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Two Podiums for Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team

Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga each took a second podium position in today's World Superbike races at Misano after starting in pole and third respectively.
Haga got a good start in race one and maintained his second with his team mate right behind him in third and Bayliss leading the pack. Together with Biaggi in fourth, the pack created some distance from the rest of the field with all four riders battling throughout the race. Haga and Bayliss had an exciting fight for the lead on lap 16 but it was Bayliss who came out on top with Haga second, Biaggi third and Corser fourth. Then, on the penultimate lap Biaggi tried to overtake Haga the second curvone corner but crashed, taking both riders out. As a result of this Corser grabbed second place and his 111th Superbike podium.
Race two saw the Yamaha Motor Italia team mates challenge each other for second place in the first couple of laps before Haga won the battle. Haga then turned his attention to front man Bayliss whom he diced with for first place. Unfortunately, he started to feel sick due to painkilling injections he had been given following injuries received in the race one incident. He was forced to relax his challenge on Bayliss and settle for second as his condition worsened.
Following his battle with Haga early on in the second race, Corser found himself battling with Biaggi and Kagayama for the rest of the race. Despite a last lap charge to overtake Kagayama Corser had to accept fifth place and eleven points.
Corser has now scored over 300 points at the same circuit - 325 to be precise. This has only been achieved three times before and by only two riders. Carl Fogarty achieved this record at Assen (350 points) and Donington Park (308 points), while Corser first achieved it in Phillip Island (330 points).
Shinichi Nakatomi had a mixed day today but finished 14th in race two to take two points away. He was forced to retire from the first race on lap seven with engine problems.
Today's results have reduced Yamaha's championship points deficit to just seven behind Ducati. Haga sits in third five points behind Bayliss and an accessible 26 behind Toseland. Corser remains fifth in the championship standings with the next race in a month's time. The team has two tests before the next round, which is at Brno.
Troy Corser (2nd and 5th - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "Today has been unbelievably disappointing after such a good day yesterday. In race one I had a rear grip problem and didn't get a good start either. Those two factors together just made for a tough race. I changed bikes between the two races and the engine in the second bike felt better but the set-up wasn't quite right, giving me all sorts of problems. I kept losing the front throughout the second race. I was actually crashing at one point but I landed back on the bike, hit the screen and managed to keep going. It is such a disappointment after getting my fortieth pole yesterday - a sorry end to an otherwise good weekend."
Noriyuki Haga (DNF and 2nd - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I was unlucky in race one. Mistakes can happen to anyone; I'm not angry about the incident in race one but I'm very disappointed that there has been no acknowledgement or apology for what happened. That isn't professional in my book.
I hurt my right elbow and wrist in the race one incident and so had to have some painkillers for the second race. The race was going well when, about halfway through, I started to feel sick, which was caused by the painkillers. I had to slow down. Also, only a few laps into the race my rear brake pedal broke leaving me without any rear brake. All in all I am quite happy with second. But today was an unlucky day for me."
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "Mistakes can happen but it was perhaps unexpected from such an experienced rider; Nori was unlucky to be involved. Today was a good opportunity for us to get more points in our campaign to catch Toseland but we haven't achieved that. The day didn't go as planned but the result is actually quite good for the team as we don't traditionally have a good record at Misano. I am very pleased that we were able to fight for wins in both races here as it means, if we can do it here, we can do it anywhere. Nori's second race was very good considering he felt ill and it is a good result for Troy to get pole as well as a second place."
Shinichi Nakatomi (DNF and 14th - Team Yamaha YZF) "The first race was frustrating for me; I was very disappointed to have to retire. In race two I managed to make up some places but lost a couple at the end of the race. At least I have two more points."
Martial Garcia (Team Manager, Team Yamaha YZF) "Race one was difficult for us today with Tomi suffering from engine problems. He got a good start in race two and was having a good race when he unfortunately had to slow down one some of the last laps. We came here hoping to get two good results but at least we got fourteenth and two points."   Circuit Length: 4060 Temp: 27 Crowd: 68,000 Weather: Dry     2007 WSB Misano 17/06/2007 Race 1 - 24 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 38'52.856 2 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 0'2.374 3 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 0'8.965 4 James Toseland Honda GBR 0'11.110 5 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 0'18.709 6 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'20.467 7 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 0'2.072 8 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 0'25.424 9 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 0'30.891 10 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0'37.724 11 Marco Borciani Ducati ITA 0'44.898 12 Mauro Sanchini Kawasaki ITA 1'1.538 13 Luca Morelli Ducati ITA 1'37.781 14 Dean Ellison Ducati GBR -1 Laps 15 Christian Zaiser MV Agusta AUT -1 Laps
Race 2 - 24 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 38'43.506 2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 0'2.537 3 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 0'6.386 4 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 0'8.905 5 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 0'9.130 6 James Toseland Honda GBR 0'13.967 7 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 0'16.708 8 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 0'16.781 9 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'17.312 10 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 0'33.065 11 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 0'33.605 12 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 0'41.251 13 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0'42.723 14 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 0'56.644 15 Mauro Sanchini Kawasaki ITA 1'0.739
Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'36.356
 Rider Standings 17/06/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. James Toseland Honda GBR 260 2. Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 239 3. Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 234 4. Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 217 5. Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 182 6. Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 133 7. Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 130 8. Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 109 9. Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 100 10. Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 89 11. Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 76 12. Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 59 13. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 53 14. Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 50 15. Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 40 17. Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 24
Manufacturer Standings 17/06/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 284 2. Yamaha 277 3. Honda 274 4. Suzuki 233 5. Kawasaki 102 6. MV Agusta 1
RACE REPORT 17/06/2007 Yamaha 1st and 2nd in Supersport Race    The Yamaha World Supersport Team took first and second in an exciting two-part race today at Misano with Anthony West taking the win and Broc Parkes finishing second. This is the first time since Brands Hatch last season that the both riders in the team have stepped on the podium together.
The pair started the race on the front row with Parkes in pole and West in second. Unfortunately Broc got a bad start and went back to fifth while Anthony leapt into the lead and wasted no time setting the fastest lap. Parkes had climbed up to second place and was chasing West when the race was red flagged doe to oil on the circuit.
The race was re-started, with times being calculated on aggregate, and West and Sofuoglu fought for the led from the off. The pack of riders behind, which included Parkes, were in a close battle of their own, allowing West and Sofuoglu to get some distance ahead. But by lap 12 Parkes had broken through to third and set about catching the leaders. It was only two laps later when Parkes made his move on Sofuoglu but was re-taken when he dropped back suddenly on lap 20. This was caused by him hitting the pit lane limiter as he swerved the bike while removing a visor tear-off.
Meanwhile West had put in a textbook performance and lead the race from lap 14 to take his second win for the Yamaha World Supersport Team. Parkes took second by 0.143 seconds from Sofuoglu after recovering from his tear-off incident.
Massimo Roccoli got a good start in the second heat of the race to go from tenth to fifth where he was contending with Parkes for position. He put in a strong performance to finish fourth.
Anthony West (1st - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "It's great to win another race and I'm even happier to win it in the dry because I now feel that I have really proven myself and that people won't necessarily say I only won at Silverstone because of the weather. I was very nervous on the front row but I just focused on watching the gaps open up in front of me. I wasn't sure what to expect in the second half but I saw riders in front making mistakes which gave me confidence and kept me focused. I'd like to thank the Yamaha team for all their hard work and I'm pleased to win for them as much as for me."
Broc Parkes (2nd - Yamaha World Supersport Team "I got a really bad start in the second heat but I just put my head down and worked my way through the pack. It still took me a while to catch Anthony once I'd passed everyone else; I had three seconds to make up and that's not easy to do in a race. Then I ripped off a tear-off and hit the pit lane limiter, which lost me over a second and let Sofuoglu passed. I knew I had to be within half a second at the finish line to beat him overall but we were both riding completely on the limit for the last bit of that race! I've crashed three times now while in second place so, despite the fact that I wanted to catch Anthony, I decided that points are more valuable than to risk another crash at this stage in the championship. I'm just so happy to step on the podium again! Thanks to the team for their efforts and support this weekend, it has all come together nicely."
Massimo Roccoli (4th - Yamaha Team Italia) "I'm disappointed about the first half of the race as there was an eight second gap between me and the riders in front. I was not happy about starting on the third row either but I got a good start in the second half and was in the front group. It is very important to me to have had a good result here. It might be my home track but I don't know it well at all. I want to thank the team for all their efforts this weekend."   Circuit Length: 4060 Temp: 25 Crowd: 68,000 Weather: Sunny     2007 WSS Misano 17/06/2007 Race 1 - 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Anthony West Yamaha AUS 36'47.866 2 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 0'4.197 3 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 0'4.340 4 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 0'15.123 5 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 0'18.429 6 Simone Sanna Honda ITA 0'18.741 7 Javier Fores Honda ESP 0'18.915 8 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 0'25.082 9 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 0'30.240 10 Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 0'31.633 11 Yoann Tiberio Honda FRA 0'32.743 12 Matthieu Lagrive Honda FRA 0'33.093 13 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 0'33.592 14 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 0'35.678 15 Gilles Boccolini Kawasaki ITA 0'37.193
Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Anthony West Yamaha AUS 1'39.109
 Rider Standings 17/06/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 161 2. Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 100 3. Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 77 4. Robbin Harms Honda DNK 70 5. Anthony West Yamaha AUS 66 6. Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 50 7. Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 47 8. Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 46 9. Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 43 10. Andrew Pitt Honda AUS 40 11. David Salom Yamaha ESP 34 12. Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 34 13. Simone Sanna Honda ITA 30 14. Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 30 15. Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 29 19. Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 25 23. David Checa Yamaha ESP 20 24. Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 15
Manufacturer Standings 17/06/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 181 2. Yamaha 132 3. Kawasaki 111 4. Suzuki 57 5. Ducati 43
RACE REPORT 17/06/2007 Baiocco Takes His Second Win of the Season for Yamaha    Team Umbria Bike rider Matteo Baiocco took his second race win of the season today at the sixth round of the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup. The 23 year old Italian had shown good form all weekend on his YZF-R1, taking the first pole of his Superstock career yesterday. Baiocco led both parts of the two-heat race from start to finish in a textbook ride to retake the lead in the championship from Aitchison.
Baiocco got a good start in the first heat and broke away from the pack with Simeon right behind. The race was then red flagged on lap four after Badovini's bike leaked fluid on the track before bursting into flames. With the race reduced to nine laps from fourteen, Baiocco went on to repeat his good start in the second heat to take the race win and twenty five points. Today's win comes only one week after Baiocco's win in the national Italian championship at Vallelunga last week.
Yamaha Team Italia rider Claudio Corti also had an exciting race finishing fourth after starting in ninth. He suffered a minor elbow injury at the start of the weekend when he crashed in practice on Friday but went on to take six seconds off his time during the qualifying sessions to start on the second row. In the first heat he started well and moved up to third before the red flag. In the second heat he battled throughout the race for fourth, where he eventually finished.
Corti's team mate Michele Pirro struggled in today's race after crashing in qualifying yesterday, losing valuable time in which to find the right set-up. Although he was the fastest rider in Friday's practice, the young rider could only manage a qualifying position of 19th, which he found hard to come back from in the start/stop race.
Baiocco now leads the championship on 95 points with an eight point lead back to Aitchison. Corti lies in sixth on 64 points with team mate Pirro right behind in seventh on 59 points.
Matteo Baiocco (1st - Team Umbria Bike) "I knew I was fast from the first free practice session on Friday. Simeon tried to make my life hard in the race but I closed all his windows of opportunity to pass me. The bike was sliding so much with very little grip but I'm fortunate that I won. I don't want to think about leading the championship again though, because I want to stay focused and on fighting form."
Claudio Corti (4th - Yamaha Team Italia) "I started badly and I struggled because of my bad set up. I lost set-up time because of my crash on Friday and we paid for it today. I tried to attack Dionisi on the last lap today but I couldn't get past. I hope to have a better result here in the national championship round here next weekend and I will use it as an opportunity to sort out some of the issues we had today."
