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Alex Asigno
Following yesterday’s heavy rain, thick fog delayed the start of the second day of testing in Jerez this morning before giving way to sunshine and a dry track, providing the Yamaha Factory Team with the chance to get some important work under their belts. Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards both focused on general set-up work today and were pleased to see good improvements to the performance of their 800cc Yamahas since their last test here in November. Rossi and Edwards were consistently fast throughout the day, with Rossi topping the time sheets until the last stages of the session before being overtaken by Marco Melandri (Honda), who set the day’s best lap in a time of 1’40.383. Rossi finished just behind him in a time of 1’40.408, under the existing 990cc lap record, which he himself set in 2005. Edwards, having been in the top three for most of the day, also slipped down the order at the end as several riders opted to try qualifying tyres ahead of tomorrow’s 40 minute timed ‘qualifying’ shoot-out, which begins at 1405 CET.
Valentino Rossi (2nd, 1’40.408, 65 Laps) “Today was a very good day for us and we’ve done some great work. After today we’re happy because we can understand that we did a great job when we were here in November. We started with the same setting and the bike was fast straight away, then afterwards we tried a new setting from January and February, with the suspension and other things, and it felt even better. I had a great feeling with the front and also with the rear, and I had a lot of confidence with my bike. The balance was good under acceleration and I was able to go fast and in a good rhythm. Tomorrow we’ve got some more things to try and also some more tyres from Michelin, so we hope to make even more improvements. We’ll also get the chance to try a qualifying tyre and to see how we go against our rivals in the ‘qualifying’ session, which will be interesting. So anyway, we’ve got another day and some more work to do, but the situation is already good and I am feeling happy.”
Colin Edwards (9th, 1’41.204, 69 Laps) “Today we started where we left off yesterday, trying to work out how to adapt the good setting from Qatar to this track. We figured a few things out in the morning and kept on making progress and actually what we’ve found is quite a long way from the Qatar setting and also from the old setting we used here, but anyway it works great! It felt good all day and I was doing consistently quick times, before we put in our ‘first-choice’ tyre from Qatar near the end and then it felt really fantastic. It really is a great tyre, so hopefully Michelin will have lots of those for me this season! I was right up there on the time sheets until the end when a few people put qualifiers in, but that wasn’t on our agenda today and we’ll have a go at that tomorrow. Of course there’s the competition tomorrow and it’s definitely the day to make a statement, so we’ll see how it goes!
Davide Brivio – Team Director “Today we did a great job with Valentino, we found a very good balance and a good setting and he was able to be fast from his first lap and always at the top, until the very end. It was also a good day for Colin and he was also fast throughout. Tomorrow is our last day of testing before the championship starts so it’s very important, then we also have the competition in the afternoon. We’re in good shape with both riders so it should be an interesting day.”
Lap Times: 1. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda 1’40.383 2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 1’40.408 3. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 1’40.581 4. Alex Hofmann (GER) Ducati 1’40.748 5. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda 1’40.952 6. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati 1’41.071 7. Carlos Checa (SPA) Honda 1’41.096 8. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 1’41.151 9. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 1’41.204 10. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Yamaha 1’41.234 11. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 1’41.259 12. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Honda 1’41.269 13. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 1’41.363 14. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 1’41.590 15. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki 1’41.777 16. Kenny Roberts (USA) Team KR 1’41.783 17. Alex Barros (BRA) Ducati 1’41.845 18. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Yamaha 1’42.364 19. Shinichi Ito (JPN) Ducati 1’43.209 20. Kousuke Akiyoshi (JPN) Suzuki 1’43.610 21. Vittoriano Guareschi (ITA) Ducati 1’44.143 22. Jeremy McWilliams (IRE) Ilmor 1’44.458 23. Andrew Pitt (AUS) Ilmor 1’44.589
Jerez Lap Record (990cc): Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2005 – 1’40.596 Jerez Best Lap (990cc): Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2006 – 1’39.064
Alex Asigno
Troy Corser gave his Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team something to cheer with a hard fought podium finish in the second race at today's opening round of the 2007 Superbike World Championship in Qatar.
With team-mate Noriyuki Haga digging deep to finish fourth, it was a promising start for the 2007-model YZF-R1, which was making its world championship debut at the Losail circuit.
Having proved its pace by taking Corser to pole in qualifying, the new R1 wasn't quite able to repeat its performance over the race distance - although things started promisingly as the red Yamahas hit the front on the opening laps of the first race. The R1s fought a four-way battle for the lead with Max Biaggi (Suzuki) and James Toseland (Honda) but it soon became obvious that the Corser and Haga were suffering more than their rivals in the warm conditions when they started to fall off the pace after six laps. Haga struggled for front end grip as his tyre wore while Corser's machine vibrated heavily due to his rear tyre spinning on the rim. In the circumstances both men rode well to bring their machines home in the top 10, Haga eighth and Corser ninth.
In the second race the Yamaha men were able to battle with Biaggi and Toseland for around 11 laps before dropping off the pace. Corser and Haga were able to stay closer to the leading duo and maintained their third and fourth places to the flag, the Japanese rider only just fending off Fonsi Nieto (Kawasaki) as he crossed the line.
Team YZF Yamaha's Shinichi Nakatomi scored points for 12th place in the opening race, although the Japanese rider finished just outside the points, in 17th, in the second.
Biaggi and Toseland each took a win and a second place to jointly lead the championship. The Italian won the day's opener, his first ever superbike race, while British rider Toseland held the advantage in the second. Corser's podium sees him leave Qatar fourth in the championship while Haga heads to next weekend's second round, held at Australia's Phillip Island circuit, sixth in the standings.
Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team) "The first race was really tough because but the tyre was more consistent in the second and that meant that I could stay with James and Max for longer. I decided to stick with the same tyre choice and tried to put the problems we had in the first race out of my mind. I was ok when I was with them as the slipstream helped me make up a little bit down the straight, but when they made a break I didn't have an answer to them. Overall though it's been a positive start. It's my first weekend with Yamaha, on a new bike, and we've finished on the podium. We've got a very good chassis and I feel really comfortable riding the bike, so if we can make the tyres last then there's no reason why we can't get a good result at Phillip Island next weekend."
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team) "It has been a difficult day because after about six laps my front tyre is gone! For race two we made some changes and used the softer rear tyre, but already we used the hardest option on the front. I did the best possible today and I am looking forward to next weekend."
Shinichi Nakatomi (Team YZF Yamaha) "It was good to score some points in the first race. We are learning about this new bike all the time so we will be stronger as the year goes on. The second race was more difficult as more riders finished but I am hoping to get more points next weekend."
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team) "While we were all very happy with our performance in qualifying yesterday we also knew that it would be difficult in the races today. We have a new motorcycle this year and tyre wear was a problem at this race especially with Noriyuki, maybe because of his riding style. But we were not the only team to experience problems and thankfully we understand what has happened and how we can work to improve the bike. There are many positives to take from this weekend and if Troy hadn't have had his problems in the first race I am sure he would have been on the podium twice."
Circuit Length: 5380 Temp: 26 Weather: Sunny     2007 WSB Qatar 24/02/2007 Race 1 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 36'10.115 2 James Toseland Honda GBR 0'1.483 3 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'13.906 4 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 0'14.819 5 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 0'17.305 6 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 0'24.931 7 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 0'25.165 8 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 0'27.320 9 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 0'31.237 10 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 0'31.669 11 Steve Martin Honda AUS 0'42.355 12 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 0'46.845 13 Alessandro Polita Suzuki ITA 0'59.207 14 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 1'0.296 15 Dean Ellison Ducati GBR 1'21.043
Race 2 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 James Toseland Honda GBR 36'9.433 2 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 0'0.738 3 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 0'7.386 4 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 0'14.984 5 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 0'15.033 6 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 0'15.911 7 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'16.664 8 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 0'23.249 9 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 0'24.282 10 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 0'33.480 11 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 0'34.004 12 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 0'37.297 13 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 0'42.064 14 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 0'42.359 15 Alessandro Polita Suzuki ITA 0'46.206 17 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 0'51.300
Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'59.194
 Rider Standings 24/02/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 45 2. James Toseland Honda GBR 45 3. Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 25 4. Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 23 5. Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 23 6. Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 21 7. Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 19 8. Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 16 9. Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 13 10. Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 11 11. Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 9 12. Steve Martin Honda AUS 5 13. Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 5 14. Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 4 15. Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 4
Manufacturer Standings 24/02/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 45 2. Suzuki 45 3. Ducati 25 4. Yamaha 24 5. Kawasaki 11
RACE REPORT 24/02/2007 Podium for Curtain in tough Qatar opener    It was a day of mixed emotions, and results, for the Yamaha World Supersport team in Qatar but overall it was a good day for Kevin Curtain, grabbing 20 important points after finishing second in today's opening round of the 2007 Supersport World Championship.
Starting from pole position, Curtain was able to quickly build up a lead. However the Australian was unable to shake off the attentions of Sebastien Charpentier and Kenan Sofuoglu (both Honda) and was involved in a three-way battle for the lead in the opening half of the race.
The Yamaha man pushed his rivals hard but was unable to quite keep his rivals in touch as an incorrect rear tyre selection caused his machine to spin up and lose fractions of a second. Curtain rode a lonely but sensible race to maintain a podium finish and was rewarded when world champion Charpentier crashed out of the lead two laps from the end, moving the Yamaha man up to second place at the flag.
Similar tyre selection problems meant that team-mate Broc Parkes' bad luck at the Losail circuit continued when he was forced to retire after five laps, his second retirement at this venue in as many years. The Australian had seemingly solved the chatter problems that plagued him during qualifying as he moved up from seventh on the grid to fourth place at the end of the first lap. However he suffered severe tyre degradation and, unable to maintain race pace, he was forced to retire for safety reasons.
Yamaha Motor Italy Lorenzini by Leoni racer Massimo Roccoli had a good day in Qatar. Coming from the third row, the 22-year-old from Rimini made a rocket propelled start and was as high as fourth on the opening lap. He settled into a race-long battle with Gianluca Nannelli (Ducati) in the lower half of the top 10, holding off his fellow Italian to take seventh place by one tenth of a second.
Katsuaki Fujiwara (Honda) took third place to join Curtain and Sofuoglu on the podium. With just one race gone, the championship standings are as per today's results: Sofuoglu leading the way on 25 points with Curtain five behind in second place.
Kevin Curtain (Yamaha World Supersport team) "Second place is a good start in terms of the championship, although I'm disappointed I didn't have a chance to fight for the lead. In the end we used the wrong tyre and the bike was spinning up everywhere, so in the circumstances it's a good result. We've made some good progress with the bike over the winter and I'm looking forward to racing at my home circuit next week. Phillip Island is a place I know like the back of my hand and I'll be giving it 200 percent to try and go one better than we have today."
Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Motor Italy Lorenzini by Leoni) "Not such a bad start to the season. I made a very good start and was able to have a good battle with Nannelli and a few others. I said yesterday that top 10 would be a good result so seventh is a pleasing start to the season for me."
Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport team) "I'm really disappointed but when the tyre went off my lap time dropped by around three seconds and I just couldn't continue. We've had a tough weekend as we couldn't seem to get as good a set-up or lap time as we did in testing, although I was confident we could get some decent points today. I made a good start but after a few laps the tyre was gone and I had to pull in because it was too dangerous to stay out."
Circuit Length: 5380 Temp: 26 Weather: Sunny     2007 WSS Qatar 24/02/2007 Race 1 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 37'22.452 2 Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 0'3.413 3 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 0'6.228 4 Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 0'13.759 5 Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 0'13.857 6 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 0'14.534 7 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 0'18.650 8 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 0'18.775 9 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 0'19.291 10 Vesa Kallio Suzuki FIN 0'20.595 11 Javier Fores Honda ESP 0'20.817 12 Craig Jones Honda GBR 0'22.398 13 Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 0'26.903 14 David Salom Fuentes Yamaha ESP 0'28.568 15 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 0'34.516 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 2'3.921
Rider Standings 24/02/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 25 2. Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 20 3. Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 16 4. Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 13 5. Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 11 6. Robbin Harms Honda DNK 10 7. Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 9 8. Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 8 9. Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 7 10. Vesa Kallio Suzuki FIN 6 11. Javier Fores Honda ESP 5 12. Craig Jones Honda GBR 4 13. Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 3 14. David Salom Fuentes Yamaha ESP 2 15. Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1
Manufacturer Standings 24/02/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 25 2. Yamaha 20 3. Kawasaki 13 4. Ducati 8 5. Suzuki 7
Alex Asigno
Yamaha Factory Racing riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards started their final pre-season preparations today as the Official MotoGP Test began in Jerez. The Andalusian circuit, which will play host to the second round of the MotoGP World Championship in March, will provide the teams with the last chance to fine-tune their 800cc MotoGP motorcycles before the season gets started in Qatar. After three consecutive races in warmer climes, it was a wet return to European shores this morning when the MotoGP paddock was subjected to a heavy rainstorm and as a result Rossi and Edwards were not able get out on track until the early afternoon. However even after that the low temperatures meant that track failed to dry properly and it remained quite damp in places, causing the Yamaha pair to take it gently throughout the afternoon as they concentrated on trying to find the right set-up ahead of a hopefully drier day tomorrow.
