American rider spent the entire qualifying session on a single set of tyres to test the wear rate on the warm circuit. The morning's free practice session saw Spies predictably fast on a circuit he's coming to know well through testing, he finished the session second, less than 0.3 seconds behind the leader. Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team (2nd, 1'45.758) "A fairly decent day to day to be honest, we came here with a big change from the test we had here which has taken a fair bit of balancing but I think we've done it. Overall I'm very happy with my race tyres, we're doing consistent fast laps over race distance so I'm confident in the team's ability and tomorrow I think we'll come out even stronger. I'm going to have a good sleep tonight and come back tomorrow with a fresh head and be even better!" Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team (7th, 1'46.013) "It was a really good session for us. We pretty much found our race tyres , we only ran one set for the whole session and put in some really good lap times. We weren't really worried about fast lap times today, we just wanted to get consistent laps so we should be good for Sunday. It's an 18 lap race and our fastest lap today was the 22nd one so it's looking good. The bike's working really well so we'll step it up tomorrow and see what happens." Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager "A good session for us, we were working to find the best set up for the race I think we're pretty ready. We've made no major changes from the previous test here, just some small changes to improve and fine tune. The race pace was good so we're satisfied, I think we are 90% there for Sunday." Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1'47.434 (Troy Bayliss, 01/01/2002) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'44.931 (Troy Bayliss, 11/05/2008) Last Years Winner: Noriyuki Haga 2009 WSB Italy - Monza 08/05/2009 Qualifying 1 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Michel Fabrizio     Ducati     ITA     1'45.447 2     Tom Sykes     Yamaha     GBR     1'45.758 3     Noriyuki Haga     Ducati     JPN     1'45.790 4     Jonathan Rea     Honda     GBR     1'45.919 5     Max Neukirchner     Suzuki     GER     1'45.962 6     Yukio Kagayama     Suzuki     JPN     1'45.985 7     Ben Spies     Yamaha     USA     1'46.013 8     Max Biaggi     Aprilia     ITA     1'46.054 9     Carlos Checa     Honda     ESP     1'46.140 10     Shane Byrne     Ducati     GBR     1'46.164 11     Ryuichi Kiyonari     Honda     JPN     1'46.171 12     Leon Haslam     Honda     GBR     1'46.208 13     Jakub Smrz     Ducati     CZE     1'46.363 14     Ruben Xaus     BMW     ESP     1'46.545 15     Troy Corser     BMW     AUS     1'46.565 27     David Checa     Yamaha     ESP     1'48.920 FREE PRACTICE REPORT     08/05/2009 Crutchlow and Foret get straight down to it in Monza Both Cal Crutchlow and Fabien Foret got down to business quickly in Monza today. Crutchlow used the free practice session to familiarize himself with yet another new circuit, something he managed to do in just a few laps as his searingly quick pace showed at the end of the session. A small tumble early in the session did nothing to dampen his enthusiasm. His last lap of the day turning out to be the fastest of the Supersport riders, sending a clear message to his competitors that he means business on Sunday. Team-mate Foret was well and truly back on form, having picked up his pace dramatically in Assen and showed his old racing style, he got down to it quickly in Monza today and put in consistently fast laps at the top of the pack, leading the session briefly before settling for fourth at the end, less than 0.5 of a second off his team-mate. Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team (1st, 1'50.594) "It was good enough for me over the session, but I had a little bit of an off which I'm disappointed about. Every time I stick new boots on I crash! We worked hard this afternoon and done a lot of laps in the session. The race distance was good on the tyres so I'm happy enough, hopefully we can go into the weekend confident now. The second corner is weird, it's absolutely flat out, you don't shut off at all on a 600 and it took a bit of getting used to, there's barrier all the way round and it kind of suck s you in! It's nice to be quickest on the last lap and on one set of tyres, let's hope we can keep that up over the weekend." Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team (4th, 1'50.934) "It was good for me, I found my pace pretty easily, I used a very similar bike set-up to last year which was very good. Obviously we tried to update it a bit but right now it's working really well and I'm not pushing 100% yet so I would say everything is under control and good up to now. I enjoyed being out there on the bike and having fun on the track today, . I'm pretty happy and looking forward to tomorrow." Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team Manager "It seems to be that Cal likes the track, not bad for his first time here and on provisional pole. Both the riders are happy, Fabien particularly likes this track. They both tried some different things in the session, including an Assen setting and the Monza setting from last year. We have a good direction as a result of the session, we've got a good combination of tyres which we didn't have last year so everything seems to be under control! Cal had a little off, he started with a tyre which was probably not the best and had a small front end slide. The problem here is that anything is a high speed incident but he's ok, no injuries so we're looking forward to tomorrow with confidence." Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1'52.635 (Chris Vermeulen, 01/01/2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'49.868 (Broc Parkes, 11/05/2008) Last Years Winner: Fabien Foret 2009 WSS Italy - Monza 08/05/2009 Free Practice Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Cal Crutchlow     Yamaha     GBR     1'50.594 2     Joan Lascorz     Kawasaki     ESP     1'50.605 3     Mark Aitchison     Honda     AUS     1'50.749 4     Fabien Foret     Yamaha     FRA     1'50.934 5     Matthieu Lagrive     Honda     FRA     1'51.474 6     Danilo Dell'omo     Honda     ITA     1'51.783 7     Katsuaki Fujiwara     Kawasaki     JPN     1'51.860 8     Andrew Pitt     Honda     AUS     1'51.920 9     Kenan Sofuoglu     Honda     TUR     1'51.929 10     Michele Pirro     Yamaha     ITA     1'51.939 11     Eugene Laverty     Honda     GBR     1'52.027 12     Massimo Roccoli     Honda     ITA     1'52.073 13     Franco Battaini     Yamaha     ITA     1'52.122 14     Garry McCoy     Triumph     AUS     1'52.154 15     Gianluca Vizziello     Honda     ITA     1'52.383 24     Doni Tata Pradita     Yamaha     IDN     1'54.392 26     Yannick Guerra     Yamaha     ESP     1'54.957 29     Jose Morillas     Yamaha     ESP     1'57.147
Alex Asigno

Sterilgarda sponsors Yamaha World Superbike Team

Italian food brand Sterilgarda has joined up to sponsor the Yamaha World Superbike team for selected races of the 2009 championship season. Starting with the upcoming Monza race, the Sterilgarda brand will feature on the bikes and leathers of both Ben Spies and Tom Sykes. Sterilgarda is a food production company based in Italy, providing products for over 40 years and today producing over 1200 tons of foodstuffs daily. Core product lines include cheese, milk, yogurt and fruit juices. Sterilgada are a familiar face in the WSB paddock, having been keen supporters and partners of racing teams and riders for some time. The 2009 Yamaha World Superbike Team has had a strong start to the 2009 season with a new bike and new riders, making it an attractive proposition for sponsors, the team have already won four out of the eight races run so far with rookie Ben Spies who is regularly fighting at the front of the pack for the race win and currently sits second in the championship.     Sterilgarda Sponsorship Sterilgarda Sponsorship “We are really happy to be able to link our brand with The Yamaha World Superbike Team,” said Nando Sarzi, the owner of Sterilgarda Alimenti. “We’re really excited to be able share the racing emotions and success with the team, starting with Monza this weekend, the home race for both the team and our company. Professionalism and quality are two common, shared elements that drive both Sterilgarda and Yamaha in the search for great success.” “It’s fantastic to have Sterilgarda onboard,” said Laurens Klein Koerkamp, Manager, Yamaha Motor Europe Racing Division. “It’s very positive to have such a well known brand in the paddock recognize how successful the Yamaha World Superbike Team is and want to be part of it. We’re looking forward to working together and this being the start of a long term relationship.”
Alex Asigno

Stewart 2009 AMA and FIM SX Champion!

Yamaha rider James Stewart has won the 2009 AMA SX Championship (also an FIM world championship) thanks to third position taken at the seventeenth and last round of the series in front of almost 40,000 spectators at the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. The 23 year old claimed his second SX title and the sixth of his career while successfully defending Yamaha's crown in the premier class. The 19th Supercross event to take place in Las Vegas saw a tense final face-off between points-leader Stewart and defending number one Chad Reed; the pair had been trading places at the top of the standings throughout the campaign. Stewart carried a six point advantage and could afford to ride conservatively and within distance of Reed. He led for the opening laps of the Main Event but relinquished control to Ryan Villopoto and then withstood close pressure from Reed, no doubt hoping to force a mistake, before settling for third behind the Australian and confirming the championship by just four points. "I might not have ridden the best tonight, but I did what I had to do, and I'm so happy," said Stewart who had previously won in both classes at Las Vegas and managed to stretch his career tally of wins to 36 through his efforts in 2009. "It's so emotional. There is so much hard work that went into this, and honestly I'm exhausted right now because it's been the toughest year for me. Every race this year, I've had to win, and that's hard mentally. I don't think anybody's ever been in a situation where they had to win every race. Chad has been on the podium 16 out of 17 races this year, so I had to win after Anaheim I, and then after Daytona. It pays off to have a great team, a great trainer, and a great supporting cast. I'm so happy." 2009 was the first season for the Floridian on the YZ450F and he already forged a milestone by becoming the first rider to give Yamaha 11 victories in one term (an achievement not even seen in the dominant era of Jeremy McGrath, although '09 was only the sixth season since the inception of the sport in 1974 in which the calendar stretched to 17 rounds). Stewart only finished off the podium twice and his DNF at Anaheim for round one was the sole blight on his scorecard. "I've said it before, but I don't care if I win by 100 points or one point, I won it, and I don't care what anybody says," he added. "I won this championship, and my team won this championship, and I won it fair and square. I had the most race wins, and I had the most points. I won't take anything away from Chad. Hat's off to him, he rode great this year, but the number-one plate's mine now." Joe Gibbs Racing's Josh Grant registered a twelfth top ten finish of his rookie season with 7th in Las Vegas. The youngster's victory at Anaheim 1 meant that Yamaha owned 12 of the 17 races in 2009 and Grant was able to cap the year with 4th overall in the championship. Circuit Length: n/a Crowd: 39,506 Weather: Dry Lap Record: 0'52.030 (Kevin Windham, 01/01/2004) Last Years Winner: Chad Reed 2009 AMA-SX Las Vegas, NV 03/05/2009 Race 1 - 20 Laps Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Ryan Villopoto     Kawasaki     USA     22'25.438 2     Chad Reed     Suzuki     AUS     0'08.090 3     James Stewart     Yamaha     USA     0'28.033 4     Kevin Windham     Honda     USA     0'35.783 5     Ivan Tedesco     Honda     USA     0'43.639 6     Mike Alessi     Suzuki     USA     0'55.968 7     Josh Grant     Yamaha     USA     1'00.509 8     Andrew Short     Honda     USA     -1Laps 9     Nathan Ramsey     Yamaha     USA     -1Laps 10     David D Millsaps     Honda     USA     -1Laps 11     Jason Thomas     Honda     USA     -1Laps 12     Nicholas Wey     Yamaha     USA     -1Laps 13     Paul Carpenter     Kawasaki     USA     -1Laps 14     Matt Boni     Honda     USA     -1Laps 15     Jesse Casillas     KTM     USA     -2Laps Rider Standings     02/05/2009 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Points 1.    James Stewart    Yamaha    USA    377 2.    Chad Reed    Suzuki    AUS    373 3.    Andrew Short    Honda    USA    270 4.    Josh Grant    Yamaha    USA    237 5.    Kevin Windham    Honda    USA    236 6.    Ryan Villopoto    Kawasaki    USA    233 7.    Ivan Tedesco    Honda    USA    226 8.    David D Millsaps    Honda    USA    219 9.    Mike Alessi    Suzuki    USA    218 10.    Josh Hill    Yamaha    USA    146 11.    Heath Voss    Honda    USA    103 12.    Matt Boni    Honda    USA    103 13.    Tim Ferry    Kawasaki    USA    100 14.    Nicholas Wey    Yamaha    USA    98 15.    Paul Carpenter    Kawasaki    USA    96 16.    Kyle Chisholm    Yamaha    USA    80 17.    Broc Hepler    Yamaha    USA    76 20.    Jason Lawrence    Yamaha    USA    43 25.    Nathan Ramsey    Yamaha    USA    27 40.    Sean Hamblin    Yamaha    USA    3 Manufacturer Standings     02/05/2009 Pos.     Manufacturer     Points 1.    Yamaha    408 2.    Suzuki    377 3.    Honda    318 4.    Kawasaki    278 5.    KTM    79
Alex Asigno