Michele Pirro (13th - Yamaha Team Italia) "Today was very difficult because I started from a way back on the grid, not up the front like normal. My target was to finish in the top ten but that proved impossible. I tried to push but I couldn't due to the bad set-up I had caused by the lack of set-up time I had after crashing in qualifying. I didn't want to crash again today and so couldn't really push for positions."   Circuit Length: 4060 Temp: 28 Crowd: 68,000 Weather: Dry     2007 Superstock Misano 17/06/2007 Race 1 - 3 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 15'6.692 2 Xavier Simeon Suzuki BEL 0'0.581 3 Ilario Dionisi Suzuki ITA 0'10.969 4 Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 0'12.790 5 Nicolo Canepa Ducati ITA 0'13.188 6 Sheridan Morais Ducati RSA 0'13.527 7 Mark Aitchison Suzuki AUS 0'14.415 8 Daniel Sutter Yamaha CHE 0'17.010 9 Rene Mahr Yamaha GER 0'17.015 10 Brendan Roberts Ducati AUS 0'18.154 11 Arne Tode Honda GER 0'19.638 12 Leonardo Biliotti MV Agusta GER 0'23.353 13 Michele Pirro Yamaha ITA 0'23.435 14 Matej Smrz Honda CZE 0'28.126 15 Olivier Depoorter Yamaha BEL 0'30.456
Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Xavier Simeon Suzuki BEL 1'39.337
 Rider Standings 17/06/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 95 2. Mark Aitchison Suzuki AUS 87 3. Nicolo Canepa Ducati ITA 71 4. Xavier Simeon Suzuki BEL 71 5. Ilario Dionisi Suzuki ITA 70 6. Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 64 7. Michele Pirro Yamaha ITA 59 8. Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha BEL 45 9. Brendan Roberts Ducati AUS 41 10. Matej Smrz Honda CZE 33 11. Rene Mahr Yamaha GER 33 12. Sheridan Morais Ducati RSA 29 13. Cederic Tangre Yamaha FRA 23 14. Marko Jerman Suzuki SVK 23 15. Arne Tode Honda GER 18
Manufacturer Standings 17/06/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 126 2. Suzuki 111 3. Ducati 96 4. Honda 48 5. MV Agusta 28 6. Kawasaki 4
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Another fantastic double for Coppins and Cairoli

In the week where Yamaha released their YZ production models for 2008, Yamaha Motocross Team's Josh Coppins and De Carli Yamaha's Antonio Cairoli placed the YZ450FM and YZ250F on the top steps of the MX1 and MX2 podiums respectively for the fifth time this season at Sevlievo for the Grand Prix of Bulgaria and the eighth round of fifteen in the FIM Motocross World Championship.   Coppins gained his fifth victory of the year, with results of second and first, and has extended his tally of moto triumphs to nine from sixteen, taking at least one chequered flag from seven of the eight meetings run thus far. The new member of the European Union welcomed the GP series for the fourth time this century. Winner of 'Best Organiser' at the FIM Off-road Awards last November the Sevlievo circuit was up to its usual high standards in terms of presentation and the facilities on offer like infrastructure, grandstands and accessibility. The track was quick and undulating with many jumps and a hard-packed soil. The combination of the heat and several steep uphill drags put a lot of stress on machinery across the two 35 minute and 2 lap motos. Coppins was able to qualify in third position on Saturday - just two tenths of a second away from pole - after working with the Italian crew to dial-in the machine in terms of carburetion and suspension settings on the powerful YZ four-stroke.     The 30 year old had his hands full dealing with David Philippaerts in the first moto. Jonathan Barragan had already made a break with the race lead after acing the start and the New Zealander had to push hard to overtake the Italian to get up to the runner-up position. Coppins faced more opposition from Sebastien Pourcel but both the Frenchman and Philippaerts slipped off their 450s at some stage during the race. Coppins was allowed to secure his 14th appearance in the top three from 15. In the second sprint Coppins took three laps to dispose of a pursuing Ramon and then seize the lead from Mike Brown. The Kiwi, who was nursing some pain to his back and groin from a near-crash in the first race, drilled the Yamaha into the ground for several laps to establish a comfortable advantage over his Belgian rival.
Meanwhile Marc de Reuver was making a small step in the right direction with an overall position of ninth. The Dutchman, who claimed his second career victory here twelve months ago in the MX2 class, started poorly in Moto1 but applied himself well to build momentum and gain ground on the leader-board. He came through to 12th for his first points from the last two Grand Prix. In the second race he performed better and was annoyed to be robbed of eighth spot on the last lap by Brown.
The motos in Bulgaria tipped the World Championship into its second half. There are now seven Grand Prix, a total of 350 points available to win. Coppins has taken a step closer to his MX1 title dream and amassed a lead of 97 points over Steve Ramon. Previous contender Kevin Strijbos has been effectively ruled out of the chase for the 2007 crown after missing the Grand Prix this weekend because of a knee injury. De Reuver is currently twelfth and 17 points from the next slot. Yamaha unveiled their 2008 YZ production models this week. The 450F has undergone several significant upgrades. Improved engine mapping means stronger but controllable power while mid-range and top sections of the performance have increased. The agile machine also boasts a lightweight aluminium chassis with a shorter headpipe, lighter forks, compact new front calliper, and modified rear suspension. All efforts have been directed into making the latest 450 and 250, which has received many of the same improvements, easier to ride but with a very dependable and potent basis to chisel the most competitive motorcycle of the class. Crucially the noise output of the popular YZ 450 - and platform for the most successful MX1 GP bike ever - has been reduced to 94 decibels; a volume level that applies to the whole four-stroke range.
The ninth round of the World Championship will take place in two weeks time at the impressive Uddevalla circuit for the Grand Prix of Sweden.
Josh Coppins, Yamaha Motocross Team: "It feels good to win here and after last week and being so strong in the second moto. I did not start that badly but battled with Steve in the first few laps and lost some time on Jonathan. He was riding really well in that moto so I had to settle for second. At one stage I was closing on him a little bit but then I made a big mistake. I over-jumped the triple step-up and landed in the berm. I hurt my back a little bit and also squashed my sensitive area on the fuel tank! So my chase was over after that. I started better in the second race and after passing Mike Brown I knew that if I could make some good laps and stay strong then I would win. Steve came into second place but I kept my head down and when the gap was ten seconds I knew I had the GP. I want to thank the team because this weekend we worked extremely hard and it was not an easy meeting but the result was very good."    Marc de Reuver, Yamaha Motocross Team: "In the first heat I had a good start, around sixth or seventh but a few guys passed me. I got a rhythm going and finished eleventh. In the next race the first few laps were again not so easy but I found my way and the speed improved. It was frustrating that Brown overtook me at the end. If you look at the last two GPs then this is an improvement and now we will move on from here."
Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team: "I'm happy because once again Josh rode very well. In the first moto it was just a little bit too late to attack Jonathan and the gap was too big. There was no point in taking any risks, but in the second moto he got a good start again and made his own race. Nobody could catch him so it was a perfect win. The temperature was changing on Saturday so we worked on the set-up and preparation of the bike. Marc's result is not fantastic but if we look at the very low point we had in France then it was a good reaction. The fighting spirit was there again and from our perspective that is very important. I want to be optimistic for the next race."   Temp: 30 Crowd: 25000 Weather: Sunny     2007 GP of Sevlievo, Bulgaria 17/06/2007 Race 1 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 39'53.521 2 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'9.925 3 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'14.940 4 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'19.054 5 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'28.486 6 Julien Bill Honda CHE 0'34.539 7 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'38.135 8 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'44.876 9 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 0'51.713 10 Julien Vanni Honda FRA 1'6.047 11 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 1'8.933 12 Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 1'11.161 13 James Noble Honda GBR 1'13.895 14 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 1'17.809 15 Cyrille Coulon Honda FRA 1'23.516 16 Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 1'24.760 17 Scott Columb Suzuki NZL 1'29.118 18 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 1'40.037 19 Lauris Freibergs Yamaha LVA 1'40.652 20 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 1'46.662
Race 2 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 40'21.572 2 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'9.056 3 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'16.910 4 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'26.226 5 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'31.909 6 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'35.325 7 Julien Vanni Honda FRA 0'38.030 8 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'40.754 9 Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 0'43.003 10 Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 0'44.638 11 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'45.041 12 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 1'2.317 13 Scott Columb Suzuki NZL 1'6.956 14 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 1'11.957 15 James Noble Honda GBR 1'18.877 16 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 1'20.344 17 Cyrille Coulon Honda FRA 1'21.519 18 Cedric Melotte Aprilia BEL 1'24.239 19 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 1'26.009 20 Graham Bradley Kawasaki USA 1'27.012
Rider Standings 17/06/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 368 2. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 271 3. Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 222 4. David Philippaerts KTM ITA 222 5. Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 214 6. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 211 7. Mike Brown Honda USA 196 8. Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 179 9. Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 178 10. Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 154 11. James Noble Honda GBR 153 12. Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 136 13. Manuel Priem TM BEL 125 14. Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 120 15. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 107 16. Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 86 17. Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 73 18. Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 72 19. Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 61 20. Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 47
Manufacturer Standings 17/06/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 368 2. Suzuki 314 3. KTM 284 4. Kawasaki 263 5. Honda 246 6. TM 125 7. Aprilia 7
RACE REPORT 17/06/2007 Cairoli superb for sixth double MX2 victory    The Grand Prix of Bulgaria represented the seventh meeting this year to fall to the talents and speed of Yamaha De Carli's Antonio Cairoli and his fettled YZ250F. The Sicilian, with his electric, loose and flamboyant style, won both motos under the hot eastern European sunshine at Sevlievo for his sixth 'double' of the season. He has yet to finish lower than third from sixteen races and has not trodden lower than the second step on the overall Grand Prix podium. He has been beaten only once.    The Sevlievo dirt was hard and sun-baked although watering from the organisers in an effort to contain the dust was a problem for the MX2 class who entered the gate first to start the race programme on Sunday. Some sections of the fast and jumpy course were slippery and rough, making the terrain difficult to tackle throughout the course; the added high temperatures of 30 degrees plus did not make things any easier. Cairoli won his seventh qualification heat on Saturday to take to the line with second position for Sunday. He passed Tommy Searle on the first lap of the initial MX2 moto and from the point when he had a clear track ahead of him, the race was his. The 21 year old furrowed a lonely but victorious path to his thirteenth moto from the last fifteen. A collision out of the gate with World Champion Christophe Pourcel meant that he had to engage in some hand-to-hand combat in the second race but showed his ease on the surface by using different lines and momentum in the early laps and was soon heading the field once again. He was able to beat Pourcel and has now collected fourteen from sixteen chequered flags.    Yamaha Team Ricci's Davide Guarneri registered his best moto result of the season with a confident ride to fifth. In fact it was his second highest race finish since 2005 after a problematic '06 season with injury (he was fourth at the British GP last June). The Italian was sick during the week however and felt weak going into Moto2. He lasted the distance and was able to obtain twelfth place for seventh position overall and be the second best Yamaha rider of the day.
Team-mate Nicolas Aubin and Bike it Dixon Yamaha's Carl Nunn followed in the GP classification with eighth and ninth. For Nunn it was one of his better results since joining the British team in the winter. Aubin suffered with his starts and was tenth and ninth.
Kenneth Gundersen, now recovered from the stomach upset that limited his options in France last week, started badly in Moto1 after a first corner spill and was unable to make a decent impact on the race. He swallowed the roost of others and was held up to only score sixteenth by the end. The Norwegian was able to take more points in the second MX2 contest with a decent ride to sixth; his highest finish since the German GP.
Cairoli's masterful form in the MX2 class this season means that he now enjoys an 83 point lead over Pourcel in the championship. Aubin is seventh and twenty points ahead of Gundersen. Antonio Cairoil, Yamaha De Carli: "Pourcel and I had some contact coming out of the start but we are fighting for the championship so this is OK and part of the racing. We lost balance and touched, there is no big deal. I have won seven GPs now and that is a lot. To have such a big lead is not what I was expecting before Valkenswaard. I really like this track here. Last year I won a moto but crashed in the next race and took zero points, so this is a big improvement. It is not my favourite place because I prefer softer ground but I had a great feeling with my bike and could make a good race. It was hot but my physical condition was fine. The first moto was over quite quickly but I liked the second because I had to pass Tommy and Leuret and find some interesting lines; it was fun."
Davide Guarneri, Yamaha Team Ricci: "My condition is getting better but unfortunately on Wednesday and Thursday I was a little bit sick and in these high temperatures yesterday and today it was very difficult. My speed was quite good though. In the first moto I started around the top ten and took fifth place. My rhythm was great and Tyla and Leuret were just slightly faster than me otherwise I could have looked to fourth. In the second race, before the start, I knew it would be hard to keep a good pace all the way. I took twelfth place which was not so bad for the points. This is another small step for me and I feel quite good. When I have the stamina for two good motos maybe the podium will be reachable."    Kenneth Gundersen, Yamaha Team Ricci: "In the first race I crashed on the first corner and restarted completely last. I pushed with everything I had and I saw by the lap-times that I was running the same speed as the top five. I finished fifteenth and the result was not good but I was quite pleased with the riding. In the last moto I got a good start and did all I could. This is the level where I want to be now. I will train hard and hopefully be able to step it up for Sweden."
Carl Nunn, Bike it Dixon Yamaha Racing: "I want to be better than this, even if each overall result in the top ten is helping me in the championship. I want to keep on getting as many points as I can and climb up the table. I should be knocking on the door a little bit more now for tenth place. I am happy enough but we are working on the beginning of the race at the moment because I am too slow in the first laps. My pace is OK as the race goes on and I get faster towards the end. My fitness is not the problem and I am getting quicker and quicker. If I get a good start then I drop places at the beginning because the others are pushing. We have to sort this out and that's what we are focussing on. The top five should not be far away."   Temp: 34 Crowd: 25000 Weather: Sunny     2007 GP of Sevlievo, Bulgaria 17/06/2007 Race 1 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 40'38.712 2 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'8.615 3 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'12.634 4 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'18.700 5 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 0'25.765 6 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'29.678 7 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 0'31.902 8 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'32.838 9 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 0'34.122 10 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 0'35.158 11 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 0'45.233 12 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 0'48.024 13 Jeremy Tarroux Yamaha FRA 0'50.616 14 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 0'52.059 15 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 0'53.678 16 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 0'57.735 17 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 1'3.725 18 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 1'8.549 19 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 1'16.720 20 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 1'14.271
Race 2 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 39'18.944 2 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'7.187 3 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'8.678 4 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'9.716 5 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'18.945 6 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'20.073 7 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 0'33.505 8 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 0'35.422 9 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 0'42.521 10 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 0'51.304 11 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 0'59.513 12 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 1'7.362 13 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 1'9.823 14 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 1'13.778 15 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 1'24.500 16 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'26.355 17 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'30.602 18 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 1'46.732 19 Jeremy Tarroux Yamaha FRA 1'52.094 20 Martin Barr Yamaha GBR 1'52.987
Rider Standings 17/06/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 392 2. Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 309 3. Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 298 4. Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 245 5. Tommy Searle KTM GBR 244 6. Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 201 7. Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 188 8. Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 168 9. Matti Seistola Honda FIN 137 10. Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 129 11. Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 111 12. Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 99 13. Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 95 14. Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 94 15. Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 79 16. Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 76 17. Rui Goncalves KTM POR 68 18. Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 63 19. Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 60 20. Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 58
Manufacturer Standings 17/06/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 392 2. Kawasaki 320 3. KTM 319 4. Honda 245 5. Suzuki 139
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Coppins and Cairoli back in the winning act in France

Yamaha Motocross Team's Josh Coppins and Yamaha De Carli's Antonio Cairoli both returned to the winner's circle today at a busy and warm St Jean d'Angely for the Grand Prix of France and the seventh round of fifteen in the FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship. The duo placed their YZ450FM and YZ250F machines on the top step of the podium in MX1 and MX2 respectively and to complete a perfect weekend also extended their leads in the world championship standings.
