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Alex Asigno
Yamaha has today confirmed that Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga will remain with the Yamaha Motor Italia World Superbike Team in 2008.
A flamboyant and much-loved character, Haga has worked with Yamaha for many years and his WSB career highlights include second in 2000 and third title position in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Currently Haga is fighting for the 2007 title with only 41 points separating him in second place from front man Toseland, having caught up 25 points at the last round in Lausitz. With only two rounds remaining on 30th September (Vallelunga, Italy) and 7th October (Magny Cours, France) Haga is taking the fight for WSB crown all the way to the wire. So far this season he has already won four races, including taking the double win at the team’s home circuit of Monza.
This year has been Corser’s first season with the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team but it has been a fruitful one, with him gaining eight podium positions so far this season. Corser has also had a good and close working relationship with Haga, with the two riders working together to help develop a championship winning machine in the YZF-R1. The two-times World Superbike Champion has 13 years of experience in the class, including 40 pole positions and an impressive 114 podium positions, 33 of which have been race wins.
Alex Asigno
French-run Team Yamaha GMT94 took the chequered flag in the famous but also grueling Bol D’Or 24hrs Endurance race this weekend, completing 801 laps on their YZF-R1 machine and beating second place by five laps. The race took place at the circuit of Magny-Cours (France) in front of almost 100,000 spectators; it started at 15.00 hrs on Saturday and ran through the night to finish at 15.00 hrs on Sunday afternoon.
The three riders were Sébastien Gimbert, David Checa, who both also ride for Team Yamaha GMT94 in World Supersport, and Olivier Four. From the start Team Yamaha GMT94 were in the thick of the action but held their nerve to take the lead with a tight margin of 30 seconds back to second place. But, with only four hours to go the second placed Suzuki team crashed out, giving Team Yamaha GMT94 a ten lap lead. Keen to avoid anything that could lose them the lead, the team maintained their focus to take the win. This win is made all the sweeter as this is their first win at the Magny-Cours race.
Permanent World Endurance Championship entry Yamaha Phase One Endurance team finished fourth (with riders Warwich Nowland, Glen Richards and Pedro Valcaneras Flores) with Yamaha teams Acrapolis Moto Expert fifth and Endurance Moto 38 finishing seventh. Currently 4 Yamaha teams are in the top 7 of the Endurance World Championship standings.
Team Yamaha GMT94, run by former rider and passionate sportsman Christophe Guyot, operate on a strategy focused on two different race programs. They are permanent entries in the World Supersport Championship with riders David Checa and Sébastien Gimbert mounted on Yamaha R6 machinery. In addition, they enter the two most demanding Endurance races in the world on the Yamaha R1, both run in France - the Le Mans 24hrs and the Bol d’Or 24hrs.
David Checa (Team Yamaha GMT94) This race has been excellent; the bike and the tyres worked perfectly together and the team has just worked as one to get on the top of the podium. The last four hours were the easiest, after the Suzuki team crashed; it was just about keeping the pace up and not making any silly mistakes. I’d like to thank Yamaha and Team GMT94 for all their support and efforts.”
Sébastien Gimbert (Team Yamaha GMT94) “What can I say? To win feels very satisfying! Everything came together well and the race was perfect for us.”
Olivier Four (Team Yamaha GMT94) “The bike was set-up well and Sébastien, David and I all worked well together. It feels great to win here! I’d like to thank the team for getting us here.”
Christophe Guyot (Team Manager, Team Yamaha GMT94) “I’d like to thank everyone for all their hard work. I’m so happy with the result; it’s just fantastic to win here this weekend! It was a big fight from the beginning of the race and, although we got the lap record we were only leading by 30 seconds at 10.30am on Sunday morning. Then, the Suzuki which was in second place crashed, meaning we were in the lead by ten laps. From then on it was down to the riders to just ride carefully and not risk any crashes. This result is a great proof of the power and reliability of the Yamaha R1.”
Alex Asigno
Valentino Rossi made a triumphant return to the top step of the podium in Estoril today, sealing his fourth victory of the season with a masterful ride to victory in front of Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner. Rossi's eighth consecutive podium finish at this circuit was his first in six races, since his last victory at Assen back in June. Colin Edwards was unable to match his team-mate's pace today and slipped back through the field, eventually finishing in tenth.
With 41,566 spectators looking on, Rossi made a poor start from the outside of the front row and slipped to fifth around the first corner, before making up one place and crossing the line first time around behind Nicky Hayden in fourth. He quickly began to put the pressure on Hayden and passed him on lap three, whilst Pedrosa in the meantime picked off Stoner to take the lead. Lap-by-lap Rossi closed the gap and he showed the improved level of his new Yamaha engine when he passed his championship rival on the straight going into lap nine. From then on the race turned into a nail-biting head to head between Rossi and Pedrosa, the pair evenly matched on pace but faster in different areas of the track. With four laps to go Pedrosa ran wide and Rossi came through, only to make a similar mistake moments later, letting the Spaniard back past him. With Pedrosa beginning to slide and Stoner looking menacing in third, Rossi made his move with an inch-perfect pass on the penultimate lap but was forced to keep pushing at the limit to hold on until the end, crossing the line just 0.175 seconds ahead of Pedrosa.
Edwards meanwhile suffered with grip issues throughout, finding himself as far down as 17th at one point. The Texan did not give up however and battled back past several riders to finish tenth, taking six points and holding onto seventh in the championship. Rossi's maximum-points haul today means he clo ses the gap to Stoner to 76 points with five races remaining, the next of which comes at Motegi in Japan in one week's time.
Valentino Rossi - Position: 1stTime: 45'49.911 "First of all I want to dedicate this victory to Colin McRae, who sadly died yesterday. Colin is one of my idols from when I was very young and it's because of him that I have my passion for rally. It's a very sad day for motorsport and I am glad that I could win for him today. This is a very important victory for us in every way, it's the fourth one of the year so the numbers are starting to look a little bit better, and it's a great, great emotion to win again after so long without even a podium. Today my Yamaha and my tyres worked very well. Our new engine is better and today I was able to keep in the slipstream of the Honda and the Ducati on the straight, and even to go alongside them at some points, so this is very important. Michelin have done some good work on the tyres and today we were maybe stronger than our rivals. Once again we've shown that when the tyres are working well we can fight at the top. I had a great battle with Casey but most of all with Dani and it was fantastic fun to ride like this again, at the maximum and with a lot of good passes. When I passed Dani for the first time I tried to go but he was too good so I knew it was going to come down to the last few laps. At the end Dani started to slide a little and I knew I was stronger on the brakes than him in some places, so I was able to make a good pass. When I came out of the last corner on the second to last lap I could only think about how I lost the championship there last year so I knew I had to be far enough ahead next time around! I want to thank Yamaha, Michelin, my team and everyone around me, this is a great day and it's given us a lot of confidence to keep fighting to the end of the season."
Alex Asigno
The weather was kind to the World Superbike Championship today as the rain disappeared and the sun came out while Haga and Corser took three podiums between them; one on each step of the podium. Haga took the win in race one and rounded it up with a second place in race two, while Corser finished third in the first race and fifth in the second.
Race one started well for Haga as he went from eighth to second in the first few laps. Undeterred by the gap that Bayliss had created between first and second, Haga just put his head down and reduced the margin lap by lap until the two riders were tyre to tyre on lap 14. Haga made his move on the next lap with a traditional Haga-style close pass and then just kept going. He finished the race a clear 11 seconds ahead of the rest of the field; his fourth win of the season.
Corser got off to a poor start in race one, almost high-siding in the second corner, and he slid back to ninth before turning the power back on and making way up through the field again. By lap eight he had made his way to fourth position and was hunting down Biaggi 6.2 seconds ahead in third. By lap 18 the gap had reduced to nothing and Corser tried valiantly to pass Biaggi In the end he had to settle for third as his tyres wore off.
The second race of the day got off to a mixed start with Corser dropping to sixth and Haga climbing to fifth. Haga wasted no time in passing through the field to once again chase down lead-man Bayliss. Corser meanwhile was challenging Xaus for fifth; a challenge he won going into the first turn. He then focused on finding a way past Toseland for fourth place; a battle which was to last the rest of the race with the riders in the order in which they had begun.
By lap nine Haga and Bayliss were dicing with each other and, on lap 14, a mistake by Bayliss gave Haga the chance he was looking for and he grabbed it to take the race lead. But, four laps from the end Bayliss managed to get past Haga, who was forced to settle for second.
Team Yamaha YZF rider Shinichi Nakatomi had a good day's racing taking 11th in race one and 15th in race two. Race one was the highlight of the day for the young Japanese rider and he takes six points away with him.
Today's results have boosted Haga's second place standing; he is now only 41 points behind first with two rounds still to go.
Noriyuki Haga (1st and 2nd - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I feel happy with my result in both races today. The first race was the perfect result; even though my tyre started to wear off I was able to take the win. I made a minor suspension change for race two but then didn't get as good a start as I wanted because of a small mistake. This meant I had to use more rear tyre during the race to chase and challenge Bayliss. Towards the end the tyre started sliding and I just couldn't keep up the pace with Troy.
Today has reduced the margin on my championship challenge; it has given me more potential to win and I'm now feeling more focused than ever and I'm going to push right to the end for the title. I'd like to thank the team and Öhlins for all their efforts in getting the bike working right this weekend."
Alex Asigno
The Yamaha World Supersport Team is pleased to announce their rider line up for 2008, ahead of next weekend’s race at Lausitz in Germany. Australian Broc Parkes will remain with the team and he will be joined by the French former Supersport world champion Fabien Foret.
2008 will be Broc’s sixth year challenging in the World Supersport Championship and his fourth with Yamaha. 25 year-old Parkes plans to fight for the world title this year were hampered by injury early on in the season when he broke his collar bone at Donington in April. In spite of this, Parkes has been in contention for top positions at each of the other events this year. Following his first win of the season at Brands Hatch last month, he is now looking to finish the year on a high and is targeting third position in the championship and still has a mathematical chance to finish 2nd.
Fabien Foret, aged 34, joins the Yamaha World Supersport team with a good pedigree behind him. He was World Supersport Champion in 2002 and is currently second in the championship, having won this year’s Philip Island round. The Frenchman, who is known for being a hard charger on the track, has ten race wins and twelve more podiums to his name in addition to the title. Foret is no stranger to Yamaha, having ridden in the Supersport championship for the Yamaha Motor Italia team in 2004 and he rode for the German-based team at Lausitz last year as a stand-in rider, where he made a strong impression on the team by finishing third without any prior testing time on the bike. He brings with him a wealth of experience covering entries in Superstock, Supersport and Superbike championships.
The 11th round of the 2007 World Supersport Championship will take place this coming weekend in Germany.
Alex Asigno
Valentino Rossi's hopes of a glorious homecoming to Misano ended after just five laps today, when an engine problem forced the Fiat Yamaha Team rider to retire when running strongly in fourth position. Rossi's team-mate Colin Edwards meanwhile struggled with rear grip in the later stages and was only able to bring his YZR-M1 home in his starting position of ninth.
With thousands of passionate Italian fans looking on, Rossi started the San Marino Grand Prix from second on the grid with high hopes of an exciting podium battle with chief rival and pole-sitter Casey Stoner. He dropped one place at the start and another a few turns later as first John Hopkins and then Chris Vermeulen came through, but never got the chance to fight back as he lost power in his engine on lap five of 28 and was forced to coast home to the pits. Edwards got a good start and rose to sixth at one point, but a lack of grip on the left side of his rear tyre meant he was unable to make any further headway through the field, eventually slipping to ninth behind Anthony West.
With Stoner the eventual winner, today's result sees Rossi's dream of a late-season championship revival slip further away as he now sits 85 points adrift in second, with a possible 125 points left available from five races. Edwards remains seventh with 100 points. The Fiat Yamaha Team will have a one-day test here tomorrow, before heading to Portugal in ten days time for round fourteen.
Colin Edwards - Position: 9thTime: +47.146 "I got a good start and managed to miss the big melee with Hayden and de Puniet. Then Checa almost took me out a couple of times and the second time I had to run wide and West and a couple of others came through. Once I'd got sorted again I had my work cut out getting back by West, but then I just got my head down and got going. Unfortunately however, the left-hand side of my tyre then started to give me trouble and I had no grip from then on. There are a lot of quick changes of direction here, turns one-two and four-five for example, and every time I had to flick it left it felt pretty scary. I had to adjust my pace accordingly and from there on in it was just survival and looking to salvage what points I could. It wasn't fun out there today to be honest!"