Rossi romps home to win Spanish thriller

Valentino Rossi took a stunning win in Jerez today, his first of the season and the 98th of his career taking him 11 points clear at the top of the championship. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo had a disappointing home race, crashing out on lap 24 when closing on the final podium position. The reigning World Champion had looked in trouble yesterday but an overnight set-up change saw him fastest in warm-up and he lined up confident that he would be able to mount a challenge. Starting from fourth on the grid, Rossi held his position at the start and managed to pass Lorenzo on the final turn of the second lap. Casey Stoner was the next target and the Italian quickly began to close the gap, setting the fastest lap of the race on lap four. Rossi and Stoner exchanged a couple of entertaining passes in the next few laps before the Yamaha rider made it stick at the end of the seventh lap, with the gap to Dani Pedrosa in the lead then standing at 1.2 seconds. The middle section of the race saw Rossi making little headway into the Spaniard's lead but at two-thirds distance he suddenly found a new rhythm and started shaving tenths off the gap, making the definitive move and claiming the lead with 10 laps to go. From then on there was only one winner and the irrepressible 30-year-old brought his M1 home 2.7 seconds clear of second-placed Pedrosa. Ever the joker, Rossi took advantage of the moment to replicate one of his most famous post-race stunts ten years on, making a stop on his victory lap to pop into a track side portable toilet, to the delight of the 120,000-strong crowd. After his dazzling pole position Lorenzo was fully expecting to challenge for the win but the higher track temperature today caused problems and he lacked the grip and pace of yesterday. The Mallorcan, who turns 22 tomorrow, spent most of the race in a lonely fourth position but in the final stages began to close on Stoner and looked like he might have a podium chance. With the gap down to under half a second the excitement began to build in the 99 side of the garage but with just four laps to go he lost the front and went down, emerging unhurt from the gravel trap but with damage to his foot peg and throttle meaning there was no chance to finish the race. Rossi now leads Stoner by 11 points in the standings, whilst Lorenzo slips to third, 13 points adrift of the Australian. The MotoGP paddock will reconvene on French soil in ten days time for round four in Le Mans. Valentino Rossi - Position: 1stTime: 45'18.557 "This is a wonderful victory because yesterday we were really quite worried! I couldn't ride how I wanted to and it was very hard. We had to work all together to understand how to fix the problem and finally we made a big change to try to make the bike feel how I like in the corner, which worked, so I have to say a huge thank you to Jeremy and all my guys. This morning we could tell immediately that things were much better and then we made a couple more small changes after warm-up, which made my M1 and my Bridgestone tyres feel even better. The race was long and quite hard - I lost some time getting past Lorenzo at the start and then I had a good battle with Stoner, which I enjoyed. After that I wasn't so fast and I couldn't close the gap to Pedrosa for a while; he was very quick but finally things improved and I was able to catch and pass him. It's great to win again and especially here in Jerez, which I love. It's ten years since I made the joke with the toilet here and so I thought it would be funny to do it again if I won - I liked that a lot! Now I hope that the changes we've made here will help us for the rest of the season. Thanks again to everyone!" Jorge Lorenzo - Position: DNF "I am very sad, because I was so fast all weekend and on pole position. Unfortunately today the temperature meant that our setting did not work in the same way and at the moment we don't understand why. This is really more disappointing than the actual crash. Fourth position wouldn't have been so bad but when you're in front of your fans, at home with so much adrenalin on the bike of course you try to do the maximum. I could see that the podium was possible and maybe the right thing would have been to go more gently and not push so hard in that moment, but I always want to do my best. Then I made a mistake and I threw all my good work away. We have to try to forget this and wake up feeling positive tomorrow because Le Mans is near. I'm sorry to all the fans who came to see me, to my team, family and to everybody!" Davide Brivio - Team Manager "This is a very important victory and after two second places everyone in the team was waiting for it and really wanted it. To win like this is something special; after being in trouble and quite sad on Saturday there was a lot of effort, long meetings, hard work by all the engineers, mechanics and technicians and finally we were able to give a good package to Valentino. If you can make Valentino feel happy on the bike then he will always give you this kind of performance and today it was wonderful to watch. This has to be our target every time. I am very happy and proud of all our guys, and of course of Valentino!" Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager "We're very disappointed for today's result. After excellent practice and qualifying sessions we expected to be on the podium but with the warmer temperature Jorge lost grip on the rear. At the end he was catching Stoner but then he lost the front and that was that! Now we need to make a deep analysis of why we had these unexpected problems and make sure they don't happen again. It's bad luck but now we will look forward to Le Mans, where we had a great result last year." Seventh for Edwards in scorching Spain, Toseland battles to 13th The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team ended a scorching hot Spanish MotoGP race with hard fought points scoring finishes for Colin Edwards and James Toseland. Texan Edwards starred in one of the most fiercely contested battles of the 27-lap encounter, dicing throughout with Italian duo Marco Melandri and Loris Capirossi in front of a sun-drenched crowd of 123,340 fans. Edwards expertly moved his Yamaha YZR-M1 machine by Capirossi to take seventh on lap ten, and four laps later he passed Melandri to set about securing his second top six in the opening three races. Small issues with his rear suspension setting though saw Edwards lose a superb last lap battle with Capirossi that left him only 1.3s away from a superb top five finish. Today's result though keeps Edwards in the top six in the championship standings and leading non-factory rider. British rider Toseland rode a determined race to finish 13th, the 28-year-old unable to progress any further through the field as he never found a comfortable set-up on his YZR-M1 machine. He showed his battling qualities though to fend off a persistent challenge from Alex de Angelis. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team now takes a deserved break before its home race at the French Grand Prix in Le Mans on May 17, with expectations high after Edwards finished third in 2008. Colin Edwards - Position: 7th Time: +0'34.421 "I got a really good start but right from the first lap I knew I wasn't going to be able to run the pace I needed. The guys in front just gapped me immediately and I couldn't get the bike to turn. We went in the wrong direction yesterday when it was hot, so for the race we went back to the setting I'd had in the morning when the track temperature was a bit cooler. In the cooler temperatures that setting was fine, but once the temperature goes up I just couldn't get into the rhythm I want and know I was capable of. I wanted to be smooth and precise but I couldn't do that. I was having to adjust my style to get some weight on the rear to help the bike turn, but it wasn't enough for me to get into the top six and that's a bit frustrating." James Toseland - Position: 13th Time: +0'53.683 "It has been a tough weekend and we have got some issues to sort out. We're still trying a few things on the bike and I'm still searching for a comfortable setting over a race distance. I still need a second or so on race pace but I need to sort out qualifying too. I can do the same times as four or five guys in front of me, but when you're all lapping at the same pace, it's hard to come through. I'm giving myself too much to do from qualifying and being too far back. You don't need to be too far off but if you start at the back you stay at the back in a competitive class like this. It has not been a great start to the season but I don't feel we're that far away. We've got a lot of information from this weekend and we're eliminating things that we know don't work. I'm confident we're close to finding the setting I need and working hard with my guys to find it." Herve Poncharal - Team Manager "It was a difficult race and in the first two races I have to say we were a little bit closer to the front. It's a shame that Colin wasn't quite comfortable enough with the setting to fight closer with (Loris) Capirossi and (Marco) Melandri at the end. A top six would have been well deserved for his hard effort and maybe fifth was achievable. It was also a tough weekend for James. His lap times in the race were not too bad but it is clear he must improve in qualifying. He is capable of a much stronger performance, but it is difficult when you don't qualify well. The start of the race now is crucial and qualifying is something that he will work on with his team. Everybody at Tech 3 is now looking forward to our home race. We know Le Mans is very good circuit for Yamaha and last year Colin was on the podium behind Jorge (Lorenzo) and Valentino (Rossi). I'd also like to thank Mark Hall from Monster Energy for his support this weekend. The Yamaha Tech 3 team is delighted to have Monster Energy as our title sponsor, and I'm sure our partnership will bring success in the future." Circuit Length: 4423 Temp: 27 Weather: Sunny Lap Record: 1'40.596 (Valentino Rossi, 01/01/2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'38.189 (Jorge Lorenzo, 30/03/2008) Last Years Winner: Daniel Pedrosa 2009 MotoGP Spain - Jerez de la Frontera 03/05/2009 Race 1 - 27 Laps Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Valentino Rossi     Yamaha     ITA     45'18.557 2     Daniel Pedrosa     Honda     ESP     0'02.700 3     Casey Stoner     Ducati     AUS     0'10.507 4     Randy De Puniet     Honda     FRA     0'31.893 5     Marco Melandri     Kawasaki     ITA     0'33.128 6     Loris Capirossi     Suzuki     ITA     0'34.128 7     Colin Edwards     Yamaha     USA     0'34.421 8     Andrea Dovizioso     Honda     ITA     0'34.625 9     Toni Elias     Honda     ESP     0'42.689 10     Chris Vermeulen     Suzuki     AUS     0'45.183 11     Sete Gibernau     Ducati     ESP     0'48.192 12     Yuki Takahashi     Honda     JPN     0'51.875 13     James Toseland     Yamaha     GBR     0'53.683 14     Alex De Angelis     Honda     SMR     0'53.941 15     Nicky Hayden     Ducati     USA     1'01.237 Rider Standings     03/05/2009 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Points 1.    Valentino Rossi    Yamaha    ITA    65 2.    Casey Stoner    Ducati    AUS    54 3.    Daniel Pedrosa    Honda    ESP    41 4.    Jorge Lorenzo    Yamaha    ESP    41 5.    Andrea Dovizioso    Honda    ITA    30 6.    Colin Edwards    Yamaha    USA    26 7.    Randy De Puniet    Honda    FRA    24 8.    Marco Melandri    Kawasaki    ITA    23 9.    Chris Vermeulen    Suzuki    AUS    21 10.    Loris Capirossi    Suzuki    ITA    19 11.    Mika Kallio    Ducati    FIN    16 12.    Alex De Angelis    Honda    SMR    15 13.    Toni Elias    Honda    ESP    14 14.    James Toseland    Yamaha    GBR    10 15.    Sete Gibernau    Ducati    ESP    8 Manufacturer Standings     03/05/2009 Pos.     Manufacturer     Points 1.    Yamaha    70 2.    Ducati    54 3.    Honda    47 4.    Suzuki    28 5.    Kawasaki    23
Alex Asigno