The track at St Jean had seen better days, even if the surrounding circuit infrastructure still remains one of the best on the calendar. The course itself consisted mainly of long uphill drags and downhill plunges and the dirt was hard-packed with precious few ruts or really technical zones. The high speed meant that many of the MX1 riders ran at a similar pace and rattled off the laps in the 35 minutes and 2 lap distances. The premier class provided more excitement for the 28,000 fans that enjoyed high temperatures and pleasant weather conditions.   Coppins was strong and authoritative on the first lap of the opening moto and the small gap he established in the formative minutes of the race helped him escape free from David Philippaerts to notch his seventh win from thirteen. It was the first '25' points for the championship leader since moto1 at Teutschenthal in Germany.
The 30 year old faced a harder test in the second sprint. He had to catch leader Billy Mackenzie and then tried to fend off the closing Steve Ramon but was soon grappling with the Belgian. Ramon's slightly quicker lines proved to be the difference at the end of a physically draining race and Coppins wisely eased his speed to confirm second spot and his fourth overall triumph from seven Grands Prix.
The New Zealander was able to take maximum profit of the fact that main title rival Kevin Strijbos was struggling with a knee injury and far from full fitness. Strijbos finished out of the points and did not start the second moto meaning that Coppins left St Jean with a 90 point lead over Steve Ramon.
Marc de Reuver was struggling for some confidence after entering the gate in seventeenth position after Timed Practice on Saturday. He started poorly in the first moto but began to move up the leader-board and was fighting for seventh place when he missed his rut on a downhill curve and crashed off the track. Shaken but unharmed the 24 year old was able to start the second race but could not feel comfortable and finished two laps adrift of the leaders in twenty-first. The Dutchman lies thirteenth in the standings.
The Yamaha Motocross Team will now make preparations to drive east across Europe to Sevlievo for the Grand Prix of Bulgaria next week. The eighth race of the year will bring the championship into its second phase.
Josh Coppins, Yamaha Motocross Team: "In Japan I tried for the victory but I know it is not possible to win every time so I will accept second or third. The main thing for me is to continue to work on my points lead and try to win some more GPs on the Yamaha. I knew Steve would be good. He has done a lot of races this season and is coming strong; he was too hard to catch in the second moto. I used too much energy on bad lines and once I changed my lines I did not really have anything left to give in order to catch him. Of course it is nice to win both heats, but in any case it is great to bag another GP! I feel sorry for Kevin and I know what he is going through as I had ten surgeries on my knees when I was younger with the same problem. I know it is not easy for him but he is a strong guy and a very good rider. It is a bit of a shame for the championship because I'm sure people would like to see it closer, however I am really happy with my situation in the standings."
Marc de Reuver, Yamaha Motocross Team: "The first heat did not start that badly, but I shut off too early and everyone passed me on the first turn. After four laps I was into a rhythm and was fast. I came up to eighth place but then I made a mistake. I got into the corner before the pits too hard and could not brake anymore. I went over the berm and off the track and crashed pretty hard. In the second heat I don't know what happened; I just did not have the confidence."
Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team: "Like I have said a few times in the past I am very happy and sad at the same time. Happy because Josh was riding at a level that we all know he is capable of and easily won the first moto. In the second moto his lines perhaps weren't that great but he was able to finish as the runner-up. It was a great jump for the championship, especially because - and unfortunately - Kevin had a problem. It is a sad day for Marc. We are really trying to work with him but it looks like he is missing something. We are trying to lift him up and will continue to do our best."   Circuit Length: 1560 Temp: 28 Crowd: 26000 Weather: Sunny     2007 GP of St Jean d’Angély, France 10/06/2007 Race 1 - 23 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 39'7.170 2 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'9.603 3 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'15.878 4 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'22.818 5 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'24.787 6 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'27.354 7 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'28.635 8 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'30.757 9 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 0'43.369 10 James Noble Honda GBR 0'49.896 11 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 0'52.658 12 Manuel Priem TM BEL 0'58.629 13 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 1'5.047 14 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 1'10.863 15 Julien Bill Honda CHE 1'15.292 16 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 1'35.402 17 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL -1 Laps 18 Bradley Anderson Yamaha GBR -1 Laps 19 Alessio Chiodi Aprilia ITA -1 Laps 20 Cyrille Coulon Honda FRA -1 Laps
Race 2 - 23 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 39'35.456 2 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'4.252 3 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'11.142 4 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'13.298 5 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'13.914 6 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'22.373 7 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'25.936 8 Manuel Priem TM BEL 0'38.659 9 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'41.125 10 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 0'41.899 11 Julien Bill Honda CHE 0'42.218 12 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 1'16.340 13 Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 1'20.339 14 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 1'29.918 15 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 1'42.357 16 Julien Vanni Honda FRA 1'48.091 17 Christian Stevanini Yamaha ITA -1 Laps 18 Neville Bradshaw Honda RSA -1 Laps 19 Marko Kovalainen Honda FIN -1 Laps 20 Cyrille Coulon Honda FRA -1 Laps
Rider Standings 10/06/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 321 2. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 231 3. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 211 4. David Philippaerts KTM ITA 186 5. Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 184 6. Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 173 7. Mike Brown Honda USA 169 8. Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 159 9. Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 154 10. Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 150 11. James Noble Honda GBR 139 12. Manuel Priem TM BEL 125 13. Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 115 14. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 107 15. Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 99 16. Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 78 17. Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 71 18. Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 65 19. Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 46 20. Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 45
Manufacturer Standings 10/06/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 321 2. Suzuki 274 3. KTM 239 4. Kawasaki 225 5. Honda 216 6. TM 125 7. Aprilia 4
RACE REPORT 10/06/2007 Cairoli keeps Pourcel from home victory
De Carli Yamaha's Antonio Cairoli dominated both MX2 motos from start to finish ahead of Frenchman Christophe Pourcel and Tyla Rattray in the seventh round of the FIM MX2 World Championship at St Jean d'Angely for the Grand Prix of France. 28,000 fans enjoyed cloudy but later on bright and very warm temperatures.
The hard, fast and flat layout in western France near the coastline did not lend itself to great racing with many MX2 riders circulating at the same speed and only slight mistakes allowing any significant position changes. This meant that both Grand Prix motos of 35 minutes and 2 laps duration were tough mental tests for the elite and the heat and humidity added a harsh physical edge.
Cairoli enacted a familiar formula to viewers of the 2007 MX2 championship so far. The Sicilian is in red hot form and led both races from the first corner until the last. Moto1 was an uncomplicated affair for the 21 year old, who won the '06 edition of the French meeting at Ernee last September. He had a twenty second lead over Pourcel before the first third of the distance had passed. In the second sprint Pourcel - willed on by his many fans in the crowd - got close to the Yamaha ace but was never in a position to draw level or think about an overtaking move. Cairoli simply increased his pace and then stretched his lead over a period of four crucial laps that sapped the resolve of his French rival.
Cairoli's sixth win from seven was also his fifth double moto display of supremacy this season. His 64 point advantage in the world championship prior to the French celebration has now climbed to 70 over current world champ Pourcel.
Team Ricci Yamaha's Kenneth Gundersen was forced to enter the Last Chance qualification period on Saturday after a fall together with Shaun Simpson left him far behind the top twelve bracket in the first session. The Norwegian, who was suffering from stomach cramps, was at a disadvantage, starting from 25th place in the gate and could only ride to 16th both times in his weakened state for 17th overall.
His team-mate Nicolas Aubin was keen to put on a good show in front his home fans and growing legion of supporters. He had won all three motos at a French national race the weekend prior and had trained hard for St Jean. The youngster was the next highest placed Yamaha rider after Cairoli with fifth overall. He was sixth and fifth after two average exits from the gate.
The third member of the team, Davide Guarneri, was also restricted by a fall in the qualifying race on Saturday that left him behind Gundersen in the nether regions of the start line. The Italian rode reasonably well however and apart from a faulty gate and small crash in the second moto gained several positions in both outings to place tenth overall. He charged to fourteenth in Moto2 and kept overtaking his peers right up until the flag.
Cairoli's team-mate Matteo Bonini got away well in both motos and briefly ran as high as second in Moto1 but ended with twelfth overall and a best result of eleventh.
Yamaha's MX2 representatives will not have to wait long for the eighth Grand Prix of the year with the Bulgarian round taking place at the excellent Sevlievo circuit next weekend.
Antonio Cairoli, Yamaha De Carli Team: "It was really important to win here and I really enjoyed it. It was a positive day for the championship and I cannot have any complaints. The second moto was great because I wanted to battle with Christophe and the first race had been quite boring. I had to push hard the second time because he was very fast and I enjoyed the challenge to make a gap. It is looking good for the championship now but I still want to win more GPs."
Kenneth Gundersen, Yamaha Ricci Team: "If I was riding well then I think the top ten might have been possible today but I had such bad stomach cramps. I've been throwing up and needing the toilet a lot. I could ride two laps OK but then I was fighting to just finish so it has not been a very good weekend to say the least."
Nicolas Aubin, Yamaha Team Ricci: "Yesterday I had a good lap time in free practice but could not place high in the race because I struggled with starts. I got away alright in the first moto but I got pushed to the outside and then I had to come back. I didn't have the best rhythm. I really tried but could not pass Searle at the end. In the second race the gate moved before the start and some riders touched it. It threw my concentration and I was at the back in first corner but had a good first lap and then found some decent lines and passed riders everywhere. It was a lot of fun! After a disappointing Japanese GP we worked a lot and now I am back to a decent level."
Davide Guarneri, Yamaha Team Ricci: "The gate did not drop in the second moto and I started last. I tried to push in the beginning but I had a small crash. I lost my rhythm and tried to take a few points but it was not a great result. In the first moto I started quite well but Saturday qualifying, being down in 26th, did not help me today. I pushed and my speed was good and I reached eighth. I think with the pace I had then the top five would have been possible if I had got away well. I am still getting over the ankle injury so to finish every moto and every GP as high as I can in the points is OK for now."   Circuit Length: 1560 Temp: 30 Crowd: 28000 Weather: Sunny     2007 GP of St Jean d’Angély, France 10/06/2007 Race 1 - 23 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 39'10.262 2 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'19.907 3 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'26.214 4 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'31.346 5 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'37.424 6 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 0'48.313 7 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 0'56.978 8 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 0'58.474 9 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 1'0.262 10 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 1'2.358 11 Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 1'9.704 12 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 1'11.314 13 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'11.589 14 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 1'12.025 15 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'20.422 16 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 1'43.854 17 Jeremy Tarroux Yamaha FRA -1 Laps 18 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA -1 Laps 19 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA -1 Laps 20 Jake Nicholls Suzuki GBR -1 Laps
Race 2 - 23 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 39'51.369 2 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'16.066 3 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'24.009 4 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'27.649 5 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 0'31.096 6 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'32.163 7 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'49.268 8 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 0'59.265 9 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'2.553 10 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 1'16.396 11 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 1'19.979 12 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 1'21.894 13 Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 1'48.756 14 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA -1 Laps 15 Jeremy Tarroux Yamaha FRA -1 Laps 16 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR -1 Laps 17 Matti Seistola Honda FIN -1 Laps 18 Jake Nicholls Suzuki GBR -1 Laps 19 Gregory Aranda Kawasaki FRA -1 Laps 20 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA -1 Laps
Rider Standings 10/06/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 342 2. Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 272 3. Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 258 4. Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 209 5. Tommy Searle KTM GBR 206 6. Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 173 7. Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 165 8. Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 149 9. Matti Seistola Honda FIN 125 10. Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 111 11. Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 90 12. Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 89 13. Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 87 14. Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 70 15. Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 63 16. Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 62 17. Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 60 18. Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 58 19. Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 57 20. Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 55
Manufacturer Standings 10/06/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 342 2. Kawasaki 283 3. KTM 277 4. Honda 209 5. Suzuki 120
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Rossi second in scintillating Spanish thriller

Valentino Rossi rode his Yamaha M1 to a fighting second place in Catalunya today after an exhilarating battle with Casey Stoner, the Australian eventually taking the flag just 0.069 seconds ahead of the Fiat Yamaha rider after a nail-biting final few laps. Rossi 96th premier-class podium gives him yet another record as it takes him above Mick Doohan as the rider with the most podium finishes ever in the top class of Grand Prix racing. His team-mate Edwards suffered from grip issues throughout and was unable to stick with the leading pack from sixth on the grid, eventually finishing in tenth.
After starting from pole, Rossi found himself down in fourth on lap one and was then forced to push hard in the first three laps to get past John Hopkins before he could begin to close the gap to Dani Pedrosa, who was by then following Stoner in second place. On lap eleven of 25 Rossi made his move on the local favourite, the cheer from the grandstands proving that there was however a sizeable Italian element amongst the 112,600-strong crowd. Rossi soon started looking for passing opportunities on Stoner, making his first successful bid at the end of lap eighteen before relinquishing the lead back to the Australian on the next lap. From then on the fans were treated to some vintage wheel-to-wheel racing from the pair, with Pedrosa also in close contention, and an incredible number of passes made in several different parts of the track. Going into the penultimate lap however Stoner made his decisive move and Rossi was unable to peg him back, despite throwing every effort at it. Despite a promising qualifying performance yesterday, today' was not Edwards' day and he slipped several places at the start and ran a lonely race further down the order, although a last-lap pass on Nicky Hayden moved him up one position to take tenth and six points.