The timesheets were topped today by Honda rider Marco Melandri, who set a time of 1’42.563, a full two seconds off Rossi’s old 990cc lap record, which still stands from 2005. Edwards came in at 11th position with best lap of 1’43.845 with Rossi behind him in 13th after a lap of 1’44.494.
Colin Edwards, Position: 11th Time: 1’43.845 Laps: 38 “Actually that was a really useful day for us, despite the weather! Obviously the times don’t really show it, but I’m not worried about those because the conditions really limited what we could do with regards to going fast. It wasn’t nice out there with the patchy conditions and it was really quite dangerous; it was obvious that whoever took the most risks was going to be fastest today! Anyway, we came here with our ‘smooth-track’ setting which worked so well in Qatar and tried it here, which is much bumpier. The good thing about today is that we think we now understand why it doesn’t work so well on bumpy tracks and so tomorrow we’re going to work on changing that and getting it to work everywhere. That’s the aim for tomorrow and hopefully we’ll be successful in that task, which will put us in much better stead as far as adjusting the bike to different tracks goes. We were obviously nowhere near our times from December today but we know the bike is better than it was then so I am sure that once the track dries out properly and it gets a bit warmer, we’ll get a lot faster.”
Valentin Rossi Position: 13th Time: 1’44.494 Laps:36 “The most important thing about this test for us is that it gives us the chance to see how our new bike has changed from the test here in December to now. We’ve had three tests in between and the bike has changed quite a bit, plus we’ve had some new parts for the engine and the bike is a bit faster. Today wasn’t great because the conditions were bad, it didn’t really dry out all day so it wasn’t possible to go so fast. Anyway though, I am impressed at some of the times of my rivals in these conditions! I was quite fast at the start when it was quite wet, but really it wasn’t enough to do a real wet-weather test. So after today we still can’t see how much we’ve improved from the last test, but hopefully tomorrow will be better. We’ve found some interesting things though and I think it will be better tomorrow. Of course the objective of this weekend is to be ready for the race when we return here and I hope we will also be able to go faster than we did here in December. The biggest changes since we were here last have been made to the suspension, especially in the front, but today we couldn’t really see the potential of these changes. If it becomes warmer we will also try to find some good tyres for this track, so let’s hope for sunshine!”
Davide Brivio, Team Director “Today was a bit disappointing because we obviously have a lot of work to get through here and the weather really delayed us, but anyway both riders found out some interesting things about their bikes in these conditions and gathered some good information. We hope that the weather will be better tomorrow so we will be able to see how much our bike has improved since the last test here. It’s a bit cold at this time of year, but hopefully the sun will come out and we will be able to really get started!”
Unofficial Lap Times 1. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda 1’42.563 2. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati 1’42.634 3. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 1’42.706 4. Carlos Checa (SPA) Honda 1’43.206 5. Alex Barros (BRA) Ducati 1’43.214 6. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 1’43.315 7. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 1’43.476 8. Alex Hofmann (GER) Ducati 1’43.673 9. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda 1’43.687 10. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Honda 1’43.817 11. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 1’43.845 12. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 1’44.052 13. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 1’44.494 14. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki 1’44.659 15. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Yamaha 1’45.081 16. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Yamaha 1’45.208 17. Vittoriano Guareschi (ITA) Ducati 1’45.603 18. Shinichi Ito (JPN) Ducati 1’45.826 19. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 1’45.901 20. Kenny Roberts (USA) Team KR 1’45.937 21. Kousuke Akiyoshi (JPN) Suzuki 1’47.191 22. Jeremy McWilliams (IRE) Ilmor 1’47.696 23. Andrew Pitt (AUS) Ilmor 1’49.365
Jerez Lap Record (990cc) Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2005 - 1’40.596
Jerez Best Lap (990cc) Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2006 - 1’39.064
Alex Asigno
Troy Corser lived up to his reputation as the king of superpole in Qatar today, setting a blistering lap time to grab pole position for his first races with the Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team.
The new-for-2007 YZF-R1 has made an immediate impact in its first world championship outing with Noriyuki Haga setting the pace yesterday and Corser taking pole today. Haga continued his great form in superpole and will join his team-mate on the front row for tomorrow's races.
Corser, who will sit on pole for the 39th time tomorrow, didn't have the ideal preparation for his superpole lap after crashing at the end of the preceding free practice session. The Australian rider had gone out to test the soft qualifying tyre used for superpole but slid off as he entered the second turn.
His job looked doubly difficult when superbike newcomer Max Biaggi (Suzuki) became the first man to record a sub 1:59 lap time in superpole. Corser, who elected to run a tried and tested race tyre rather than the super-sticky qualifier, simply put the crash behind him and stormed to a 1:58.402 lap - one-third of a second quicker than the Italian and the fastest ever superbike time around the Losail circuit.
Team-mate Haga was delighted to secure an all-important front row start for tomorrow's 18-lap races. The Japanese star also opted not to use the softer qualifying tyre, preferring to use the softest race option instead. Haga's lap was, by his own admission, less than perfect but the combination of the R1's power and Haga's own skill and determination helped him stop the clock in 1:59.294, good enough for fourth place on tomorrow's grid.
Team YZF Yamaha rider Shinichi Nakatomi was the first rider to set off on his superpole lap after ending the two hours of qualifying in 16th position. The Japanese rider was unable to improve his time or qualifying position and will start the races from the fourth row after recording a time of 2:02.301. Despite failing to go faster on the soft superpole tyre, Nakatomi feels he has a good set up for the races and can make up positions as he regularly did last season.
Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team) "I'm delighted to get the pole, although I think that Yamaha and the team are even more excited! You always just go out to have a clean lap and not make any mistakes. The front row is what you want but pole is always a nice bonus.
"I had a little crash just before the superpole. I went out on the qualifier and I don't really know what happened. I guess that I was probably taking it too easy because the back end just slid away as I turned in for the second corner. It was unfortunate. I got caught out yesterday as well, when went down on some oil, but I'm thankful that I slid down the way I did, because it could have been a nasty highside.
"It's a new bike and Nori and I are working really well together in the box. We're both doing our own things but we're also sharing a lot of information, especially on the suspension settings and tyre selections, to get the best out of the bike. I've got a really good feeling with the team and even though we've only been working together a short time we're working together well and it can only get better. The track is getting better the more we ride on it and I thought the tyres worked pretty well today. I did a lot of laps with James (Toseland) in practice and our lap times were pretty good. If we can make a good tyre choice then I think we should be up the front tomorrow."
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team) "I'm very happy to be on the front row. During the superpole I made a mistake with my braking early in the lap, so I pushed hard and made another small mistake. But the lap time was good and the front row is always the target. We did a lot of work on the suspension today as we are trying to get the maximum from the tyre in race condition and I think that we can feel the benefit of this tomorrow."
Shinichi Nakatomi (Team YZF Yamaha) "I think we are ready for the races. This is what we concentrate on during the practice and I have been able to make lots of consistent laps. We are learning more about this new bike all the time and I think we can improve more tomorrow."
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team) "We did not really expect to make the pole after Troy's crash but he was very focused and did a great job. Noriyuki's superpole lap was also done on the soft race tyre, rather than the qualifier, because he prefers to use this. So Troy on pole and Nori on the front row is a great result for the team and I hope we can continue the good results in the races tomorrow."
Circuit Length: 5380 Temp: 26 Weather: Sunny     2007 WSB Qatar 23/02/2007 Superpole Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'58.402 2 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'58.724 3 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'59.005 4 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'59.294 5 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'59.537 6 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'59.668 7 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'59.964 8 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 2'0.098 9 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 2'0.240 10 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 2'0.414 11 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 2'0.429 12 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 2'1.085 13 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 2'1.176 14 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 2'1.411 15 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 2'1.581 16 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 2'2.301
Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'58.681 2 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'58.922 3 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'58.955 4 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'59.286 5 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'59.369 6 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'59.457 7 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'59.507 8 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'59.830 9 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'59.919 10 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 2'0.077 11 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 2'0.244 12 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 2'0.329 13 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 2'0.350 14 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 2'0.839 15 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 2'0.936 16 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 2'1.076
QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 23/02/2007 Yamaha's Curtain storms to Qatari pole    Kevin Curtain made his intentions for the 2007 Supersport World Championship clear by blasting his Yamaha YZF-R6 to pole position for tomorrow's opening race at the Losail circuit in Qatar.
The Australian had endured a tough day in yesterday's practice, destroying his preferred machine when he was an innocent victim of a pile-up during the first practice session, but the Yamaha World Supersport team rider gave a virtuoso performance in today's second session, improving his time by almost two seconds. Curtain instantly improved his Thursday time and topped the timesheets for most of the session, although it was his perfectly timed run right at the end of the session that finally grabbed the pole and gave his rivals no time to respond. The Yamaha man's 2:02.081 lap was a whole second quicker than last year's pole position and gives the 2006 championship runner up the third world championship pole of his career.
Curtain's team-mate Broc Parkes battled set-up problems throughout the qualifying sessions and will start tomorrow's 18 lap, 97km, race from the second row after improving his time and one place from yesterday's opening session. Parkes stopped the clock at 2:03.396 on the second of his three qualifying runs and although he went out to try and move up the grid at the end of the session, he was unable to improve his time. Italian youngster Massimo Roccoli improved his opening day time by over a second to make round out the top ten and make it three YZF-R6s in the first three rows.
Joining Curtain on the front row for what is expected to be a closely fought race will be Sebastien Charpentier, Katsuaki Fujiwara and Kenan Sofuoglu (all Honda). Last season's race saw Curtain finish second to eventual champion Charpentier on the still-developing R6's race debut.
Kevin Curtain (Yamaha World Supersport team) "Today's been a great start for us and, to be honest, a little unexpected after what happened yesterday. I was a big victim of the oil on the track yesterday and I have to thank my mechanics for building me a brand new bike overnight, because the other one was destroyed. Thanks to them we were able to get on and concentrate on the work we wanted to concentrate on yesterday. The bike is working very good here and we've been able to do a lot of work on the chassis and suspension over the winter, so hopefully we can take advantage of that here this weekend."
Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport team) "It's been a frustrating few days so far because when we came testing here I was able to do 2:02 laps all day long but so far this we've had a lot of problems with chattering and we can't quite put our finger on why that is. We've virtually turned the bike upside down but we've not been able to make much progress. We know that the bike's quick because Kevin's right on it, which is great for the team but frustrating for me. I know we'll try a few things for tomorrow and hopefully that will help us solve the chatter problem and put in a good race."
Circuit Length: 5380 Temp: 30 Weather: Sunny     2007 WSS Qatar 23/02/2007 Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 2'2.081 2 Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 2'2.183 3 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 2'2.376 4 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 2'2.752 5 Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 2'3.266 6 Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 2'3.342 7 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 2'3.396 8 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 2'3.477 9 Yoann Tiberio Honda FRA 2'3.806 10 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 2'3.921 11 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 2'4.142 12 Vesa Kallio Suzuki FIN 2'4.142 13 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 2'4.308 14 Javier Fores Honda ESP 2'4.489 15 Davide Giugliano Kawasaki ITA 2'4.687 24 David Checa Yamaha ESP 2'5.334 25 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 2'5.414
Alex Asigno
Yamaha's new-for-2007 YZF-R1 demonstrated that it is a weapon to be reckoned with in world superbike competition, with Noriyuki Haga scoring provisional pole on the bike's world championship debut in Qatar today.
The Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team rider topped the timesheets for much of the session onboard the MotoGP-inspired R1, with the Japanese rider particularly happy with his performance because he was concentrating on finding a good set-up to last Saturday's 18-lap race rather than going for an ultimate pole position time. Haga's 1:59.019 provisional pole time was set on race rubber and is the fastest ever superbike lap of the Losail circuit, being over half-a-second faster than Troy Bayliss' qualifying lap last year, and a full second quicker than his own race record.
There was double delight for the Yamaha Motor Italia squad as team-mate Troy Corser also ended the day on the provisional front row. The Australian was also under Bayliss' previous best, posting a 1:59.440 to end the day fourth on the timesheets in his debut with the Italian squad.