Stewart close to title after penultimate win

Yamaha's James Stewart stands on the brink of capturing the 2009 AMA Supercross and FIM World Championships after clinching his eleventh win of the season and the thirty-sixth of his career at the Rice-Eccles Stadium and watched by 40,612 spectators in Salt Lake City for the penultimate round of the campaign. The 23 year old guided his YZ450F - a motorcycle that has owned 12 of the 16 races run thus far - to the chequered flag ahead of main title rival Chad Reed and now holds a 6 point advantage with just one meeting remaining. Stewart became the first rider to give Yamaha eleven victories in a season and have increased the manufacturer's total to 67 triumphs since the turn of the century, more than a third more than their nearest competitor. "My biggest thing is just to try to stay away from the drama because at the end of the day, you want to race a guy and go to sleep knowing that you raced him as hard as you could, and clean, and didn't take anybody out," said Stewart on the tense situation between himself and Reed. "He wanted to win tonight, and I wanted to win tonight, and I think I just got lucky enough and I was able to pull it off, so I feel great," added the LandM San Manuel rider who won the sixth main event to take place in Utah and became the first rider to gain victories in both classes at the venue. Stewart dealt Reed a swift blow as the reigning champion gained the holeshot but was unable to sprint away from the challenger. With half the Main Event gone, Stewart pounced for the lead and defeated the Australian in a straight shoot-out. Joe Gibbs Racing's Josh Grant was sixth and now stands a good chance of confirming 4th place in the championship thanks to a 5 point gap over Kevin Windham. The season curtain closer will fittingly take place on a spectacular stage with the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas hosting round seventeen this weekend. Circuit Length: NA Crowd: 40,612 Weather: Dry 2009 AMA-SX Salt Lake City, UT 27/04/2009 Race 1 - 20 Laps Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     James Stewart     Yamaha     USA     17'39.037 2     Chad Reed     Suzuki     AUS     0'03.732 3     David D Millsaps     Honda     USA     0'31.107 4     Ryan Villopoto     Kawasaki     USA     0'35.629 5     Andrew Short     Honda     USA     0'42.756 6     Josh Grant     Yamaha     USA     0'46.607 7     Kevin Windham     Honda     USA     0'50.524 8     Matt Boni     Honda     USA     0'51.605 9     Thomas Hahn     Kawasaki     USA     0'54.277 10     Ivan Tedesco     Honda     USA     0'55.365 11     Paul Carpenter     Kawasaki     USA     -1Laps 12     Nicholas Wey     Yamaha     USA     -1Laps 13     Billy Laninovich     Kawasaki     USA     -1Laps 14     Heath Voss     Honda     USA     -1Laps 15     Broc Hepler     Yamaha     USA     -1Laps 20     Kyle Chisholm     Yamaha     USA     -20Laps Rider Standings     25/04/2009 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Points 1.    James Stewart    Yamaha    USA    357 2.    Chad Reed    Suzuki    AUS    351 3.    Andrew Short    Honda    USA    257 4.    Josh Grant    Yamaha    USA    223 5.    Kevin Windham    Honda    USA    218 6.    Ivan Tedesco    Honda    USA    210 7.    David D Millsaps    Honda    USA    208 8.    Ryan Villopoto    Kawasaki    USA    208 9.    Mike Alessi    Suzuki    USA    203 10.    Josh Hill    Yamaha    USA    146 11.    Heath Voss    Honda    USA    102 12.    Tim Ferry    Kawasaki    USA    100 13.    Matt Boni    Honda    USA    96 14.    Nicholas Wey    Yamaha    USA    89 15.    Paul Carpenter    Kawasaki    USA    88 16.    Kyle Chisholm    Yamaha    USA    80 17.    Broc Hepler    Yamaha    USA    76 20.    Jason Lawrence    Yamaha    USA    43 31.    Nathan Ramsey    Yamaha    USA    15 38.    Sean Hamblin    Yamaha    USA    3 Manufacturer Standings     25/04/2009 Pos.     Manufacturer     Points 1.    Yamaha    388 2.    Suzuki    355 3.    Honda    300 4.    Kawasaki    253 5.    KTM    73
Alex Asigno