Twenty points for Rossi today m eans he is now fourteen behind Stoner after seven races, whilst Edwards remains tenth in the standings. After two races on the trot there is now a ten-day break before the MotoGP circus heads to Donington for the Grand Prix of Great Britain, another of Rossi's favourite hunting grounds.
Valentino Rossi Position: 2ndTime: +0.069 "What a race! Even if I'm disappointed not to win, it's a great emotion to be part of a race like that and fantastic fun. It really was an amazing battle to the end with many wonderful overtaking manoeuvres by both of us in all different parts of the track! Unfortunately I lost a bit of time at the start and then it was quite hard to pass Hopkins because he was fantastic on the brakes. Then with Stoner it was a great fight and honestly I couldn't have tried harder to win, but he was a very hard rival. There were some places were we could have been better today, not just on the straight but also in some corners, but anyway it was a great experience and it will help us to understand what we need to do to keep on improving. Yamaha and Michelin are working very hard and the fact that we could fight like this today to the very end showed this. Of course I'm sad because I've won a lot of times here in Montmelo and I wanted to win again, but like I said, I don't think I could have done anymore today! We know that we can beat Stoner but today he rode like a god and he's a fantastic rival, so congratulations to him."
Colin Edwards Position: 10thTime: +35.348 "Today was pretty much impossible for me; I had no grip in the rear from the start and I just couldn't get into a rhythm. Basically I couldn't load the front or turn the bike how I wanted. We've done everything this weekend, changed all the settings, springs, load etc, but we haven't been able to crack the problem. Qualifying was okay but today I just couldn't ride it. Tomorrow's our last test until after Brno and the only thing to do is use every single possible minute we have on track to get to the bottom of the problem so we're in better shape for the next few races, which are at some of my favourite tracks."
Davide Brivio - Team Director "Not to win after an incredible race like that, with a rider that can fight like Valentino, is of course a strange feeling! It was a fantastic spectacle for everyone between three great riders but Stoner was very strong today and he won, despite Valentino doing everything he could. It's a very exciting championship but we're not even half way yet and we're only fourteen points down. Now we have to work hard to try to give Valentino the best possible bike at every track so that he can continue to ride like this, and win! With Colin we've had a difficult weekend but now we have two of his best circuits to look forward to. We'll look at the data from the last two races and use it to try to find the right package for him so that he can transmit his good qualifying performances to the race. We'll keep on fighting!"
Points scoring results continue for Dunlop Yamaha Tech3
Under scorching summer skies, the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 continued to score points in the 2007 MotoGP World Championship as riders, Makoto Tamada and Sylvain Guintoli finished 12th and 14th respectively in an enthralling Grand Prix of Catalunya at Barcelona.
Over the weekend both riders continued using the new Dunlop 16 inch front tyre that was introduced at the previous round in Italy. Dunlop also brought a wide selection of new specification rear tyres with riders and team impressed with the performance and endurance.
The team will remain in Catalunya for a day's testing tomorrow with an intense tyre testing program to further evaluate this new generation of tyres.
Makoto Tamada Position: 12thTime: +38.720 This was the best race for me so far this year as I was very close to the world champion, Nicky Hayden and also Colin Edwards on another Yamaha. I did hope to have a better finish as I think if I didn't have a few problems with some chatter in the middle of the race I am sure I could have passed them but I am very happy with the performance of the tyres. Dunlop brought new tyres to this race and both the new 16 inch front and new rear tyres are working very well They stayed constant for most of the race as the grip level and spinning didn't change much. This is good as the day was very hot and as we didn't test too many of the tyres we had and I know we are improving.  
Sylvain Guintoli Position: 14thTime: +44.399 Again I have had a good weekend as we made good progress over the three days. I like this track and we also had a good qualifying session plus I have continued to score points in every race. This is a good boost to my confidence in my first year of MotoGP. I didn't get the best of starts but I pushed hard for all the race and for the first ten laps I had great rhythm but I also had a few problems with a bit of chatter during the race but this can be expected with new tyres since we have changed to the 16 in front tyre. I was fast straight away and Colin (Edwards) wasn't pulling away too much but it is a little frustrating that I had to slow and drop off him a bit as I didn't want to risk a crash too much. We must be fairly happy as we didn't test all the tyres we wanted to and we only did eight or ten laps on each one before deciding on our race tyres as we had so much to test. I can now look forward to Donington which is like another home race as I now live not very far away from the track with my family.
Herve Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Manager This is another good weekend for the team. I say that every week but truthfully we are becoming more competitive. We had another good qualifying session and during the race both riders performed well. Sylvain was very aggressive early on and his lap times were good compared to others before he struck a few problems with some chatter. During the second part of the race we were very close to Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden and we all felt that we could have passed them if the problems didn't occur. We now have good references to work with as the package of the tyres and the machine is improving all the time. This year the 800cc machines are more competitive with each other than ever before but we are proving competitive against other factory machines and beating some. With the new tyres we are now getting we are looking forward to the next races as we feel that Dunlop tyres work well at Donington and Assen.   Circuit Length: 4727 Temp: 31 Crowd: 112.600 Weather: Hot and Sunny     2007 MotoGP - Catalunya 10/06/2007 Race 1 - 25 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 43'16.907 2 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0'0.069 3 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0'0.390 4 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0'7.814 5 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 0'17.853 6 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 0'19.409 7 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 0'19.495 8 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 0'24.862 9 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'24.936 10 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'35.348 11 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 0'36.301 12 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 0'38.720 13 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 0'40.934 14 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 0'44.399 15 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 0'54.103
Rider Standings 10/06/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 140 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 126 3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 98 4. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 75 5. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 72 6. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 72 7. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 57 8. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 51 9. Toni Elias Honda ESP 45 10. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 45 11. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 41 12. Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 38 13. Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 30 14. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 20 15. Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 19 16. Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 16 17. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 16
Team Standings 10/06/2007
Pos. Team Points 1. Ducati Marlboro Team 197 2. FIAT Yamaha Team 171 3. Rizla Suzuki 144 4. Repsol Honda Team 139 5. Honda Gresini 120 6. Pramac D'Antin 89 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 39 8. Tech3 Yamaha 32 9. Honda LCR 20 10. Konica Minolta Honda 19 11. Team Roberts 4
Manufacturer Standings 10/06/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 143 2. Yamaha 126 3. Honda 125 4. Suzuki 95 5. Kawasaki 39 6. KR212V 4
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Rossi takes fourth pole of the season ahead of Catalan challenge

Tomorrow's Grand Prix of Catalunya will see Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi start from pole position for the fourth time this season, after he put in another exemplary qualifying performance at Montmelo this afternoon. The Italian, who is seeking a ninth victory at this circuit, will also be aiming to break the current MotoGP pole position jinx to become the first rider to win from the front of the grid since Motegi last year. Team-mate Colin Edwards was only 0.4 seconds slower than Rossi in a close qualifying battle and will start from sixth for tomorrow's 25-lap race.
This morning's free practice saw both Rossi and Edwards continue to make steady improvements to the set-up of their M1s and they finished the session fourth and ninth respectively. Temperatures then climbed steadily to reach a high of 33 degrees during Qualifying and, with similar conditions expected tomorrow, the pair spent the early part of the session perfecting their race settings under the scorching Spanish sun. With eight minutes remaining Rossi's first run with a Michelin qualifying tyre saw him put in the eventual pole time of 1'41.840 and also made him the only rider to dip under the previous pole record, which he set here last year. Edwards second effort saw him move as high as third at one point but some last minute fast times pushed him down to sixth and he will start from the outside of the front row tomorrow when the lights go out at 1400 local time.
Valentino Rossi Position: 1stTime: 1'41.840Laps: 27 "I'm really happy to have another pole position, this season our bike is working brilliantly with our Michelin qualifying tyres and at every race I have great fun during qualifying! Along with Mugello this is one of my favourite tracks and really I find it hard to decide which I like best! It's fun to have two great races together like this even if it's hard work without a rest in between. As usual it's going to be very important to start from the front tomorrow, but I think it's going to be a really hard battle anyway, especially in this heat. Pedrosa and Stoner look very strong and also Hopkins has a good pace, so I think we can expect a great fight for the fans to watch! Anyway we're starting in the best position, my M1 feels very good and we will be looking for another victory."
Colin Edwards Position: 6thTime: 1'42.283Laps: 25 "Once again things felt pretty good on the qualifying tyres, although I didn't make the most of my first one so I had to rely on improving things second time around. My lap time was actually pretty good but everyone else was fast today too! Anyway, after the disaster of last week I'm happy enough with the second row! As for our race pace, we've made a few improvements but honestly we have three different types of tyres and I'm doing the same time on all of them - which is unfortunately a little off the pace. I think tomorrow morning we're going to try something we tried briefly yesterday with regards to tyres, it was the same then but we've made some improvements to the bike since and we think that it might work. Anyway, here's hoping!"
Davide Brivio - Team Director "Another pole position - this year we're gathering quite a few! As always it's nice to start from pole position and it gives us some confidence for the race. Also to have Colin on the second row is good after last week and hopefully we can finish the day with both riders at the top. Valentino seems to be in good shape with his race pace as well but he needs to be very strong because it's going to be very competitive, with three or four riders looking very fast. Colin will push from the start too and hopefully he can stay with the rest of the group. Let's see what happens but we're expecting an exciting race!"   Circuit Length: 4727 Temp: 33 Weather: Sunny   2007 MotoGP - Catalunya 09/06/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'41.840 2 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 1'41.901 3 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'42.002 4 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1'42.117 5 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 1'42.233 6 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'42.283 7 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 1'42.522 8 Toni Elias Honda ESP 1'42.607 9 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 1'42.623 10 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 1'42.860 11 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1'42.967 12 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 1'43.334 13 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 1'43.557 14 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 1'43.722 15 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 1'43.729 16 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 1'43.947
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Rossi second after scorching opening day in Spain

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi rounded off the first day of the Grand Prix of Catalunya in positive fashion today, setting the second fastest time of the day on his penultimate lap as temperatures climbed into the thirties at Montmelo. Fresh from a spectacular victory at his home-race in Italy last Sunday, Rossi and his team arrived here on a high and wasted no time in getting down to business this morning as they seek their first back-to-back set of victories since their Mugello-Barcelona double last year.
Team-mate Colin Edwards finished the day slightly further down the order in eighth, one of many riders who did not better their time from the morning session. After a difficult weekend in Mugello however, when he failed to find a comfortable bike set-up all weekend, the Texan is feeling much more positive about this race. The team still have some work to do tomorrow but Edwards is confident of further improvements and a return to the strong qualifying form he has shown at most races so far this season. Rossi's lap of 1'43.313 was good enough to top the time sheets in this afternoon's second free practice session but the overall number one spot today went to Dani Pedrosa, who set a lap of 1'43.099 in this morning's cooler session. With twelve riders inside a second today tomorrow's hour-long qualifying session looks like being a close one when the action kicks off at 1345 local time.    Valentino Rossi Position: 2ndTime: 1'43.313Laps: 53 "We've made a good start to the weekend and my bike is already going very well. This morning was okay but then this afternoon especially we made a lot of steps forward with the tyres and with the setting. We've got a few different options for our tyre choice and we seem to have good grip in the long corners, which is very important at this track. Now tomorrow we will continue with our work and make a final decision about tyres. I found a strong rhythm straight away today and this afternoon I put in a consistent run of laps - almost a half-race distance - and things are already feeling good for Sunday. We still have some improvements to make with the setting and hopefully with a few modifications we'll be going even better tomorrow. However it's a long race and if it's as hot as this then it's going to be a battle of physical strength for everyone!"    Colin Edwards Position: 8thTime: 1'43.768Laps: 50 "My position doesn't really show it but actually we're not in bad shape today, considering where we were this time a week ago in Italy! We're missing a bit of traction but we've got some ideas to work on overnight and tomorrow which will hopefully help us in this department. Our forte is entry and corner speed so we'll work on honing those for this track and hopefully that will give us an advantage. As for tyres, nothing's really jumping out at us today but we've got three or four that feel okay so with some more laps we should be in a better position to make a decision for Sunday. Anyway I'm feeling a lot happier here than I was in Mugello and with any luck we can be back in fine form for qualifying tomorrow."
Davide Brivio - Team Director "We've made a very good start with Valentino and it seems he's in good shape already. Luckily the weather is better here and so we were able to do a good day's testing and get some helpful information regarding tyres. Tomorrow we will look to fine-tune the setting and make our final tyre choice, but we're already at a good level. Colin is a bit further back but the times are very close and we have some good ideas about what's needed tomorrow to bring him even closer to the top."   Circuit Length: 4727   2007 MotoGP - Catalunya 08/06/2007 Free Practice Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'43.099 2 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'43.313 3 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 1'43.389 4 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1'43.543 5 Toni Elias Honda ESP 1'43.551 6 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 1'43.631 7 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1'43.713 8 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'43.768 9 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 1'43.811 9 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 1'43.857 11 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 1'43.866 12 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 1'44.003 13 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 1'44.141 14 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 1'44.267 15 Olivier Jacque Kawasaki FRA 1'44.466 17 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 1'44.665 18 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 1'44.743
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

FIAT Yamaha Team head to Barcelona on a high

The Fiat Yamaha Team will float across the Mediterranean on cloud nine this week as they follow the MotoGP World Championship trail to Barcelona on the back of a stunning victory for Valentino Rossi at Mugello. Rossi's 25-point haul in front of his adoring home fans has propelled him to within striking distance of series leader Casey Stoner, who now holds a precarious advantage of just nine points, and provided a real boost in confidence as the team head to one of Rossi's happiest hunting grounds.