Having tested at the circuit just a few weeks earlier, the team arrived in Qatar with a good base setting for their R1s. Despite this, the squad still had a great deal of work to get through in order to get the best out of their machines for Saturday's races. With track temperatures approaching 45 °C on the tarmac, tyre selection could prove critical this weekend. Corser and Haga have access to newer-specification Pirelli tyres this weekend than they had during testing, giving them a heavy programme of tyre testing in the practice sessions.
Shinichi Nakatomi ended the day 15th on the Team YZF Yamaha entry. The new squad, born out of the Yamaha Motor France-entered team of 2005 and 2006, is chiefly responsible for development of Yamaha's YEC range of customer race parts and using the world series to test and improve the range. The Japanese rider, entering his second year in the series, posted a time of 2:01.964 to gain a provisional place in tomorrow afternoon's grid deciding superpole session.
In today's tight qualifying session it was British rider James Toseland (Honda) who pushed Haga closest, recording a time of 1:59.056 to take second in the overnight standings. Joining them and Corser on the provisional front row is former 250cc world champion and Yamaha MotoGP rider Max Biaggi (Suzuki), who was third fastest on his superbike debut.
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team) "I am surprised to be fastest because when we tested here I did not have a really good feeling with the bike. This morning I tried the set-up we left the test with but the feeling was still the same. For the afternoon we changed a few things and made a big step and I am now happy with the way the bike turns. We worked hard to find a good setting for the race and I still want to get better tyre life. For six or seven laps the tyre is very good but then we find that the rear falls away a lot on the right side. The new bike is working well. We only had our shakedown tests a few weeks ago but luckily we are able to carry forward many of the parts and knowledge from the previous R1 so we already have a very good base to work from."
Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team) "I'm fairly happy with that. The track feels different from when we tested here and that's had an effect on how the bike is performing. We need to improve the front end tyre feel and there are quite a few little things for us to try out tomorrow. For sure it would have been nice to have had a few more tests before the first race but we've got a good base to work from and fourth is a pretty decent start."
Shinichi Nakatomi (Team YZF Yamaha) "No so bad! We made an improvement of two-and-a-half seconds between the morning and afternoon and I hope we can make some more improvement as we learn more about the set-up of the new machine."
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team) "We tested here a few weeks ago because we understood the importance of being competitive from the very first race. We found a good base setting at the test and, but for a few small changes, only the tyre options are different. We're happy with how it's gone today but it is hard to really judge how competitive we can be on race day at this moment. Both riders have been able to complete around 11 to 12 laps on the tyres but we still have to do some more endurance testing tomorrow."
Circuit Length: 5380 Temp: 25 Weather: Dry     2007 WSB Qatar 22/02/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'59.019 2 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'59.056 3 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'59.369 4 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'59.440 5 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'59.459 6 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'59.507 7 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'59.805 8 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 2'0.244 9 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 2'0.258 10 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 2'0.309 11 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 2'0.467 12 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 2'0.626 13 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 2'0.733 14 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 2'0.936 15 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 2'1.948
QUALIFYING 1 REPORT 22/02/2007 R6 men show Middle Eastern promise   Kevin Curtain   
The Yamaha World Supersport team made a promising start to Saturday's opening round of the 2007 Supersport World Championship at a hot and sunny Losail circuit in Qatar today, ending first qualifying with both riders on the provisional second row.
Last year's championship runner-up Kevin Curtain was the fastest of the YZF-R6 runners, setting a best lap of 2:03.941 around the long and fast desert circuit. Team-mate Broc Parkes was just five hundreds of a second behind his fellow Australian to take eighth place in a tight session that saw the top eight all in the 2:03 bracket. Encouragingly both of the Yamaha Motor Europe entered machines were able to run consistently at race pace, putting in consistent 2:04 lap times during their runs.
The season certainly got off to a spectacular start when Curtain's R6 was destroyed in a pile-up just minutes into the morning practice session. The accident claimed four Yamaha riders with Yamaha GMT94's David Checa and Sebastien Gimbert, as well as Italian privateer Gianluca Vizziello, all going down on oil deposited by another rider's machine. Thankfully all riders escaped without injury and were able to return to the circuit when the session was restarted, allowing the protagonists to work on finding a good set-up for Saturday's 18 lap race.
Yamaha Motor Italy Lorenzini by Leoni rider Massimo Roccoli ended the day 11th on his YZF-R6, with supersport newcomer Gimbert and team-mate Checa ending the day 17th and 21st places respectively. Fastest man on show was Japanese rider Katsuaki Fujiwara (Honda) who recorded a 2:03.258 lap in the last minute of the session. Italian Gianluca Nannelli (Ducati) and Honda team-mates Kenan Sofuoglu and Sebastien Charpentier complete the provisional front row.
Kevin Curtain "Not a bad day but the crash this morning was a real downer. Someone blew up right on the racing line and four of us went down, with Broc and a few others doing real well to stay up. The bike was totally destroyed in the crash and that set me back as the spare bike wasn't set up quite the same. That's a shame but we know we are competitive and can make some improvements for tomorrow."
Broc Parkes   
Broc Parkes "It's been a decent enough start today. I almost crashed on the oil in the morning session and the two big delays were a little strange. The times are all very close and we're on the pace. I think that we are already in decent shape but hopefully we can get further up the grid tomorrow."
Circuit Length: 5380 Temp: 25 Weather: Dry     2007 WSS Qatar 22/02/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 2'3.258 2 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 2'3.477 3 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 2'3.608 4 Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 2'3.744 5 Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 2'3.862 6 Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 2'3.941 7 Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 2'3.949 8 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 2'3.991 9 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 2'4.308 10 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 2'4.484 11 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 2'4.953 12 Davide Giugliano Kawasaki ITA 2'5.054 13 Yoann Tiberio Honda FRA 2'5.399 14 Vesa Kallio Suzuki FIN 2'5.450 15 Javier Fores Honda ESP 2'5.456
Alex Asigno
Yamaha’s Factory MotoGP Team will take part in the Official MotoGP Test in Jerez this weekend sporting a special blue Yamaha livery.
The livery reflects the familiar blue colours used in other Yamaha racing disciplines and also makes a direct connection with the blue colours and the famous Yamaha speedblock stripe used on the high-performance Yamaha R1 and R6 machines throughout the world.
The one-off livery will be used by Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards over the three days of the test, including during the traditional televised timed ‘qualifying’ session on Sunday.
Davide Brivio, Team Director “We’ve chosen this important pre-season event to run in full Yamaha livery and it’s a nice chance to thank everyone in the company who has worked so hard over the winter. This could be the only opportunity to see Yamaha MotoGP bikes in this special blue livery as the design and colour will change again for the first MotoGP race in Qatar. I hope our fans and the all Yamaha network will appreciate and enjoy this special event!”
Alex Asigno
Yamaha’s main contenders for the MX1 and MX2 world titles proved to be ready for the upcoming challenge by winning both heats in both MX1 and MX2 classes at the first Italian championship race held at Montevarchi in dry, but cloudy conditions.
Yamaha Motocross Team MX1 star Joshua Coppins and Antonio Cairoli of Team Yamaha de Carli competing in MX2 had to ride hard for their moto victories, resisting pressure from several world title contenders including their team mates and other fellow Yamaha riders. Particularly in MX2 the dominance of YZ250F riders was striking with the top six in the overall day result being Yamaha mounted.
The Yamaha Motocross Team does not intend to compete in all the races of the Italian championship, but saw the race at the Montevarchi track as a good opportunity to work on the setting of their YZ450FM for hard packed tracks. Team manager Carlo Rinaldi was happy with the progress made; “The Montevarchi track is a good place to develop the hard track set up before we start the world championship. We made good progress this weekend and we hope to finalize the hard track set up next week at Valence, after which we will move up north to Belgium to start testing and develop the sand set up”.
“I’m happy to see that both riders are competitive and content with the bike as we have it now. The setting between Josh and Marc is not as different as one may expect. Of course the riders have some different requests and Marc may look more aggressive on the bike, but actually there is not much difference in how our riders work the engine and control the throttle.’
“Overall we are very confident and our preparations go smoothly. In moto one Josh had to work hard for the win with Philippaerts and Nemeth, but in race two it was easier for him. It was good to see that Josh had both hole shots. Marc isn’t far behind either, I hope we can have a good test session in Belgium to give Marc a flying start come the first race in sandy Valkenswaard, his home track.
The Yamaha Motocross Team joins most of the other top teams coming weekend at the second big international preseason race at Valence, France.
MX1 – Overall result 1. Josh Coppins, NZ – Yamaha 50 2. David Philippaerts, ITA – KTM 44 3. Kornel Nemeth, HUN – Suzuki 40 4. Marc De Reuver, HOL – Yamaha 36 5. Cedric Melotte, BEL – Aprilia 31 6. Antoine Meo, FRA – Honda 30 7. Manuel Priem, BEL – TM 26 8. Cristian Beggi, ITA – WRM 26 9. Alex Salvini, ITA – Yamaha 26 10. Andrea Bartolini, ITA – Yamaha 23
MX2 – Overall result 1. Antonio Cairoli, ITA – Yamaha 50 2. Kenneth Gundersen, NOR – Yamaha 44 3. David Guarneri, ITA – Yamaha 38 4. Manuel Monni, ITA – Yamaha 38 5. Nicolas Aubin, FRA – Yamaha 31 6. Jeremy Tarroux, FRA – Yamaha 31 7. Deny Philippaerts, ITA – Honda 26 8. Matteo Bonini, ITA – Yamaha 24 9. Filip Neugebauer, CZ – Kawasaki 24 10. Paulin Gaultier, FRA – Honda 19
Alex Asigno
The green light comes on for the Superbike World Championship's 20th anniversary this weekend with Yamaha expecting great things in all the classes for 2007.
Round one of the 2007 series takes place at the impressive Losail circuit in Qatar, where Yamaha Motor Italia's 'dream team' will look to capitalize on an impressive testing display at the Middle Eastern circuit just over a week ago.
The squad goes into the season with a new and much improved YZF-R1 for Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga. The latest version of the legendary superbike comes loaded with sophisticated engine management electronics as standard, including Yamaha's YCC-T (Yamaha Chip Controlled Throttle) - the so-called 'fly-by-wire' system that should provide a huge help in transferring the 16-valve engine's 200+ bhp to the back tyre as smoothly as possible.
The team has tested twice in Qatar over the winter period with Corser, who has won two of the four races held at the Losail circuit, under the lap record in last weekend's test. The two-times world champion feels he is ready to go for the start of his 11th full superbike campaign, saying: "The team has made me feel very welcome and I'm really enjoying working with them. There's always a lot to do when you have a new bike and the new R1 is no exception. Of course, a little more time on the bike would have been good but I think we'll be ready for the first race. It's going to be another tough season - but then the Superbike World Championship is always tough. There are many good riders and many good bikes, so I don't think any rider is going to find it easy. I may be one of the 'senior' members in the series now, but my passion for racing and winning is the same as when I first started. It's hard to explain the feeling you get on a racebike when everything is working well. It's a tremendous buzz and one that I'm going to enjoy as long as I am having fun. I want to repay Yamaha's faith in me and I'd like to go into the record books by becoming the first rider to win on three different bikes. That would be some achievement!"
Aiming to stop Corser in his quest for a third world title will be his team-mate and Yamaha stalwart Haga. The Japanese rider has finished third in the series for the past three seasons but sees the arrival of the Australian rider as a positive thing rather than a threat. "I have a big respect for Troy," he says. "Not only is he a very fast rider, he also understands how to get the best from the bike. We have had many great and hard battles over the years but he is a good friend off the track. For me the goal is always the same at the start of the season and this year is no different. We want to win the title and I hope we can work well together in developing the new R1 and challenge for the number one. So far testing has gone quite well and the new bike has a lot of potential. But it's the racing that matters and I think that everybody is looking forward to the start of the season."
Yamaha also has high hopes in the world supersport class, where Kevin Curtain came so close to winning the championship last season. For 2007 the structure of the factory's official team has changed, with Yamaha Motor Europe taking over the running of the squad from German distributor Yamaha Motor Germany, although the organization remains largely the same, retaining the team's staff and base in Neuss.
With the current model R6 already having a year's development under its belt the squad is confident of being able to challenge for the top step of the podium from the opening race. Curtain and team-mate Broc Parkes have enjoyed a good winter testing programme, working mostly on suspension and fine-tuning the groundbreaking 600cc machine's electronic systems in a bid to improve ride ability and reduce rear tyre wear over race distance. The team also has the advantage of having tested in both Qatar and Australia, venues for the opening two rounds of the 2007 campaign, with Curtain topping the timesheets at both locations.