Cairoli keeps series lead with Benelux podium

Yamaha Red Bull De Carli's Antonio Cairoli scaled a world championship podium for the second time in succession with the runner-up position at the Eurocircuit in Valkenswaard and the Grand Prix of Benelux for the fourth round of fifteen in the 2009 FIM series. The Sicilian keeps his position as leader of the standings and with a chequered flag in the first outing in Holland has secured three moto victories from the last four. He was joined on the rostrum by team-mate Tanel Leok who took third spot on the YZ450F, and with Yamaha Monster Energy MX Team's David Philippaerts in fifth and Josh Coppins in seventh, four Yamahas filled the top seven. Several new jumps and sections had been added to the dark and rutted sand at the all-weather circuit near Eindhoven. The surface churned up and became rougher throughout the meeting, increasing the physical and technical demands of the two motos. The qualification heat on Saturday saw Coppins take third position but Cairoli and Philippaerts were victims of a first corner tumble and pile-up. Cairoli emphatically attacked the terrain from almost last to finish 7th while Philippaerts - restarting even further back - was 14th. Tanel Leok was 5th. Race-day dawned overcast and damp thanks to rainfall during the night. Thankfully the conditions became brighter later on for the 20,000 spectators, and some fantastic racing lay ahead with up to six riders disputing podium positions at the end of an unforgettable and almost indescribable first moto. Cairoli took his third chequered flag in succession when he emerged victorious from a frantic scrap in the final five minutes of the opening race that saw crashes for protagonists Steve Ramon and Marc de Reuver. Positions changed seemingly with every corner as the clock ticked down on the moto. Cairoli's achievement was all the more remarkable for the fact that he had broken three spokes on his front wheel on the third lap. Philippaerts -who led at one point - tired in the closing stages and was just beaten to 5th by Leok. A bad start for Cairoli kept him away from the front-running twosome of Jonathan Barragan and Leok, who flew from the mid-top ten to circulate in second place during what was a calmer Moto2. The Estonian would earn 3rd overall for his second podium of the season and his first since victory in Faenza. Cairoli made his way to 3rd while Philippaerts - who again was leading in the formative stages - was 6th. It was not a happy day for Bulgarian GP winner Coppins who felt the harsh physical effects of a blood disorder and did not have the energy to be in contention negotiating the sand. The New Zealander had to be satisfied with 27 points and 7th place overall. Cairoli continues to control the world championship and now has an advantage of 15 points over Barragan. With Philippaerts, Coppins and Leok filling slots 4th, 5th and 6th, YZ450F and YZ450FM machinery occupy four places in the first six. Yamaha also front the manufacturer's standings with a 31 point gap over their nearest rivals. A trip across the Iberian Peninsula represents the next phase of the world championship. Round five takes place at Agueda for the Grand Prix of Portugal while the sixth race occurs one week later on the opposite coast at Bellpuig for the GP of Catalunya. Antonio Cairoli, Yamaha Red Bull De Carli, 2nd: "I was third in the first lap of the first moto and I tried to pass Steve Ramon but he almost crashed and stopped so I caught my front wheel with his footpeg. I could see the wheel was broken and I was pretty scared. I dropped back to 12th place because I wanted to see if I could keep on racing. I was not doing many jumps and nursing the bike but it was OK, and I increased the speed and pushed. I could pass Steve and then he had a big crash, and also Philippaerts. There have been a lot of things happening that I didn't expect this year in MX1. It was a surprise to win here but I am having a lot of fun on the bike and I want to keep it this way until the end of the championship. I was really happy to win that race. My second start was really bad and I had some contact with other guys in the first corner. I was riding well after that and passed a lot of people but I had some trouble overtaking Desalle for a few laps and that held me up. I wanted to reach Tanel but in the last minutes I was quite tired and just stayed steady to the flag." Tanel Leok, Yamaha Red Bull De Carli, 3rd: "I lost a lot of points in Turkey so this helps towards getting some back. I made some silly mistakes in the first moto but really that was the only negative part of the day. I am feeling good and fit and it showed in that second race. It has been really good to be riding and training with Antonio and I am happy with how things are going for me." David Philippaerts, Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team, 5th: "I had some good times and felt fast at the beginning of the races but I felt tired towards the end as the track was pretty hard and the conditions were warm for the Benelux! Things are still going well and although this was a physically tough race, more than the others so far, I could take some good points and keep consistent. After twenty minutes of each moto here I had to ride conservatively because crashing would have been worse than losing another position." Josh Coppins, Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team, 7th: "I'm done, it was a tough weekend and I knew it would be like that before I arrived here. I have been suffering with a blood problem. We have been working on it and I had some injections but it hasn't helped. I want to get healthy and be able to actually battle with the guys instead of just surviving out there; that is the hardest thing, not the result but knowing that I can't affect the race. It is not fun to take a good start and then just hang on. There is still so far to go in the championship and the result is not as disappointing as the fact that I could do nothing at this GP. I will go for some tests tomorrow and will try to improve for Portugal." Circuit Length: 1750 Crowd: 20,000 Weather: Cloudy Last Years Winner: Ken De Dycker 2009 GP of Benelux 26/04/2009 Race 1 - 19 Laps Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Antonio Cairoli     Yamaha     ITA     39'47.158 2     Marc De Reuver     Honda     NED     0'04.286 3     Jonathan Barragan     KTM     ESP     0'07.183 4     Ken De Dycker     Suzuki     BEL     0'08.550 5     Tanel Leok     Yamaha     EST     0'09.808 6     David Philippaerts     Yamaha     ITA     0'09.939 7     Kevin Strijbos     Honda     BEL     0'17.209 8     Billy MacKenzie     Honda     GBR     0'23.940 9     Clement Desalle     Honda     BEL     0'39.108 10     Joshua Coppins     Yamaha     NZL     0'50.965 11     Maximilian Nagl     KTM     GER     0'58.686 12     Cedric Melotte     Honda     BEL     1'19.903 13     Steve Ramon     Suzuki     BEL     1'22.028 14     James Noble     Suzuki     GBR     1'22.244 15     Bradley Anderson     Honda     GBR     1'28.951 18     Rob van Vijfeijken     Yamaha     NED     -1Laps Race 2 - 19 Laps Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Jonathan Barragan     KTM     ESP     40'18.300 2     Tanel Leok     Yamaha     EST     0'06.449 3     Antonio Cairoli     Yamaha     ITA     0'21.339 4     Kevin Strijbos     Honda     BEL     0'27.157 5     Joshua Coppins     Yamaha     NZL     0'37.250 6     David Philippaerts     Yamaha     ITA     0'43.042 7     Steve Ramon     Suzuki     BEL     0'46.374 8     Clement Desalle     Honda     BEL     1'18.127 9     Ken De Dycker     Suzuki     BEL     1'31.576 10     Aigar Leok     TM     EST     1'34.994 11     Gert Krestinov     KTM     EST     1'36.882 12     Gareth Swanepoel     Kawasaki     RSA     1'40.470 13     David Vuillemin     Kawasaki     FRA     1'42.218 14     Billy MacKenzie     Honda     GBR     1'44.021 15     Rob van Vijfeijken     Yamaha     NED     2'03.410 Rider Standings     26/04/2009 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Points 1.    Antonio Cairoli    Yamaha    ITA    143 2.    Jonathan Barragan    KTM    ESP    128 3.    Ken De Dycker    Suzuki    BEL    124 4.    David Philippaerts    Yamaha    ITA    118 5.    Joshua Coppins    Yamaha    NZL    112 6.    Tanel Leok    Yamaha    EST    111 7.    Steve Ramon    Suzuki    BEL    100 8.    Maximilian Nagl    KTM    GER    87 9.    Clement Desalle    Honda    BEL    86 10.    Kevin Strijbos    Honda    BEL    82 11.    Aigar Leok    TM    EST    48 12.    David Vuillemin    Kawasaki    FRA    48 13.    Marc De Reuver    Honda    NED    45 14.    Gareth Swanepoel    Kawasaki    RSA    43 15.    Billy MacKenzie    Honda    GBR    42 24.    Rob van Vijfeijken    Yamaha    NED    11 30.    Carlos Campano    Yamaha    ESP    3 Manufacturer Standings     26/04/2009 Pos.     Manufacturer     Points 1.    Yamaha    166 2.    Suzuki    135 3.    KTM    134 4.    Honda    118 5.    Kawasaki    60 6.    TM    48 7.    Aprilia    35 8.    CCM    21 RACE REPORT     26/04/2009 Aubin scores third place on 21st birthday Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team's Nicolas Aubin gave himself a pleasant 21st birthday by taking pole position and third place overall at Valkenswaard for the Grand Prix of Benelux and the fourth round of fifteen in the 2009 FIM MX2 World Championship. The Frenchman buried the memory of a lacklustre appearance in Turkey two weeks ago to show good speed in the sand and his finishes of 5th and 2nd were rewarded with his first silverware of the season. The rough and demanding terrain punished the slightest mistake and saw riders struggling to maintain the same race rhythm for the duration of the two 35 minute and 2 lap motos. Aubin, starting from the first slot in the gate, suffered two small falls in Moto1, the first while holding second position, but was nevertheless content with his pace to rise from mid-pack to the top five. In Moto2 he was more decisive and reached the runner-up position by the last third of the race. In fourth spot overall was team-mate Davide Guarneri; the Italian enjoying one of his best performances on the sand. He pushed hard in Moto1 to rise from outside the top ten to third and was missing some energy for Moto2 in which he could only manage ninth. A crash in the qualification heat on Saturday left Utag Yamaha.com's Zach Osborne with an uphill task in the Netherlands, but the Turkish GP winner rode well on his first visit to Valkenswaard and despite a problem with his rear brake he was 4th and 7th for 6th overall. In the world championship standings Guarneri is third, 29 points from the peak of the table. Osborne is fourth and just 11 points from being the first Yamaha rider. Aubin has moved up to seventh. The Grand Prix of Portugal at the Agueda circuit will represent the fifth round of the series in two weeks time. Nico Aubin, Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team, 3rd: "I felt a bit nervous in the first moto and that led to some mistakes. I came back from sixteenth and was fast but made another error when I reached Musquin and we crashed together. It was a pretty good race regardless. In the second one I tried to catch Rui but everyone knows he is fast in the sand. My priority today was not to take big risks but to get some points and I am happy I did that. It is nice to get a podium on my birthday, but I would have preferred a win!" Davide Guarneri, Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team, 4th: "It was a good day and I felt good in the sand; I was quite surprised to be the fastest in practice yesterday. The heat race was unlucky and with three crashes I was down in 21st, which was not a good position in this gate. I was quick in the first moto and it was no problem to pull through from 14th to 3rd but I felt the effects in the second moto and when I reached 5th place I had nothing left to give. The result was not bad at all." Zach Osborne, Utag Yamaha.com, 6th: "I fell at the start in the heat race which did not give me the best pick in the gate today. I was a bit nervous about being that far down but got a good start and worked my way up to fourth, which I was happy about. In the second race I did my best to pass through the pack. I lost the back brake about five minutes into both races and that made it tougher. I enjoyed the track. It was hard on Saturday but once I got the rhythm and worked out the flow, things went well. I have put together some consistent finishes now and rising up to fourth in the championship. I wanted to be in the top five today and I feel with that first race I did OK to get up to that position." Circuit Length: 1750 Crowd: 20,000 Weather: Cloudy Last Years Winner: Tyla Rattray 2009 GP of Benelux 26/04/2009 Race 1 - 19 Laps Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Shaun Simpson     KTM     GBR     39'30.097 2     Rui Goncalves     KTM     POR     0'19.692 3     Davide Guarneri     Yamaha     ITA     0'36.610 4     Zach Osborne     Yamaha     USA     0'40.292 5     Nicolas Aubin     Yamaha     FRA     0'43.298 6     Xavier Boog     Suzuki     FRA     0'45.718 7     Gautier Paulin     Kawasaki     FRA     0'48.671 8     Marvin Musquin     Honda     FRA     0'53.618 9     Matiss Karro     Suzuki     LVA     0'54.654 10     Arnaud Tonus     KTM     CHE     0'54.854 11     Dennis Verbruggen     Honda     BEL     1'01.423 12     Manuel Monni     Yamaha     ITA     1'05.434 13     Mike Kras     Suzuki     NED     1'09.178 14     Herjan Brakke     Honda     NED     1'15.298 15     Loic Larrieu     Yamaha     FRA     1'15.780 16     Alessandro Lupino     Yamaha     ITA     1'16.395 Race 2 - 19 Laps Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Rui Goncalves     KTM     POR     40'09.337 2     Nicolas Aubin     Yamaha     FRA     0'19.978 3     Shaun Simpson     KTM     GBR     0'24.363 4     Gautier Paulin     Kawasaki     FRA     0'32.063 5     Jeremy Van Horebeek     KTM     BEL     0'34.490 6     Joel Roelants     KTM     BEL     0'38.323 7     Zach Osborne     Yamaha     USA     0'55.543 8     Davide Guarneri     Yamaha     ITA     0'58.023 9     Loic Larrieu     Yamaha     FRA     0'58.428 10     Marcus Schiffer     KTM     GER     1'02.131 11     Steven Frossard     Kawasaki     FRA     1'04.401 12     Marvin Musquin     Honda     FRA     1'08.797 13     Dennis Verbruggen     Honda     BEL     1'12.014 14     Manuel Monni     Yamaha     ITA     1'17.363 15     Xavier Boog     Suzuki     FRA     1'18.965 Rider Standings     26/04/2009 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Points 1.    Gautier Paulin    Kawasaki    FRA    140 2.    Marvin Musquin    Honda    FRA    125 3.    Davide Guarneri    Yamaha    ITA    111 4.    Zach Osborne    Yamaha    USA    100 5.    Shaun Simpson    KTM    GBR    97 6.    Xavier Boog    Suzuki    FRA    94 7.    Nicolas Aubin    Yamaha    FRA    85 8.    Rui Goncalves    KTM    POR    78 9.    Steven Frossard    Kawasaki    FRA    63 10.    Marcus Schiffer    KTM    GER    55 11.    Manuel Monni    Yamaha    ITA    52 12.    Joel Roelants    KTM    BEL    49 13.    Arnaud Tonus    KTM    CHE    46 14.    Khounsith Vongsana    Honda    FRA    44 15.    Loic Larrieu    Yamaha    FRA    39 19.    Alessandro Lupino    Yamaha    ITA    35 22.    Evgeny Bobryshev    Yamaha    RUS    22 28.    Cedric Soubeyras    Yamaha    FRA    10 33.    Deny Philippaerts    Yamaha    ITA    6 Manufacturer Standings     26/04/2009 Pos.     Manufacturer     Points 1.    Kawasaki    149 2.    Yamaha    141 3.    KTM    133 4.    Honda    131 5.    Suzuki    98
Alex Asigno