Not only is the Catalonian capital one of Rossi's favourite cities, but the circuit they built as part of their Olympic Games project back in 1992 has seen the multi-World Champion grace the top step of the podium on no fewer than eight occasions in all classes. For the past three seasons the 28-year-old has taken MotoGP victory there for Yamaha and, after enjoying the much-improved engine performance of the YZR-M1 down the long straight of his home track, he has every reason to be optimistic of a repeat result this Sunday.
For Colin Edwards the ferry ride to the north-eastern coast of Spain represents a welcome opportunity to put last weekend's events behind him as soon as possible. The Texan has struggled to find a comfortable set-up for his machine at the past two races and after suffering from the limited track time afforded by the changeable weather in France and Italy he will be hoping for a more traditional June climate on the Iberian peninsular.
Like Mugello, and some of this year's previously visited tracks such as Losail, Shanghai and Istanbul, the Circuit de Catalunya features a main straight that is amongst the longest in the world. The rest of the track is characterised by long radius, medium and high-speed sweepers, with two tight left-hand hairpins thrown into the mix. This variation combined with regular changes i n camber makes the circuit particularly demanding on chassis balance and means that front-end feel is a key concern for every rider.
Valentino Rossi - "A Spanish party!" After enjoying the raucous backing of over 85,000 fans at his home circuit, Valentino Rossi is looking forward to yet more passionate support in Barcelona this Sunday. Despite the recent success of local rider Dani Pedrosa, Rossi remains a firm favourite with the Spanish fans and always looks forward to performing for them, whether it be at Barcelona, Jerez or Valencia.
"Barcelona is always a great race for me and I've won there the last three years with Yamaha, so hopefully we can do it again," says Rossi. "I am lucky to have lots of fans in Spain, even though I have had some close rivalries with Spanish riders, and it is always a pleasure to ride in front of them. I got a fantastic reception when I won the race at Jerez earlier in the season so hopefully I can start the same kind of party in Barcelona.
"Dani Pedrosa will also have a lot of support this weekend and I expect him to be a difficult rival once again after such a good race at Mugello. Also Stoner will be strong, especially down the long straight, but Yamaha and Michelin have worked really hard to close the gap on our rivals and I think we are ready to battle with them at every track now. After Mugello we have three more races at three of my favourite tracks so hopefully we can continue with the good progress we have made recently and be back on top of the podium again!"  
Colin Edwards - "Moving on" Despite making a bright start to the season a run of bad luck and even worse weather has hindered the progress of Colin Edwards in recent weeks, leaving him languishing in tenth place in the championship. The 'Texas Tornado' is desperate for three fully dry free practice sessions this weekend as he aims to rediscover feeling and confidence with his YZR-M1 but in any case he has a good record at the circuit in wet conditions, having won the ultra-competitive pre-season 'qualifying' session in a torrential downpour just over a year ago.
"Mugello was a nightmare for me but it's behind us now and luckily Barcelona is a track I like a lot more," says Edwards. "I know I'm good in the wet there too after winning the 'qualifying' at the pre-season test in 2006 so if we get hit by the bad weather that seems to have been following us around then we should be okay this time!
"Basically we've got to get our heads down from Friday morning and be right up there from the very first session. We lost one of only two dry practices in Mugello because we were trying something that didn't work and we can't afford for that to happen again. We know we've got the package to be competitive so it's just a case of making the right decisions, getting some confidence going again and moving forward."  
Davide Brivio - "Full of confidence" Fiat Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio enjoyed a short celebration after the team's home Grand Prix on Sunday evening but it was soon back to work for the whole staff as they hit the road for Barcelona. This weekend's race is the second of six over a seven-week spell that will put every team member to the test and firmly establish the serious contenders for the MotoGP World Championship title this season.
"This is a really busy time for everyone but Mugello was a great boost and we go to Barcelona full of confidence and motivation," says Brivio. "We've have an excellent record at the Catalunya Circuit over the last few years and it's another of Valentino's favourite tracks. He was in fantastic form in Mugello and hopefully this will continue in Spain.
"The team and Yamaha have done a brilliant job after some problems that we had and Valentino's win in Mugello showed that we're in a position to fight. We've found some extra top speed, although this is something we will keep on trying to improve, and Michelin have also made some good improvements with the tyres. Colin had a bad time in Italy but Barcelona suits him much better and we just need to keep working and find a way to get him back to the form he was showing a couple of races ago."
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Thrilling home-race win for Rossi and FIAT Yamaha

Valentino Rossi set yet another record in his extraordinary racing career today, becoming the first rider in the history of the sport to take six consecutive wins at his home circuit. The 85,480 adoring fans who had braved the threat of rain and turned the green hillsides of the Mugello valley bright yellow were rewarded in style as the Italian scored an emphatic and emotional victory, his fourth here for Yamaha and eighth in total from twelve years of racing.
Under miraculously dry skies, the Fiat Yamaha Team rider got a poor start from third on the grid and found himself down in eighth position at turn one. Once he had built up enough heat in his Michelin tyres however he set out in earnest, picking off riders one-by-one and moving up to second behind Dani Pedrosa by lap seven of 23. Two laps later Rossi made his move on the Spaniard and from then on the pair were racing just a few tenths of a second apart, with Rossi extending the advantage around the twistier parts of the circuit and Pedrosa closing it slightly down the long home straight. Little by little however Rossi began to pull away and he eventually crossed the line 3.074 seconds ahead of Pedrosa. A late pass by Alex Barros on series-leader Casey Stoner for third place helped Rossi's points deficit and he now lies just nine points behind Stoner in the standings, with some of his favourite races coming up in the next few weeks.
It was a less successful day for Rossi's team-mate Colin Edwards, who despite showing a strong race pace in the dry today was heavily penalised by starting from the sixth row of the grid. The Texan has yet to enjoy a successful race at this circuit and was only able to make up a few places on his starting position, finishing 12th and slipping one place in the championship standings down to tenth.    Valentino Rossi Position: 1stTime: 42'42.385 "To win in Mugello once again is an incredible emotion for me and I am very happy at this moment. Racing in front of the fans here is always something unbelievable and they give me an extra motivation. It's an incredible feeling to see so much yellow around the track, the fans were 'coming crazy' today and it was a wonderful race! As we had hoped it stayed dry, the sun came out and everything went to plan! My team have worked brilliantly, my bike was perfect and I could ride it exactly how I wanted, I need to say a huge thank you to them and also to Michelin. I didn't get a very good start but once my tyres had warmed up my M1 really flew and I was able to fight back to the front. From the very beginning everyone was pushing at 100% and it was great fun in those first few laps! It was really a perfect race for me today and I felt like I had everyone on my side; Mugello is a magical track for me and this victory gives us a lot of power and confidence for the next races. I had a special helmet for this race with a big heart on it and today I think we showed that we really have a lot of heart at Yamaha. This is a great, great moment for me."
Colin Edwards Position: 12thTime: +28.001 "Yet again Mugello just hasn't worked out for me and it was a pretty terrible weekend from start to finish. I think that today I had the pace for fifth or sixth place but starting from where I was I lost about six or seven seconds on the first lap alone as there was so much traffic in front of me. We lost a lot of time on Friday morning, one of only two hours of dry practice time, trying some new stuff which didn't work out and things didn't get much better after that. I think this is just my bogey track and I can't wait to leave and get straight back out there in a few days in Barcelona. Let's hope for better things in Spain."
Davide Brivio - Team Director What a fantastic day! To win in Mugello is already wonderful but to win strongly with a gap like this is unbelievable. Even in our greatest dreams we couldn't have imagined a better race with Valentino today. This is a result that first of all Valentino deserves for the energy and motivation that he puts into everything, but also all of the team, everyone at Yamaha and Michelin. The entire group has worked very hard recently after some difficult races to bring us back to the top step. This is just one race but it's a very important one. We've reacted very well lately, we came here with some good engine developments, Michelin made some improvements too and this is a great moment for everybody. Unfortunately Colin was penalised by his starting position because his pace wasn't so bad and I think with a better grid position he could have been much higher. It's good now that we leave this track, which he doesn't like so much, and go to Barcelona where he has a much better record. Now the championship is getting very interesting and we just have to keep going like this. Well done everyone!"
The Grand Prix of Italy at the picturesque Mugello layout in the Tuscan hills proved to be a difficult weekend with changeable weather conditions over the entire three days. Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 riders, Sylvain Guintoli and Makoto Tamada finished 14th and 15th respectively.
The circumstances of the weekend with limited dry track time made finding an optimum race set up challenging but nonetheless, the weekend provided several steps forward that will surely benefit the team in the remaining 12 rounds of the MotoGP world Championship. Particularly, these included the first use of the new generation of Dunlop's 16" front tyre in a race situation after testing at Istanbul and Le Mans. Also, based on the experience gained in the wet at both the Le Mans race and subsequent test, new wet tyres were brought and tested with positive results during practice.    Sylvain Guintoli Position: 14thTime: +45.098 That was another good weekend as I have to keep in mind that we had not so much dry practice and also that we were using the 16" front wheel for the first time in a race plus new rears because of the track temperature so we had to take a bit of a gamble but it was a good gamble. It wasn't the best of starts but I settled into a rhythm and eventually passed Olivier Jacque and my teammate Makoto - that is always the first priority. We had a good battle during the entire race so it was a lot of fun as well but it was very good for me to finish in front of them. I'm looking forward to Barcelona next week as I have had some good races there as I am normally fast there so hopefully we can have a good weekend like Le Mans.  Makoto Tamada Position: 15thTime: + 45.145 That was a very difficult weekend for everybody with the conditions as we had everything from full sun to heavy rains so it made it very hard to decide on a final setup. In the end the race was not so bad. For the opening laps I had a very good feeling but then the grip of the tyre dropped off a little but then remained pretty constant. I am very happy with the new 16in front tyre and have a much better feeling than before so I feel that I am progressing and getting faster with the bike and the tyres and it is getting better every race. Now we move on to Barcelona at a track that I like so I am hoping next week will be very good for me and the team.
Herve Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Manager The changeable weather conditions this weekend made it very difficult so we had to make many decisions on what might happen in the race. Unfortunately due to the variable conditions during the qualifying session we ended up not where we wanted to be on the grid. Thank heavens the day remained dry - great for the show, the team and the spectators. Both our riders made bad starts today but they recovered well and picked up the pace to pass Olivier Jacque and Carlos Checa. It is nothing to be too excited about finishing 14th and 15th but we finished with both our riders in the points again. We are still behind the others but with the new 16" front we took another positive step forward. It was a very good performance by Sylvain as he continues to learn and get faster as he battled and beat a MotoGP winner as well as an ex-250cc world champion and he does this in his rookie year. He is pushing everytime he is on the bike which to me is satisfying. Makoto also did pretty well keeping his head down after his start and with our riders results we are now just two points off Kawasaki in the teams' championship.
Now we head to Barcelona so we should be able to have stable weather for the weekend. Dunlop is working flat out to improve everytime we ride and we are reaching a critical time in the championship so hopefully we can keep the momentum going and improve our results.   Circuit Length: 5245 Temp: 24 Weather: Dry     2007 MotoGP Italy - Mugello 03/06/2007 Race 1 - 23 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 42'42.385 2 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0'3.074 3 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 0'5.956 4 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 0'6.012 5 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0'13.244 6 Toni Elias Honda ESP 0'19.255 7 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 0'19.646 8 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 0'22.810 9 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'22.837 10 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 0'24.413 11 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 0'24.781 12 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'28.001 13 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 0'36.733 14 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 0'45.098 15 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 0'45.145
Rider Standings 03/06/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 115 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 106 3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 82 4. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 68 5. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 63 6. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 59 7. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 47 8. Toni Elias Honda ESP 45 9. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 43 10. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 39 11. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 36 12. Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 35 13. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 20 14. Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 19 15. Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 18 16. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 14 17. Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 12
Team Standings 03/06/2007
Pos. Team Points 1. Ducati Marlboro Team 162 2. FIAT Yamaha Team 145 3. Rizla Suzuki 122 4. Repsol Honda Team 118 5. Honda Gresini 113 6. Pramac D'Antin 78 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 28 8. Tech3 Yamaha 26 9. Honda LCR 20 10. Konica Minolta Honda 18 11. Team Roberts 4
Manufacturer Standings 03/06/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 118 2. Honda 109 3. Yamaha 106 4. Suzuki 82 5. Kawasaki 28 6. KR212V 4
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Rossi salvages front-row start from soaking qualifying in Mugello

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi will launch his quest for a sixth consecutive home victory from the front row for tomorrow's Italian Grand Prix, having kept his cool during a rain-battered Qualifying session to take the third grid spot. Despite some improvements to his race-pace during this morning's dry practice session, his team-mate Colin Edwards continued his unhappy relationship with Mugello this afternoon and could only manage a lowly 16th.
A torrential rainstorm during the preceding 125cc session meant the MotoGP Qualifying got underway with riders on wet-weather tyres, although the track began to dry quickly with the help of a strong wind and lap times soon improved accordingly. As they approached the half way point the heavens opened again and the riders were forced to take shelter in the pits until the storm abated. Luckily it was short-lived and Rossi, who was currently sitting in eight position, got back out as quickly as possible and set about making the most of the remaining ten minutes. On full wet-weather tyres the Italian put in a consistent run of laps, getting faster and faster as the track began to dry out and clocking his best time of 2'01.695 on his penultimate lap, just 0.3 seconds than last week's race winner Chris Vermeulen. Pole position went to series-leader Casey Stoner, who put in a lap of 2'00.359 just before the storm when the track was at its driest. Edwards continued to struggle throughout the session and 16th place will see him head the sixth row of the grid for tomorrow's 23-lap race, which gets underway at 1400 local time.