"Testing's gone really well," confirms Curtain. "Our lap times have been good and the team has made lots of small improvements that make the bike easier to ride. This time last year we had a new bike and had to play catch up for the first two races but this year hopefully we'll be able to take advantage of the continuity of having the same basic package. After coming so close last year our team is probably more motivated than ever and I really want to get the best possible results for them in these first two races."
Alex Asigno
The final day of MotoGP testing in Qatar today saw the times tumble yet again, as several riders opted to try qualifying tyres and three of them, Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi included, dipped under the 1’55 mark. As usual on the final day of a test, both Rossi and team-mate Colin Edwards tried their 800cc Yamaha’s on a long-run, enabling them to gather crucial information about tyre performance and fuel consumption ahead of the first race here in three week’s time. Edwards’ was in fact forced to do two extended sessions after his initial long-run, started towards the end of the morning, was red-flagged when Suzuki rider John Hopkins crashed, breaking a bone in his foot.
After topping the time sheets for the last two days, the Yamaha pair slipped down the order a little today, Rossi coming in third behind Dani Pedrosa (Honda, 1’55.471) and Hopkins (1’55.825) with a time of 1’55.954, set in the morning session using a Michelin qualifying tyre. After running into a few small problems with the qualifying tyre, Edwards was unable to better his time from yesterday and finished the day fifth with a best lap of 1’56.371.
The Yamaha Factory Racing Team will now head to European shores for the first time since December for the Official MotoGP Test on 23rd, 24th and 25th February, at Jerez de la Frontera in southern Spain. This will be the final pre-season test before the Grand Prix paddock reconvenes in Qatar for the first race of the season on 10th March.
Valentino Rossi (3rd, 1’55.954, 62 Laps) “It’s been a good test overall, despite running into a few problems. Like I said yesterday, it’s better to find the problems now so we have the chance to fix them! As I expected, the other riders have improved a lot over these three days and Colin and I weren’t able to stay at the top today. Still, we’re quite fast and our bike is quite good, so we’re happy. The long run was okay, the situation with the rear tyre wasn’t perfect but we knew it wasn’t going to be and nothing happened that we didn’t expect. Anyway, we’re not worried about it and we know how to go from here. I was still able to do 1’56.5s okay, so I think if the race was tomorrow then we would be in a position to fight for the victory, as would Colin. We still have one more test in Jerez so we’ve got the chance to do some more good work and try to make our bike perfect for the first race. We’re still working on the suspension and stability, we’ve talked a lot with our engineers and we’ve got some good ideas to try next week. We’ve been sharing a lot of information in our garage between Colin and I; he’s tried my settings and I’ve tried his which has been very helpful. Now I’m looking forward to seeing how the bike will go in Jerez next week.”
 
Colin Edwards (5th, 1’56.371, 61 Laps) “We were a little bit unlucky today; we wanted to finish up early so we started our long-run in the morning and it was all going well when the red flags came out after about 14 laps. I was doing pretty good times in that and was happy with how things were going, so it was pity I had to stop. Anyway, our engineers needed me to have another go this afternoon as we really needed to get some information about the fuel consumption. Unfortunately we couldn’t have the same tyre again and we had to use something a bit older, so the second long run wasn’t so great, but we got all the information we needed. We tried a qualifier this morning and actually we had a tiny bit of movement with that which was a surprise after how fantastic it was in Sepang. I couldn’t quite better my time from yesterday, when I was on race tyres. Valentino had a go later and I think he fixed the issue, so we’re not panicking about that. It’s been a really good test and I think we’ve got a lot of options with this bike. Now it’s on to something different again in Jerez so we’ll see how things go there, hopefully we can continue the good work.”
Davide Brivio - Team Director “It’s been a very interesting and important test for us and both riders have shown that they’re in a position to fight at the top. We’ve got a few areas which we need to work on, but overall we’re happy. It’s nice to see both riders being consistently fast and having fun riding the bike and it’s great to see such good teamwork, with both crews working closely together and sharing all their information. This really helps us in the task of developing the bike. Now we go to Jerez for the final test and it’s going to be another very important three days for us all; our rivals are strong and we need to be in the best possible shape when we come back here for the first race.
Unofficial Lap Times: 1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 1’55.471 2. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki 1’55.825 3. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 1’55.954 4. Alex Hofmann (GER) Ducati 1’56.315 5. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 1’56.371 6. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 1’56.753 7. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 1’56.807 8. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati 1’56.834 9. Alex Barros (BRA) Ducati 1’56.950 10. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda 1’56.980 11. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Honda 1’56.980 12. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Yamaha 1’57.232 13. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda 1’57.246 14. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 1’57.269 15. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 1’57.365 16. Kenny Roberts (USA) Team KR 1’57.408 17. Carlos Checa (SPA) Honda 1’57.497 18. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Yamaha 1’58.379 19. Shinichi Ito (JPN) Bridgestone Test 1’58.974 20. Andrew Pitt (AUS) Ilmor 2’00.455 21. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki 2’02.081 22. Jeremy McWilliams (IRE) Ilmor 2’02.612
Alex Asigno
Colin Edwards maintained his exemplary pre-season form by topping the unofficial time-sheets once again at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar today, with team-mate Valentino Rossi hot on his heels. The Yamaha pairing continue to forge ahead with the development of their 800cc Yamahas and their hard work is reaping rewards, with both riders feeling confident about the impending season.
Edwards best lap of the day, an outstanding time of 1’56.296 set in the morning session, was over a second under the current 990cc lap record. Meanwhile Rossi bettered his time from yesterday with a lap of 1.56.537, despite running into a few set-up problems which he will look to iron-out tomorrow. Both riders will now aim to complete a long-run on the last day before they fly back to Europe for the final ‘dress-rehearsal’ in Jerez ahead of the first race.
Colin Edwards Position: 1st Time: 1'56.296 Laps: 56
“Today was impressive! We got our second-choice front tyre from Michelin and it was instantly better than the third-choice one we had yesterday, it gave me a lot more confidence in the front-end. We made some big changes to the setting last night and we’re now in a different realm, close to what Valentino was running yesterday. It’s basically just something that works well on a flat track with no bumps and it felt really good. We made a small change to the rear shock and then we were just testing tyres for the rest of the day. We tested a series of right-side rubbers and then a series of left-side rubbers, searching for the best combination for the race. The times are great but they’re coming quite easily, I really haven’t pushed out of my comfort zone at all yet. This afternoon was slower because of the wind but at the end of the day, with the last rear tyre, I got my head down for a couple of laps and we still did a 56.4! We’ll do a long run tomorrow and see how it all works out then; hopefully we can stay on top and make it a clean sheet for the test!”
Valentino Rossi Position: 2nd Time: 1'56.537 Laps: 62
“So, another fast day for Yamaha and I am happy that we’re one and two again. Actually, today we ran into a few problems which we need to work on, but anyway this is expected when you’re getting faster and faster and it’s much better that we find the problems now than in the race! Again we need to work to improve the stability of the bike under braking and this is a very delicate thing because we don’t want to sacrifice the agility of our bike. We need to find the right balance. We tried some more tyres for Michelin and today we didn’t find anything so great in this area, but we made some decisions about what to try for our long run tomorrow. We’re fast and we know we’re at a good level, but we can’t afford to relax because our rivals are getting closer and I think it’s going to be a very great battle this season. Tomorrow we’ll try to fix the problems we found today, we have some ideas and I am sure we can have a good last day.”
Unofficial Lap Times
1. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 1'56.296 2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 1'56.537 3. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 1'56.712 4. Carlos Checa (SPA) Honda 1'56.874 5. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati 1'57.040 6. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki 1'57.065 7. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Honda 1'57.274 8. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 1'57.288 9. Kenny Roberts (USA) Team KR 1'57.504 10. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda 1'57.591 11. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 1'57.629 12. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 1'57.698 13. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 1'57.770 14. Alex Hoffman (GER) Ducati 1'57.999 15. Alex Barros (BRA) Ducati 1'58.513 16. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Yamaha 1'58.610 17. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda 1'58.990 18. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Yamaha 1'59.138 19. Shinichi Ito (JPN) Bridgestone Test 1'59.617 20. Andrew Pitt (AUS) Ilmor 2'02.453
Qatar Lap Record (990cc) Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2006 - 1’57.305
Qatar Best Lap (990cc) Casey Stoner (Honda) 2006 - 1’55.683
Alex Asigno
Yamaha Factory Racing commenced the latest stage of their pre-season testing schedule today, joining the rest of their MotoGP counterparts on track at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar. This third test of the season is arguably the most important so far, as Losail will play host to the first race of the season in just over three week’s time. After two successive tests in Malaysia, the change of venue offers Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards the chance to gauge the performance of their 800cc Yamahas in different conditions, as well as to measure themselves alongside a full line-up of their rivals. Once again the new 800cc bikes were proven to be just as fast as their 990 predecessors, with five riders lapping under the current lap record, set by Rossi on route to victory here last year. Edwards and Rossi were out in front of the field, with the American posting the fastest lap of the day in a time of 1’56 774. Rossi was just over a tenth of a second behind him with a best time of 1’56.891, followed by Casey Stoner (Ducati) with a time of 1’56.960.
Colin Edwards Position: 1st Time: 1’56.774 Laps: 67
“We’re coming here off the back of a fantastic test in Sepang and we’ve started on pretty good form again today. Things aren’t totally perfect; the first-choice front tyre that we found in Malaysia and which I was super-happy with isn’t available here at the moment and I felt I was lacking a bit of feeling in the morning, but we changed a few things on the setting and at the end of the day everything made sense. Despite the good time we’ve definitely got room for improvement, which we hope will come with a couple of different tyres tomorrow and some new things we want to try on the setting. Anyway, the really encouraging thing is that we’ve come to a new track and the bike has worked well straight out of the box; let’s hope that’s the case everywhere this year! We did a lot of work on the braking in Sepang and we don’t have any problems with that here, so it looks like we fixed those problems. It’s been a very productive first day in every aspect.”
Valentino Rossi Position: 2nd Time: 1’56.891 Laps: 59
“This is a very important test because the first race is here in just a few weeks, so we’re working really hard in order to have the bike ready for that! Today was quite good and I am happy with the work we’ve done as a team; we were fast straight away and it’s good to see that our bike works well at a different track. We continued to develop some things with the setting and we also worked on tyres with Michelin. This is a hard track for them so it’s important we are ready with the tyres for the first race. The bike felt very good from the start and you can ride it well; we don’t have any chatter, or any particular problems at all, so we’re in a better position than last year. I am also happy because Colin is fast; in fact, he’s a little bit faster than me! This is a good sign though, because it shows how good our bike is. Of course we still have areas to improve and so we will continue to work hard for the next two days.”
Davide Brivio - Team Director “It was a good start to the test for us, because both riders are fast and the bike seems to work well here. For sure everybody else will also improve in the coming days, so we can’t afford to be complacent, but we will continue to work as hard as we can and hopefully we can keep going like this.”
Unofficial Lap Times
1. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 1'56.774 2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 1'56.891 3. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati 1'56.960 4. Kenny Roberts (USA) Team KR 1'57.064 5. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 1'57.070 6. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki 1'57.350 7. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 1'57.360 8. Carlos Checa (SPA) Honda 1'57.370 9. Alex Barros (BRA) Ducati 1'57.690 10. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 1'57.700 11. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 1'57.730 12. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda 1'57.760 13. Alex Hoffman (GER) Ducati 1'57.800 14. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Honda 1'57.850 15. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 1'57.900 16. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Yamaha 1'58.408 17. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki 1'58.740 18. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda 1'59.400 19. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Yamaha 1'59.700 20. Shinichi Ito (JPN) Bridgestone Test 1'59.966 21. Andrew Pitt (AUS) Ilmor 2'01.667 22. Jeremy McWilliams (IRE) 2'10.341
Qatar Lap Record (990cc) Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2006 - 1’57.305
Qatar Best Lap (990cc) Casey Stoner (Honda) 2006 - 1’55.683
Alex Asigno
The new-look Rinaldi Yamaha Team completed their first competitive outing at the Mantova Starcross International yesterday as Josh Coppins scored second position overall and Marc de Reuver placed seventh in the final MX1 classification.
The Mantova sand was divided by a stellar entry list as the cream of the Grand Prix motocross paddock cranked into life after the winter slumber.The race was the first proper introduction into a ‘new era’ with Coppins and De Reuver for the defending MX1 World Champion Team. Coppins was reasonably pleased with his maiden appearance in blue colours with third, seventh and fifth positions in the three motos. The New Zealander pushed his way back into the top ten in the second race despite running into a fallen Steve Ramon deep into the first corner. ‘Second position overall and I’m pretty happy with that,’ the 29 year old commented. ‘The team and I worked a lot and we made a lot of changes. We talked with our suspension supplier Kayaba and each time we made an adjustment there was an improvement so it was encouraging. My starts were good in all three motos, but Steve Ramon crashed in front of me in the second heat and I had to re-start from last but came through to seventh. For my first race with the Yamaha it was not too bad; there is still a long way to go until Valkenswaard.’