Spies scores more championship points in Assen

It was another mixed weekend's racing for the Yamaha World Superbike Team at the famous TT circuit in Assen. An incredibly close first race Saw Ben Spies take the chequered flag a mere 0.154 seconds ahead of Championship rival Noriyuki Haga. Although initially the race leader, the American Yamaha rider had struggled to find a good race pace for most of the race, dropping back from first to third position on lap 11 behind race leader Haga and second place Leon Haslam. Spies tucked in and followed the pair until the three laps from the end of the race when he and Haslam spent three corners abreast in a heart stopping battle for second position. There was no daylight between the bikes as they exited turn five, Spies coming out the victor and setting off after Haga as the penultimate lap drew to a close. He attempted a pass on the hairpin where Haga had passed him earlier but failed to take top spot, eventually pulling a daring pass on the last corner he shot through to take the chequered flag. Tom Sykes enjoyed a good first race, starting from eighth on the grid the British rider made a strong pass up the inside on the first corner to move up into sixth position. The back straight then offered the opportunity to pass again and move up to fifth. Two laps later and another clever move up the inside on turn one saw Sykes into fourth position. He hung on with good race pace and held fourth for the chequered flag. Race two saw a difficult start and a lot of work to do. Sykes fought hard to make up places and briefly fought with Rea for fifth before settling for a sixth position finish. Spies leaves Assen still second in the championship with 120 points, trailing leader Haga by 60. Team-mate Sykes heads to Monza in sixth place in the standings with 70 points. Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team (1st,dnf) "We got the win in race one and everything was pretty good with that. It took me a while to find a good race pace but as the tyres started to go off I found it and we managed to make some moves, it was pretty exciting at the end, really fantastic racing with both Haslam and Haga. Race two I was feeling good, the bike, even only a lap and a half in, felt better than with the tyres in race one. I was pushing and got out wide in turn one and touched the Astroturf piece and high-sided. It's a shame as I felt really good and the bike felt right. You never know if you can win the race but I felt we could have had a faster race than the first. We'll build on it though, we had a good test in Monza so we're set up for there and I haven't hurt myself today so it's ok." Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team (4th,6th) "The first race went ok, I was pretty pleased with the results. I managed to make a couple of passes early and move up but then lost some feeling in the front which held me back. Race two was not what I expected. I got a horrendous start and left myself a lot of work to do. I worked hard over the next few laps to make some passes but unfortunately let the front group get away. I was bitterly disappointed with that because I knew I could run with the front. I'd just like to thank all the boys for this weekend putting so much hard work in. We had two offs and I left them with some work to do but they came through and had my bikes ready for me to race." Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager "The first race was unbelievable, Ben was really impressive and deserved the win. In the second race he had a bad high-side, and unfortunately missed the opportunity to challenge Nori for the second win. Tom had a good fourth in the first race and a good sixth in the second. He's coming along really well. I think he'll get the podium he's chasing soon. We're ready for Monza and confident of success." Circuit Length: 4555 Weather: Sunny Lap Record: 2'04.685 (Chris Vermeulen, 01/01/2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'37.626 (Ben Spies, 26/04/2009) Last Years Winner: Troy Bayliss 2009 WSB The Netherlands - Assen 26/04/2009 Race 1 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Ben Spies     Yamaha     USA     36'31.338 2     Noriyuki Haga     Ducati     JPN     0'00.154 3     Leon Haslam     Honda     GBR     0'00.779 4     Tom Sykes     Yamaha     GBR     0'08.775 5     Max Biaggi     Aprilia     ITA     0'11.275 6     Jakub Smrz     Ducati     CZE     0'16.126 7     Jonathan Rea     Honda     GBR     0'19.555 8     Regis Laconi     Ducati     FRA     0'19.760 9     Michel Fabrizio     Ducati     ITA     0'23.006 10     Troy Corser     BMW     AUS     0'24.285 11     Shane Byrne     Ducati     GBR     0'26.003 12     Karl Muggeridge     Suzuki     AUS     0'27.814 13     Max Neukirchner     Suzuki     GER     0'36.962 14     Ruben Xaus     BMW     ESP     0'39.025 15     Ryuichi Kiyonari     Honda     JPN     0'41.505 19     David Checa     Yamaha     ESP     0'56.425 Race 2 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Noriyuki Haga     Ducati     JPN     36'31.712 2     Leon Haslam     Honda     GBR     0'02.678 3     Jakub Smrz     Ducati     CZE     0'04.603 4     Michel Fabrizio     Ducati     ITA     0'08.981 5     Jonathan Rea     Honda     GBR     0'12.104 6     Tom Sykes     Yamaha     GBR     0'14.575 7     Carlos Checa     Honda     ESP     0'17.449 8     Shane Byrne     Ducati     GBR     0'17.729 9     Max Neukirchner     Suzuki     GER     0'18.167 10     Troy Corser     BMW     AUS     0'25.056 11     Ruben Xaus     BMW     ESP     0'32.617 12     Yukio Kagayama     Suzuki     JPN     0'32.688 13     Brendan Roberts     Ducati     AUS     0'37.415 14     Matteo Baiocco     Kawasaki     ITA     0'55.088 15     Luca Scassa     Kawasaki     ITA     0'55.325 Best Lap Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time Leon Haslam     Honda     GBR     1'38.730 Rider Standings     26/04/2009 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Points 1.    Noriyuki Haga    Ducati    JPN    180 2.    Ben Spies    Yamaha    USA    120 3.    Leon Haslam    Honda    GBR    94 4.    Michel Fabrizio    Ducati    ITA    80 5.    Max Neukirchner    Suzuki    GER    75 6.    Tom Sykes    Yamaha    GBR    70 7.    Max Biaggi    Aprilia    ITA    65 8.    Regis Laconi    Ducati    FRA    64 9.    Jonathan Rea    Honda    GBR    53 10.    Jakub Smrz    Ducati    CZE    44 11.    Carlos Checa    Honda    ESP    40 12.    Shane Byrne    Ducati    GBR    39 13.    Yukio Kagayama    Suzuki    JPN    39 14.    Troy Corser    BMW    AUS    35 15.    Ryuichi Kiyonari    Honda    JPN    33 Manufacturer Standings     26/04/2009 Pos.     Manufacturer     Points 1.    Ducati    180 2.    Yamaha    145 3.    Honda    109 4.    Suzuki    76 5.    Aprilia    68 6.    BMW    43 7.    Kawasaki    10 RACE REPORT     26/04/2009 Crutchlow maintains championship lead in Assen Yamaha World Supersport riders Cal Crutchlow and Fabien Foret got caught up in the closest race of the 2009 World Supersport Championship so far. Intense racing and constant battles for position were the mainstay of the Supersport action. After a bad start Crutchlow worked hard to move back up the field, closely followed by team-mate Foret behind him. By lap six Crutchlow had made it to fourth, taking Sofuoglu for the position whilst Foret pushed on from seventh place. Lap seven saw Foret move up again behind his team-mate and the two then fought a close battle for position as they moved through the ranks to the top spot before dropping back again. Laverty was a constant presence during the battles, eventually slipping through to take the lead spot. A near miss between the two Yamaha riders into turn four when Crutchlow missed a gear and went wide, causing Fabien to run wide as well. Pitt then tried to take them both on the inside, losing the front and crashing out. Crutchlow then displayed the incredible race pace the fans are used to seeing, and three laps to the end pulled the fastest lap of the race, with a 1.40.836 while he chased Laverty. The battle continued to the flag, two laps before the end the riders touched but managed to stay on, Laverty eventually taking the chequered flag with Crutchlow a mere 0.107 seconds behind. Foret kept up his pace to finish in fourth, 1.777 seconds behind the race leader. Crutchlow leaves Assen still leading the championship by six points whilst Foret moves up to seventh position with 28 points. Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team (2nd) "I had a bad start, I don't really know what happened, it was just unfortunate I felt like I was in neutral gear. I worked my hardest to get back through. Unfortunately Fabien and I got caught up together and it held us up a bit. Team Yamaha did a great job for me, we're here again on the podium and still leading the championship so it's all good. It was a fantastic job by Eugene Laverty, so well done to their team as well." Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team (4th) "I'm pretty happy and pleased to have got my confidence back. I had a good race, I'm just a bit disappointed with what happened with Cal, it was unavoidable but it held us both up and made it harder for me to challenge for a podium spot and a potential race win." Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team Manager It was a very, very exciting race I can tell you that! With a second and a fourth place we are still leading the championship by six points with Cal. Both riders fought really hard today, Cal was especially fast at the end and Fabien has definitely found more of his confidence and previous race pace. We go to Monza in a good position and looking forward to extending our championship lead." Circuit Length: 4555 Weather: Sunny Lap Record: 2'08.865 (Katsuaki Fujiwara, 01/01/2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'40.313 (Cal Crutchlow, 26/04/2009) Last Years Winner: Andrew Pitt 2009 WSS The Netherlands - Assen 26/04/2009 Race 1 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Eugene Laverty     Honda     GBR     35'45.160 2     Cal Crutchlow     Yamaha     GBR     0'00.107 3     Joan Lascorz     Kawasaki     ESP     0'00.178 4     Fabien Foret     Yamaha     FRA     0'01.777 5     Kenan Sofuoglu     Honda     TUR     0'01.901 6     Mark Aitchison     Honda     AUS     0'05.492 7     Anthony West     Honda     AUS     0'12.551 8     Barry Veneman     Suzuki     NED     0'12.841 9     Robbin Harms     Honda     DNK     0'13.567 10     Michele Pirro     Yamaha     ITA     0'19.657 11     Patrick Vostarek     Honda     ITA     0'24.316 12     Gianluca Nannelli     Triumph     ITA     0'25.803 13     Massimo Roccoli     Honda     ITA     0'26.255 14     Katsuaki Fujiwara     Kawasaki     JPN     0'26.439 15     Garry McCoy     Triumph     AUS     0'44.902 19     Kevin Bos     Yamaha     NED     1'04.653 22     Yannick Guerra     Yamaha     ESP     1'08.389 23     Twan Van Poppel     Yamaha     NED     1'25.061 Best Lap Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time Cal Crutchlow     Yamaha     GBR     1'40.836 Rider Standings     26/04/2009 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Points 1.    Cal Crutchlow    Yamaha    GBR    74 2.    Eugene Laverty    Honda    GBR    68 3.    Kenan Sofuoglu    Honda    TUR    65 4.    Anthony West    Honda    AUS    52 5.    Andrew Pitt    Honda    AUS    43 6.    Mark Aitchison    Honda    AUS    34 7.    Fabien Foret    Yamaha    FRA    28 8.    Joan Lascorz    Kawasaki    ESP    27 9.    Barry Veneman    Suzuki    NED    25 10.    Matthieu Lagrive    Honda    FRA    25 11.    Michele Pirro    Yamaha    ITA    24 12.    Robbin Harms    Honda    DNK    23 13.    Massimo Roccoli    Honda    ITA    20 14.    Katsuaki Fujiwara    Kawasaki    JPN    13 15.    Garry McCoy    Triumph    AUS    12 20.    Doni Tata Pradita    Yamaha    IDN    1 Manufacturer Standings     26/04/2009 Pos.     Manufacturer     Points 1.    Honda    95 2.    Yamaha    74 3.    Kawasaki    38 4.    Suzuki    25 5.    Triumph    19
Alex Asigno