Valentino Rossi Position: 3rdTime: 2'01.695Laps: 20 "I'm very happy about this front row because today was really a bit of a 'casino' with the weather and I think anything could have happened! We started off with wet tyres and actually everything felt quite good, then it began to dry out very quickly because of the wind. I was actually a bit unlucky because I put a harder rear in to try to do a faster lap on the drying track just as it began to rain again in the middle of the session. I was in eighth place and as soon as it stopped raining again I knew I had to get out and try to improve my time. With full wets the bike worked very well and I was able to keep on doing faster and faster laps as the track dried out. We found a good tyre for the rain and actually it seems here we're okay in the wet and the dry. Anyway I really hope it's dry tomorrow, for the riders but especially for all the fans who are camping on the hillside. I think in the rain it's maybe not so much fun! It's important to be on the front row here, now we wait and see for the weather and hope for a good race - rain or sun!"    Colin Edwards Position: 16thTime: 2'06.254Laps: 20 "Honestly I don't know what to say, I've always been good in the wet but this year it's just not working out at all. I'm losing everything on the corner entry; it's basically the same problem as I had in Le Mans. In the wet one or two seconds off the pace can be explained but six seconds? That's not right and I'm seriously disappointed. It seems I never have any luck at this track. Starting from 16th gives me a massive hill to climb in any conditions but I would definitely prefer it to be dry because I feel like we at least made some steps forward this morning with our dry set-up."
Davide Brivio - Team Director "Valentino came out of what was a very difficult session with a great result, it's really important for him to be starting from the front row for his home race. I think he and his team did a brilliant job once they found him down in eighth place when it rained. He did well to stay out there and keep pushing on a drying track with wet tyres and he deserves to be on the front row. Colin still has some difficulties in the wet and now we will work hard to try to fix them and make him happier in these conditions. We're hoping for a dry race now, it will be better for everyone!"   Circuit Length: 5245 Weather: Rain     2007 MotoGP Italy - Mugello 02/06/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 2'0.359 2 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 2'1.381 3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 2'1.695 4 Olivier Jacque Kawasaki FRA 2'1.709 5 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 2'1.797 6 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 2'2.001 7 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 2'2.443 8 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 2'2.776 9 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 2'2.932 10 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 2'3.025 11 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 2'3.920 12 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 2'4.185 13 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 2'4.353 14 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 2'4.971 15 Toni Elias Honda ESP 2'5.592 16 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 2'6.254 17 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 2'6.426 20 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 2'9.080
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Simone Albergoni claims double podium result

UFO Corse Yamaha rider Simone Albergoni moved into second position in the Enduro 1 world championship standings following the fourth round of the '07 World Enduro Championship series held in Borno, Italy having claimed podium finishes on both days aboard his UFO Corse Yamaha WR250. Placing third on day one of his and the UFO Corse Yamaha team's home GP Simone then stepped one place higher on the rostrum with a second place finish on day two. In claiming a double podium result Simone moved into the runner-up spot in the E1 championship standings, one point ahead of his team-mate Cristobal Guerrero.
With the GP of Italy proving to be anything but easy due to mixed weather, a demanding stone littered enduro test and a difficult extreme test Simone, like many riders, made several small mistakes and fell on more than one occasion on day one, which prevented him from finishing higher than third. Simone hoped not to make the same mistakes on day two as he had on day one and started the day well, despite heavy overnight rain making the opening lap extremely slippery. Disappointingly, Simone's promising start to the day was followed by two costly crashes in the extreme test, which cost him close to 40 seconds. Despite his mistakes Simone claimed a well deserved runner-up finish, equalling his highest result of the season.
Finishing ahead of Albergoni on day one and less than six seconds behind E1 class winner Juha Salminen was Yamaha France rider Marc Germain. A specialist in wet and slippery conditions Marc came close to claiming his first win of the '07 season but fell just short of beating his Finnish rival. With Poland's Bartosz Oblucki claiming fourth on the opening day UFO Corse Yamaha rider Cristobal Guerrero placed fifth continuing his excellent debut season in the E1 class. Ensuring Yamaha claimed four of the top six positions in the E1 class on day one the UFO Corse Yamaha team's third rider Maurizio Micheluz placed sixth.
With Albergoni finishing second on day two Sunday again proved to be another good day for Yamaha. With Finn Salminen topping the class results as he did on day one Maurizio Micheluz came frustratingly close to finishing third, he was denied his first podium result of the season by a slower rider blocking his way on one of the extreme tests. Placing fourth and just ten seconds behind eventual third place finisher Alessandro Belometti, Maurizio saw his result affected when a slower rider blocked a difficult climb on the extreme test leaving him no other option other than to stop and wait while the track was cleared.
Dropping from the podium to fifth, due in part to a disappointing final extreme test, Marc Germain started the second day in the best possible way by winning the opening special test while Spanish UFO Corse Yamaha rider Cristobal Guerrero claimed sixth after being disadvantaged by being the first rider in the E1 class onto the day's extremely wet opening special test.
Simone Albergoni (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Third, Day 2 Second: "It's been a very good weekend for me, although I'm not so happy with third on day one. I made some small mistakes, which cost me time, so on day two I really pushed hard to make sure I got a better result. I really hoped that I could battle against Juha Salminen but he was so strong again. I was pleased with my performance though. I did make two crashes in the extreme test, where I lost 40 seconds, but I'm pleased with second."
Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Sixth, Day 2 Fourth: "I finished sixth on day one, which isn't so good, but I was not too far behind the riders that finished on the podium so I was quite happy. On day two I was fourth, which I am pleased with but it could have been better because I lost some time on the extreme test on the last lap because I had to wait for a slower rider who was stuck on one of the hills. I finished the day 10 seconds behind the third place rider and I know I lost much more time than that. I'm a little disappointed but my results and riding have been much better than in Spain and Portugal."   Circuit Length: 4800 Crowd: 3250 Weather: Sunshine     2007 Enduro 1 Italy 29/05/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 51'54.150 2 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 0'5.590 3 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 0'17.070 4 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 0'26.540 5 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 0'27.210 6 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 0'54.590 7 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 1'47.550 8 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 3'10.260 9 Peter Bergvall Suzuki SWE 3'19.180 10 Luca Cherubini TM ITA 3'19.570 11 Fabio Mossini Honda ITA 3'48.180 12 Roberto Bazzurri Husqvarna ITA 3'51.710 13 Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 4'1.680 14 Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 4'28.600 15 Pier Luigi Surini Honda ITA 4'54.610
Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 55'42.720 2 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 0'40.800 3 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 1'47.290 4 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 1'57.400 5 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 2'6.110 6 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 2'6.910 7 Luca Cherubini TM ITA 4'10.820 8 Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 5'13.230 9 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 5'56.370 10 Joan Jou Yamaha ESP 7'23.330 11 Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 7'45.990 12 Mario Patrao Suzuki POR 8'56.320 13 Ryan Voase Kawasaki GBR 9'33.740 14 Pier Luigi Surini Honda ITA 10'17.240 15 Juraj Dozsa KTM SVK 11'6.010
Rider Standings 26/05/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Juha Salminen KTM FIN 200 2. Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 140 3. Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 139 4. Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 137 5. Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 135 6. Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 125 7. Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 99 8. Mike Hartmann KTM GER 91 9. Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 67 10. Luca Cherubini TM ITA 59 11. Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 56 12. Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 50 13. Joan Jou Yamaha ESP 45 14. Damien Miquel Kawasaki FRA 40 15. Tomi Peltola Suzuki FIN 38
Manufacturer Standings 26/05/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. KTM 200 2. Yamaha 160 3. Husqvarna 125 4. Honda 86 5. TM 65 6. Suzuki 59 7. Kawasaki 48
RACE REPORT 29/05/2007 Johnny Aubert continues impressive run of results    UFO Corse Yamaha team rider Johnny Aubert continued his impressive run of results in the '07 World Enduro Championship series by placing in third position in the Enduro 2 class on day one of the GP of Italy, staged in Borno. With his confidence high having won both days of the GP of Spain and the GP of Portugal Johnny saw his day one result affected by a big crash in the stone covered enduro test mid way through the day. Despite having parted company with his WR450 in spectacular style Johnny ended the day just 13 seconds behind the eventual second place rider Samuli Aro, but unable to stop Mika Ahola claiming his second win of the season. Disappointingly for Aubert a mechanic problem, when in sight of the finish, resulted in him failing to finish the second day, which dropped the Frenchman to third in the Enduro 2 world championship standings.  
Looking to claim his fifth consecutive day win in the '07 WEC series Johnny started the opening day of the GP of Italy by placing second in the E2 class on the opening test. Performing well on the second test before then winning the third, Aubert's crash in the second timed enduro test ended his hopes of winning. Nevertheless he continued to push hard and after close to one-hour of special test action claimed third. On day two Aubert again started well showing that he had the speed to win by topping four of the opening seven special tests. Holding a well deserved runner-up spot and with the finish of the event in sight Johnny then suffered a sudden mechanical problem, which disappointingly put him out of the event.    Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1 Third, Day 2 DNF: "The first day was not so bad for me but I crashed on the enduro test and lost one minute, which meant that I was never going to be able to win. My speed was good but after a mistake like that there was no way I was going to catch up to Mika Ahola, he was riding too well. After my crash I just wanted to go as well as I could so to finish third was good." "Things were going well for me on day two but I had a problem with my bike's engine close to the finish. My bike stopped so I pushed it to the finish but I didn't score any points, which is disappointing. I would have struggled to win because Mika was again riding really well, but I was in second when my bike stopped so it's disappointing not to have finished on the podium like I did on day one."   Circuit Length: 4800 Crowd: 3250 Weather: Sunny     2007 Enduro 2 Italy 29/05/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 51'52.730 2 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 0'48.180 3 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 1'1.420 4 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 1'2.580 5 Andrea Belotti KTM ITA 1'25.730 6 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 2'9.560 7 Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 2'32.010 8 Joel Smets BMW BEL 2'42.280 9 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 2'46.630 10 Fausto Scovolo GasGas ITA 3'9.790 11 Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 3'15.560 12 Patrick Caps GasGas BEL 3'18.180 13 Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 3'51.010 14 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 4'10.060 15 Giuliano Falgari Kawasaki ITA 4'20.460
Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 54'44.820 2 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 1'21.240 3 Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 1'23.900 4 Andrea Belotti KTM ITA 1'56.310 5 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 2'14.710 6 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 2'34.620 7 Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 4'41.650 8 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 4'59.480 9 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 5'20.340 10 Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 5'52.990 11 Patrick Caps GasGas BEL 6'20.800 12 Giuliano Falgari Kawasaki ITA 6'47.940 13 Carmelo Mazzoleni Kawasaki ITA 11'10.170 14 Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 18'12.550
Rider Standings 26/05/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Mika Ahola Honda FIN 183 2. Samuli Aro KTM FIN 167 3. Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 152 4. Fabien Planet KTM FRA 126 5. Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 121 6. Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 102 7. Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 87 8. Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 86 9. Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 82 10. Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 79 11. Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 79 12. Patrick Caps GasGas BEL 51 13. Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 51 14. Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 47 15. Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 37
Manufacturer Standings 26/05/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 183 2. KTM 169 3. Yamaha 164 4. Aprilia 129 5. Beta 102 6. Husqvarna 90 7. HusaBerg 86 8. Suzuki 79 9. GasGas 53 10. Sherco 51 11. BMW 25 12. Kawasaki 15 13. TM 9
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Italian classic beckons FIAT Yamaha Team home

The sixth round of the MotoGP World Championship welcomes the Fiat Yamaha Team to their 'home' circuit of Mugello this weekend and the mouth-watering prospect of another classic race at the legendary venue. Already one of the most eagerly anticipated dates on the calendar, this year's visit to Tuscany has the extra spice of an Italian manufacturer leading the World Championship whilst the homecoming of Valentino Rossi to his adoring fans always guarantees an electric atmosphere and a performance to match from the mercurial 28-year-old.
Rossi has satiated the partisan local crowd's appetite for entertainment and end-product for the past five seasons, putting together a run of victories previously unsurpassed by any one rider at their local track. 'The Doctor' has not been beaten on Italian soil since 2001, when he crashed out in a wet race, and his past three victories for Yamaha are unequalled in measures of brilliance and bravery. Mike Hailwood, who won the Isle of Man TT for five consecutive seasons in the 1960s, is the only rider in history to have held such a firm stronghold over his home Grand Prix.
Colin Edwards' record at Mugello is somewhat less spectacular but the Texan has every reason to look forward to this weekend. After qualifying on the front row of the grid at four of the first five races Edwards has been denied a mammoth points haul merely through sheer bad luck - the latest chapter in a catalogue of misfortune coming in France, where the heavens opened as the grid formed on an otherwise dry circuit and denied him the chance to shoot for victory from pole position. A continuation of his excellent practice form and another top performance in qualifying should finally bear fruit this Sunday.
The Mugello circuit is one of the fastest on the calendar, with the front straight almost certain to entice the new 800cc machines towards their highest top speed of the year. Measuring 1,141m, it is 61m shorter than the back straight of Shanghai, the longest in the championship, but the faster final turn and longer entry into the straight means the riders can get on the gas early, shift up through the gears and still have time to get the throttle wide open in sixth, potentially edging past the 337.5km/h set by Casey Stoner in China. Mugello differs from other fast circuits in its frequent changes of gradient and the speed of its chicanes. There is a mix of slower and high-speed corners, although even the slowest corners are wide, allowing several 'ideal' lines and putting the emphasis on rider skill as well as chassis set-up precision.
Valentino Rossi - "Something incredible" As well as his five MotoGP victories at Mugello, Valentino Rossi also won the 125cc race there in 1997 and the 250cc race in 1999 - making him easily the most successful rider at the circuit across all classes of Grand Prix racing. It promises to be another special weekend for the Italian and he is optimistic that his chances won't be spoiled, as they were in France, by the rain.
"We hoped that Le Mans would be a place where we might have been able to win back some points on Stoner, but unfortunately the weather played against us," says Rossi, who trails the Australian by 21 points in the current rider standings. "We stayed in France for two days of testing and we made a lot of progress, especially with the tyres. We also tried some new engine modifications, just small details, which we think will help us in Mugello.