The circuit, north of Bologna, will also host the Italian Grand Prix, the fourth round of the World Championship in May. The next five weeks will involve further testing for team as well as more racing in France and Great Britain before the opening meeting of the FIM series in Holland.
Dutchman Marc de Reuver collected finishes of 20th, fourth and seventh in his return to representing the manufacturer he last rode for in 2002. The soon-to-be 24 year old made his MX1 debut in Italy and although he suffered with arm-pump in the initial foray he felt positive about the experience. ‘I had a lot of problems with arm-pump in the first heat and I just had to feel my way around,’ he said. ‘Things were better in the next race. I started OK and then followed Pichon for a while before passing him around two laps from the end. It wasn’t a bad heat at all, but most of the top guys had crashed so the classification was pretty different. Everyone stayed up for the third heat however and I felt strong riding with Philippaerts and Strijbos. It was a close one as we finished within two seconds of each other. It was the first race so there is only so much you can read from it, but my speed was good and everything is coming along OK.’
‘I am quite happy and I never expect anything special from the opening race because it is always strange and there is pressure on the riders,’ said Racing Manager Carlo Rinaldi. ‘The track condition was difficult in Mantova as it was soft in the sand and then hard in other parts. Our riders struggled on Saturday but we talked and worked and Sunday was much better. It was about breaking the ice in terms of the racing and both riders proved to be OK. To be honest I would prefer that they are not 100% fit at this early stage in the season because there is a long year ahead. We will keep working now and I’m positive about the direction in which we are going.’
De Carli Yamaha rider and one of the factory’s main hopes for the 2007 MX2 World Championship on the YZ 250F, Antonio Cairoli, took a decent second position behind countryman David Philippaerts in the opening race and then was third in the second moto.
Just when the 2005 World Champ – who only recently recovered from an injured shoulder - was looking at a possible overall success he went down in the first corner of moto three and finished outside of the top ten. A further four points meant third spot in the MX2 class.
‘Obviously I am a bit disappointed for my bad luck in the final moto,’ he said. ‘I could have obtained a big result and the large crowd, that cheered me on so much, would have deserved it. However I am satisfied because this was the first real comparison with our World Championship rivals and although we had a delay in our preparation because of my shoulder things went well. I want to thank the team because the bike is working well’
The next major meeting for Rinaldi Yamaha will be the International at the Valance circuit in France on February 25th. The Italian squad have won twice in the last four years at the venue close to Lyon.
MX1 overall result 1 NAGL Maximilian GER, KTM 2 COPPINS Joshua NZL,Yamaha 3 BARRAGAN Jonathan SPA, KTM 4 PHILIPPAERTS David ITA, KTM 5 STRIJBOS Kevin BEL, Suzuki 6 PICHON Mickael FRA, KTM 7 DE REUVER Marc NED, Yamaha 8 BILL Julien SWI, Kawasaki 9 LEOK Tanel EST, Kawasaki 10 RAMON Steve BEL, Suzuki
MX2 overall result 1 RATTRAY Tyla RSA, KTM 2 SEARLE Tommy GBR, KTM 3 CAIROLI Antonio ITA, Yamaha 4 MONNI Manuel ITA, Yamaha 5 TARROUX Jeremy FRA, Kawasaki 6 SWANEPOEL Gareth RSA, Kawasaki 7 MARTINI Gianluca ITA, KTM 8 PELLEGRINI Angelo ITA, KTM 9 DE BORTOLI Michele ITA, KTM 10 SIMPSON Shaun IRL, Kawasaki 16 GUNDERSEN Kenneth NOR, Yamaha
Alex Asigno
The all-new YZF-R1 was put through its final pre-season testing paces on 11 and 12 February by Yamaha Motor Italia riders Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga. The test at the Losail circuit in Qatar, venue of the first World Superbike race of the 2007 season on 24 February, was a useful exercise for both riders, as they worked through various machine set-up options and the latest suspension developments.
Corser was the fastest rider on show (1'59.1) in a test where the Yamaha Motor Italia team shared track time with the official Suzuki team. Haga fell on the first day of the tests, but recovered to go third fastest, with a 1’59.9 best lap. The Japanese star set a total of 61 laps, with Corser completing 49 laps.
With a limited tyre supply on hand, long runs to test tyre duration were not a priority at this test. Corser in particular worked through a list of optional settings and components to ensure ultimate competitiveness come race weekend.
Troy Corser "We did enough laps to let us try everything we needed to try and we got all the parts we asked for after the last test. It was a definite improvement. We were not so concerned with doing long runs as the tyres Pirelli sent here are not the tyres we will use for the race anyway. So there was not a lot of point doing very long runs on tyres. I was more interested in getting a feel for what we have been changing on the bikes. We just tried different things and weren’t worried about lap times. I’d say the bike feels even better than it did in our last test in Doha. The track surface can change here day to day but the track wasn’t too bad; we just needed a few more bikes going round to put more rubber down."
Noriyuki Haga "We have already found a lot of improvements here from the last test and the new suspension is working very well. It was difficult in some ways because the tyre possibilities were limited, so we need to wait for the tyres we will get for the race weekend. But so far, so good. We are pleased to have done this test."
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "We started this test with four completely new bikes and we had to spend some time to adjust everything on them. Noriyuki had a small crash yesterday morning so he lost a small amount of time. It went well from then on and today everything went pretty good. We didn’t do so many long runs, but Noriyuki did 12 laps on one set of tyres at the end. All in all a good test."
Circuit: Losail, Doha Circuit Length: 5.380km Race Lap Record: 2'00.061 (Noriyuki Haga, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 58.1 (Troy Bayliss, 2006) Temp: 23ºC
Unofficial laptimes: 1. Corser Yamaha Motor Italia 1’59.1 2. Biaggi Suzuki Alstare 1’59.3 3. Haga Yamaha Motor Italia 1’59.9 4. Kagayama Suzuki Alstare 2’00.3
Alex Asigno
Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards continued their relentless march towards the first race of the season with another promising day’s work in Sepang today. Having concentrated on trying new parts for Yamaha yesterday, it was Michelin’s turn today and the Yamaha Factory Racing riders spent most of the day testing new tyres, with the Malaysian temperatures providing the ideal proving ground for the latest generation of Michelin rubber.
The Yamaha pair consolidated yesterday’s good work with another day of fast times, both dipping under the 990cc lap record pace on race tyres. Tomorrow both riders will complete a long-run, before the team packs up and heads west to Qatar for the next round of pre-season testing. Valentino Rossi Position: 1st Time: 2'02.099 Laps: 53
“Today we tested some new tyres for Michelin, both front and rear. We haven’t found any special improvements to the front since the last test, but for the rear we tried something interesting to improve the edge grip. I’m very happy because I think we’re working in the right direction and we have definitely made improvements in this area. We have also continued to work on the stability in braking, changing the set-up in order to improve this even more. Finally today we worked on the engine mapping, as this year fuel consumption is going to be a very important factor. I am gaining more understanding of this new bike every day and I have a really good feeling with it. Tomorrow we will make a long run in order to compare with our data from the last test, and it will be interesting to see how all the improvements we’ve made this week make a difference to the performance of the bike over a race-distance.” 
Colin Edwards Position: 2nd Time: 2'02.118 Laps: 44
“It was pretty warm today and I had to go out in the hottest part of the day to test tyres, so that was quite hard work! Anyway we got through a whole lot more stuff today and things are getting better and better. We tested a couple more new things for Yamaha and then did a lot of tyre work with Michelin. Looking back at the last test, just a couple of weeks ago, everything has evolved so much since then it’s amazing! We’ve moved forward an incredible amount over just five days of testing so far this year, so that bodes well. Last time here I was doing low 2’03s comfortably, but this time I’m doing low 2’02s lap after lap and they’re coming so easily, without me really having to push too hard at all. We’ve got a long run to do tomorrow and a few more loose ends to tie up, but we’re in good shape!”
Davide Brivio - Team Director Today both riders focused on tyres and we had some new material from Michelin. It was a very interesting day all round. Generally speaking, in these two days we have made small but important improvements compared to the previous test here. Tomorrow both riders will make a long-run and we will see if these improvements will be crucial towards race-performance.”
Unofficial Lap Times 1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 2'02.099 2. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 2'02.118 3. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 2'02.554 4. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Yamaha 2'02.745 5. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki 2'03.761 6. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Yamaha 2'05.002 7. Andrew Pitt (AUS) Ilmor 2'07.923
Sepang Lap Record (990cc) Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2006 - 2'02.127
Sepang Best Lap (990cc) Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2006 - 2'00.605
Alex Asigno
Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi proved they are more than ready for the challenge ahead with their new 800cc Yamahas by clocking some outstanding times today, on the third and final day of testing in Sepang. Both took the chance to try new Michelin qualifying tyres and Edwards stunned his crew by dipping well under the current pole position record, set by Rossi at last year’s race on the old 990cc Yamaha, with a lap of 2’00.248. Rossi also came close to his own pole record with a time of 2’00.793. Both riders spent the day continuing to work on set-up and tyre-testing before completing long runs, enabling them to see the benefits of their latest developments under race-like conditions.
The Yamaha Factory Racing Team will now pack up and head west for the next stage of testing in Qatar on February 13th-15th. It will be the first time this season that the entire MotoGP class will be on track together and Rossi and Edwards are looking forward to seeing how their 800cc bikes fare at a new track alongside a full field of their competitors.
Colin Edwards Position: 1st Time: 2'00.248 Laps: 46
“We started off this morning by testing a couple more front tyres and a different bike setting, just generally playing around with a few things. At the end of the morning we tried another new rear tyre which was pretty good too, and then we had two qualifiers to try. I came in from the first one thinking that I’d probably done a low 2'01; I’d made a couple of small mistakes and thought I could have been faster, so I couldn’t believe it when it was around the 2’00.6 mark. The next qualifier was pretty unbelievable and the bike just felt perfect, so I’m really pleased with that time. The long run was pretty interesting…I’d already done about 30 laps in the morning session and I was feeling pretty tired, I went off a bit too hard at the start and was giving it all I had, it was feeling great but then after about 14 laps I was seeing double! I slowed it down for a bit but there wasn’t much point pushing it so I came in a bit early. Anyway things were still improved from the last time here so we were happy. Overall it’s been a really great test; the bike is unbelievable, better than ever even with less power!”
Valentino Rossi Position: 2nd Time: 2'00.793 Laps: 43
“It was another really positive day for us, and I am so happy because the bike is feeling great. During these three days we have worked a lot on the suspension set-up, in order to fix the problems we had in braking, and I think we’ve done a very good job on that. We’ve been pretty fast all week, quicker than during the January test, and the long run today was faster too which is important. I am also pleased that Colin is going so well, he made a fantastic time today, he’s very fast! We also worked again today on the engine mapping, as I said yesterday; fuel consumption is going to be crucial for everyone this year and we can’t afford to make mistakes! I am sure that we can still improve in every area and now we have the chance to carry on like this in Qatar next week, where we will also have the first race in one month. Next week will be a very important test!”
Davide Brivio - Team Director
“We leave Sepang in the certainty that we’ve made a very good test and we have improved the situation with both riders. Colin has made a great improvement since January’s test and I think that no one has ever ridden so fast here in Sepang as he did today! This shows that the 800cc bikes are already faster than the 990s! We are working very well and the general development of the new bike is going very well. Now we go to Qatar for the next test and we know that will be a very important test for two reasons: first, we will be testing in a different circuit, so we will have the chance to confirm what we’ve learnt here at another track and second, we will meet all the other teams there and will be able to see our level alongside them.”