Fiat Yamaha seal incredible one-two in Japanese GP

After it looked at one point on race-day as if the Grand Prix of Japan would be a complete washout, the sun broke through the dark clouds and streamed onto the Motegi circuit as the Fiat Yamaha team enjoyed a clean sweep of the top two spots. With qualifying having been cancelled yesterday due to the heavy rain, both riders started the race from the front row of the grid according to their times from Friday's free practice. Following a stunning race, Jorge Lorenzo took the glory of standing on the top step of the podium, after coming through a brilliant scrap with his team-mate Valentino Rossi, who finished a close second. Starting from third on the grid Lorenzo briefly lost a position on the first lap, but was soon back up to his starting spot as they crossed the line for the first time. With a superior pace to his compatriot Pedrosa it seemed as though the Mallorcan was being held up, and sure enough on lap three the Spaniard edged into second place. Once there he had the unenviable task of closing a two-second gap to his team-mate Rossi, but gradually edged nearer his colleague. The two enjoyed a good head-to-head fight, swapping positions at the V-corner before Lorenzo finally found a way past Rossi. From that point there was no looking back, and as Rossi was entangled in the battle with Pedrosa behind, Lorenzo sealed a glorious second victory in MotoGP. Leading from the first corner, Rossi had opened up the gap on the Spaniards in the early stages, but once Lorenzo had found a way past, it was Pedrosa who caused the champion most problems. With Pedrosa attacking on several occasions, the Italian was forced to keep his wits about him, but always seemed to have enough edge to keep ahead. The killer move come heading into the tunnel at turn five, and the race was decided as Rossi pulled away from Pedrosa in the latter stages. With Lorenzo leading the championship on 40 points, one ahead of Rossi, the MotoGP World Championship moves on to his home race at Jerez in just a week's time. Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 1stTime: 43'47.238 "First of all I just want to thank my team, my Mum, Dad and whole family, my friends and all the team workers. Also Yamaha, as it is their home race, it was a difficult race because I didn't really get a very good start, I think I even finished the first lap in third or fourth. After that I began to catch up the pace. I passed Valentino and opened up a little gap, about a second and a half, and he was following me very hard. I had to ride the best I can to get the victory." Valentino Rossi - Position: 2ndTime: + 1.304 "It was a great race, long, very difficult and also physical. I got a really good start from the front row, but there was a part of the race that I wasn't quite able to ride like I wanted, there was some kind of problem and I wasn't fast enough to pull away. I lost time from Jorge and then was involved in a battle with Dani and then in the last part of the race I was able to step up my pace and pick my lines, setting some good lap times. I tried to come back but unfortunately Lorenzo was too far away. It's a good race, second place is not a victory but it's still twenty points for the championship. I think the championship will become very interesting now because we have four riders ready to battle for wins at the end." Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager "I'm really happy about today's result, we didn't expect a victory, maybe we were just thinking about the podium, so I'm extremely happy. We did a great job on Friday and I think that was the key because we worked a lot around the harder tyre and in the end that was the good one. With the information and the data we collected, today we just had to do some fine-tuning to the bike and it has brought us this special victory, and we are able to show the world how strong Yamaha is. Jerez will be a great battle, like today it will be a big show and so i am looking forward to that event." Davide Brivio - Team Manager "First of all, congratulations to Jorge, who rode very well, and congratulations to Yamaha, because this result confirms the great job we have done in the last months. We are always very fast and for the second time this year we have two riders on the podium. Night or day, we are always there! Valentino took a very important second place, because our target is to be always there. Now we are looking forward to going back to Europe for a very important phase of the championship and it is crucial to start this time on top". Top ten for Toseland, Edwards fights back into points in Japan Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team duo James Toseland and Colin Edwards secured hard fought points-scoring finishes in Yamaha's home race at the Twin Ring Motegi today. British rider Toseland gave himself a welcome confidence boost with a determined ride to ninth place in the 24-lap encounter, which took place in windy but dry conditions after another weekend dominated by rain. Opting to run the softer compound Bridgestone tyre, Toseland made a storming start from the fourth row of the grid, crossing the line at the end of the first lap in seventh place. The 28-year-old secured his first top ten finish of the campaign with a superb attacking display in the final stages, holding off the persistent challenge of Chris Vermeulen and Randy de Puniet. American Edwards encountered a small problem in the early stages of the race but once he was able to demonstrate his true potential, the 35-year-old reeled off some blistering lap times. At times he ran the same pace as the top five as he fought his way through the field to a highly commendable 12th, setting the sixth fastest time in the race to miss out on a top ten finish by three seconds. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team now heads to Jerez next weekend for the start of the European leg of the MotoGP world championship. James Toseland - Position: 9th Time: "I needed to be back in the top ten, so today was the step I've been looking for. We made a big step with the front-end setting on Friday in just the 45 minutes of dry track time we had this weekend and it helped me a lot. The comfort on the braking was much better and I was able to pass a couple of guys on the brakes today, which was good. I went for the soft rear tyre just because that's what I'd run most on Friday. We knew the soft one would go the distance, but it wouldn't be as strong in the latter stages of the race with the temperature being hotter today. But I didn't want to take any risks by running the harder compound, particularly as we knew it would take a couple of laps to get to temperature. In the early part of the race I had quite a bit more grip than some of the guys and I might have been able to pass (Casey) Stoner and (Loris) Capirossi) if I was more comfortable with the bike on a full fuel load. That would have pushed me a bit further up earlier in the race when I had an advantage with the softer tyre. It was a good battle on the last lap with Vermeulen. He passed me briefly at the end of the back straight, but I managed to keep him at bay. I'm happy for my team because they've stood behind me and everybody has kept their morale up, and now we've got a result we can build on." Colin Edwards - Position: 12th Time: "That was not at all what I expected but I can't turn the clock back. I wish I could because I believe I could have fought for the podium. We had a small issue at the start of the race and I simply couldn't ride how I wanted to. I kept my head down and persevered throughout and perhaps a few more laps I could have chased down the guys in front for a top ten. I couldn't have ridden any harder today and I did my absolute best for Yamaha. I was really confident going into the race because I was one of the few guys who had done a lot of laps on the harder compound tyre in the dry on Friday. So with the track temperature coming up a lot compared to how cool it was on Friday, I felt that experience we gained would really help. When I got going in the race my lap times were as quick as the top five, so it's a case of wondering what might have been today. We'll look to bounce back in Jerez next weekend because I feel like I'm riding really well." Herve Poncharal - Team Manager "We obviously had higher expectations but I'm pleased that both James and Colin showed their determination throughout the race. It was good to see James fighting strongly in the top ten and this result will have given his confidence a big boost. He has had a difficult winter and first race, but he's remained incredibly focused and this is a good platform for him to build on for the rest of the season. I'd also like to thank Colin for his efforts today in difficult circumstances. He had a problem before the start and we are still investigating the cause with Yamaha. But his pace in the second half of the race was very impressive, so we know that Colin is in very good form heading into Europe. I'd like to say big congratulations to Yamaha for its one-two in front of the Japanese fans. It shows the YZR-M1 is a very strong package and that Yamaha is the brand to beat again in 2009." Circuit Length: 4801 Temp: 22 Weather: Dry Lap Record: 1'47.968 (Loris Capirossi, 01/01/2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'45.543 (Jorge Lorenzo, 28/09/2008) Last Years Winner: Valentino Rossi 2009 MotoGP Japan - Motegi 26/04/2009 Race 1 - 24 Laps Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha     ESP     43'47.238 2     Valentino Rossi     Yamaha     ITA     0'01.304 3     Daniel Pedrosa     Honda     ESP     0'03.763 4     Casey Stoner     Ducati     AUS     0'05.691 5     Andrea Dovizioso     Honda     ITA     0'09.207 6     Marco Melandri     Kawasaki     ITA     0'30.555 7     Loris Capirossi     Suzuki     ITA     0'32.756 8     Mika Kallio     Ducati     FIN     0'39.416 9     James Toseland     Yamaha     GBR     0'43.106 10     Chris Vermeulen     Suzuki     AUS     0'43.245 11     Randy De Puniet     Honda     FRA     0'44.834 12     Colin Edwards     Yamaha     USA     0'46.540 13     Alex De Angelis     Honda     SMR     0'53.525 14     Niccolo Canepa     Ducati     ITA     1'21.804 Rider Standings     26/04/2009 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Points 1.    Jorge Lorenzo    Yamaha    ESP    41 2.    Valentino Rossi    Yamaha    ITA    40 3.    Casey Stoner    Ducati    AUS    38 4.    Andrea Dovizioso    Honda    ITA    22 5.    Daniel Pedrosa    Honda    ESP    21 6.    Colin Edwards    Yamaha    USA    17 7.    Mika Kallio    Ducati    FIN    16 8.    Chris Vermeulen    Suzuki    AUS    15 9.    Alex De Angelis    Honda    SMR    13 10.    Marco Melandri    Kawasaki    ITA    12 11.    Randy De Puniet    Honda    FRA    11 12.    Loris Capirossi    Suzuki    ITA    9 13.    James Toseland    Yamaha    GBR    7 14.    Toni Elias    Honda    ESP    7 15.    Nicky Hayden    Ducati    USA    4 Manufacturer Standings     26/04/2009 Pos.     Manufacturer     Points 1.    Yamaha    45 2.    Ducati    38 3.    Honda    27 4.    Suzuki    18 5.    Kawasaki    12
Alex Asigno