Valentino Rossi - Position: DNFTime: "At the start I felt I was lacking some temperature in my tyres and so I slipped back a little from my starting position. However apart from this I felt quite good, stable, with a good rhythm and confident that things would continue to improve as the temperature in my tyres increased. However on lap five, when I was braking hard, I suddenly felt something go and that was the end of my race. The engine was the same one that I used at the Brno test and also here in practice and it felt quite good; we don't yet know what the problem was today so we will have to wait until our engineers have had time to examine the situation.
"It would have been great, and very useful, to have a good result here in Misano today. I like the track a lot and I really wanted to do well in front of all the fans; it was a great emotion for me to see so many people in yellow. Unfortunately this wasn't the case today and now we know that the championship will be very, very difficult. Breaking down after just a few laps is frustrating and unlucky, especially because today we had good expectations and we had been fast during practice. But when bad things like this happen you have only two choices; give up or come straight back and start working again even harder than before. This is what we will do at Yamaha; me, my team, the engineers - everyone involved. We still have five races left and we will keep trying to get the result we deserve. Once again Stoner deserved to win today, so well done to him. We have a lot of work to do before Estoril."
Davide Brivio - Team Director "We used the new engine today and unfortunately something went wrong. We don't know yet exactly what, we won't be able to tell until our engineers have had a lot more time to look at it. It might not have been anything to do with the new technology, we need to check but this can happen and this is racing. It's just very disappointing for everyone and especially all the thousands of fans who came today to cheer Valentino on. Colin had some rear grip issues and he tried his best but unfortunately he too was not able to get the result he deserved. We have to look forward to Estoril now and keep working; we know that all the Yamaha engineers are very busy trying to improve our situation and we have confidence in them. Thanks to everyone for their hard work; we know we are capable of winning and so we will just keep trying."
Misano disapointing for Dunlop Yamaha Tech3
After an absence of 14 years Grand Prix racing returned to the re-vamped Misano circuit where Dunlop was victorious in the last premier 500cc class race to be held at the circuit with Luca Cadalora on the Marlboro Yamaha. History was not to be repeated for the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team as Sylvain Guintoli and Makoto Tamada finished in 12th and 14th positions respectively.
The weekend had a silver lining however as Sylvain repeated his qualifying performance of the previous race in Brno to start from 11th on the grid. With the first day of practice a washout when the circuit was flooded by devastating rains that caused the abandonment of the day, this ensured that with limited track time, set-up and tyre selection would play an even more important role than usual. Due to a first corner incident that eliminated Dani Pedrosa, Nicky Hayden and Randy De Puniet and then the unfortunate retirement of Valentino Rossi the race was not the spectacle we have come to expect of the MotoGP class.
Sylvain Guintoli (12th - Fastest lap 1'36.560) This race was similar to Brno as I think we proved we have a good qualifying package but we expected to struggle during the race because we couldn't find a rear tyre with good enough grip and endurance. The race was ok. The start was good and the first 12 laps I had a good battle with Nakano and we caught the group in front but after 12 laps the rear grip level started to drop away and I lost touch with the group. The second half of the race was not so much fun. I had a 12 second lead over the riders behind me and I just carried on with a fast enough rhythm so I could not be caught. One thing I am happy with is how much I am learning every time I ride the bike and what is needed in qualifying to get a good lap. I hope we can find something for Portugal so that we can fight for the entire race.
Makoto Tamada (14th - Fastest lap 1'36.645) The race wasn't so good for me. I had a good feeling for the first 12 laps and was able to keep a pretty good pace but then I had trouble with the rear. The performance stayed the same for a few laps but towards the end it dropped off again so all I could hope to do was ride the bike to make sure I finished. It's been a hard season so I hope we find something for the last races so that I may be able to battle with a few riders for the whole race and not just wait for something to happen.
Herve Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Manager Firstly I would like to apologise to all the fans that turned up as after the incident on the first lap and with Valentino retiring so early in the race it wasn't much of a spectacle when so much was expected of this race on its return to Misano. As for our weekend, this has been another race that has not gone the way we wanted. We have a good qualifying package but we are missing something in the race. We couldn't find a tyre that we were confident that would last us the entire race so we set everything up the best we could. Hopefully we can find some improvement in the race package to compliment the good work we do in qualifying and all the hard work the team is putting in trying to get the results we desire.
Alex Asigno
Yamaha Motocross Team's Josh Coppins made a brave comeback to the FIM Motocross World Championship despite sustaining a two inch break to his left shoulder only four weeks ago but could not prevent his lead in the standings being lost to rival Steve Ramon. Meanwhile MX1 debutant Antonio Cairoli marked a new highlight in a truly wonderful season of success as the MX2 world champ won his first ever outing in the premier class with a 2008 production YZ450F in front of 28,000 spectators.
Coppins was back in action for the first time in two Grand Prix but completed few fast laps and took things easy on Saturday. The New Zealander commented that he was fighting pain in the joint but had medical attention and took to the line on Sunday to attempt to defend the 12 points he held in defiance of Ramon. The many jumps and rough ruts of the track were not ideal for the Kiwi.
The first moto at the new track inside the Donington Park MotoGP complex started perfectly as the 30 year old holeshotted on the YZ450FM. However he was unable to keep pace with the leaders and tried his best to remain as high in the classification as possible but was swamped by a group in the final laps and took fourteenth.
With the gap down from 12 to 4 points for the second race, Coppins tried again to fight his corner but had to pull into the pits after one lap as the former championship runner-up had no strength in his upper limb and could not control the bike properly.
His eighteenth position overall means that he lost the red plate for the first time this year to Ramon and now faces a tough job at Lierop to regain his status. The deserving champion and winner of five Grand Prix this year will need to obtain 14 points or more over Ramon (who is racing with a small fracture in his scaphoid) to claim his first world title.
Marc de Reuver was unable to make an impact on proceedings. The Dutchman retired from the first race and did not feel comfortable on the bike or the track. He did not take to the gate for the second moto.
2007 MX2 World Champion Antonio Cairoli could not have done a better job in the MX1 class to give Coppins support and also assist Yamaha's effort to retain the manufacturer's title. The Italian admitted that riding the production 2008 YZ450F after steering his YZ250F to nine Grand Prix victories this year was 'different' and placed more demands on his muscle groups. but still managed an incredible debut triumph by taking second and first positions in the two motos in his usual flamboyant style. He walked the top step with hardly any preparation to riding the 450 and leaving the factory bikes of Kevin Strijbos and Ken de Dycker behind on his production machine.
The World Championship will now face a tense and exciting conclusion. The final round of fifteen will take place next week in the deep and rough sand of Lierop for the Grand Prix of the Netherlands.
Alex Asigno
Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards rounded off two days of intensive work at Brno today, following Sunday's Czech Grand Prix. After heavy rain yesterday evening the track was still damp this morning, which delayed the start of action, but conditions improved throughout the day and both Rossi and Edwards managed to complete their planned testing programmes.
Once again both riders concentrated mainly on tyre testing, trying a variety of new material with Michelin. Rossi also put in laps with the new-specification engine, which he tried for the first time yesterday. The team now have a week's break before they head to Misano for the San Marino Grand Prix.
Colin Edwards - Position: 7th Time: 1'58.86 Laps: 50 "It was all about tyres again today and we actually found a front that I'm pretty happy with. It's something of a different theory to what we've been using before but it seems to work so I think we've gained something in that area. We also found something for the rear which we think could be good if we have a little more time to work on it and evolve it. Based on that I think we've definitely made some progress today. It's not going to change overnight but we've just got to go step-by-step, put in the laps and see how we go. I tried a couple more starting maps as well which I'm really happy with. I'm heading home now for a few days rest before Misano and we'll see how we get on there!"
Valentino Rossi - Position: 11th Time: 1'59.35 Laps: 69 "We continued today to test many tyres with Michelin, different components and different compounds. We haven't found a miracle tyre yet but we gave a lot of information to Michelin which will hopefully help them in their work for the next races. We used the new engine again for some of the day and found it a little bit better, although we need more time to work on it. Anyway we've given some important information to our engineers so they can continue with the development for the future. We've done a lot of work these two days and I know that Yamaha and Michelin will now do as much as possible with what we've found out here, and we will be ready to try again next week in Misano."
Davide Brivio - Team Director "We've worked a lot these two days and both riders have done a lot of laps, which is hard after an intensive race weekend. This is always a very important test, before the last part of the season, and this year has been no different. We've checked many options, especially with Michelin, and we hope that this information will help them to continue to improve the situation in the near future. We know that both Yamaha and Michelin will be working very hard over the next week and we will see how we get on in San Marino!"
Alex Asigno
After the disappointment of yesterday's Czech Grand Prix, it was back to the drawing board today for Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards as they embarked on the traditional two-day test at Brno, alongside almost the entire MotoGP paddock. The sun shone until mid-afternoon when it clouded over, eventually giving way to rain at about 4.30 pm.
The main focus of the test for both riders is tyre testing with Michelin and they worked through a variety of new material today as they seek to find a better package for the remaining six races, following recent issues. Rossi also got the chance to complete some laps with a new-specification engine, with which he will continue working tomorrow.
Colin Edwards - Position: 6th Time: 1'58.81 Laps: 51 "Michelin brought a lot of new stuff for us to try here today and I think, in total, I tried about four fronts and maybe five rears before the rain came. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like we've found a miracle yet! We're in a difficult situation but I am determined to give 110% to help Michelin get back to where they should be. I tried a new shock for Ohlins as well and some starting maps and electronics and everything else seems to be feeling pretty good. We've got another day tomorrow so let's hope it stays dry so we can get through the remainder of our testing programme."
Valentino Rossi - Position: 10th Time: 1'59.20 Laps: 66 "We tried a new engine today and I completed about 25 laps with it. Initially we haven't found that it's a lot faster, but anyway this is only the very first step so we need some more time to understand it better and to see how it can help us. Tomorrow we will continue to work with it again, for part of the day at least. We also did some work with tyres, but so far we haven't found anything special. We tried some new fronts but then, when we started to work with some new rear tyres it started to rain and so we weren't able to finish our work. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to use the whole day, because we still have a lot of work to get through and this is a very important test for us."
Alex Asigno
The wooded hills of Brno, thronged by 141,632 spectators, proved a less than happy hunting ground for the Fiat Yamaha Team at today's Czech Grand Prix. Valentino Rossi was dogged by traction problems almost from the start and was only able to hang on for seventh, whilst Colin Edwards slid out of the race on the second lap.
Starting from sixth, Rossi slipped one place at the start but regained his starting position by the end of lap one, behind Loris Capirossi. The Italian then spent several laps on his fellow countryman's tail before he was able to pass him on lap eight of 22, but by then Rossi was suffering from grip problems and was unable to push on and clear a gap from the chasing pack. A few laps later he was passed by Chris Vermeulen and then by Capirossi, before Randy de Puniet began to threaten him in the closing stages and he was forced to use all his skills to keep the Frenchman behind him to the line. Edwards meanwhile failed to finish a race for only the third time in his Yamaha career, making a rare mistake on lap two and losing the front. He rejoined the race briefly but was unable to continue, coming into the pits on the next lap.
The race was won by Casey Stoner, who extends his championship lead over Rossi to 60 points. Edwards remains seventh with 93 points. The MotoGP paddock now has one weekend off before the San Marino Grand Prix, when Grand Prix motorcycle racing returns to Misano for the first time in 14 years.
Valentino Rossi - Position: 7thTime: +22.485 "We expected a difficult race today because we knew our potential here wasn't very high after the last two days. However it was even worse than we expected! I tried to keep my rhythm going but, after only seven or eight laps, the tyre started to slide a lot on the right side and from then on I wasn't able to open the throttle.
"Throughout the weekend we have done everything to try to find more traction. We have changed the setting a lot to try to find a way to make the tyre work, but unfortunately during the race we had no grip. Also, with the setting we had to use, we had to sacrifice some of our corner speed and this also slowed us down. It was very difficult today. I was able to do 1.59s to start with but after a few laps the tyre made a big step down and then I just had to wait for the end of the race.