Unofficial Lap Times 1. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 2'00.248 2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 2'00.793 3. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 2'02.071 4. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki 2'02.607 5. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Yamaha 2'03.380 6. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Yamaha 2'04.636 7. Andrew Pitt (AUS) Ilmor 2'07.373
Sepang Lap Record (990cc) Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2006 - 2'02.127
Sepang Best Lap (990cc) Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2006 - 2'00.605
Alex Asigno
The Yamaha Factory Racing Team’s second test of 2007 got underway in Sepang, Malaysia today, with Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards back out onboard their prototype 800cc machines for another three-day test. With most teams having chosen to test in Australia last week, Yamaha decided to return to Sepang and take advantage of the relatively quieter atmosphere this week, sharing the track with just five other riders from Tech 3 Yamaha, Kawasaki and Ilmor. With temperatures slightly lower than at the previous test, Edwards and Rossi, who set the first and second fastest times of the day respectively, spent the day working on the set-up of the new bike and testing some new parts for Yamaha and Ohlins. Both riders were very happy with the day’s work and reported significant improvement to the stability of the bike under braking, laying the groundwork for what they hope will be two more encouraging and fruitful days of testing as the March 10th deadline of the first race looms ever closer. Colin Edwards Position: 1st Time: 2’02.175 Laps: 47 "Well I’m definitely feeling better than I did last time…I think everyone was a little bit rusty after the break but it’s ‘situation normal’ again now and I’m feeling much stronger on the bike. I’m pretty happy with today’s work; I’m already fast and the bike keeps on feeling better and better. Over the first 42 laps we did today we only used two different rears so it’s clear that the tyres are working well too. We concentrated on Yamaha stuff today and we made a huge step forward with the rear shock. We knew things still weren’t perfect in that area, but we’ve made a big change today and the stability of the bike under braking has improved 100% as a result. Tomorrow we’re going to focus more on tyres with Michelin and hopefully things will keep on improving."
 
Valentino Rossi Position: 2nd Time: 2’02.221 Laps: 40 "Today we worked a lot on bike set-up and we’ve tried a few different directions, focusing mainly on the new rear shock we have from Ohlins and on the braking. What we’ve seen and understood today is very positive and this makes me very confident about the next few days of testing. We decided to come back to Sepang, where there would be fewer teams testing, in order to be more relaxed and less focused on lap times. This is the way we are planning to work throughout the test. Anyway, my lap times are already fast so of course we’ll keep trying to improve in the next two days. Tomorrow we will concentrate more on working with Michelin and testing new tyres. At the moment we’re waiting for some new engine parts from Japan; we’re looking for more horsepower, but this is the bike we have and I am very happy about how things are going at the moment." Davide Brivio - Team Director "Today has been a good first day, in a nice relaxed atmosphere without too many other people around. Today we focused almost exclusively on set-up work and we had some new material to try, which has given our riders a better feeling with the bike. We’ve clearly improved the general set-up for both riders and also made some great steps on the braking, which was one of our key areas to work on during this test. We got some very useful information today, which we can continue to develop over the next two days, and I am happy with the results of our first day." Unofficial Lap Times 1. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 2'02.175 2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 2'02.221 3. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 2'02.966 4. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Yamaha 2'03.219 5. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki 2'03.959 6. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Yamaha 2'06.558 7. Andrew Pitt (AUS) Ilmor 2'08.640 Sepang Lap Record (990cc) Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2006 - 2'02.127 Sepang Best Lap (990cc) Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2006 - 2'00.605
Alex Asigno
Yamaha Motor Company Ltd and Valentino Rossi will continue to race together until the end of the 2008 season. The next two seasons will see Rossi ride as part of Yamaha’s Official Factory Team, with which he has already won two MotoGP World Championship titles since joining the Factory in 2004. The Italian, who turns 28 this month, has won 25 Grand Prix during his three seasons with Yamaha and currently stands third in the all-time Grand Prix winners list. Rossi, who is spearheading the rider development of Yamaha’s new 800cc motorcycle in the run-up to the new MotoGP season, will be back in action next week for Yamaha’s second test of the year in Sepang, Malaysia. Lin Jarvis, Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing, commented "We are thrilled to confirm that our partnership with Valentino will continue for a fifth year in 2008, and it’s especially good to have completed all contract negotiations before the start of the rapidly approaching 2007 racing season. This now leaves Valentino free to concentrate solely on the job in hand – winning back the World Championship! The past three years with Valentino have been a huge success for the Yamaha brand worldwide, Valentino is a great champion and there is no doubt in our minds that he remains the best possible person to continue to lead Yamaha’s MotoGP effort for the foreseeable future." "I’m very happy I renewed the contract with Yamaha until the end of 2008 so now I can just concentrate on racing this season" said Rossi. "I think that last year, when we fought back from what seemed an impossible situation to come so close to taking the title, showed what a fantastic team we are and this is why I want to stay with Yamaha. The past three years with Yamaha have been very positive and this is why I am pleased to stay. The atmosphere in our garage is always relaxed and happy and I think that this is something very special and difficult to find. I have great faith in Yamaha and I am very excited about my future and the future of the 800cc bike with them. We are ready to challenge with the new 800cc and now this agreement gives us the chance to launch this challenge for the next two years". Davide Brivio, Team Director of Yamaha Factory Racing, commented: "During the last three seasons we have won on our debut with Valentino in 2004, dominated in 2005 and lost in 2006: to extend the contract for a further year at the end of a difficult season like the last one is the greatest demonstration of the trust Valentino has placed in this Team. This is the great motivation for everyone; Valentino, the engineers, the mechanics, all the staff and, of course, all those who, like me, have lived and continue to live through the victories and the defeats so intensely. We will continue to enjoy ourselves on track and to provide enjoyment for the huge numbers of passionate fans of two-wheeled sport; together we will look forward to the next two seasons with great energy."
Alex Asigno
The Yamaha Factory Racing Team rounded off their first test of 2007 in fine style today, with Valentino Rossi topping the unofficial time sheets after three days of testing. Both Rossi and his team-mate Colin Edwards made more positive progress with Yamaha’s new prototype 800cc machine and the team closed the test feeling confident about their level of performance at this stage of the season. Although they finished the day a little earlier than usual, both riders completed their full agenda of work, once again trying several new tyres for Michelin, with Rossi also concentrating on improving the balance of the bike when braking.
Rossi’s best time of 2’00.936 was set on a qualifying tyre and is close to his pole position time from last year’s Grand Prix, when he was riding the old 990cc machine. Close behind him was Suzuki’s John Hopkins with a time of 2’01.026, whilst Edwards, who did not use a qualifying tyre today, was eighth fastest with a lap of 2’02.266. Whilst most teams will now head directly to Phillip Island for another test, Yamaha Factory Racing have instead elected to return to Sepang in ten days time, with another three-day test on 5th, 6th and 7th February.
Valentino Rossi Position: 1st Time: 2’00.936 Laps: 30 “Today was another good day for us. We concentrated a lot on braking and definitely made some improvements, although I think we can still make it even better and this is something we will work on when we come back here. We had an important technical meeting today and came to some interesting conclusions, which will help Yamaha’s engineers to continue to improve our new bike. We’ve got through our entire programme for this test, including testing many new tyres for Michelin. Today I also had the chance to try a qualifying tyre and I was able to go below 2.01; I think that Michelin have done a very good job over the winter. We tried the 16” tyre again and I am still sure that it’s good for us, although we still need more time to work on it with Michelin. Overall it’s been a very positive test for us. Most of the other teams will go to Phillip Island now, but we will return here in ten days with more new things to test. We still need to work on the engine, although for this early stage it’s very good. So far we have concentrated on power delivery, rather than on the power itself, but this only the first test of the year so there is plenty more time!”
Colin Edwards Position: 8th Time: 2’02.266 Laps: 22 “I’m heading home feeling really happy after three excellent day’s work. We didn’t do so much today, 22 laps, but it was enough to back up what we’ve learnt this week and finish feeling sure about everything. We changed direction with tyres a bit today and went towards the package Valentino's been using and that definitely improved things even more; my fastest lap was on a race tyre similar to the one he’s been using quite a bit. We didn’t try a qualifier, but I really felt that I got into the ‘zone’ on the race tyre and that was when my best time came. We tried a new front and a new rear as well and they were both great, the tyre situation in general is really good. We played around a bit with the setting too and tested a few things Valentino's been using, but actually I preferred my setting so we came back to that. So that’s it for the first test and it’s been really encouraging. A quick rest now and then we’ll be back for more!”
Davide Brivio - Team Director “We’ve finished this first test of 2007 with both riders and the team feeling good. Valentino and Colin shared a lot of information between one another and this is very important in this development period. The times are already very satisfying and this means that we’re working in the right direction, even if there’s still a lot of work to do! The final conclusion of this test is very positive but we need to keep working hard; we have clear ideas about what we need to do. We’re coming back here again soon and we will have new items to test, especially tyres, and we will be able to continue to fine-tune the set-up of the new 800. 10th March is getting closer and closer so we have to just keep on working!”
Unofficial Lap Times: 1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 2’00.936 2. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki 2’01.026 3. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 2’01.274 4. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 2’01.664 5. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 2’01.691 6. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 2’01.878 7. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 2’01.884 8. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 2’02.266 9. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati 2’02.407 10. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda 2’02.489 11. Carlos Checa (SPA) Honda 2’02.583 12. Alex Barros (BRA) Ducati 2’02.630 13. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda 2’02.927 14. Alex Hoffman (GER) Ducati 2’03.040 15. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Honda 2’03.077 16. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Yamaha 2’03.308 17. Kenny Roberts (USA) Team KR 2’03.330 18. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki 2’03.592 19. Shinichi Ito (JPN) Bridgestone Test 2’03.97 3 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Yamaha Did not ride
Sepang Lap Record (990cc): Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2006 – 2’02.127
Sepang Best Lap (990cc): Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2006 – 2’00.605
Alex Asigno
A second day of testing in Malaysia today saw the Yamaha Factory Racing Team continue to come on in leaps and bounds with the development of their new prototype 800cc motorcycle. With rain threatening for tomorrow’s third and final day of testing, both Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards elected to take advantage of clear skies and complete their long-run today, the first for either rider on the new bike. Initial feedback was good and Rossi especially was very pleased with the performance of his Yamaha under race conditions. Edwards, who was trying a different set-up and tyre package to his team-mate in order to gather as much information as possible for Yamaha’s engineers and Michelin, was less comfortable during his long-run, but importantly was able to identify some of the key areas in which the team still need to focus their attention over the coming tests.
Both riders improved on their times from yesterday, with Edwards dipping under the old 990cc lap record pace with a fastest lap of 2’01.930, set during the morning on race tyres. He was just behind Suzuki’s John Hopkins, who topped the unofficial time sheets for the second day running in a time of 2’01.806. Rossi posted the fifth fastest time of the day after completing 57 laps, with a time of 2’02.619. The Yamaha Factory Racing Team will complete their final day of this first test tomorrow.
Colin Edwards Position: 2nd Time: 2'01.930 Laps: 60 "I’m not sure if it’s to do with the fact that I’m getting old, or just that I’ve been off the bike for six weeks, but this week it seems that I’m much stronger in the morning than in the afternoon! The morning felt really good today, Michelin had me working in one direction and Valentino in another and I was quite excited about how everything was feeling and about the times I was able to do. I did my best time on a race tyre and it was coming pretty easily. Michelin have worked seriously hard over the winter and the new front tyres they’re bringing us are just getting better and better, so congratulations to them. This afternoon was much harder and it was pretty hot out there too. The package I used for the long-run wasn’t so good, it definitely wasn’t the right direction for the rear tyre and it was hard work for me. Anyway Valentino's package worked well and that’s why we’re here after all – to work out what does work and what doesn’t! It’s given us some clear answers and now we can use tomorrow to double check what we’ve learned this week and finish on a good note."
 
Valentino Rossi Position: 5th Time: 2’02.619 Laps: 57 "Today I made my first long-run with the new bike, because I was worried about the weather for tomorrow. It was important to be able to see the level of the bike over a long distance, so we didn’t want to risk waiting for the last day. I am very happy about how it went; the performance of the bike and tyres was very good. We still need to improve the braking a bit, but I am sure it will get better as we continue to work on the set-up. The temperature at noon was very high and the sun felt like a sword beating down on my helmet, but it was still great fun and I really enjoyed myself! Of course with the 990cc bike the top speed was a bit faster, but overall with the new bike the pace on a long-run isn’t so different, because it puts less stress on the tyres so their performance remains higher for longer. The physical effort is similar for both bikes, and I feel very motivated after the long-run today. We tested the 16” front tyre today; we still need to work more on this, but the initial feeling is very good and the handling is a bit better with it. The bike is more stable in the corner and therefore I have more confidence. I think in the end it could be a good solution, but we need more time to be sure. Tomorrow we have other tyres to test and we will just continue to work on the general set-up of the bike."
Davide Brivio - Team Director "It has been another good day for us here in Malaysia. Every day we understand more and more about our new bike and we gain more experience about the right way to work and ride with this new 800cc Yamaha. Today both riders made a long-run, which is always an important indication of how we are progressing. Valentino's was very positive and we gathered a lot of important information from it. Colin had more difficulty and showed some of the problem areas we need to work on, but he also gained positives from today and his best time this morning was very fast. Of course we’ve got a lot of work to do, but that is the reason for testing! Tomorrow we will continue like this, working on the set-up of our bike and also testing some new tyres for Michelin."