"As everyone knows I have a very special relationship with Mugello. I have won there many times, including the last three years with Yamaha, and I've had some of the greatest races of my life there. Even though I will have a second home race this year at Misano, Mugello is something incredible and the fans and atmosphere there are always unbelievable. It's a fantastic track but of course the straight is very long and we know we're going to have a very hard battle on our hands. At least we can rely on the weather... I hope!"
Colin Edwards - "Crazy in a good way!" In stark contrast to the fortunes of Valentino Rossi at Mugello, for Colin Edwards it is one of his least successful circuits - with a best ever result of ninth place in both 2003 and 2005. However, Edwards' pace aboard the YZR-M1 at every kind of circuit so far this season gives him plenty of reason to think that he can end that barren run this Sunday.
"Mugello hasn't been one of my best GP tracks and I've never had a really great race there, but we're aiming to turn that around this time," affirms Edwards. "Le Mans was a massive disappointment for everyone, especially after getting pole, but it was good to get back to work straight away and try to find out why it happened instead of sitting stewing over it for ten days. We know our bike is working brilliantly when we get everything right - qualifying is proving that at every race - but we really need to translate that to race conditions and to do this we need to make the most of every minute of practice.
"Mugello is an incredible place and the Italian fans are completely crazy, in a good way! The countryside is beautiful and you can't help but be inspired by the atmosphere. This is really crunch time now - six races in eight weeks with the first being Valentino's home race and the last, in the US, being mine. Let's hope we can kick the run off to a good start with a double podium in Mugello, finish it off in the same way at Laguna and try to do the same thing at all the ones in between too!"
Davide Brivio Team Director - "An interesting scenario" Fiat Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio is eagerly anticipating a battle royale this weekend as his riders prepare to tackle Ducati at their home circuit. The Italian factory have won three of the first five races so far this season and are sure to make life difficult for Rossi and Edwards at Mugello. Brivio, however, is confident that the overall performance of the YZR-M1 will give his riders every chance of success.
"Of course Mugello is a very important race for us - firstly because it is in Italy and secondly because it comes at a key part of the season, at the start of six races in eight weeks," says Brivio. "Valentino has a great record there and at Yamaha we have been able to win with him for the past three seasons but this year it will be very difficult. We're working hard to improve the package available to both our riders and we'll see if that pays off here. I think we will be competitive but in racing you never know.
"For Colin the challenge is to convert his obvious potential in practice into a top result in the race. We know Mugello is not his favourite track but we've worked hard in recent weeks to give him a package he is happy with everywhere so hopefully that proves to be the case once free practice starts on Friday morning. It is an exciting weekend for the team and especially for Valentino because it is in Italy but it is also the home of Ducati and they will be very motivated, I'm sure. It's a very interesting scenario."  
Valentino Rossi : Information Age: 28 Lives: London, UK Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 GP victories: 85 (59 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 179 (119 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) Pole positions: 48 World Championships: 7 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP)
Colin Edwards: Information Age: 33 Lives: Conroe, Texas Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 First GP: Japón, 2003 (MotoGP) GP starts: 71 x MotoGP World Championships: 2 World Superbike
Mugello: Lap Record M. Biaggi (Honda) 2005, 1'50.117
Mugello: Best Lap S. Gibernau (Ducati) 2006, 1'48.969
Grand Prix Results: Mugello 2006 1. V. Rossi (Yamaha) 42'39.610 2. L. Capirossi (Ducati) +0.575 3. N. Hayden (Honda) +0.735 12. C. Edwards (USA) Yamaha +30.678
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Coppins stretches podium record with third at Sugo

Yamaha Motocross Team's Joshua Coppins continued his 100% podium record with third place overall at a cloudy and windy Sugo circuit - crowded by 24,000 spectators -for the Japanese Grand Prix and the sixth round of fifteen in the FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship today.
The New Zealander rode to a brace of third positions on the works YZ450F-FM in front of the attending Yamaha president Mr Kajikawa and company employees, and thanks to a poor day for his most direct title rival, Kevin Strijbos, he extended his lead in the championship standings to more than one Grand Prix with 63 points in total.
The immaculate Sugo track was again a technical and difficult prospect for the MX1 and MX2 classes. A long period of rainfall on Friday afternoon softened the terrain that was already well prepared and mixed deeply with wood chippings. The result was a mud that swiftly became rough and rutted with several lines providing ample choice and strategy for the riders. It was the third year in succession that the World Championship had visited the venue close to the city of Sendai and the third time this century for the Japanese round. Sugo, in Yamaha ownership, lies a few kilometres from the road racing complex and was established 32 years previously.
After hot and bright conditions on Saturday, in which Coppins sealed his second consecutive pole position by two tenths of a second, race day was windy and cloudy with frequent sunny spells.
The first moto saw a battle for second as Billy Mackenzie ran away for the first ever British win in MX1. Coppins held a position as runner-up for almost the entire moto under pressure from David Philippaerts and then Jonathan Barragan. The Spaniard was eventually able to push through with two laps to go as Coppins admitted that his riding was not the best as he sought the quicker lines.
In the second sprint he again rode a lonely race to third after Ken de Dycker experienced brake trouble ahead and retired. He was close to Mackenzie and the chance of taking second place approaching the final two laps but could not get level with the eventual overall winner to overtake.
Marc de Reuver had a difficult day. The Dutchman started poorly in the opening moto and then slipped off in the deeply rutted corner after the pit lane. He circulated outside of the top twenty just behind leader Mackenzie and set similar lap-times but then fell again in the final laps, this time heavily off the biggest jump on the course, and suffered a concussion with nasty black eye. Feeling dazed and dizzy De Reuver did not take to the waiting zone for the second moto.
Team Jubilo Yamaha - the squad that competes in the Japanese National Championship - boasted the talents of former AMA competitor Akira Narita. The three times Japanese Champion failed to finish the first moto and picked up four points for seventeenth in the second.
The Yamaha Motocross Team now travel directly back to Europe and both Coppins and de Reuver will have a free weekend before making preparations for the comparatively short trip to St Jean d'Angely in western France. The French round will constitute the seventh round of the championship and precedes the Bulgarian Grand Prix two weeks afterwards.
Joshua Coppins - Yamaha Motocross Team: "I did not have a good feeling on this track, even on Saturday but I was able to push for a fast lap. I was surprised with pole position because I was struggling a little bit. I could not find the lines I wanted and couldn't get a rhythm going in the first moto. I was fighting the bike and not enjoying the race so for the second moto I tried riding a gear higher and making the bike work more for me instead of the other way around. It did not go as well as I hoped but I tried my best. I knew there would be many winners and many different guys on the podium this year but I am the only one to be here every week so far. I want to continue to do what I am doing. If 3-3 is a bad day then I am pleased with that. For sure this season is more stressful for me and the championship is always in the back of my mind but I want to win more GPs. Sometimes you have to lose the battle to win the war and that was the case today for me."    Marc de Reuver - Yamaha Motocross Team: "I was fifth at the start of the first heat but made a small mistake just before the finish line. I lost some time because I had to bash the bars and levers back into position. Billy Mackenzie lapped me and I ran behind him without any problem until the big crash over the table-top. The front wheel just washed out on the landing and I hit my head hard. I don't even remember how I got back to the paddock and Michele and Carlo thought it was better that I don't ride. It is a disappointing weekend but I am lucky that I only have a black eye."
Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team: "Overall it was a positive day but I cannot say that I am satisfied. In both motos Josh did not ride as well as he can and it is important to flow on this track because it is very rough. He showed his strength however to take third place both times and that was good in the circumstances. It was a very bad day for Marc. He looked very fast but made a mistake and crashed. He then fell again in a big way and luckily was not seriously injured; it was not convenient for him to race the second moto."   Circuit Length: 3737 Weather: Dry     2007 GP of Sugo, Japan 27/05/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 39'31.947 2 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'8.939 3 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'13.608 4 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'27.369 5 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'31.616 6 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'40.288 7 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'42.846 8 Yoshitaka Atsuta Honda JPN 0'43.191 9 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'46.266 10 James Noble Honda GBR 1'1.475 11 Manuel Priem TM BEL 1'5.560 12 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 1'9.411 13 Kazamusa Masuda Honda JPN 1'48.276 14 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 1'49.305 15 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 1'51.752 16 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL 2'5.433 17 Scott Columb Suzuki NZL -1 Laps 18 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL -1 Laps 19 Kohij Ohkawara Yamaha JPN -1 Laps
Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mike Brown Honda USA 40'20.363 2 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'3.066 3 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'7.996 4 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'27.232 5 Yoshitaka Atsuta Honda JPN 0'9.033 6 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'40.274 7 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'48.099 8 James Noble Honda GBR 0'53.372 9 Manuel Priem TM BEL 1'6.877 10 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 1'8.637 11 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 1'45.054 12 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 1'54.087 13 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL 2'3.623 14 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN -1 Laps 15 Kuraudo Toda Suzuki JPN -1 Laps 16 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL -1 Laps 17 Akira Narita Yamaha JPN -1 Laps 18 Kohij Ohkawara Yamaha JPN -1 Laps 19 Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA -1 Laps 20 Scott Columb Suzuki NZL -1 Laps
Rider Standings 27/05/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 274 2. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 211 3. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 186 4. Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 154 5. David Philippaerts KTM ITA 148 6. Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 146 7. Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 143 8. Mike Brown Honda USA 141 9. James Noble Honda GBR 128 10. Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 126 11. Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 120 12. Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 115 13. Manuel Priem TM BEL 103 14. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 95 15. Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 80 16. Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 70 17. Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 57 18. Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 49 19. Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 45 20. Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 38
Manufacturer Standings 27/05/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 274 2. Suzuki 229 3. KTM 201 4. Honda 188 5. Kawasaki 187 6. TM 103 8. Aprilia 2
RACE REPORT 27/05/2007 Cairoli stays on podium after tricky Japanese GP    Yamaha De Carli's Antonio Cairoli saw his winning streak of five Grand Prix come to an end in Japan but the Sicilian - who announced a new three year agreement with Yamaha the same day - took a second moto win and second position overall behind arch-rival Christophe Pourcel in the sixth meeting of the MX2 campaign.
Sugo was another capable circuit on which Cairoli could show off his speed and skills. The mud was hugely technical by virtue of the holes, dips and bumps that carved very quickly into the surface. The course demanded concentration but also allowed for individual expression thanks to the choice in racing lines and vast jumps.
On a warm but overcast Saturday Cairoli dominated the second qualification heat for his fifth Saturday win of the season and one that he claimed was the easiest so far. His speed ensured selection of second place in the start gate for Sunday.
After an unfamiliar bad start and then a small (and rare) race crash by Cairoli in the first moto, while closing fast on Tyla Rattray for second position, the Italian lost the chance to fight for the win and he had to accept a distant third place. The 21 year old, who had won the last seven motos in succession and whose previous lowest result had been a second position in Spain, re-evaluated his approach for the next race of 35 minutes and 2 laps. He rounded the first corner at the front of the pack and unveiled a more familiar sight that motocross fans are quickly becoming accustomed to in 2007 by setting the pace ahead of Rattray and Pourcel. Both of his pursuers would crash deep into the moto giving the YZ250F pilot a clear run to the finish line for his tenth win from twelve. Pourcel was able to recover to overtake a lagging Tommy Searle for second spot in the final stages and post a better overall score for the win.
Yamaha Team Ricci's Kenneth Gundersen was again unfortunate to only place eighth overall. The Norwegian was slow out of the gate in each moto and then had to ditch his goggles twice as sand and dirt had entered the eyewear. With the roost kicked up by the rear wheels of the machines ahead he was limited in whatever progress he could make, posting twelfth and ninth by the end of the afternoon.
Nicolas Aubin suffered the effects of a long trip during the week, and was not able to operate at the level normally shown by the French youngster who has arguably been one of the breakthrough performers this season. He was thirteenth and sixteenth for thirteenth overall. His team-mate David Guarneri could not score in Moto1 due to a third lap crash in which he broke his clutch. He was stronger in the second race and took ten points for eleventh in only his third Grand Prix this year.
Bike It Yamaha Dixon Racing's Carl Nunn was tenth overall. The British Champion simply could not gel with the track in the first race and was disappointingly dragged down to eighteenth. The Briton gave a better account of himself in the second moto and took part in an entertaining tussle with team-mate Martin Barr (who grabbed a career best twelfth) and Guarneri. Nunn eventually moved past Gundersen for eighth place by the end of the distance.
Cairoli conceded two points to Pourcel in the World Championship standings but his margin still rests at a hefty 66. Gundersen and Aubin are seventh and eighth respectively.
The Grand Prix of France at St Jean d'Angely will form the seventh round of the World Championship and will take place in two weeks time.
Antonio Cairoli - Yamaha De Carli: "I was a bit unlucky at this GP because I felt very good in the second moto. I did not start so well in the first race and Christophe took a lead of many seconds. I lost a lot of time stuck behind a Kawasaki rider and the track was so wet; I did not want to make a mistake. My lines were not great either. After I got through I chased Christophe and Tyla. The gap was around twenty seconds and I got it down to five but I made a small error and crashed. Before the second race I watched the MX1 moto for some lines. When I got the holeshot I found my speed right away and leading the race was easy, especially after the first twenty minutes. Christophe and Tyla made some mistakes and Searle was a long way away. I want to win again in France for sure and start to take more points away from the other guys in the championship. I don't want to repeat my mistakes from last year so when the win is there I will go for it but otherwise the top three is acceptable."    Kenneth Gundersen, Yamaha Team Ricci: "I don't know why but in both motos I got sand inside my goggles and had to take them off, after that it was very difficult to ride. I had two bad starts but I gave everything I had today and I could not do any better, so in one way I am happy."