"I had a hard time with Capirossi at the start; in some parts I was faster than him but I couldn't overtake him because he was pulling away from me on the straights. Eventually I got past him but he stayed with me and I couldn't pull clear. I pushed as hard as I could; at that time I wasn't too fast but not too slow either, but after that my tyre was finished and then Vermeulen came, then Loris again...I am sad because I wasn't even able to try to fight with them today. Towards the end I had to push at the limit to stay in front of de Puniet and luckily I managed, but we were a very long way from a good performance. I tried to change my style, to ride in a different way to help the situation, but it was no good.
"We have a test now but in reality our situation is quite bad and we have a few different problems to deal with. We will try to make the best of the next two days of work and to try to find something different for the next few races. We have to wait and see what we find, but for sure it's going to be very difficult. This is a very hard moment that we're in. We have six races to go and we just have to work as hard as we can to try to find a way to make some good results."
Alex Asigno
Josh Coppins still leads the world championship despite missing his second Grand Prix in a row. The New Zealander has seen his advantage narrowed from 77 to 43 and now to 12 as main rival Steve Ramon could only finish fifth. Yamaha Motocross Team's Marc de Reuver was seventeenth after scoring points in just one moto in front of 18,500 people.
De Reuver started the third-to-last meeting of the year in sixteenth position after riders of both classes on a wet Saturday had only 45 minutes to practice and qualify on the brand new course created for this Grand Prix and with a view towards the 61st Motocross of Nations in September 2008. The heavy rain on Friday and Saturday meant that the track was deep and swampy and could not cope with a full practice programme. The schedule was vastly reduced and thankfully the showers stayed away from Sunday even though a chilly wind swept the open circuit.
The track itself drew compliments from most of the paddock for its challenging layout and big array of jumps, but the riders were not able to really test the terrain until good work had been carried out by the circuit staff to prepare the course for Sunday. The landings and take-offs were still dangerous and difficult due to the softness of the mud. De Reuver rode his own pace to pick up nine points for twelfth position in race one but did not look capable of breaking into the top ten. The second outing was not positive for the Dutchman as he simply could not get to grips with the track from the rear of the field and retired from the moto.
Joshua Coppins is hopeful of being able to ride for the first time this week since fracturing his shoulder in the Czech Republic. The British Grand Prix will take place next Sunday at Donington Park - another new racing course - before the Grand Prix of the Netherlands wraps up the season at Lierop in two weeks time.
Kenneth Gundersen took his first steps towards a return to the MX1 by entering the premier category with a view towards assisting Yamaha's plight to retain the manufacturer's title and gained two points for 19th in the first moto but crashed out of the second.
Marc de Reuver, Yamaha Motocross Team: "Practice and qualifying was OK but there was not much time on the track and it was really muddy. I was sixteenth, which was nothing special. In the first heat I was twenty-third at the start and I came up to twelfth but I had a really bad start in the second heat and could not get a rhythm. I wasn't jumping anything and could not get into it today."
Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team: "Josh still has a twelve point lead so it could have been a lot worse today and we are happy about that but we are really disappointed for Marc. We expected a quite good race at least. He had two very bad starts but there was no reaction afterwards."
Alex Asigno
Joshua Coppins is recovering well from his left shoulder injury sustained at round 11 of the MX1 World Championship held at Loket (Czech Republic) on the 29th of July, but unfortunately his present condition does not permit him to enter the Grand Prix of Northern Ireland held coming weekend at the Moneyglass Demense circuit. Coppins missed the Belgian Grand Prix two weeks ago and now had to decide to cancel his participation in round 13 of the championship as well.
Joshua does the very maximum to speed up his recovery, traveling between Belgium, Germany and the UK to seek specialist treatment. The extensive medical attention to the small crack in the neck of the glenoid of his left shoulder is having the desired healing effect, as confirmed by a CT scan made earlier this week which showed good progression of the bone coming back together. At his home base in Belgium, Dr. Claes has been consulted on the therapy which includes the use of a new magnetic 'ortho-pulse' device, massage and acupuncture given by a German naturopath improving blood flow and other advanced medical techniques.
Josh has also started with an intense physiotherapy program including a lot of swimming to improve movement in his shoulder, recently he expanded his training with road cycling and mountain biking, but he won’t ride his YZ450FM just yet. Expectation is that after another positive CT scan scheduled for next week Tuesday, Joshua can start riding his bike again to prepare for the British Grand Prix held on the 26th of August. He hopes to enter that race still leading the world championship. Before his crash at Loket Coppins held a very comfortable advantage of 107 points, but prior to this weekends Grand Prix of Northern Ireland his buffer has diminished to 43 points on second placed Steve Ramon with Sebastian Pourcel also still in contention with 83 points behind Coppins. Most likely the MX1 World Championship will go down to the wire until the last race of the series held at Lierop (NL) on the 2nd of September.
While Coppins is on his way to return to racing, Yamaha Team Ricci rider Kenneth Gundersen will enter the MX1 class at Moneyglass Demense. The 25 year old Norwegian is considering a move to this class for 2008 and considers his entry as a good test to see how competitive he can be. He hopes for good results that will contribute to Yamaha’s position in the manufacturers standing in MX1, which has shrunk to just one point over Suzuki. He will race on a YZ450F machine with YRRD kit (Yamaha Rinaldi R and D) prepared by his own team.
Alex Asigno
With FIM MX1 World Championship leader Josh Coppins out of action due to a small shoulder break and second rider Marc de Reuver unable to get to grips with narrow and fast circuit at Namur, Yamaha Motocross Team were unfortunately without a representative for the Grand Prix of Belgium and the twelfth round of fifteen in the 2007 series watched by a 31,000 crowd today. The injury to Coppins - that hopefully should only mean a one race absence - and De Reuver's unsuccessful attempts to post a lap-time that put him in the top thirty on Saturday meant that the Italian team were not able to count on a rider for Sunday's races for the first time ever in their long and successful history. Prior to last week's GP of Czech Republic, Coppins had been present on the podium at nine of ten races, winning five. After Sebastien Pourcel won the Grand Prix with David Philippaerts second and Tanel Leok third, Coppins' advantage in the rider's standings has been reduced from 77 to 43 points - Steve Ramon was fifth overall - with three rounds (Ireland, Britain and Holland) remaining and 150 points left to win. For De Reuver a practice crash and a lack of confidence around the 'enduro-esque' 2500m circuit (tight, bumpy, dark and tree-lined) saw him miss the qualification cut-off mark for the first occasion since he entered Grand Prix racing in 2001. The world championship will reconvene at Moneyglass Demense for the Grand Prix of Northern Ireland in two weeks time and the meeting will be the first of three weekends in a row leading to the climax of the season. Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team: "We honestly don't know what happened with Marc and I don't think he does either. He is completely lost at the moment in terms of confidence and motivation. He did not complain about the bike but admitted that he was scared out there. We are trying to support him as much as possible in many different ways but something needs to click inside of him and there is only so much we can do. There is no more news about Josh's injury at the moment. We have to wait a bit more to see what condition he might be in for Ireland. He will try to ride just before the GP."
Alex Asigno
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd announces that it has concluded a two-year agreement with 250cc World Champion Jorge Lorenzo. The 20-year-old Spaniard will make his MotoGP debut in 2008 aboard a YZR-M1, with direct Factory support.
Lorenzo, who won the 250 title in 2006, is currently leading the championship, after winning six out of the first ten races this season.
"Yamaha has been watching Jorge's career with interest for some time and we are delighted that he will be joining our MotoGP line-up from next season” - commented Lin Jarvis, Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing. “We are sure that he will be a valuable asset for the future and we look forward to the commencement of his MotoGP career with Yamaha.”
The exact structure of Yamaha’s team and rider organization is still under consideration at the present time. Further details, including Lorenzo’s team structure, will be announced in due course.
Alex Asigno
UFO Corse Yamaha rider Simone Albergoni claimed his second successive double podium result at a round of the '07 World Enduro Championship when the Italian claimed a runner-up and third place finish in the Enduro 1 class at the GP of USA, round five of the WEC series. Having stood on the podium twice at his home round of the championship in Italy Simone came agonisingly close to collecting his first win of the season on day one in Hancock when he placed just four seconds behind current Enduro 1 class leader Juha Salminen from Finland. With Albergoni finishing in second and third over the two days his Spanish team-mate Cristobal Guerrero didn't fair quite as well and placed in sixth and fifth while Yamaha France rider Marc Germain claimed fourth on day one and a well deserved second position on day two.   The opening day of the GP of USA was one of, if not the, toughest day of the '07 WEC series held so far this season. With each of the event's three special tests run within the same time check all riders were given just four five-to-ten minute breaks during the gruelling seven hours of riding. With heavy rain prior to the event leaving many sections of the course and special tests extremely wet the rocky terrain ensured a physically demanding event.
Despite the challenging conditions UFO Yamaha rider Simone Albergoni rose to the occasion and pushed six-time enduro world champion Juha Salminen harder than any rider has this season. Despite a steady start Albergoni upped his pace as the day progressed and in winning four of the six special tests came within four seconds of being the first rider to beat Salminen this season. Making few mistakes all day Albergoni finished comfortably ahead of third place rider Bartosz Oblucki from Poland.
Narrowly missing out on a podium result Yamaha France rider Marc Germain placed fourth on day one, just over five seconds behind Oblucki. A rider that normally excels in slippery, grassy conditions Germain showed that despite the severity of the Hancock special tests he was 100 per cent focused on a podium result. Two places behind Germain in sixth Cristobal Guerrero saw his day spoiled by two costly mistakes in the rock littered extreme test.
Having pushed Salminen hard on day one Simone Albergoni started day two determined to go one better and claim his first win of the '07 WEC season. But despite his best efforts it wasn't to be as Salminen upped his pace and placed comfortably ahead of the Italian. Looking assured of a second runner-up result Albergoni ran into trouble on the very last special test of the event when his chain derailed on the extreme test. Losing around 20 seconds Albergoni placed in third. Showing that his day one result was no fluke Yamaha France rider Marc Germain again rode well on day two and thanks in part to mistakes from some of his closest rivals claimed the runner-up spot behind Salminen. For UFO Yamaha rider Cristobal Guerrero day two brought with it more disappointing luck as the young Spaniard, like Albergoni, derailed his chain on the final extreme test, costing him considerable time and dropping him to fifth. Claiming sixth on day two having finished in seventh on day one was the UFO Corse Yamaha team's third rider Maurizio Micheluz.    Simone Albergoni (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Second, Day 2 Third: "Day one was really good for me. Finishing second and really close to Salminen is my best result of the season so far - it's always good to finish so close to the rider leading the championship. I felt pretty good all day although the conditions were really difficult. The second day wasn't so good. I made some mistakes and on the third lap my chain came off on the extreme test, which cost me some time. Finally I finished third because Oblucki and Guerrero had some problems, so things ended pretty good for me with two podium results." Cristobal Guerrero (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Sixth, Day 2 Fifth: "I crashed twice on the extreme test on day one and only put in one good time on that test so it meant that I was pushing hard all day to make up for those mistakes. I ended up finishing in sixth, which wasn't so bad but not as good as I could have finished. The second day wasn't so good for me. It was possible to finish second but my chain came off on the last extreme test, which cost me a lot of time and ended my chances of second. I finished in fifth. All day things went well but then right at the end of the day it went bad. I guess that can happen some times."   Crowd: 1500 Weather: Sunny     2007 Enduro 1 United States 23/07/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 47'30.200 2 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 0'4.140 3 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 0'38.640 4 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 0'44.000 5 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 0'49.660 6 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 0'52.040 7 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 1'32.590 8 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 3'53.400 9 Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 8'15.180 10 Juraj Dozsa KTM SVK 10'8.880 11 Steve Leivan Yamaha USA 15'2.330
Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 48'14.070 2 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 1'26.320 3 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 1'47.240 4 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 1'53.350 5 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 1'56.930 6 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 2'24.680 7 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 2'30.270 8 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 4'35.080 9 Juraj Dozsa KTM SVK 9'42.090 10 Kyle Nelson Honda USA 15'44.930
Rider Standings 21/07/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Juha Salminen KTM FIN 250 2. Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 182 3. Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 175 4. Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 170 5. Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 167 6. Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 163 7. Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 128 8. Mike Hartmann KTM GER 117 9. Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 79 10. Luca Cherubini TM ITA 59 11. Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 56 12. Juraj Dozsa KTM SVK 51 13. Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 50 14. Joan Jou Yamaha ESP 45 15. Damien Miquel Kawasaki FRA 40
Manufacturer Standings 21/07/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. KTM 250 2. Yamaha 204 3. Husqvarna 163 4. Honda 109 5. TM 65 6. Suzuki 59 7. Kawasaki 48
RACE REPORT 23/07/2007 Aubert holds on third position in championship despite crash in USA  
Hoping to make up for the disappointment of scoring no points on the second day of the fourth round of the '07 WEC series UFO Corse Yamaha team rider Johnny Aubert saw his chances of a podium finish on day one of the GP of USA ended when he crashed on the event's enduro test, squashing his right middle finger between his handlebars and one of the many rocks that littered the test. Losing two-and-a-half minutes due to his fall and injured finger Johnny continued but due to the time he'd lost was only able to place sixth - a good result considering the immediate and extensive swelling to his finger. Narrowly missing out on placing fifth, were it not for his crash Aubert would likely have placed as runner-up.