New Yamaha R1 takes victory at Le Mans 24HR

The Yamaha Austria Racing Team took their first victory of the endurance season on the new 2009 YZF-R1 at Le Mans yesterday. In what was one of the most intense Le Mans Endurance races for some time, YART riders Steve Martin, Igor Jerman and Gwen Giabbani battled flawlessly through difficult racing conditions including heavy rain for nearly 20 hours and a very damp track to take the chequered flag. The YART team took victory with a clear seven lap advantage over the second placed Honda France team. Most competitor teams suffered crashes and incidents due to the adverse weather, making YART’s victory The team rode the new for 2009, Moto GP derived Yamaha YZF-R1, building on the racing success already being seen in the hands of Ben Spies in World Superbike. The new machine proved the perfect tool to handle the difficult conditions with its unique crossplane crankshaft design giving the riders essentially smoother torque and more useable power to get through and out of the slippery corners of the Le Mans circuit. Gwen Giabbani, Yamaha Austria Racing Team “Finally after 11 years of not winning! Igor waited 11 years for his second victory, for me it’s my first. There were no issues with the fantastic performance of the bike, and we lost very little time in stops. There were no crashes to be regretted, everything was perfect.” Steve Martin, Yamaha Austria Racing Team “It’s absolutely incredible to win here on my second time at the 24HR. The bike performed faultlessly which made the whole race easier. My team-mates both performed unbelievably, we made the right steps at the right times which gave us an advantage. We were then able to put pressure on the other teams and forced them to make mistakes. I want to dedicate this win to my life-long friend and mentor Peter Kerr who passed away this weekend, making this an exceptionally hard weekend’s racing for me. ” Igor Jerman, Yamaha Austria Racing Team “I’ve had to wait 11 years to win the Le Mans 24HR Moto. This year the team was very well prepared with the new Yamaha bike and we also changed tyres to Michelins which were great. We need to make some small changes for the next race but our result here was very good.” Mandy Kainz, Yamaha Austria Racing Team Manager “Everyone who’s dedicated to Endurance racing wants to win this race once in his life. I can hardly believe that we actually managed to do it. Igor Jerman, Steve Martin and Gwen Giabbani worked together as a proper team and had hardly any problems. Heavy rain, especially at night caused a lot of dramatic scenes. In the crucial phase of the race my boys managed to capitalize on their experience. I have to give them a lot of respect, they weren’t only the fastest out there but managed to ride faultlessly.”
Alex Asigno

Stewart series leader after Seattle drama

With just two rounds to go in the 2009 AMA Supercross series (also an FIM World Championship) LandM San Manuel Yamaha's James Stewart has moved to the top of the standings after scoring the runner-up position last Saturday at the Qwest Field in Seattle. The Floridian recovered from a poor start to run through the field and scoop 22 points for his 13th rostrum appearance so far in the seventeen-race schedule. Stewart's night of hard work and decent race-craft on the YZ450F across a sandy and rough track on the west coast was further buoyed by the news that main title rival Chad Reed could only take 7th place - his worst finish of the season - after a first turn tumble. The 23 year old gained nine positions in fifteen laps after being held up around a tight opening corner. "They told me how far I was back - fifteenth or something like that - and it was crazy," he recalls. "I bent my clutch lever as soon as I got hit in that first corner, and it was just like, 'Man, just try to stay up.' The first couple laps were carnage, with guys trying to pass each other. I'm pretty stunned that I was able to come up and get second because I saw how far ahead those guys were." Stewart had trailed the Australian by five points coming to Seattle but the classification from Saturday evening mean that the pair have swapped positions at the top of the championship standings and the Yamaha rider has a 3 point advantage with only trips to Salt Lake City and Las Vegas in the next two weeks left to run. "We've had 15 races and I've been in the points lead twice now," said Stewart who is still hoping to be the first rider to give Yamaha 11 victories in one season (he currently has 10 and a career total of 35). "At the end of the day, it's for the championship. It's all about the championship right now. I've won a lot of races this year, and I always found myself in second place in the points - always catching up - so it feels good to be in the points lead, but we've got a long way to go still." Joe Gibbs Racing's Josh Grant took 6th position on his YZ450F and is 4th in the points table. The penultimate round of the 2009 campaign will take place next Saturday at the Rice Eccles Field in Salt Lake City. Circuit Length: n/a Crowd: 50, 016 Weather: Dry Last Years Winner: Kevin Windham 2009 AMA-SX Seattle, WA 19/04/2009 Race 1 - 20 Laps Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     Ryan Villopoto     Kawasaki     USA     18'28.902 2     James Stewart     Yamaha     USA     0'07.873 3     David D Millsaps     Honda     USA     0'09.359 4     Mike Alessi     Suzuki     USA     0'10.735 5     Andrew Short     Honda     USA     0'23.027 6     Josh Grant     Yamaha     USA     0'29.702 7     Chad Reed     Suzuki     AUS     0'38.537 8     Paul Carpenter     Kawasaki     USA     0'43.705 9     Ivan Tedesco     Honda     USA     0'47.632 10     Kevin Windham     Honda     USA     0'52.394 11     Nicholas Wey     Yamaha     USA     0'54.538 12     Heath Voss     Honda     USA     1'06.764 13     Thomas Hahn     Kawasaki     USA     -1Laps 15     Jason Thomas     Honda     USA     -1Laps 16     Kyle Chisholm     Yamaha     USA     -1Laps Rider Standings     18/04/2009 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Points 1.    James Stewart    Yamaha    USA    332 2.    Chad Reed    Suzuki    AUS    329 3.    Andrew Short    Honda    USA    241 4.    Josh Grant    Yamaha    USA    208 5.    Kevin Windham    Honda    USA    204 6.    Mike Alessi    Suzuki    USA    203 7.    Ivan Tedesco    Honda    USA    199 8.    Ryan Villopoto    Kawasaki    USA    190 9.    David D Millsaps    Honda    USA    188 10.    Josh Hill    Yamaha    USA    146 11.    Tim Ferry    Kawasaki    USA    100 12.    Heath Voss    Honda    USA    95 13.    Matt Boni    Suzuki    USA    83 14.    Nicholas Wey    Yamaha    USA    80 15.    Kyle Chisholm    Yamaha    USA    79 18.    Broc Hepler    Yamaha    USA    70 20.    Jason Lawrence    Yamaha    USA    43 30.    Nathan Ramsey    Yamaha    USA    15 38.    Sean Hamblin    Yamaha    USA    3 Manufacturer Standings     18/04/2009 Pos.     Manufacturer     Points 1.    Yamaha    363 2.    Suzuki    333 3.    Honda    280 4.    Kawasaki    235 5.    KTM    73
Alex Asigno

Yamaha and Petronas extend collaboration into MotoGP

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd has signed a three-year agreement with PETRONAS that will see the Malaysian national oil and gas corporation become an important new Official Sponsor and Premium Partner of the Fiat Yamaha Team. Under the new partnership, the Fiat Yamaha Team will carry the PETRONAS branding on the team’s liveries, including on the bikes of riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo as well as team equipment and material. The two parties are also partners in sporting collaborations in motorcycle championships in the Asia Pacific region for over eight years. The partnership will lead to the future extension of the existing business relationship in Malaysia into the South-East Asian region for the development and production of Yamalube engine oil for Yamaha OEM vehicles. For PETRONAS, the latest collaboration with Yamaha will enable it to continue building the position of its international lubricants business through a strategic partnership with another globally successful manufacturer and brand. “This is a very exciting development for Yamaha and for the sport of MotoGP,” commented Lin Jarvis, Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing. “Yamaha and PETRONAS already have a successful business relationship away from racing, and this new, long-term, business partnership will see the ties between the two multi-national companies strengthened further. It is especially good to see a global company of PETRONAS’ stature making the decision to enter into our sport at this difficult time and we look forward to working hand in hand with them to develop a long and mutually beneficial relationship.” The new livery of the Fiat Yamaha Team riders and bikes with PETRONAS branding will be seen for the first time on Friday April 10th as the riders begin free practice for the 1st GP event - the night race in Qatar on Sunday April 12th.
Alex Asigno

Upgrade your Membership

We are writing to you about some important changes to your free Basic membership level during this new year. These changes reflect our community's adjustment to current supporting expenses and are designed to continue our goal of offering the best possible services and benefits while maintaining our status as a not for profit community.   The following changes will be enacted on March 1st, 2009 at 00:00 GMT:   1) Access to the Yamaha Club Photo Gallery, Bike Garage and for sale/wanted sections will be exclusive to paid professional members.
  2) Users with free membership will have limited access to the Yamaha forums, e.g. not having access to the for sale/wanted sections.  
Why you should upgrade your membership:
 
50% OFF Limited time offer:
During the next 4 weeks existing users with free membership will be able to upgrade to Professional registration for only £5.00.
 