Unofficial Lap Times
1. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki 2'01.806 2. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 2'01.930 3. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 2'02.275 4. Alex Barros (BRA) Ducati 2'02.538 5. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 2'02.619 6. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 2'02.793 7. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 2'02.806 8. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 2'02.948 9. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 2'03.098 10. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati 2'03.190 11. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda 2'03.253 12. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Honda 2'03.633 13. Carlos Checa (SPA) Honda 2'03.681 14. Shinichi Ito (JPN) Bridgestone Test 2'03.700 15. Kenny Roberts (USA) Team KR 2'03.800 16. Alex Hoffman (GER) Ducati 2'03.895 17. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda 2'04.124 18. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki 2'04.171 19. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Yamaha 2'04.350 20. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Yamaha 2'04.892
Sepang Lap Record (990cc) Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2006 - 2'02.127
Sepang Best Lap (990cc) Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2006 - 2'00.605
Alex Asigno
Yamaha Factory Racing Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards got the new year off to a promising start at the first MotoGP test of the season in Sepang, Malaysia today, setting the third and fourth fastest times respectively. With all teams now running new 800cc prototype machines, in accordance with the new MotoGP engine capacity limits, the 20-strong field of riders enjoyed good weather throughout the day and Yamaha's two factory riders made the most of a full day of testing. Both riders had completed two tests on the new bike before Christmas and followed on from where they left off today, concentrating on double-checking the information they gathered during those tests and developing the set-up of the new bike, whilst also finding time to test some new Michelin tyres.
The fastest lap of the day, a time of 2'02.277, was set by Suzuki rider John Hopkins, with his team-mate Chris Vermeulen second with a best lap of 2'03.049. Rossi and Edwards were close behind, the Italian setting a best time of 2'03.184 from 67 laps and his American team-mate fourth with a lap of 2'03.337 after 61 laps. "I am feeling very confident at the start of this test and the new season. I've made the most of my holidays, had a good rest and I think I am starting in the best shape possible. Everyone is very motivated and excited now! The bike I am riding here is basically the same as the one I rode in Jerez at the last test and everything feels very good with it still. You have to ride these bikes slightly differently to the old 990cc bikes, you need to be slightly softer, but we understand more about them every day. Some things still need to be improved but the chassis is good and we don't have any of the problems we had at the start of last season. We need to be fast from the start this year and at the moment it seems that's the case. The power delivery of the bike is good, better than I hoped for at this early stage of the season, and I am feeling quite confident overall about the situation we're in. Today we mainly worked on setting and tyres and we've definitely made a good start to the new year, now we will try to continue like this for the next two days.
"It's been good to have a bit of a break and some time at home with the family, but I'm excited about the new season and it's good to be back on the bike! The rain held off so we got started on time this morning. The bike feels pretty similar to what we were riding before Christmas, of course there are some subtle tweaks here and there and some new stuff, but nothing too drastic and it still feels really good. This morning we worked on tyres with Michelin before testing a couple of new things with the bike this afternoon, but mostly we were just backing up everything we worked out at the last two tests, double and triple-checking every setting to ensure that we're working in the right direction. It's obvious that everyone's already at a high level and the times are fast, so it's going to be hard work for us all from now on!"
Davide Brivio - Team Director "It's good to get back to work after the winter break and it has been a positive first day for us here in Sepang. The bikes were assembled at Yamaha in Japan last week and they have started the year in their black 'winter-test livery', with yellow stickers for Valentino and red for Colin. Today we've worked on basic set-up and we haven't had any problems so far. All the information we gathered at the tests before Christmas has been taken into account and once we felt confident with this latest version of the 2007 bike, we were also able to spend some time testing new tyres for Michelin. We've definitely started our job well today and worked in a productive manner. Despite a poor weather forecast, the rain has held off and we've been able to use all the track time available to us. Hopefully this will continue and we can keep on working hard through the next two days and make the most of this important first test."
Unofficial Lap Times
1. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki 2'02.277 2. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 2'03.049 3. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 2'03.184 4. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 2'03.337 5. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 2'03.413 6. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 2'03.538 7. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 2'03.542 8. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 2'03.620 9. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Yamaha 2'03.785 10. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati 2'03.944 11. Alex Hoffman (GER) Ducati 2'04.003 12. Alex Barros (BRA) Ducati 2'04.011 13. Kenny Roberts (USA) Team KR 2'04.088 14. Carlos Checa (SPA) Honda 2'04.101 15. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Honda 2'04.138 16. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda 2'04.270 17. Shinichi Ito (JPN) Bridgestone Test 2'04.641 18. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda 2'04.710 19. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki 2'04.718 20. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Yamaha 2'07.403
Sepang Lap Record Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2006 - 2'02.127
Sepang Best Lap Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2006 - 2'00.605
Alex Asigno
For the third time since the conception of the new technical regulations of the Dakar the Yamaha WR450F has been victorious in the hotly contested 450cc motorcycle class. David Frétigné won the class in 2004 and 2005 and Helder Rodrigues came close in 2006 when he finished ninth overall as best Yamaha rider. This year Rodrigues managed to clinch the 450 class title. The Portuguese Enduro star finished two and half hours behind race winner Cyril Despres (KTM >450cc) to match Frétigné’s best performance in 2005 with a fifth position overall. Quad rider Josef Machanek caused more reason for celebrations in the Yamaha camp with his overall victory in the Quad category. The Czech proved the speed and endurance of his Banshee YFZ350 by leading only five fellow competitors from 13 starters over the finish line.
Helder Rodrigues’ fifth position overall places him as second best privateer rider behind Norwegian Pal Anders Ullevalseter (KTM), who finished fourth overall, but on a bigger capacity bike. Besides consistency, Helder showed some fearsome speed on the more technical stages. He finished second in the sandy opening leg, won the second and tenth stage and finished third in the 16 km beach special on the last day. On the stages where top speed was less advantageous, Rodrigues always made sure to claw back time on the bigger bikes. The accumulated experience of his previous two Dakar participations helped Rodrigues to celebrate his first African stage win this year; “The stage of day 10 was very technical, which allowed me to battle with bikes from the bigger categories. With my 450, I lost out somewhat on the straight sections, but I was able to make up for this on the technical parts. I’ve had a good day and this victory is very important for the team, and me as well, because it’s the first time that I’ve won a special stage in Africa. Previously, my best was a third place last year”. Rodrigues continued by confirming he exceeded his own expectations, and vows to be back next year even stronger; “My aim was to be in the top five and to win one stage. I am fifth in the overall rankings and I won two stages. So I am more then happy. We all worked well together. The team was better and so was the Yamaha. I was unable to give priority to preparing the Dakar because of my endurance race commitments. But next year, I’ll change priorities and dedicate more time to preparing for the Dakar”.
 
Besides the winning success of Rodrigues there have been other great achievements of WR450F riders. The Frenchman Michel Marchini finished seventh overall and second in the 450 class, while Dutchwomen Mirjam Pol again managed to finish as runner-up female. She has left 84 males in her wake and 49th overall is a significant improvement over her 80th place last year. Although it is not an official category victory, Mirjam is in fact the fastest woman on a 450, as her French opponent Ludivine Puy (KTM) finished in front of her on a bigger capacity machine. The formidable result for the 23-year-old sports teacher did not come easy and she has had some ups and downs since leaving Lisbon; “At the end of the marathon stage in Foum Zguid, I started running a fever and it got worse the next day. Then during the stage to Zouerat I landed badly after a jump and twisted my right ankle. I did not think much of it in the beginning, but the pain kept me awake all night.” With her ankle tightly strapped, the strong Dutchwoman kept on going. “I don’t care so much about my ranking or about the other women in the race. Ludivine Puy was better than me this year”, she admits looking at the rankings. During the stage to Atar, Mirjam deserved a fair-play award when she stopped to give another top female competitor Swedish Annie Seel some fuel. Most of the seasoned contestants judged the 2007 Dakar to be a little bit easier then previous editions. Over half of the 245 motorcyclist, 132 to be precise, made it to the finish, a percentage that is slightly higher then past events. Helder Rodrigues led the following 29 fellow WR450F riders over the finish line on the beach at Dakar:
Position Name Total time Difference to winner 5 RODRIGUES (POR) 54:07:34 02:30:41 7 MARCHINI (FRA) 54:37:20 03:00:27 15 MACEK (CZE) 59:16:38 07:39:45 16 PAIN (FRA) 59:18:50 07:41:57 17 ALGAY (FRA) 59:55:25 08:18:32 22 CROQUELOIS (FRA) 60:53:28 09:16:35 29 COTTET (SUI) 61:34:43 09:57:50 33 VAYSSIE (FRA) 62:17:07 10:40:14   43 GADIOUX (FRA) 66:17:39 14:40:46   48 WILLEMSEN (HOL) 67:45:05 16:08:12 49 POL (HOL) 67:48:12 16:11:19 58 IRVINE (MEX) 70:04:49 18:27:56 60 RONCONI (ITA) 70:30:53 18:54:00 70 CARON (FRA) 73:04:56 21:28:03 80 MIOTTO (ITA) 75:15:16 23:38:23 81 VULLIET (FRA) 75:45:18 24:08:25 83 VULLIET (FRA) 76:08:56 24:32:03 91 CHIRENT (FRA) 78:33:05 26:56:12 92 TRISCONI (SUI) 78:44:56 27:08:03 95 STIJKEL (HOL) 79:36:27 27:59:34 98 ZUIDINGA (HOL) 80:55:33 29:18:40 103 BIANCHI (POR) 82:13:53 30:37:00 113 VILLY (FRA) 85:29:34 33:52:41 114 JAYEZ (AFG) 86:51:40 35:14:47 115 ANO (FRA) 87:58:56 36:22:03 116 MELLONI (ESP) 88:33:32 36:56:39 117 DE GROOT (HOL) 88:46:45 37:09:52 118 BROWET (BEL) 89:22:59 37:46:06 124 OHASHI (JAP) 95:45:39 44:08:46 126 KIRISHIMA (JAP) 96:30:12 44:53:19  
Alex Asigno
With a stage-win, a second place and six other top 15 finishes Yamaha WR450F rider Helder Rodrigues (POR) is the current leader of the category up to 450cc. Helder is closely chased by Frenchman Michel Marchini, also riding a Yamaha WR450F. With nine of the 15 riding days and already 5000 km absolved, the riders are now less then a week away from the finish of the grueling 2007 edition of the Dakar rally. Top Yamaha man David Frétigné held the 450cc class lead up to stage seven, but then misfortune hit him hard and he was forced to retire. David crashed heavily in the dunes on the seventh leg from Zouérat to Atâr, the last stage before the rest day. David explained; "After the fuel stop around 350 km's in the stage my bike did not run well and I crashed when the engine stopped when I was descending a dune. I went over the handle bars and the bike landed on top of me and the foot peg hit me in my right side, injuring my ribs." Despite the aggravation David remounted straight away and carried on with his crash damaged bike in order not to loose too much time on the leaders. "The fuelling problems continued and David lost a further one and a half hours doing the necessary repairs. David arrived very tired and frustrated at the finish line; "To make things worse, just on the day when I have a problem the stage was made ten km longer due to poor visibility!" After the finish it became clear that David's condition was pretty bad with two fractured and one broken rib; 'I did not sleep at all and it felt like somebody was poking a knife in my right side". The next morning David decided to retire from the race; I'm not able to restart in this condition and be competitive, I would have to take unnecessary risks just for making up the numbers. I came here to finish each of the stages in the top six, close to the podium overall and win the 450cc class, that is now impossible, so it is better to quit."
 
With Frétigné out, Yamaha's hopes are now on Helder Rodrigues who had one of his toughest days on the Sunday stage. This 589 km special stage was the longest and possibly the hardest day of the rally; very difficult to navigate and with a very rocky surface. Rodrigues was one of the riders to get lost early on, costing him a detour of 15 km, yet he recovered strongly to finish 12th overall. Yesterday, Monday 15 January,Rodrigues further improved his position in the overall standings with a seventh position finish, Marchini came in eight minutes later to trail Rodrigues on 40 minutes in the overall standings and second in the 450 class. The leaders overall (bikes over 450cc capacity) are the factory supported Coma (Spa), followed by Despres (Fra) and Casteu (Fra). Yamaha rider Josef Machacek (CZE) is on top of the Quads leaderboard.
Alex Asigno
Yamaha makes steady progress with the new YZF-R1 The all-new YZF-R1 was given its first 2007 testing shakedown by Yamaha Motor Italia riders Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga, at the final official Pirelli tests of the close season. Corser took the equal fourth best time of the three days, with a lap of 1’32.2, set on day two - some 0.2 seconds under the current race lap record pace. Haga also had to rely on a day two best to set his fastest mark of the sessions, a 1’32.8, in what was another largely closely contested outing for the five Superbike teams in attendance.