On day two Aubert tried his best to match the pace of battling Finns Mika Ahola, who topped day one, and reigning class champion Samuli Aro. With the two setting a blistering pace Aubert opted to settle for third mid way through the day yet still placed comfortably ahead of fourth place finisher Valtteri Salonen.    Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1 Sixth, Day 2 Third: "I crashed in the enduro test and squashed one of my fingers on my right hand between the handlebar and a rock, which was really painful and made things difficult for me on day one. I lost two and a half minutes in that one test, so that wasn't good at all. I still managed to finish in sixth, which considering how painful my finger was wasn't too bad. I really wanted to push as hard as I could on the second day, to try and make up for my disappointments on day one. But Ahola and Aro were too fast so there was no way I could win. Half way through the day I decided not to push too hard and to settle for third. I tried to push for a good result but things didn't quite go as well as I hoped they would this weekend."   Crowd: 1500 Weather: Sunny     2007 Enduro 2 United States 23/07/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 46'4.960 2 Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 1'31.560 3 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 1'32.630 4 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 1'42.020 5 Mike Lafferty KTM USA 3'20.230 6 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 3'25.170 7 Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 3'29.750 8 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 3'30.150 9 Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 3'56.610 10 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 3'57.700 11 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 3'59.110 12 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 5'46.510 13 Aaron Kopp Christini USA 9'38.080
Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 47'4.870 2 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 0'3.450 3 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 1'19.310 4 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 2'40.620 5 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 2'42.540 6 Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 2'49.660 7 Mike Lafferty KTM USA 3'30.690 8 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 3'40.820 9 Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 3'58.600 10 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 4'1.580 11 Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 4'33.180 12 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 4'56.830 13 Justin Tucker Yamaha USA 15'33.540 14 Ryan Brown GasGas USA 23'50.040 15 Dan MC Caslin KTM USA 35'42.460
Rider Standings 21/07/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Mika Ahola Honda FIN 233 2. Samuli Aro KTM FIN 207 3. Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 187 4. Fabien Planet KTM FRA 162 5. Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 158 6. Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 114 7. Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 108 8. Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 105 9. Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 102 10. Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 101 11. Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 79 12. Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 71 13. Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 59 14. Patrick Caps GasGas BEL 51 15. Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 51
Manufacturer Standings 21/07/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 233 2. KTM 211 3. Yamaha 199 4. Aprilia 166 5. Husqvarna 115 6. HusaBerg 114 7. Beta 102 8. Suzuki 79 9. GasGas 60 10. Sherco 51 11. BMW 25 12. Kawasaki 15 13. TM 9 14. Christini 8
Alex Asigno
Fiat Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards will contest his home Grand Prix at Laguna Seca this weekend in a one-off special livery, starting from first practice on Friday. The popular American is well known to his legion of fans, both on home shores and worldwide, as the ‘Texas Tornado' and this weekend's livery has been inspired by his famous nickname.
The livery, which is Fiat Yamaha's second change of the season following the ‘Fiat 500' inspired bikes in Assen, represents a personal tribute to the two-time World Superbike champion and Edwards has been influential in the design process.
"I'm really happy with the final result!" said the 33-year old Texan. "The finished article is exactly how I imagined and I think it's transmitting just the message we were after, mixing the idea of the tornado with the American flag. I'm always very proud to race in front of my home fans and I'm especially pleased to have something extra special to give them this weekend; I'd like to say a big thank you to Fiat for giving me the chance to do something different!"
Edwards' bike will be unveiled today, Thursday 19th July, at 1700 local time in Pit Lane at the Laguna Seca circuit.
Alex Asigno
Yamaha Motocross Team's Joshua Coppins closed the second third of the 2007 FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship with runner-up position at a sun-soaked Monte Coralli circuit for the Grand Prix Citta di Faenza. The 30 year old New Zealander guided his works YZ450FM to a pair of second places in front of 29,000 spectators and under the heavy weight of near-40 degree temperatures to return to the podium at the second home event of the season for his Rinaldi team.    Monte Coralli had been the subject of a dedicated facelift from the club in order to host their first premier class Grand Prix since the 1990s and the first event since the creation of the MX1 and MX2 categories in 2004. The track was dwarfed by a long and fast uphill drag from the start gate that was only interrupted by a narrow kink that made the section a perilous prospect. The course was typically Italian with rock-hard and sometimes dusty terrain constituting the fast and twisty layout. Coppins, who was fighting fit again after feeling weak in Sweden two weeks ago after suffering with flu, started slowly in the first moto but paced himself excellently. The New Zealander pulled through to second position from the lower half of the top ten and passed former team-mate Ken de Dycker on the last lap to take the runner-up slot behind runaway victor Sebastien Pourcel. It was one of the best performances of the day. In the second race the championship leader started better and gave chase to Pourcel. For most of the moto Coppins was alone and although he tried to close down the gap, the Frenchman was elusive. With title rival Ramon struggling down in eighth position Coppins not only participated in his ninth podium ceremony of the season but extended his advantage by 18 points over the Belgian Marc de Reuver was unable to compete after complications from the left shoulder he hurt in the heavy practice crash at the Grand Prix of Sweden two weeks ago. The Dutchman had medical checks prior to travelling to Italy that revealed no damage to the joint but lacked strength in his arm during the first free practice session at Faenza and was in no condition to lap at speed or consider the race. Coppins fronts the world championship by 107 points and with just five rounds and 250 points remaining. De Reuver is still fourteenth.
The eleventh round will start an intense run of four meetings in five weeks as the World Championship hurries towards it climax. The Grand Prix of Czech Republic is next on July 29th and is followed by visits to Belgium, Ireland and the UK to complete the month of August. The final GP of the year will occur in Holland on the first weekend of September.    Josh Coppins, Yamaha Motocross Team: "Every race I try to win and, like the team, I always do my best but if I cannot take the victory then I want to be on the podium and that's what I did this weekend. I didn't focus at the start of the first race and tried to do something different with my approach which was a mistake. It did not work and made it a hard race for me. I had to be patient and could not attack too hard as there was nowhere to pass, but I soon found some spots and I really pushed to get to the front. The second moto was more like normal but I had to pace myself a little bit. My worst race was Sweden two weeks ago and I lost eight points there but I recouped those and more today. For me it is all about the big picture. I still have some goals left this year and I want to win more but of course the championship is getting nearer."    Marc de Reuver, Yamaha Motocross Team: "The crash from Sweden was really hard and it was not about the pain this weekend because I can handle that but on the downhills the muscle on the back of my shoulder had no power and I could not control the bike. We have made scans and everything but there was no problem. I have a plate in my neck and there is nothing wrong with that so I am a little bit lost as to where the trouble might be."
Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team: "Marc could not ride because of too much pain with his left shoulder but Josh shone today. He had a fantastic ride in the first moto after a bad start and he came back very strong to second position. He was in the first three for the second moto and tried for some laps to catch Pourcel but was not close enough for a final attack. Second overall was very good though especially because the nearest guys to us in the championship had a bad day."   Circuit Length: 0 Temp: 36 Crowd: 29000 Weather: Sunny     2007 GP of Faenza, Italy 15/07/2007 Race 1 - 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 38'56.573 2 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'3.639 3 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'7.226 4 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'9.356 5 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'14.101 6 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'16.277 7 Julien Bill Honda CHE 0'19.546 8 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'35.468 9 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'38.093 10 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'39.626 11 James Noble Honda GBR 0'41.143 12 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'41.448 13 Manuel Priem TM BEL 0'51.177 14 Alex Salvini Yamaha ITA 0'53.057 15 Christian Beggi Honda ITA 0'57.445 16 Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 1'1.776 17 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 1'5.955 18 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 1'14.056 19 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 1'18.509 20 Alessio Chiodi Aprilia ITA 1'27.852
Race 2 - 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 39'38.053 2 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'4.413 3 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'6.376 4 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'7.476 5 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'9.288 6 Julien Bill Honda CHE 0'10.745 7 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'25.927 8 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'29.295 9 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 0'35.660 10 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'42.629 11 James Noble Honda GBR 0'48.552 12 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 0'50.685 13 Manuel Priem TM BEL 0'58.123 14 Alex Salvini Yamaha ITA 1'4.748 15 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 1'8.429 16 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 1'14.034 17 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 1'17.080 18 Lauris Freibergs Yamaha LVA 1'18.687 19 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 1'21.247 20 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL 1'25.706
Rider Standings 15/07/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 445 2. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 338 3. Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 285 4. David Philippaerts KTM ITA 278 5. Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 272 6. Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 256 7. Mike Brown Honda USA 255 8. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 250 9. Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 240 10. Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 218 11. James Noble Honda GBR 195 12. Manuel Priem TM BEL 155 13. Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 152 14. Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 136 15. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 107 16. Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 102 17. Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 93 18. Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 84 19. Julien Bill Honda CHE 83 20. Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 65
Manufacturer Standings 15/07/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 445 2. Suzuki 385 3. Kawasaki 353 4. KTM 351 5. Honda 331 6. TM 155 7. Aprilia 9
RACE REPORT 15/07/2007 Cairoli runner-up at second home Grand Prix De Carli Yamaha's Antonio Cairoli had to settle for runner-up position in his second home Grand Prix of the season but still managed to put on a good show for his army of fans at the Monte Coralli circuit for the tenth round of fifteen in the MX2 World Championship. Unlike Mantova earlier in the year the series leader was unable to stamp his authority with dominance on a circuit that was quick and relatively simple compared to some of the more technical venues on the GP schedule. The conditions were also testing by the sheer intensity of the heat making Faenza the hottest event so far in 2007.    Cairoli took the opportunity to ease himself into the first moto and let title rival Christophe Pourcel head the pack in the formative stages. Much to the delight of the crowd Cairoli started to cut the difference to the Frenchman at the midway point and took the lead without problems to register his seventh moto success from the last five meetings. The 21 year old was handicapped by an average start in the second race and had to find a way past rookie Gautier Paulin and Tyla Rattray to reach second place. The Sicilian then set about trying to catch Pourcel who had taken the holeshot and set a pace at the front as hot as the weather. Although he could chip away at the eight second margin Cairoli was unable to reproduce the great pursuits enacted in Portugal and France and accepted second place for the GP; tied on points with Pourcel but taking the second step of the rostrum due to the second moto ranking. Pourcel made a small piece of history by joining his brother Sebastien (winning MX1) as GP winners on the same day. Tyla Rattray completed the MX2 top three.
Ricci Racing's Nicolas Aubin was twelfth overall and should have been higher after having an exciting race with Rattray in the first moto, going on to take fourth; one of his best moto classification of the season. The nineteen year old Frenchman had a problem with his goggles in the second sprint and misjudged a downhill approach with limited vision and crashed, ending his afternoon. He travels to the penultimate round of the French championship next week hoping to soon wrap up the series he currently leads.    Team-mates Davide Guarneri and Kenneth Gundersen had 'up and down' experiences. Guarneri, fell on lap one of Moto1 and then later - despite a decent recovery into the points - could not avoid a fallen rider and went off the track. He had to restart and was far behind the field so retired to conserve some energy for Moto2. A decent start saw him circulating in fourth place but he held sixth by the chequered flag and took fourteenth overall. Gundersen qualified well and looked sprightly but had some problems with his rear brake that restricted his speed; he took eighteenth at the end of the day.