Additional benefits for Professional users: It may be important for your decision to know that we are providing additional benefits to contributing members, among those benefits is receiving discounts from suppliers and manufacturers, free classified posting in forums, private forums etc. Right now Professional members can take advantage of:
 5% Off EveryAccessory.co.uk
10% Off Wilbers 10% Off Opie Oils 20% Off VEYPOR Digital Dashes
Further benefits (Functionality, services & products) will be introduced soon. We are currently having talks with other companies such as Busters and M&P Direct and hope to have a solid proposition in the next few days. You can upgrade at any time by going to “My Controls > Options > Purchase Paid Subscriptions”
From the 1st April Professional membership will cost £10.00
If you decide _not_ to take advantage of this discount upgrade offer before the expiration date, you can always reactivate your account at a later time.   As a Professional member you support the community and you have access to additional features and we recommend you to upgrade today. You can do so by going to “My Controls > Options > Purchase Paid Subscriptions”
Thank you for participating in the Yamaha Owners Club Community.
Alex Asigno

Yamaha YZF-R1 sets a blistering pace with pole position in Australia

Yamaha World Superbike Team rider Ben Spies, a World Superbike rookie and three-time AMA champion, has secured the first Superpole of the 2009 season in an incredible display of speed and skill on the new Yamaha YZF-R1 superbike at the Phillip Island circuit with a time of 1.31"069. Team-mate Tom Sykes put in an impressive display in the new format Superpole, a mere 0.8 of a second behind Spies with a time of 1.31"881, he will start the race tomorrow on 12th position on the grid. Equally impressive as the riders performance was that of the all new 2009 YZF-R1, the M1 GP inspired bike has proved to be incredibly quick and stable straight out of the box, the crossplane crank shaft and uneven firing order giving both Spies and Sykes the right tools to get the power down fast and hard through the corners and take the fight to the top of the table. Spies ended the first day of qualifying in 9th position, before moving up to 8th on the second session, improving his time by nearly half a second while he focused on consistent lapping. His final Superpole time was nearly a second and a half faster than his first qualifying session. Sykes also improved from the first session, taking nearly half a second off his first qualifying session. Both riders go into tomorrow's races confident in their speed and consistency. Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team "For the first two qualifying sessions, we were taking it very steady, we only used one set of tires each session, looking to be consistent and doing some more laps. We turned up the heat in Superpole and found some more time and in the final lap we pulled the pin and went for it. It was tricky as the track was pretty windy so maybe we could have got a bit faster. It's the first pole position for the new Yamaha and for me too. Now the focus is totally on having a good race package and good race pace, I think it's going to be great racing tomorrow. The bike is incredible, I'm feeling really confident in its abilities, I can't wait to race tomorrow!" Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team "For me things have been good out here. We've been making steady progress all weekend and we've found the direction we need to be going in. I don't feel we've got where we need to be yet, perhaps where we should be but we're getting there. Overall it's looking pretty good, we seem to be able to do the times, unfortunately in Superpole we got caught out with a tire which wasn't as consistent as it should have been forcing a switch and costing time. So we've had a bit of bad luck, on the plus side I'm confident of getting on the pace and fighting for the podium in the race tomorrow." Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team manager "I think we have done a good job so far and the test last weekend helped us. The bike set up is good, and the tire life is as well. If everything stays the same I think we are in a good position. Ben did a perfect lap in Superpole and has been very consistent through all the sessions, I'm very happy. Tom was also really good, good in practice and qualifying, he's on the third row but he has good pace and with a good start he can fight with the pack and make it in the race. We're all ready for tomorrow and really excited about the potential of our riders to go out and race." Superbike Qualifying - First session 1 96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1'32.312 2 41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1'32.569 3 91 Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'32.623 4 76 Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'32.673 5 71 Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'32.704 6 56 Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 1'32.928 7 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'32.932 8 19 Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 1'32.939 9 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1'32.971 109 Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1'32.991 113 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 1'32.995 12 55 Laconi R. (FRA) Ducati 1098 RS 09 1'33.202 13 44 Rolfo R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'33.206 147 Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1'33.224 15 67 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1'33.317 16 11 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1'33.377 17 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'33.418 18 100 Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'33.709 19 23 Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'33.911 20 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1'34.080 21 33 Hill T. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'34.123 22 25 Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'34.487 23 24 Roberts B. (AUS) Ducati 1098R 1'35.123 24 31 Muggeridge K. (AUS) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'35.716 25 99 Scassa L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'35.759 26 77 Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'36.103 27 15 Baiocco M. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'36.514 Superbike qualifying - Second session 1 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'32.161 2 3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 1'32.306 3 96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1'32.312 4 41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1'32.377 5 11 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1'32.397 6 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'32.491 7 19 Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 1'32.500 8 55 Laconi R. (FRA) Ducati 1098 RS 09 1'32.508 9 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1'32.509 10 76 Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'32.525 11 9 Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1'32.602 12 91 Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'32.623 13 71 Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'32.704 14 67 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1'32.708 15 33 Hill T. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'32.884 16 56 Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 1'32.928 17 7 Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1'32.947 18 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1'32.992 19 44 Rolfo R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'33.055 20 23 Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'33.104 21 24 Roberts B. (AUS) Ducati 1098R 1'33.588 22 100 Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'33.709 23 86 Badovini A. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'34.174 24 25 Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'34.194 25 31 Muggeridge K. (AUS) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'34.341 26 99 Scassa L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'34.390 27 77 Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'35.767 28 15 Baiocco M. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'36.363 Superbike - Superpole 1 19 Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 1'31.069 2 3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 1'31.402 3 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'31.596 4 96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1'31.600 5 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'31.837 6 91 Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'32.112 7 7 Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1'32.537 8 55 Laconi R. (FRA) Ducati 1098 RS 09 1'32.649 9 56 Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 1'31.843 10 9 Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1'31.860 11 71 Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'31.867 12 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1'31.881 13 41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1'31.907 14 76 Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'31.916 15 67 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1'32.119 16 23 Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'32.719 17 11 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1'32.873 18 44 Rolfo R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'32.997 19 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1'33.152 20 33 Hill T. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'33.363 21 24 Roberts B. (AUS) Ducati 1098R 1'33.588 22 100 Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'33.709 23 86 Badovini A. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'34.174 24 25 Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'34.194 25 31 Muggeridge K. (AUS) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'34.341 26 99 Scassa L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'34.390 27 77 Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'35.767 28 15 Baiocco M. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'36.363
Alex Asigno

Yamaha riders on the pace in the Australian sunshine

The Yamaha World Superbike team has enjoyed a successful final pre-season test at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia. The two day test was the final shakedown for the 2009 YZF-R1 in advance of the season opening race this coming weekend and was a valuable opportunity for both riders to get to know the track. Three-time AMA Superbike champion Ben Spies ended the final day of testing with a quick 1.32”36 lap time, a mere 0.2 of a second off fastest rider Michele Fabrizio. Fellow Yamaha World Superbike team rider Tom Sykes had a crash on the start of the second day of testing and spent a large part of the day resting before going back out again for a final run. He too stepped up the pace and finished the day with an overall time of 1.32”10, a great result considering he missed most of the day’s track time after his fall. Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike team – 1.32”36 (160 laps)   “It was a good test for me. We worked on a lot of race stuff, we had some tires to test and get through for Pirelli then we got up to speed on the track and did some longer stints getting the bike to work on race setup. We were looking good for race pace, we did a race simulation and it felt really good. For sure we only got two days testing on the track and the whole race weekend is going to add some adrenaline. I’m extremely happy with the bike and the team is working really well so I can’t wait to get started.” Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike team – 1.32”10 (100 laps) “I was more than happy with day one, having never seen Phillip Island before, I went out and pulled a  1.33”2, which wasn’t too bad considering it’s a new track for me. We worked on some minor adjustments and worked on getting a good base setting for the bike. I’m more than confident in its capabilities and set up, we’re pretty much on the times. Going into day two I knew I could improve, but unfortunately on my first run, getting up to speed I had a fall. I wasn’t even busting myself and not sure how it happened, got on it a bit too soon at the exit of turn 2, ran wide by two feet and where the tarmac ripples slightly the rear end low sided, I caught it then high sided the other way! Luckily I have no serious injuries so will be fighting fit and raring to go at the weekend. I went back out again at the end of the second day and found my pace again easily so am still confident to fight for the podium.” Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team manager “The test went well with the exception of Tom’s crash. We didn’t have so many problems and it was very important that the guys learned the circuit as it’s a new one for them. By the end of the first day they were making good laps with great pace. By the end of the last day, Ben was up with the fastest riders, Fabrizio and Haga. Tom had a big crash in the morning of the second day, the doctor said to stay in the clinic until the afternoon to rest. In the late afternoon he came back out for one and a half hours time on track, it was impressive as with his last lap he made his fastest lap of the test. In the end the test was also a big running in for us as the bike is still new, we tried to find the best set up, and tried some different tires.  We’ve answered all our questions and feel really good about going into the first race weekend in a few days time, we’re ready to fight!” Yamaha World Supersport team get down to business The Yamaha World Supersport team riders got straight down to business in Phillip Island in the last pre-season test, showing excellent form and proving they have the pace to run at the front of the pack from the off. Young ex-British Superbike rider Cal Crutchlow proved he has adapted quickly to the Yamaha YZF-R6, lapping consistently and finishing the two-day test fourth quickest with a time of 1.35”3, just 0.5 off fastest rider Sofuoglu. Crutchlow’s team mate Fabien Foret has answered any questions about being back on form following last year’s crash in Brno, finishing the two-day test just behind Crutchlow in fifth position with a time of 1.35”8. Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport team – 1.35”2 (160 laps) “I’m really pleased, we’ve got a lot done, and got a lot of laps in. I’m really looking forward to the race. I’m now consistently up there. I know it’s going to be a tough weekend not knowing the circuit in a race situation but I’m feeling confident we can be fighting for the podium. I’m under no illusions it’s going to be hard but we’ve put a lot of work in over the last few days, I want to come out of here with some points and build on it during the year. I’m really enjoying being here, the circuit is fantastic. I’ve watched it over the years and to come here and ride is a pleasure. When the bike’s on form it’s a pleasure to ride it, I can’t wait to be on the grid waiting to race.” Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport team – 1.35”8 ( 138 laps) “For me it’s been a really good test, I feel we’ve found a setting that really makes me feel confident. I now feel I am fully back to speed following last year’s crash and have also built up more strength for racing. I’m fully fit and happy with my pace. I didn’t go out to try and get the fastest lap but was focused on getting a good race pace. The team is working really well, we’ve worked to find a set-up that suits me here so I’m optimistic that we can go out and fight for the podium this weekend.”   Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport team manager “The test has been an interesting one for us, on the first day we had some bad luck with some small problems, which were causing small crashes, however both riders were fine and fast despite this. Fabien has been recovered completely and is fitter than he was at the first test at Portimao in January so I’m happy with him. After a long day of riding and trying suspension settings we ended the first day with a half hour starting exercise which went really well. We brought our own starting light system with us to test the response time of the riders. Both performed well which was great! For the second day our target was to test more suspension settings and do a long run in the afternoon. After finding some improvements in the morning we did a long run with both riders, they were riding together for the race distance test, it was good to see them together and they both enjoyed the chance for an on-track fight instead of testing all the time. It was good practice for them as this is also what they will have to do next week. The championship looks like it’s going to get really tough this year, but we will be part of it!”  
Alex Asigno