For this second outing with the new R1, the team had limited preparation time. Meaning that not all of the usual adjustments in chassis/ swingarm combination were available to the riders, and thus the ultimate best times were limited. Corser, despite this temporary handicap, was still a force on his home circuit while Haga found a good race set-up on the final day. Both riders managed to gather important information for the final test in Qatar next February. Fastest rider at the test was Troy Bayliss, who scored a new Superbike track best of 1’30.7, with his team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi half a second behind.
Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia) "The top speed and the engine feel is not bad, but we are struggling a bit with rear grip coming out of corners. We are a bit too sideways. So the lap times are not coming for us at the moment. I’m pretty happy with the bike and the team is working well, but we just need a bit more testing, and this is only the third day of riding a Yamaha at Phillip Island. We need to adjust the swingarm angle. We could use a hard tyre and get the same grip and push as a qualifier. But it’s not that disheartening because despite having some troubles we are not that far away on lap time. I know where I’m losing time and how much time I’m losing, and I’m confident we can fix it."
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "Finally I found a good setting and good acceleration, but I still had problems with a few things, same as Troy. Today I made 20 laps in a long run, which went very good, but after eight laps the rear problem started and the tyre started grooving. We need more testing with the new parts.”
 
 
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) " We did not experience a rear grip problem in Qatar during the last test, so this was an important test. Now we can make the necessary changes to the specs to become fully competitive with our new R1. In discussion with the riders and chief mechanics, we know what the solution is for the set-up and we will test the parts here during race weekend. It is not a big thing, but we simply did not have time to bring these parts here now. Noriyuki made a good race simulation today."
OFFICIAL WSB TESTS: AUSTRALIA Circuit: Phillip Island Circuit Length: 4.445km Race Lap Record: 1'32.402 (Troy Bayliss, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 30.7 (Troy Bayliss, 2007, at this test) Temp: 25ºC
World Superbike 1. Bayliss Ducati Xerox 1’30.7 2. Lanzi Ducati Xerox 1’31.2 3. Toseland Honda Ten Kate 1’31.7 4. Corser Yamaha Motor Italia 1’32.2 5. Laconi Kawasaki PSG-1 1’32.2 6. Kagayama Suzuki Alstare 1’32.3 7. Nieto Kawasaki PSG-1 1’32.3 8. Biaggi Suzuki Alstare 1’32.4 9. Haga Yamaha Motor Italia 1’32.8 10. Rolfo Honda Ten Kate 1’33.2
Pirelli Test Session: Australia Circuit: Phillip Island Date: 13 - 15 January 2007 Temp: 25ºC Weather: Sunny, cooler in mornings
Curtain equal fastest and at record pace Yamaha World Supersport Team riders Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes completed their latest schedule of long haul testing in an ultimately successful fashion, with Curtain setting the joint fastest lap of the test and Parkes carrying out a satisfactory long run to simulate a real race.
Curtain tied for the new circuit Supersport best ever lap with Honda rider Kenan Sofuoglu, each setting a remarkable 1’33.9 - more in 2006 Superbike territory than Supersport. The new selection of rear tyres the team tested proved able in terms of permitting a few fast lap times, but the rears operated best in the lower track temperatures of the morning sessions. The main competitors had quite some difficulties countering the lap times of Curtain, resulting in many crashes.
Parkes suffered a crash on the second day and a trivial problem with his repaired bike on the morning of the final day stopped him improving his still impressive best of 1’34.8 even more. Nonetheless, the team tested all their new equipment and the new tyre solutions, in readiness for the start of the season on February 24th, at Losail, in Qatar. This test was the first outing under direct ownership of Yamaha Motor Europe. Although the team still operates from their Yamaha Motor Germany workshop, the overall management and ownership of the team is transferred to the European headquarter of Yamaha in the Netherlands. This enables the team to benefit from Yamaha Motor Europe’s experience and resources.
Kevin Curtain (Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I did a 1’33.9, and I was really impressed! Pretty good for a 600. Today was obviously good in terms of the outright lap times but we have quite a big rear endurance problem on the tyres that give the best lap time, and I think most people have the same. We always have a known quantity tyre that we can fall back on for the race and in general my test has been really good right from the start. The front has been good here, and we know what works and doesn’t work. We basically used the setting from the recent Qatar tests as a base point."
Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport Team) "A pretty good test but yesterday I crashed one of my bikes and we didn’t use it again that day, and then we put a new gearbox in the other bike. Due to my crash, I suffered a problem with chattering and that cost us a lot of time in the morning, when the conditions where best, so I couldn’t improve my time. In the afternoon we did a race simulation and that was really good. We used a tyre from last year on the back for that and of course the individual times were not as good. Track temperature has been a big question here."
Terrell Thien (Team Manager - Yamaha World Supersport Team) “We could only set our very best times when the track temperature is around 20 degrees, and above 30 everything goes slower. So for long runs in these conditions we have to use an older spec tyre, without the same outright grip, but with the endurance. For our work, everything was on schedule, if not a little ahead. That allowed us to work on some electronics, and if we use all the electronics we have, it saves the rear tyre a lot. This may be the way for the future."
OFFICIAL SBK TESTS: AUSTRALIA Circuit: Phillip Island Circuit Length: 4.445km Race Lap Record: 1'36.399 (Broc Parkes, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 33.9 (Curtain and Kenan Sofuoglu, 2007, at this test) Temp: 25ºC
World Supersport 1. Curtain Yamaha World Supersport Team 1’33.9 2. Sofuoglu Hannspree Honda 1’33.9 3. Nannelli Ducati SC Caracchi 1’34.3 4. Charpentier Hannspree Honda 1’34.4 5. Parkes Yamaha World Supersport Team 1’34.8 6. Veneman Hoegee Suzuki 1’35.6 7. Foret Kawasaki Gil Motorsport 1’35.7 8. Riba Kawasaki Gil Motorsport 1’36.0 9. Kallio Hoegee Suzuki 1’37.0
Alex Asigno
Yamaha WR450F mounted riders have dominated the opening two stages that took the caravan from the start in the Portuguese capital Lisbon to the ferry crossing bound for Africa at the Spanish harbor of Malaga. Portuguese enduro stars Helder Rodrigues and Ruben Faria won a stage each to lead the bike category into Morocco.
Ruben Faria was the surprise winner of the opening leg, beating his country man Helder Rodrigues by 16 seconds in the very tough deep sand of the first special stage. The circumstances took a lot of engine power and resulted in a fuel consumption that was higher than expected. Because of that, Ruben Faria had to nurture his fuel load towards the end, but saw his attempts for home glory rewarded.
Rodrigues, the top Yamaha finisher of the 2006 Dakar, countered on day two by winning the mountainous hard packed special in Spain, holding a 47 seconds advantage overall on Faria. By leading the standings Rodriques seems well on the way to improve his ninth position finish of last year, although this early in the rally he takes things steady. Yamaha's frontman David Frétigné had a less favorable start to his fourth Dakar campaign. Nevertheless he managed to finish 12th on the first day and 8th on the second, bringing him a 9th position in the overall ranking.
Day three of the rally will take the riders from Nador to El Rachidia. This first leg on the African continent is a serious one with total length of 648 km, including a specials stage of 252 km.
 
Helder Rodrigues (POR), winner 2nd stage and 1st overall "I meant to hit hard in the opening stage in my home country, but I just missed the victory by a tiny margin. I'm happy to win the stage of day two though. Now we hit Africa and we will see what we can do, I'm taking it on a day by day basis".
Ruben Faria (POR), winner 1st stage and 2nd overall "I decided to go for an all-out attack, because I knew that it was my chance to win the stage. I had to slow down a bit towards the end to reduce fuel consumption and I reckon I could have ridden even faster. It was a very different route from last year, much more sand, I really like that. But it was exhausting too, I had to overtake at least 80 other competitors!
Day two was a great stage again, although it wasn't as good as the first since I had a fall and hurt my knee. I just hope the injury isn't too bad. I'm not totally reassured, so I will be going to hospital for a few examinations.
David Frétigné (FRA), 9th overall "On day one I had problems with my brakes and that cost me valuable time. The special stage of day two was pretty hazardous and slippery, easy to get it wrong if you loose your concentration. But my bike works perfectly now and that makes all the difference, I was able to get a good feeling with the bike and into a good riding rhythm.
A stage like the one of day two is very complicated, because you can lose a lot if you take too many risks and make a mistake, but it is also important to have a good pace in order to stay in contention. It's a rather difficult balancing act."
Alex Asigno

Dakar Preview

By Alex Asigno in Archives

Shortly after New Year, on January 6th, the 29th edition of the Dakar Rally will traditionally kick off the 2007 motor sport season. Ever since the first event ‘The Dakar’ has been the most grueling test for both man and machine, whereby for bike competitors things are quite a bit rougher then for the car drivers. For the second time in the event’s history the caravan will start from the Portuguese capital Lisbon, when a total of 525 competitors from 42 nationalities will embark on the intimidating journey across some of the toughest desert landscapes on earth.
Formerly known as the Paris-Dakar, the current race is the lasting legacy of one man and his dream: the pioneering French motorcycle racer, late Thierry Sabine. Back in 1977, Sabine was a bike competitor on the tough Abidjan-Nice rally who stranded in the deep Libyan sands. Although he was defeated by the challenging conditions, Sabine fell in love with the harsh beauty of the desert and vowed he would return. One year later, on December 1978, Sabine’s unique event was ready and the first Paris-Dakar took off from Place du Trocadéro in Paris. Since then the event has withstood many challenging issues mostly connected with safety and politics. In 1986 the number of entrants soared to 603, while the event nearly perished in 1993 when only 154 competitors enlisted. Since that low point the Dakar has recovered year by year and although both the name and the routes have changed, the spirit of the original event lives on. Sabine’s vision says it all; ‘it’s a ‘challenge to those who go; a dream for those who stay behind.’
Yamaha is the most victorious motorcycle manufacturer with nine overall victories and has been involved in the rally from the very beginning. At the tender age 21 years old Cyril Neveu won the first event on the iconic XT500, a feat he repeated in the following year. The Dakar’s most successful competitor, Stephan Peterhansel, made the biggest contribution to Yamaha’s victory tally which consists out of the following victories;
1979 Cyril Neveu (F) 1980 Cyril Neveu 1991 Stephan Peterhansel (F) 1992 Stephan Peterhansel 1993 Stephan Peterhansel 1995 Stephan Peterhansel 1996 Edi Orioli (I) 1997 Stephan Peterhansel 1998 Stephan Peterhansel
After Peterhansel’s last win Yamaha withdrew officially from the rally to return to the event five years later putting their latest groundbreaking technology to the ultimate endurance test. Back then Dakar rookie David Frétigné caused a stir by winning three stages as he challenged the big capacity twin cylinder bikes on his revolutionary WR450F 2-Trac mono cylinder, the first off-road competition motorcycle to have two-wheel drive. “Fretos” convincingly won the 450 class in 2004 and 2005, but on the many long ‘flat-out’ desert stretches the lower top speed of a 450 single cylinder prevents it to fight for the overall victory, yet Frétigné managed to finish fifth overall in 2005.
For this year’s edition Frétigné (#12) is again one of Yamaha’s favorites, although he saw his participation endangered when his new Spanish team failed to put together a competitive team. With two months to go, Yamaha and other loyal sponsors came to David’s aid enabling him to organize his own set up. With the support of long term technical partner Franck Helbert, Frétigné is confident to score a career best result; “On paper, one can’t win with a 450, but I still aim for podium finishes. With the imposed top speed of 160 km/h for bikes on some of the very fast stretches, two stages where no technical assistance is allowed and the 450cc bonus points system, we can challenge the factory teams with the bigger bikes. If we are smart in terms of management and race strategy we might be able to close the performance gap completely
From the 230 motorcyclists, 57 will be equipped with WR450F machines in either 2-trac or rear wheel drive specification. Some other competitors to look out for are the 27-year-old Portuguese rider Helder Rodriques (#10), who scored a ninth position finish overall in 2006. Yamaha Team Holland fields a strong effort with five times sidecar world champion Daniel Willemsen (#233), who looks forward to enter his first Dakar participation, while Daniel’s team mate Mirjam Pol (#93) aims to go one better after finishing second in the female class last year.
What is sure is that the majority of the starters will not make it to the finish, while the skilled and fortunate ones will see their superhuman efforts rewarded when they ride on the Dakar beach, the traditional finish of the monster event. On the 21st of January after 7.915 km, including 4.309 km of timed special stages we will know who made it and who didn’t.