Cairoli leads Pourcel by 102 points in the world championship and like fellow Yamaha compatriot Josh Coppins can begin counting down the ten motos, five GPs and 250 points left to play for. Aubin holds seventh and is eighteen points in front of Gundersen in eighth. The Grand Prix of Czech Republic at the Loket circuit represents round eleven on July 29th.    Antonio Cairoli, De Carli Yamaha: "I am satisfied with this result because the home race is always quite difficult with so many people coming to watch and see me. I'm happy with the races because the championship still looks good; it was just a day when Christophe was too fast to catch. I took a lot of risks to get close to him but after a while I settled for second. The track was hard because it was not that technical and it was very fast. I lost a lot of time passing other riders to get to second place and by then he was too far and our speed was more or less the same. I enjoyed the first moto though and I knew I could wait and then increase the pace later in the race."    Nicolas Aubin, Yamaha Team Ricci: "I am disappointed because I felt that I had a chance at the podium this weekend. I had a good start in the first moto and was right behind Rattray but lost my rhythm and could not get past him. I'm pleased with the start though because that has been a weak point, and I showed that in the second moto because I missed the gate drop! I was working to recover positions when I had a problem with my goggles. I took them off but had a load of earth come into my eyes and I missed my line going down to the lowest part of the track. I could not continue after the crash."
Kenneth Gundersen,: Yamaha Team Ricci: "It was like Sweden with the rear brake playing up in both motos today so we need to work on that for the next race. The first fifteen minutes it is OK but then it starts and it is so difficult to ride. I finished and got some points but I am disappointed because the weekend started well and ended badly."
Davide Guarneri,: Yamaha Team Ricci "I had a good reaction at the start but I crashed on the first lap of the first moto. I went back to sixteenth and from there I tried to fight and got up to tenth but Paulin crashed in front of me and to avoid him I had to go off the track. I did not go down but I lost a lot of time and decided to retire. In the second moto I started in the top five and had fourth position for a long time. I just ran out of strength at the end. My body could not cope with the temperatures. Despite this, the second race was quite go   Circuit Length: 0 Temp: 38 Crowd: 29000 Weather: Sunny     2007 GP of Faenza, Italy 15/07/2007 Race 1 - 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 39'19.731 2 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'4.448 3 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'27.297 4 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 0'32.952 5 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'51.713 6 Marvin Musquin Kawasaki FRA 0'57.075 7 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 0'59.004 8 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 1'11.865 9 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 1'14.352 10 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 1'15.855 11 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 1'25.412 12 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'27.523 13 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'28.139 14 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'29.797 15 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 1'30.205 16 Jeremy Tarroux Yamaha FRA 1'41.211 17 Stephen Sword Kawasaki GBR 1'41.877 18 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 1'48.264 19 Gregory Aranda Kawasaki FRA 1'50.527 20 Carlos Campano Yamaha ESP -1 Laps
Race 2 - 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 40'1.198 2 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 0'23.509 3 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'35.800 4 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'46.473 5 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'50.719 6 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 0'54.064 7 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 0'55.561 8 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 0'59.556 9 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 1'5.106 10 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 1'7.639 11 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 1'10.430 12 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 1'18.859 13 Gautier Paulin Honda FRA 1'20.951 14 Jeremy Tarroux Yamaha FRA 1'22.771 15 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'26.378 16 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'28.450 17 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 1'31.251 18 Marvin Musquin Kawasaki FRA -1 Laps 19 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL -1 Laps 20 Carlos Campano Yamaha ESP -1 Laps
Rider Standings 15/07/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 486 2. Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 384 3. Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 358 4. Tommy Searle KTM GBR 311 5. Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 304 6. Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 245 7. Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 215 8. Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 197 9. Matti Seistola Honda FIN 182 10. Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 161 11. Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 152 12. Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 143 13. Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 136 14. Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 117 15. Rui Goncalves KTM POR 108 16. Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 97 17. Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 76 18. Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 74 19. Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 70 20. Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 69 22. Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 60 42. Carlos Campano Yamaha ESP 2
Manufacturer Standings 15/07/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 486 2. KTM 404 3. Kawasaki 401 4. Honda 310 5. Suzuki 172
Alex Asigno
Fiat Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards rode a strong race in sweltering conditions today to take a best-ever Sachsenring finish of fourth, after starting from thirteenth on the grid for the German Grand Prix. Team-mate Valentino Rossi had a disappointing day as he slid out of the race early on when challenging for sixth position, in a race which was led from start to finish by Dani Pedrosa.
In front of 101,083 fans and with temperatures touching 33 degrees, today's thirty-lap race looked like being a test of endurance - both for riders and tyres. Rossi started from sixth but dropped to eighth at the start, taking two laps to pass Alex Barros before finding himself in seventh behind Randy de Puniet on lap three. He soon made his move on the Frenchman and looked to be safely through but a small mistake proved costly and sent him tumbling into the gravel trap.
Edwards meanwhile was making steady progress through the pack as he gained more and more confidence in his M1 and his Michelin tyres. On lap 24 he suddenly found himself within striking distance of Marco Melandri and Casey Stoner, passing them both on the next lap to take fourth. With a podium in his sights he set about trying to close the gap on Nicky Hayden but was not quite able to catch his fellow American, eventually crossing the line just under two tenths adrift. Rossi remains second in the championship but the gap to Stoner grows to 32 points, whilst Edwards consolidates seventh after taking 13 points today.
Colin Edwards Position: 4thTime: +18.299 "The beginning of that race was pretty tough, I almost crashed out a few times and it felt like I almost had too much grip on the rear! As time went on though I started to feel better and better and when Hayden passed me back again it made me pretty determined to keep pushing. Suddenly I looked up and there were three of them in front of me and at that stage I felt like the podium was a possibility. Getting past Stoner and Melandri was fine but I couldn't quite get back to Hayden which was a pity. A podium would have been nice but, after yesterday's qualifying, I'm pretty happy with fourth; it's my best ever finish here by miles. It was an exhausting race and you don't realise till you cross the finish line how much strain thirty laps around here puts on the left side of your body - my shoulder's pretty sore now! I want to say a big thank you to Michelin, my team and Yamaha because they've had to work really hard this weekend to find a way to make things come together and they did a great job. We knew this morning that we'd found a good package and to finish fourth after starting thirteenth is great. We're heading for Laguna on a high!"
Valentino Rossi Position: DNFTime: - "Unfortunately I made a mistake today and I want to say sorry to everyone - my team, Yamaha and of course all my fans. I lost some places at the start and had to wait a lap before I could start to push, but everything was feeling very good. Getting past de Puniet was hard because in the part of the track where it's best to overtake he was very fast. Finally I made my move and I made a great pass but I made a mistake and lost the front. I'm so disappointed because today our package was working very well and we missed the chance to make up a lot of points on Stoner. We know from Pedrosa and Colin's performance that the Michelin tyres worked well until the end and I'm sad that we weren't there to fight. Luckily Stoner was only fifth so the points situation is not as bad as it could have been. I'm very glad we only have seven days until the next race because right now I'm feeling quite bad, but very determined for America!"
Davide Brivio - Team Director "Congratulations to Colin, it's a great result for him and it gives him and his team a lot of encouragement and confidence for his home race in Laguna Seca. Michelin did a good job this weekend and our tyres worked very well until the end. On the other side, it's a great disappointment with Valentino because we lost the chance to recover some points. However this is racing and we know that our package is working very well now and we will get the chance to try again in just one week's time. Today gives us double motivation for Laguna." Disappointing weekend for Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3
In the extreme temperatures that engulfed the German Grand Prix held at the challenging Sachsenring circuit in the picturesque undulating hills in the east of Germany the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team proved to be a difficult weekend for team riders Sylvain Guintoli and Makoto Tamada. The weekend looked promising after MotoGP rookie Sylvain Guintoli claimed his best qualifying position of the year in ninth fastest position but unfortunately race day didn¹t reflect his progress. Sylvain failed to finish the race after a mishap during the opening lap of the race caused him to crash. His teammate Makoto Tamada also had a weekend to forget as he was never on the pace all weekend struggling to be comfortable to the bike to finish 13th.    Makoto Tamada Position: 13thTime: +2 laps This was a very disappointing weekend for me as I never felt happy with the bike. I tried everything but I wasn¹t comfortable and I could never find a good rhythm. During the race nothing changed and I decided to pit to change a tyre to see if that would improve my confidence and make me push hard but still I didn¹t feel good in my riding. I have to think very hard about this weekend and hopefully use it to improve my feeling for next weekend in America.    Sylvain Guintoli Position: DNFTime: - To say I¹m extremely disappointed is an understatement as I felt that I could¹ve done something very good this weekend after such a good qualifying. I got off the line well and pushed very hard dicing with Colin Edwards, which was very good for my confidence. At the end of the fourth lap when I was coming into the last corner I noticed that the engine revs dropped to be very low. This caused me to run wide onto the dirty part of the track and I lost the rear, which caused me to highside. All I can do now is put this behind me and hope to continue with some good progress next weekend at Laguna.
Hervé Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Manager This weekend is a very big disappointment as we were hoping for quite a high result because last year here we had our best result when we finished just 17 seconds behind the winner. Also Sylvain scored his best qualifying result on Saturday when he was ninth fastest so to come away with these results is very hard to accept. We knew Sylvain was going to push hard as he was determined to make up for his bad starts he has had lately but it was not to be. Sachsenring is a very tight track and if you get offline here it can bite hard and unfortunately that is what happened to Sylvain. As for Makoto I don¹t know what happened as he was off the pace all weekend so it is very puzzling for everyone in the team as they put in so much work to give him the best package possible.   Circuit Length: 3671 Temp: 33 Weather: Dry     2007 MotoGP Germany - Sachsenring 15/07/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 41'53.196 2 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 0'13.166 3 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 0'16.771 4 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'18.299 5 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 0'31.426 6 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'31.917 7 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0'33.395 8 Anthony West Kawasaki AUS 0'41.194 9 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 0'43.214 10 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 0'44.459 11 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1'1.894 12 Kurtis Roberts KR212V USA 1'10.721 13 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN -2 Laps 14 Carlos Checa Honda ESP -3 Laps
Rider Standings 15/07/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 196 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 164 3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 144 4. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 103 5. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 97 6. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 93 7. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 88 8. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 77 9. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 73 10. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 69 11. Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 60 12. Toni Elias Honda ESP 49 13. Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 40 14. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 27 15. Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 25 16. Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 23 18. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 18
Team Standings 15/07/2007
Pos. Team Points 1. Ducati Marlboro Team 273 2. FIAT Yamaha Team 252 3. Repsol Honda Team 217 4. Rizla Suzuki 196 5. Honda Gresini 146 6. Pramac D'Antin 129 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 69 8. Tech3 Yamaha 41 9. Honda LCR 27 10. Konica Minolta Honda 25 11. Team Roberts 12 12. none 6
Manufacturer Standings 15/07/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 208 2. Yamaha 184 3. Honda 174 4. Suzuki 131 5. Kawasaki 64 6. KR212V 12
Alex Asigno
The Yamaha Motocross Team has agreed with the Italian star rider David Philippaerts to ride their factory YZ450FM in the MX1 world championship for 2008 and 2009.   Next year David will race alongside present MX1 world championship leader Joshua Coppins to defend the Yamaha Motocross Team’s leading position in the premier motocross class, mixing Coppins’ vast MX1 GP winning experience with Philippaerts’ youthful aggression and future promise. Yamaha are still discussing with current Yamaha Motocross Team rider Marc de Reuver about the continuation of their relationship.   Before his rise to GP stardom Philippaerts was racing with Yamaha machinery and the guidance of 1999 Yamaha MX500 world champion Andrea Bartolini, who now currently is test rider for the Yamaha Motocross Team. In 2004 David made his fulltime debut in the MX2 class finishing his first year 19th overall. The following year his progress was quick and impressive, winning his first GP in France (round nine), followed by a further win in South Africa. Last season David’s results further improved and he finished third overall, adding four more MX2 GP victories achieved in Bulgaria, Italy, UK and the Czech Republic to his tally.   In 2007 Philippaerts made a very successful switch to MX1 and currently holds fourth position overall, the result of three GP podiums including one win at Teutschenthal, Germany   Profile Name: David Philippaerts Date of Birth: 7 December 1983 Nationality: Italian
Career highlights 2006: 3rd MX2 World Championship, 2nd Italian International Championship 2005: 4th MX2 World Championship 2004: 19th MX2 World Championship, Italian Champion 2003: Italian Champion 2002: 2nd Italian Championship, 3rd European 125 Championship 1993: Started racing
Alex Asigno
In 2007 Yamaha is enjoying again a very successful world championship motocross season. Joshua Coppins controls the MX1 class with a healthy 89 points margin halfway though the year, while Antonio Cairoli is in a league of his own ruling over the MX2 opposition with eight GP wins out of the nine rounds contested sofar. Although Cairoli will stay in the small capacity class for 2008, Yamaha is already grooming the next ‘blue’ generation for GP success and therefore are pleased to announce that Frenchman Nicolas Aubin has signed for two more years, while his teammate Davide Guarneri has also extended his Yamaha Team Ricci contract for 2008.   Since the motocross world turned to four stroke machinery Yamaha’s blue machines have been favorite with many top GP riders and the competitiveness of the YZ’s have given Yamaha an edge into retaining some of the hottest GP talents. Nicolas Aubin certainly is a member of that small group of potential winners and despite his young age of 19 he is already contesting his third season in the MX2 class, with 2007 being his breakthrough season. He came very close to victory when he finished runner up in the second moto of the Portguese GP in Agueda and currently holds seventh position in the standings.   At first glance some of Davide Guarneri’s past results might not categorize him in that same group of potential title contenders. Yet Davide has already tasted GP success when he won the second moto of the European GP held at Teutschenthal in 2005. The following year further progression was on the cards, but due to a virus infection Davide missed most of the second part of 2006. This season he missed the first three rounds due to an ankle injury, but since then Guarneri has come good, showing better finishes round after round. His speed now is on par with Cairoli’s top challengers which will see him hopefully enter the top 10 of the standings soon. Yamaha Team Ricci owner Ilario Ricci has been an important partner in Yamaha’s GP motocross efforts and he is obviously very content being able to continue with these riders; “Nicolas Aubin has proven this year to be even quicker then many expected. We started with him only this year and were not sure what level he could reach. I believe he exceeded expectations and he has proved his podium potential already. I'm very happy that he wants to ride with us for the next two seasons. Davide Guarneri is going into his fourth year with us for 2008. For years he has been one of Italy’s big talents, but his progress has been hampered with some injuries. However he has made a very strong comeback, recently finishing in and close to the top five. With these two high-potential youngsters on the improved 2008 YZ250F with YRRD (Yamaha Rinaldi R and D) performance parts we have a strong base for further improvement."    Yamaha Motor Europe’s racing division manager Laurens Klein Koerkamp shares Ricci’s buoyant mood for the future; “With Cairoli being the unrivalled number one in MX2 today, there will come a moment where he needs to find a new challenge in MX1. So we are working to prepare the next generation of riders who can potentially take over from Antonio. We believe Aubin and Guarneri are two of such riders that have the capacity to keep Yamaha at the top of the charts. It is great also that we can work towards this goal with both the French and Italian Yamaha distributors who represent us in the two biggest off road markets in Europe”.
Alex Asigno
Following on from a productive test session at Brno two weeks ago, the Yamaha Superbike and Supersport teams both headed to Italy this weekend for another test session, this time at Vallelunga. This circuit is new on the championship calendar for 2007 and is located just north of Rome. Built in 1959, the track was originally a sand mile oval. The most recent track alteration was in 2004 when it was extended by one kilometre to reach a total length of 4.11km. The main objective of this weekend’s test was for all riders to familiarise themselves with the circuit and, working with Pirelli, find the right tyres ahead of the race there in September.
Both Haga and Corser put in a large number of laps over the two-day session in very hot conditions, laying down 120 and 106 laps respectively in order to get the most data and find the best set-up for the unknown circuit. Haga faired best on day one, taking third slot with a best time of 1’37.535 while Corser was only 0.2 seconds behind his team mate in fifth.
The second day saw the best lap times of the day set in the cooler morning practice session before the track temperature soared towards 50°C. Corser took a second of his previous day’s best time and claimed third overall behind Xaus and Bayliss. Haga also managed to improve his best time but focused more on long runs than setting fast times. He ended the day in seventh with a 1’37.506 even though he is still suffering with some wrist pain since his race incident with Biaggi at Misano last month.
The Yamaha World Supersport Team ran a two-man team during this weekend’s test, with the Australian Supersport rider Jason O’Halloran riding alongside permanent rider Broc Parkes. Jason O’Halloran is only 19 and is riding an R6 in the Australian Supersport Championship where he is currently lying in second place, six points behind the leader, with only one round to go. The objective for Jason and the team was to get an understanding of his set-up and riding skills as well as gather quality feedback on the YZF-R6.
Parkes put a strong performance over the weekend to take third overall with 109 laps. His best time of the whole test came in the final fourth session when he put in a 1’40.032, showing the improvement the team had made over the duration of the weekend. O’Halloran showed determination, putting in 118 laps during the weekend to finish 13th overall, although his ideal times showed that he would have been higher up the board if he hadn’t been held up on one of his fastest laps.
Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “We tried everything we wanted to and have found a good set-up for here as well as some extra things like better wheelie control to help us at Brno later this month. I’m reasonably happy with my lap times. The high track temperature this afternoon made it interesting – it was about 50 degrees - and the sunshine made the track quite blistering for the tyres but I feel we found a good set-up for both cool and warm conditions. The layout of Vallelunga is quite technical, which I like though it is a bit bumpy in places. It’s actually a bit of a strange layout with the first half being quite fast, while the second half is slow. It takes some getting used to and is quite challenging for the right set-up. I’m happy with what we’ve achieved here, though.”
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “Today’s result was not as good as I would’ve liked, but I’m happy with the set-up information we got from the test. I did a few long runs and we started with the Brno setting, which we didn’t change much over the period of the test. I quite like the circuit; it is very tricky because of the combination of banking and blind corners but that makes it good fun! I am still suffering with a bit of pain in my wrist, which is annoying and I’m keen to let it rest now before the Brno race in a couple of weeks.”
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “Both Troy and Nori have put in a lot of laps this weekend. Nori did several long runs and focused more on finding the right race tyre. He seems to be happy with his set-up now despite having some pain in his wrist towards the end of the day. We still managed to test everything we wanted. Troy did his best time on race rubber and was very happy with result. This weekend he has focused on trying different set-ups and is happy overall. We are almost there now and the whole team is very positive and confident; we are now full of enthusiasm and ready to fight at Brno.”
Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport Team) “It has been a couple of good days testing. On the first day we found some speed quickly but today it was harder to make as much improvement, but I think we did well in the end. The Honda’s good here but we just kept at it and got some useful data on chassis side. We just now need to put it all together for the next race at Brno. The conditions were hot and pretty much what we wanted as it’s given us a good indication of what it’ll be like for the race. The circuit is technical, that’s for sure but I think we’ll go well here, come the race.”
Jason O’Halloran (Yamaha World Supersport) “This weekend has been tough; I had a track, a bike and different tyres to learn but I think I came to terms with it all very quickly and am pleased with my progress. The team is very professional and everyone has been great at helping me find my feet this weekend. Over the course of the weekend we’ve made steps forward; I put in a long run today and it felt good, even though I still am not fully used to the tyres. In the Australian Supersport series there are only two or three guys consistently fast but in this championship everyone is fast. You need to be fast and good at every turn every lap which is tough. The circuit was enjoyable to ride with some fast sections. It’s very technical though; one small mistake could cost a lot of lap time.”
Terrell Thien (Team Manager, Yamaha World Supersport Team) “We’ve had a couple of good days here. We tested with Jason who proved to have lots of talent and is very professional despite his youthful age. He is keen to learn, which is always good, and I think he found it a valuable experience working in a world level team. He put in a good number of laps on the first day and provided us with some good data. He definitely has a promising future.
Broc also had a very good test this weekend. He focused on tyre testing and put in a few long runs. He wasn’t worried so much about setting the fastest lap; he was more concerned about finding the right set-up, which he did. The fast lap came with it, which is a very good sign. Broc was very consistent over the two days and I’m very pleased with his test. Overall, I am very pleased with how the weekend has gone. The track itself is tricky but that makes it a good challenge for us. It has been a good proving ground for the run up to the race.”
WSB Fastest Times 1. Xaus: 1'36.382 2. Bayliss: 1'36.556 3. Corser: 1'36.731 4. Toseland: 1'36.783 5. Biaggi: 1'37.440 6. Laconi: 1'37.455 7. Haga: 1'37.506 8. Rolfo: 1'37.647 9. Kagayama: 1'37.655 10. Fabrizio: 1’37.817
WSS Fastest Times 1. Brookes: 1'39.550 2. Sofuoglu: 1'39.818 3. Parkes: 1'40.032 4. Alfonsi: 1'40.262 5. Charpentier: 1'40.262 6. Fujiwara: 1'40.275 7. Roccoli: 1'40.610 8. Jones: 1'40.714 9. Foret: 1’40.837 10. Riba: 1'40.951 11. Fores: 1’41.010 12. Vizziello: 1’41.041 13. O’Halloran: 1’41.283
Alex Asigno
Yamaha Motocross Team Josh Coppins missed the podium for the first time in the 2007 FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship as the New Zealander finished fifth overall at a cloudy and cool Uddevalla, 100kms north of Gothenburg, for the Grand Prix of Sweden. The ninth round of fifteen in the GP series was however noticeable for Antonio Cairoli's eighth success in the MX2 class and a quite remarkable performance from the De Carli Yamaha rider in the opening moto.   The circuit several kilometres outside the town of Uddevalla has been a World Championship regular since the start of the century - in fact one of only two venues to remain ever-present on the FIM calendar from the turn of the millennium. The layout had been reversed from the 2006 edition and a new start and first corner, along with a repositioned pit-lane, was in place for the '07 event. The track offered its usual winding and tight test and the terrain was softer thanks to large amounts of sand being mixed with the mud and incessant rainfall in the build-up to the Grand Prix. The giant rocky hill overlooking the facility gave ample viewing opportunities to the 28,900 crowd who scaled the inclines.
Coppins had taken sixth position in Timed Practice on Saturday and did not push for a fast lap and risk a crash on a surface that was far wetter and slipperier than the races on Sunday. The New Zealander made a safe first moto by obtaining a slot inside the top five and setting a reel of consistent laps to plant himself in the front group. He was strong at the end to pass title rival Steve Ramon for fourth place. The 30 year old, who had been suffering with flu during the week, again struggled to hit the same lap-times as the leaders in the second outing and dropped to eighth at one stage before rallying back to sixth position. The day was an exercise of caution for the championship pace-setter on the YZ450FM and his fifth place overall was a steady result on a track that was hard for overtaking.
Coppins still holds an impressive 89 point lead over Ramon who was runner-up to debut winner Ken de Dycker. Josh's advantage constitutes more than three motos and almost two Grand Prix with just six rounds remaining. He had five wins, one second position and two third places prior to Sweden.
Marc de Reuver's weekend was curtailed on Saturday when the Dutchman crashed in the free practice and injured his left arm, received a blow to the head and was also winded. The luckless 24 year old needed to be taken to the medical centre but bravely tried to qualify later in the afternoon. However he was forced to park the YZ450-FM after attempting one lap in Timed Practice and was in no condition to continue. De Reuver is fourteenth in the standings
The Yamaha Motocross Team will now look ahead to their second home Grand Prix of the season as round ten of the series heads to the Faenza circuit near Riminy, Italy in two weeks time. July's schedule also sees a trip to the Czech Republic at the end of the month.
Josh Coppins, Yamaha Motocross Team: "It wasn't a good day; in fact it was a bad day at the office. I just did not 'feel it' out there, and in the end just had to do the best that I could. I knew from Saturday that I did not have the speed. No excuses today, I was not able to go with the leaders and I know I have some work to do. I wanted to keep on the podium all year and I knew that would be tough but we will come back strong for Faenza."    Marc de Reuver, Yamaha Motocross Team: "There is not much to say. I had a crash in practice and caught my arm and it is pretty badly bruised. I wanted to have a go at qualifying for the GP but I did one lap and could not handle the bike like I wanted and making any fast laps would have been impossible. It is another disappointment and I can only hope my luck changes very soon."
Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team: "It was a disappointing weekend. Marc had a very bad crash in the first few laps of practice. Luckily it was nothing serious but the effects meant that he could not ride. He tried in the qualifying but the pain was too much. Tomorrow (Monday) we will make a check-up with him but things seem to be OK. Josh just had a bad day. Physically he was not perfect because of some flu a few days ago and this race was quite tough. He couldn't do any better. However I think losing sometimes can have a positive effect."   Circuit Length: 1750 Temp: 20 Crowd: 28900 Weather: Dry     2007 GP of Uddevalla, Sweden 01/07/2007 Race 1 - 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 38'46.205 2 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'6.373 3 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'8.022 4 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'10.482 5 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'11.402 6 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'32.766 7 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'42.135 8 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'43.561 9 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'44.659 10 James Noble Honda GBR 0'58.917 11 Mike Brown Honda USA 1'1.365 12 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 1'2.552 13 Julien Bill Honda CHE 1'12.998 14 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 1'21.006 15 Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 1'21.692 16 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 1'42.173 17 Manuel Priem TM BEL -1 Laps 18 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST -1 Laps 19 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL -1 Laps 20 Alex Salvini Yamaha ITA -1 Laps
Race 2 - 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 39'17.093 2 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'5.236 3 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'7.610 4 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'11.930 5 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'12.878 6 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'26.948 7 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'35.137 8 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'41.722 9 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 0'44.900 10 James Noble Honda GBR 0'59.937 11 Manuel Priem TM BEL 1'2.213 12 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 1'3.631 13 Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 1'27.710 14 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 1'48.860 15 Alex Salvini Yamaha ITA -1 Laps 16 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL -1 Laps 17 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL -1 Laps 18 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL -1 Laps 19 Loic Leonce Yamaha FRA -1 Laps 20 Alessio Chiodi Aprilia ITA -1 Laps
Rider Standings 01/07/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 401 2. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 312 3. David Philippaerts KTM ITA 257 4. Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 240 5. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 235 6. Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 235 7. Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 225 8. Mike Brown Honda USA 219 9. Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 217 10. Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 186 11. James Noble Honda GBR 175 12. Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 141 13. Manuel Priem TM BEL 139 14. Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 136 15. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 107 16. Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 100 17. Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 77 18. Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 76 19. Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 61 20. Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 61
Manufacturer Standings 01/07/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 401 2. Suzuki 359 3. KTM 319 4. Kawasaki 303 5. Honda 293 6. TM 139 7. Aprilia 8
RACE REPORT 01/07/2007 Sensational Cairoli wins in Sweden    De Carli Yamaha's Antonio Cairoli again displayed his phenomenal level of confidence and speed in the 2007 FIM MX2 World Championship by taking pole position with his eighth qualification heat win on Saturday, followed with second and first for his fifteenth moto victory of the season from eighteen and eighth overall GP success, not to mention a pair of fastest laps on Sunday. The Grand Prix of Sweden at a cloudy but warm Uddevalla circuit was the ninth round of the series and belonged to the Sicilian after an impressive show.   In the wake of scoring a double victory at the fast and hard-pack Sevlievo track two weeks ago Cairoli again proved his versatility and excellent form on the softer and more technical Swedish mud. The Sicilian participated in one of the closest climaxes in modern times when he finished second to David Philippaerts in the first moto by just 100th of a second in 2006 and almost repeated the result with the best performance of the day in the opening race today. The 21 year old surprisingly hit the ground on the first corner alongside Tyla Rattray and had to restart in last position. The following thirty minutes witnessed a comprehensive demonstration of aggressive riding as Cairoli used all his talent and ability to switch lines and find overtaking places that nobody else had seen. He rose to second position entering the last ten minutes of the moto and closed down a gap of nearly ten seconds to leader Searle to get close by the last lap. He just ran out of time to draw alongside the British rider but his flight through the MX2 collective won the De Carli Yamaha racer yet even more admirers.
Uddevalla was again using a reversed format for the second year in succession and although overtaking was far from easy on the undulating terrain the course was altogether slower and demanded more precision from the riders compared to the last outings in France and Bulgaria. Cairoli made amends for the drama of Moto1 by grabbing the lead on the first circulation and drawing away from his pursuers after lunch. He then controlled the race and kept Christophe Pourcel and Rattray at a safe distance. Searle was second overall and German Marcus Schiffer made a debut appearance on the podium with third place. With Pourcel only classifying in fourth Cairoli was able to extend his lead in the championship to more than 100 points for the first time this season. His margin of 102 now means an advantage of more than two Grand Prix with just six left to run.
Yamaha Ricci Racing's Kenneth Gundersen returned to the leader's circle after a hefty absence and he had his many Norwegian fans in the crowd animated by fronting the first half of Moto1. Although he could not stretch his pace until the chequered flag - losing positions to Searle and Cairoli - the 25 year old could nevertheless equalled his best finish of the season with third place. Sadly the former 125cc and 250cc GP winner was unable to start the second moto. He had endured a virus during the week that caused severe stomach upsets and was vomiting continuously in the break between the races. He had to go to the medical centre where he was attached to a drip and was unable to make the start line for Moto2.
Team-mate Davide Guarneri was the second highest Yamaha rider with fifth position even though the Italian also had stomach cramps in the second moto. Guarneri led the first qualification heat and should have won if it wasn't for a small crash that relegated him to sixth. He obtained sixth and tenth in the two GP motos and continues to get faster and fitter with each passing meeting after recovering from an ankle injury.  
Bike it Yamaha Dixon's Carl Nunn was tenth overall with thirteenth and eighth positions. The British Champion was as high as fourth in the second moto but is missing an extra edge to his smooth riding to break the top five.
Nicolas Aubin was at a disadvantage after a spill in his qualification heat meant that he had to enter the gate down in 25th and through the Last Chance session. The French youngster could not get comfortable on the track and admitted that a crash while practicing on an MX1 machine before the Bulgarian GP gave him continued problems with a stiff back and shoulders. He was twentieth and thirteenth for nineteenth overall and fell off in Moto1.
Cairoli's team-mate Matteo Bonini was unable to attend the Grand Prix in the wake of the ankle ailment he sustained prior to the round in Bulgaria two weeks ago. The Italian is hoping to be fit for his second home event in a fortnight. Stylish third member of the team Alessandro Lupino could not make the qualification cut on a technically difficult track on Saturday. Bike it Yamaha Dixon's Carlos Campano was another non-qualified rider after a fall on Saturday ripped the seven stitches from his elbow; a wound picked up in Bulgaria. Antonio Cairoli, De Carli Yamaha: "I had a bad start in the first moto and my line was closed off on the inside. I think I touched with Tyla and lost the front wheel. It is difficult to overtake here but I managed to pass fifteen riders on the first lap and it is a bit strange but I don't remember much of that now! I think I just went as hard and as fast as I could until I had some space in front of me. It then took me a bit of time to get through on Leuret and I just went for the next rider in front after that. I thought I could catch Tommy for the win but two laps before the end I made a small mistake. It was probably my best moto of the year though because that was the first time that I had a bad start and I was very satisfied with how I got on. It was not really that fun because I had to take a lot of risks! In the second one I passed Seistola on the first lap and could do my race. I am still working heat by heat and GP by GP. I am far ahead of Christophe now but I am just focussing on myself."
Kenneth Gundersen, Yamaha Ricci Racing: "I am so disappointed that I could not make a podium today. I felt good and fast on the track. I knew I could be up there with Cairoli and Tyla but I have been suffering with my stomach and some kind of virus because I had diarrhoea for four days. I did all I could in that first moto and then could not stop being sick in the break. I have been told to take a complete rest for ten days now and I will make some blood tests tomorrow to see what the problem is."
Davide Guarneri, Yamaha Ricci Racing: "When I had to stop for the injury I lost some speed and race fitness and now I am training a lot for this in Italy. I am getting quite consistent and every race I am finishing in the top ten. I felt good yesterday but crashed on the last lap. In the first moto I started badly but pushed hard and had a really good pace, close to the times of the top three apart from Cairoli. I had some stomach pain like Kenneth before the second moto so I am happy that I could finish the race in the top ten again. I am progressing every week and I feel that the podium could soon be a possibility."
Nicolas Aubin, Yamaha Ricci Racing: "I am disappointed because this is my worst race of the season. I have been struggling with sore shoulders and my bad position on the gate did not help me today. I did not start well and was not able to find good lines or a rhythm. I crashed after the whoops in the first moto and the second was not much better. I just want to forget this GP and move onwards."
Carl Nunn, Bike it Yamaha Dixon Racing: "Something is not happening. I think I am riding well, but obviously I am not and that means there is a problem somewhere. It is not physical because I don't feel tired so it must be mental. Each week I keep thinking the results are going to get better but they don't. I am not moving any further forward and it is disappointing really. Last weekend when I won in the British championship it was good but not the same feeling as I have had in the past."   Circuit Length: 1750 Temp: 23 Crowd: 28900 Weather: Dry     2007 GP of Uddevalla, Sweden 01/07/2007 Race 1 - 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 39'12.533 2 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 0'2.840 3 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 0'30.446 4 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'50.850 5 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 0'54.071 6 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 0'54.926 7 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 0'55.809 8 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 1'4.261 9 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'5.570 10 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 1'11.889 11 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'13.440 12 Avis Wyatt KTM RSA 1'14.713 13 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'16.022 14 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 1'19.363 15 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 1'26.450 16 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 1'37.272 17 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 1'41.038 18 Tom Soderstrom Yamaha SWE -1 Laps 19 Jake Nicholls Suzuki GBR -1 Laps 20 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA -1 Laps
Race 2 - 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 39'26.334 2 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'23.434 3 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'35.693 4 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'38.502 5 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'44.576 6 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 0'52.409 7 Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 0'55.133 8 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 0'56.943 9 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 0'58.578 10 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 1'5.478 11 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 1'8.499 12 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 1'9.741 13 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 1'22.699 14 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 1'27.069 15 Avis Wyatt KTM RSA 1'28.254 16 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'30.972 17 Shannon Terreblanche KTM RSA -1 Laps 18 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL -1 Laps 19 Jake Nicholls Suzuki GBR -1 Laps 20 Rob van Vijfeijken KTM NED -1 Laps
Rider Standings 01/07/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 439 2. Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 337 3. Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 318 4. Tommy Searle KTM GBR 285 5. Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 270 6. Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 224 7. Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 197 8. Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 188 9. Matti Seistola Honda FIN 160 10. Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 146 11. Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 131 12. Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 128 13. Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 121 14. Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 99 15. Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 94 16. Rui Goncalves KTM POR 81 17. Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 76 18. Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 70 19. Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 67 20. Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 67 21. Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 60
Manufacturer Standings 01/07/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 439 2. KTM 364 3. Kawasaki 354 4. Honda 276 5. Suzuki 156
Alex Asigno
Yamaha's win with Valentino Rossi in the 2007 Dutch TT at Assen is cause for a double celebration for the Factory, as it is also its 150th win in the premier-class of World Championship motorcycle racing. Yamaha Motor Company is only the second manufacturer in the history of the sport to pass the milestone of 150 wins, which it has achieved in 46 years since it began racing on the international stage in 1961.
Yamaha's very first premier-class victory came with British rider Chas Mortimer, in Barcelona at the final race of the 1972 series aboard a 353cc twin-cylinder two-stroke Yamaha. Since then, Yamaha has won premier-class Grands Prix in every season bar two and has taken a total of eleven manufacturers' and twelve riders' titles during the process.
Alex Asigno
Valentino Rossi put in one of the outstanding performances of his career aboard his one-off liveried 'Cinquecento' Fiat Yamaha at the Dutch TT today, taking a superb victory from 11th on the grid. His third win of the season is also Yamaha's 150th in total in the premier class of Grand Prix racing. Colin Edwards' was unable to match the outstanding performance of his team-mate today but nonetheless rode a solid race to finish in his grid position of sixth.
After difficulties in yesterday's wet qualifying Rossi was left with a mountain to climb today and, with championship rival Casey Stoner starting from the front row, there was no room for error from the Italian. Rossi made up little ground at the start but after the first couple of laps he found his rhythm and began a spectacular charge to the front, passing rider after rider with a series of bold moves and eventually making his way up to second behind Stoner by lap 12 of 26, setting a string of fastest laps on the way. The seven-time world champion was then faced with the task of closing a gap of almost two seconds to the championship leader but within just a few laps he had done just that and moved to within striking distance of the lead. It was no easy job to pass the Australian however and he made several unsuccessful attempts before finally making a pass stick through the chicane with three laps remaining, eventually crossing the line 1.909 seconds clear.
Edwards meanwhile was unable to capitalise on his fast race pace and, although he was lapping at a similar pace to the front runners throughout, he was unable to close the gap after being caught in traffic at the start. Rossi's maximum-points haul today closes the gap to Stoner at the top of the standings to 21 points, whilst Edwards' ten points see him hold onto seventh at the half-way point of the season.    Valentino Rossi - 1st 42'37.1497 "This was an incredible race. I think maybe one of the top five of my career! Clearly starting from 11th is quite lucky for us because I've won a few times from that position, including last year at Sachsenring. Last night I didn't sleep so well and I couldn't have imagined that the race could turn out like this, in fact I was really a little bit worried after the qualifying and didn't know what to expect today! Once I got going though I saw that I had a great pace and so I just rode as hard as I could to get past everyone because I knew then that I could come back to Casey. When I finally got there I was quite tired, as were my tyres, plus he was riding very well and it was hard to overtake him, but my M1 worked brilliantly today and in the last few laps I was able to go past and win. I have to say a big thank you to Michelin and to my team, because today our package was brilliant and I was able to ride at the maximum. I'm so happy to win here in Assen, it's a special place for me and this is a great emotion! It was nice to have a special livery here as well, in the past I haven't been so lucky with new liveries but hopefully today has turned that around! Congratulations to Yamaha for 150 wins, I am glad that we could celebrate like this!"
Colin Edwards - 6th +15.139 "My start wasn't too bad but I got tangled up in a bit of a jumble through the first couple of laps and Pedrosa passed me. Once I got myself sorted I set off with Melandri and Vermeulen in my sights and I thought I'd be able to get past them relatively easily because my pace was pretty good, but I couldn't quite get close enough for a few laps. Eventually I got through them both and really got my head down; I was lapping faster than I have been all weekend and actually at one stage I thought the podium was a possibility. I was pushing pretty hard to be honest and I had a couple of close moments but I didn't want to settle for sixth. Things were going okay until there was a stage of the race when things started to feel not quite 100% and I had to slack off a little. Towards the end I started to catch Hopkins again and started to get back to a good pace but unfortunately by then he'd pulled a couple of seconds from me and I just ran out of time. Congratulations to Valentino, he rode an incredible race today." Davide Brivio - Team Director "This was a fantastic race with which to celebrate Yamaha's 150th win and we couldn't have dreamed of a better race than this after yesterday's qualifying. Valentino was incredible once again and he rode a truly amazing race. The package we had today, with the bike and the tyres working so well, gave Valentino the chance to ride at the maximum so we have to say a big thank you to Michelin, Yamaha and the whole team. It was a great emotion for everyone to watch Valentino ride like this today. Colin also did a good race and he had a fast pace throughout, although unfortunately he wasn't able to close the gap to the front. He was doing similar times to the leaders though so this is encouraging for the next races. It's going to be a hard fight for the rest of year but we have a lot of motivation. It's been a fun story with Fiat this weekend as well with our special livery and it's definitely a great start to the story of the new Fiat 500!"
Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 in dynamic dogfight The Dutch TT at Assen in the north of the Netherlands provided a dynamic spectacle for the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team as riders Makoto Tamada and Sylvain Guintoli were involved in a titanic dog fight with up to six riders for a top 10 finish in an enthralling race won by fellow Yamaha rider, Valentino Rossi in front of over 91,000 fans. It appeared quite possible that both riders may have been able to provide the team with its best result of the 2007 MotoGP World Championship but in the end Tamada had to settle for 13th position while rookie MotoGP rider Guintoli brought his Yamaha M1 home in 14th place in another point scoring finish.    Makoto Tamada - 13th +54.068 That was certainly a lot better race than last weekend and I am pretty happy with how it all happened but I really think we could've had a better result. I got a very good start and the bike and tyres felt really good for the first eight or ten laps and we were able to battle with a big group for seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth but then I lost some grip on the right hand side of the front tyre. The left side was fine but I couldn't push as hard as I wanted to. The rear tyre was also good throughout the race but it is a little strange because I've never had any trouble with the front tyre before. Anyway we know now that we are getting closer so we want some better results from now on.    Sylvain Guintoli - 14th +57.718 It is still not the result I am wanting but at least we were closer than last week. I wasn't feeling too confident at the start and lost a bit of ground but then I was able to push and make some ground on the big bunch of riders in front of me with Melandri, West, Hofmann, Checa and Tamada. Everything seemed to be going well and I could keep a good pace with them but towards the end I was struggling a bit as the performance of the rear tyre dropped off. I thought I may be able to pass a few riders and I was faster than Makoto and could've passed him but with about three or four laps to go I had to ease off to make sure I brought it home.
Hervé Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Manager We were happy to see the sun this morning as we are struggling in the wet but this race has shown that Dunlop have been working hard on development and this is good to see. In the first laps we were strong and it was very satisfying for everyone to see Makoto and Sylvain battling with a big group of riders and putting in faster laps than them but unfortunately in the last laps we couldn't maintain the pace and had to settle for the positions we finished. It was also good to be with other factory bikes for over two-thirds of the race but still it's very frustrating to see them go away at the end. These last two races have been good for Dunlop because they now have a lot of information for wet and dry conditions and we are confident we can make even more progress. Also I would like to offer congratulations to Valentino, Yamaha and the Fiat Yamaha Team for their performance today. It's great to see Yamaha on the top spot again.   Circuit Length: 4555 Temp: 21 Crowd: 91000 Weather: Dry     2007 MotoGP Netherlands - Assen 30/06/2007 Race 1 - 26 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 42'37.149 2 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 0'1.909 3 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 0'6.077 4 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0'10.465 5 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0'13.138 6 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'15.139 7 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 0'36.075 8 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 0'41.768 9 Anthony West Kawasaki AUS 0'43.605 10 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'43.796 11 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 0'43.826 12 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 0'47.896 13 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 0'54.068 14 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 0'57.718 15 Kurtis Roberts KR212V USA 1'28.637
Rider Standings 30/06/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 185 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 164 3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 119 4. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 94 5. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 88 6. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 87 7. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 75 8. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 69 9. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 57 10. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 57 11. Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 53 12. Toni Elias Honda ESP 49 13. Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 40 14. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 25 15. Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 25 16. Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 20 17. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 18
Team Standings 30/06/2007
Pos. Team Points 1. Ducati Marlboro Team 242 2. FIAT Yamaha Team 239 3. Rizla Suzuki 182 4. Repsol Honda Team 176 5. Honda Gresini 136 6. Pramac D'Antin 122 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 61 8. Tech3 Yamaha 38 9. Konica Minolta Honda 25 10. Honda LCR 25 11. Team Roberts 8
Manufacturer Standings 30/06/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 188 2. Yamaha 171 3. Honda 149 4. Suzuki 122 5. Kawasaki 56 6. KR212V
Alex Asigno
Both the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team and Yamaha World Supersport Team found success in testing this week at the Czech circuit of Brno. The teams participated in an official two-day test in their role as development teams for FGSport, along with a selection of other teams.
Brno is a naturally rising and falling circuit and is very popular with all riders, making it the perfect place for the Yamaha teams to do tyre testing with Pirelli prior to the next race, which is at Brno in three weeks time. Haga had a good round at this track in 2006, taking the Superpole and Best Race Lap records there and his team mate, Corser, has also had a good relationship with the Czech circuit, taking three wins there to date as well as achieving pole twice.
The main objective of the test was to try out a variety of tyres as well as find the right set-up for the up coming race. Despite damp, blustery and unseasonably cool conditions, Haga proved fastest on day one, setting a lap time of 2’01.0, which was 1.5 second faster than his best lap in 2006. Corser finished the day fifth fastest with a best time of 2’02.3.
Day two saw all riders put in a good number of laps on both qualifying and race tyres despite the temperature barely reaching 20°C, a good ten degrees lower than normally found at Brno at this time of year. Corser and Kagayama set the equal fastest time of the test overall, with them both achieving a 2’00.4 on qualifying and race tyres. Haga opted not to use qualifiers though, and finished the day early as his wrist started to ache following his crash at Misano.
In addition to the Superbike teams, the Supersport teams were also out in force. Last year proved a good race for the Yamaha World Supersport Team at this circuit, with Curtain and Parkes finishing first and second respectively. Positive after taking second at the last race in Misano, Parkes went fastest on day one ahead of Sofuoglu. On day two he took almost a second off his best time to finish third fastest overall.
Following West’s departure, Steve Martin re-joined the team this week to help out at the test. Martin has already ridden the 2007 YZF-R6 this season when he stood in for Curtain at Assen in April so it took him no time at all to get to grips with the bike again. He went fourth fastest overall, ending up only 0.2 seconds behinds Parkes.
Both teams will test at Vallelunga, Italy, on 7-8 July prior to returning to Brno on 22nd July for the ninth race of the 2007 season.
Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “This has been a good opportunity to test a lot of different tyre compounds as well as various suspension settings. Overall, I’d say it’s been a positive test for me; my lap times have been quicker than last year’s race or qualifying times. It’s been good preparation for the race, although it’s a shame about the wet and blustery conditions on day one. The lower temperatures also caused some issues as the tyres that had been brought for the test are designed for the more usual hotter temperatures at Brno.”
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “We’ve been concentrating just on tyre testing with Pirelli. The problem was that the track temperature has been much lower than usual so we couldn’t test in race conditions. The data we’ve got may or may not prove useful in the race, we will have to wait and see in a few weeks. The bike set-up is good, though, and we have another opportunity for testing in two weeks time.
As well as the weather hampering testing, my wrist is still sore from the Misano crash. It has only been ten days since the race and I reckon it is 80% recovered but it still hurts towards the end of the day. This has prevented me from riding to my full potential but I am confident it will be 100% repaired by the next race.”
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “I’m 99% certain that the weather conditions we’ve had here this week are not what we will have here in three weeks for the race! Therefore, most of what we’ve done and achieved will change when it comes to the race weekend. What we did find, though, has given us confidence and shown our potential at this circuit.
Nori is still having some problems with his wrist and finished early because of the pain, but he has been focused throughout practice and found a good set-up and rear tyre for hotter conditions as well as setting some good lap times.
Troy has also posted some good times and, most importantly he has found a good set-up and rear tyre. He also tested some chassis solutions and has been quite satisfied with how it’s gone. The competitiveness of the team is now so good and we are at the top of our game in all conditions and circuits. The team and riders have all worked hard to achieve this.”
Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport Team) “We’ve tested lots of race parts, including chassis components and tyres and I’ve had both bikes going full-time with totally different set-ups to try and find the best one for the race. It’s gone well, though and I’m confident for the race.”   Steve Martin (Yamaha World Supersport Team) “The test has gone okay for me and, I hope, the team. I haven’t ridden a bike for a couple of months now so it was good to get back on one. Getting back on the R6 wasn’t too hard, having ridden it for the Yamaha team back in April. It was just a case of getting back up to speed. We’ve been testing a selection of different tyre compounds and brake solutions and I think we’ve made some good progress. It’s been good to be here with the team and I’m glad I’ve been able to help them out these past two days.”
Terrell Thien (Team Manager, Yamaha World Supersport Team) “The test has been good for us. The weather has been cool and I’m not sure how much the data we’ve gathered will help us choose tyres for the race weekend as the Pirelli’s are known for being very temperature sensitive. We’ve tested various parts, brake systems and shocks as well as chassis positions and had some good results.
We’re happy that Steven has agreed to work with us just for this test. I feel that the team work has been excellent and everyone’s worked well together. Overall, it’s been a good test for us.”
WSB Fastest Times Kagayama: 2’00.4 (race); 2’00.4 (qualifier) Corser: 2’00.4 (race); 2’00.4 (qualifier) Haga: 2’00.8 (race) Toseland: 2’00.9 (race); 2’00.3 (qualifier) Lanzi: 2’01.0 (race); 2’00.4 (qualifier) Bayliss: 2’01.1 (race); 2’00.2 (qualifier) Biaggi: 2’01.2 (race) Nieto: 2’01.6 (race); 2’00.8 (qualifier) Rolfo: 2’01.7 (race); 2’01.4 (qualifier) Laconi: 2’01.8 (race)
WSS Fastest Times Charpentier: 2’04.1 Sofuoglu: 2’04.1 Parkes: 2’04.4 Martin: 2’05.2 Kallio: 2’05.5 Veneman: 2’05.5 Foret: 2’05.6 Riba: 2’05.9