Nicolas Aubin - Yamaha Team Ricci: "I had a very long journey here and as a result only slept two hours last night. I felt like I was asleep on the bike; I could not react and was making stupid mistakes. My crash in the first moto was like the mistake of a junior. Anyway, I have learned a lot for the future and I have to work hard in the next few GPs now to regain the points that I lost today." Carl Nunn - Bike it Dixon Yamaha Racing: "The first moto was really bad. Things were OK at the beginning but I then just went backwards; I did not even have any rhythm to lose. The bike wasn't working because I was not riding it correctly. I felt terrible and made everything hard work. I went down and then after that I lost all momentum. The second race was a lot better and had some good battles. I finished eighth and was happy with that because I was able to raise my game significantly. It was the first time all weekend I enjoyed the track and was able to put the bike where I wanted it to go."   Circuit Length: 3737 Weather: Dry     2007 GP of Sugo, Japan 27/05/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 39'45.553 2 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'5.524 3 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 0'38.981 4 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'50.085 5 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 1'8.766 6 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 1'20.922 7 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'29.208 8 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 1'32.731 9 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 1'33.926 10 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'52.268 11 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 2'2.674 12 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR -1 Laps 13 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA -1 Laps 14 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL -1 Laps 15 Youhei Kojima Suzuki JPN -1 Laps 16 Yu Hirata Honda JPN -1 Laps 17 Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR -1 Laps 18 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR -1 Laps 19 Yuya Ozaki Yamaha JPN -1 Laps 20 Elliott Banks-Browne Suzuki GBR -1 Laps
Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 40'44.387 2 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'5.667 3 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'9.007 4 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'30.867 5 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'44.728 6 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'47.756 7 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'3.866 8 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'7.021 9 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 1'12.036 10 Youhei Kojima Suzuki JPN 1'17.201 11 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 1'19.994 12 Martin Barr Yamaha GBR 1'26.537 13 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 1'32.576 14 Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 1'34.426 15 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 1'35.437 16 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 1'36.083 17 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 1'43.889 18 Tadashi Kugimura Yamaha JPN 1'56.363 19 Jake Nicholls Suzuki GBR 2'5.405 20 Yu Hirata Honda JPN -1 Laps
Rider Standings 27/05/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 292 2. Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 228 3. Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 218 4. Tommy Searle KTM GBR 175 5. Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 173 6. Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 147 7. Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 139 8. Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 134 9. Matti Seistola Honda FIN 115 10. Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 95 11. Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 90 12. Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 69 13. Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 65 14. Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 62 15. Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 58 16. Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 55 17. Erik Eggens Suzuki NED 54 18. Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 54 19. Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 53 20. Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 50 22. Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 42
Manufacturer Standings 27/05/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 292 2. Kawasaki 239 3. KTM 237 4. Honda 173 5. Suzuki 103
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Yamaha second and third in a one-race round

The British weather tried to spoil the seventh round of the World Superbike Championship at Silverstone today but it couldn't take away two podium positions from the Yamaha Motor Italia Team. In a rain-soaked single-race day Haga took second while Corser took his 110th podium position in third. The second race was cancelled after a 30 minute delay to clear water from the track failed to improve conditions.
The day started with a twenty minute warm up session that doubled up as the first opportunity for all the teams to find their wet set up. Corser showed his wet race confidence in the YZF-R1, going second fastest overall in the session. Haga went fifth fastest but had a small crash at the end of the session.
Both Haga and Corser got good race starts with Haga maintaining his second place and Corser moving up to fourth. Within one lap Corser had passed his way up to second, overtaking Haga along the way, and was focusing on catching front man Bayliss. It was on lap four that Corser took the lead until Bayliss re-took it after six laps.
The water soaked track made for difficult race conditions but all three riders were locked in a tight battle for the lead for the remainder of the race. Haga squeezed past Corser on lap 19 and went on to set the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap to give Yamaha their 50th fastest lap of all-time. Both riders held on to their positions to take second and third positions. Yamaha was the only manufacturer today to have all its riders finish.
Shinichi Nakatomi braved the bad weather to put in a strong performance. He finished 13th and took away three points in his most disliked weather conditions and with two broken toes.
Haga now goes into the eighth round at Misano only 23 points behind first place; Corser maintains his fifth position with the 16 points from today's race.
Noriyuki Haga (2nd - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I'm a bit disappointed the race has been cancelled because I have lost out on the chance to take away even more points. The conditions out there are bad but I still would've wanted to race - that's my job and I know the risks. At least no championship points have gone elsewhere.
This morning I had a small high-side crash in the warm up session but it didn't put me off in the race. I was more concerned about my suspension setting which wasn't perfect. The twenty minute session this morning wasn't long enough for me to find the best wet set up so I had to work with what I had. I am surprised at my result and getting fastest lap considering this but it's a good result and I have even managed to reduce the points difference between myself and first place. I'm looking forward to Misano - at least it hardly ever rains there!"
Troy Corser (3rd - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I'm disappointed that the second race was cancelled because I was going well in the wet today and reckon I could've got another podium. I am pleased with my race one result as it's the first time I have ridden the Yamaha in full wet conditions. I was running in first place but just couldn't maintain it because of the conditions and I made a small mistake - when you make a mistake in this weather it can really affect you. I'm happy with the bike and also now with both wet and dry set up. With regard to race two there was so much water on the track I nearly crashed twice on the sighting lap. But to not race is still disappointing."
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "We got a good result today considering the weather. To have both riders on the podium together re-pays all the hard work the team has put in so far this season. Today we have are twelve points closer to the championship win so we are now even more motivated. To see Troy on the podium was great because he's had some bad luck in the last few races. All our energies are now on the next race at Misano as it is our second home race. I would like to thank the team for all their hard work this weekend."
Shinichi Nakatomi (13th - Team Yamaha YZF) "This has been a difficult weekend with my injuries and the weather. I had very little time between races to recover from my crash at Monza; I was in a lot of pain and found it hard to push on the footpeg during the race. But I have found some good setting this weekend and am pleased to finish in thirteenth as the bike was sliding a lot in the rain."
Martial Garcia (Team Manager, Team Yamaha YZF) "It is good to take away three points from this round considering Tomi's pain. He told me that he almost stopped during the race but he fought on to take some points. He now has three weeks to recover which is a good amount of time. It is a credit to him that he finished the race today, I am pleased with his result."   Circuit Length: 3619 Temp: 10 Crowd: 55,000 Weather: Wet     2007 WSB Silverstone 27/05/2007 Race 1 - 28 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 46'2.875 2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 0'2.035 3 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 0'4.568 4 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 0'50.039 5 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'9.696 6 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'20.982 7 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'33.061 8 James Toseland Honda GBR -1 Laps 9 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP -1 Laps 10 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER -1 Laps 11 Vittorio Iannuzzo Kawasaki ITA -1 Laps 12 Luca Morelli Ducati ITA -1 Laps 13 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN -2 Laps
Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'37.005
 Rider Standings 27/05/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. James Toseland Honda GBR 237 2. Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 214 3. Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 201 4. Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 189 5. Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 151 6. Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 116 7. Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 113 8. Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 90 9. Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 87 10. Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 62 11. Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 60 12. Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 59 13. Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 46 14. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 44 15. Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 40 17. Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 22
Manufacturer Standings 27/05/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 251 2. Yamaha 237 3. Ducati 234 4. Suzuki 201 5. Kawasaki 88
RACE REPORT 27/05/2007 West gives Yamaha their first Supersport race win of the season    Freezing temperatures and heavy rain was not enough to put Anthony West off from taking his first race win for Yamaha today at Silverstone. In a dramatic race for the Yamaha World Supersport Team Broc Parkes crashed out while in second place and West went from 16th to take the race win in appalling weather conditions.
Both riders got excellent starts with Parkes going into the lead on the first lap with Yamaha Team Italia rider Massimo Roccoli in second and West making an impressive charge from 16th to 6th. Parkes started to open a gap between him and the rest of the pack as West continued his one-man charge. After passing Roccoli on lap four West set about catching his team mate. By lap ten he had passed Parkes and already put 3.5 seconds between them.
Parkes was maintaining his second place when he crashed on lap 14 at the old hairpin in a low-side slide. Roccoli had been running in third for the majority of the race when he also crashed out on lap 23. The race was then red flagged due to the deteriorating weather conditions giving Anthony West the race win with a comfortable 33 second lead.
Today's race success puts West in seventh place in the championship and only 28 points behind fourth place.
Anthony West (1st - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "This is a fantastic result especially when you consider my qualifying position. The rain helped in a way because I was finding it very difficult in the dry to find a decent set up. I need more time at tracks I don't know to get the right race setting but the rain leveled the playing field. I wasn't even too confident in my wet set up that we sorted in this morning's session because the session was stopped and re-started and we lost time.
I went hard for the first few laps and I had some big moments which were scary. I had quite a few throughout the race actually so I am glad that the race was red flagged - it was too cold to keep going. I was out there long enough!
I would like to dedicate this win to Kevin Curtain as without him I would not have had this chance to race in World Supersport. I really feel for him being out injured and I hope he gets well soon."
Broc Parkes (DNF - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I knew Anthony was going very fast and I tried to follow but there was almost too much of a gap. The crash was so strange, it was really slow and I didn't even crash hard but I broke the footpeg and that ended my race. I just can't believe that I have crashed again, I'm pretty devastated."
Massimo Roccoli (DNF - Yamaha Team Italia) "I took a lot of risks today. My aim to challenge Fujiwara towards the end of the race for the podium position but I lost the rear and crashed out. I am very disappointed because I have been fast here in the dry this weekend."   Circuit Length: 3619 Temp: 10 Crowd: 55,000 Weather: Very Wet     2007 WSS Silverstone 27/05/2007 Race 1 - 28 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Anthony West Yamaha AUS 39'16.245 2 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 0'33.477 3 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 0'48.057 4 Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 0'51.777 5 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 0'54.295 6 Matthieu Lagrive Honda FRA 1'1.579 7 Javier Fores Honda ESP 1'50.576 8 Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 1'52.106 9 Julien Enjolras Yamaha FRA 1'53.184 10 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED -1 Laps 11 Miguel Praia Honda POR -1 Laps 12 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA -1 Laps 13 Jesco Gunther Honda GER -1 Laps 14 Gregory Leblanc Honda FRA -1 Laps 15 Joan Lascorz Honda ESP -1 Laps
Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Anthony West Yamaha AUS 1'44.188
 Rider Standings 27/05/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 145 2. Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 100 3. Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 69 4. Robbin Harms Honda DNK 59 5. Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 47 6. Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 43 7. Anthony West Yamaha AUS 41 8. Andrew Pitt Honda AUS 40 9. David Salom Yamaha ESP 34 10. Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 34 11. Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 33 12. Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 30 13. Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 27 14. Craig Jones Honda GBR 25 15. Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 25 21. David Checa Yamaha ESP 20 24. Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 13
Manufacturer Standings 27/05/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 165 2. Kawasaki 110 3. Yamaha 107 4. Suzuki 54 5. Ducati 43
RACE REPORT 27/05/2007 Yamaha claim fifth and sixth finishes in bad weather conditions    Michele Pirro and Matteo Baiocco took fifth and sixth place finishes respectively today at Silverstone despite appalling weather conditions. With constant rain since last night the track had become very wet and slippery with lots of standing water.
All the weekend's practice and qualifying sessions so far this weekend had been in dry conditions which meant that no one had been able to find a good wet set up so everyone took the opportunity to use this morning's warm up session as a chance to get some wet settings. The race was also shortened to ten laps due to the weather.
Michele Pirro started on pole, his third of the season so far, with team mate Claudio Corti also on the front row in third. Fresh from his win at Monza two weeks ago, Team Umbria Bike rider Matteo Baiocco started in seventh position.
Pirro made a good start and took the lead on the first lap with Roberts and Aitchison close behind. Despite trying to build up a gap between himself and the pack behind Pirro was unable to shake off Roberts. On lap five Roberts passed Pirro but was unable to maintain it after a near high-side one lap later. Then, on the penultimate lap Pirro had a near crash and ran onto the gravel, losing first place. He re-joined to finish in fifth.
Baiocco and Corti battled together throughout the race for sixth position until an error by Corti saw him drop back to take tenth finishing slot. Baiocco held his ground to take sixth and ten valuable points.
Didier Van Keymeulen's weekend did not go according to plan when he crashed during Saturday's free practice session. He had been showing his potential from the start of the weekend, running fastest in the first free practice and achieving fourth in qualifying one. In the second practice session Didier was on a fast lap minutes before the end when he crashed at the chicane, breaking one of the lower vertebrae in his back and cracking his pelvis. His recovery period is expected to be abut three months.
Matteo Baiocco leaves Silverstone second in the championship and only eight points behind lead-man Aitchison. Pirro moves up to fifth place in his rookie year in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup with only four points separating him from third position. Corti lies in sixth, just three points behind his fellow Yamaha Team Italia rider.
Michele Pirro (5th - Yamaha Team Italia) "I got a very good start today and was two seconds in front when I hit a slippery white line and lost control while passing a back marker. I lost out on a very good opportunity this weekend to improve my championship standing. I am very sorry to the team."
Matteo Baiocco (6th - Team Umbria Bike) "I didn't get a good wet set up and I just tried to survive in the race, which I managed to do. I look forward to Misano, which is my home track, where I promise that the music will be very different!"
Claudio Corti (10th - Yamaha Team Italia) "I didn't have time to set the bike up for the wet today which meant I had a very poor result. I hpe for much better next time."   Circuit Length: 3619 Temp: 9 Crowd: 55,000 Weather: Wet     2007 Superstock Silverstone 27/05/2007 Race 1 - 10 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Brendan Roberts Ducati AUS 17'54.454 2 Mark Aitchison Suzuki AUS 0'3.270 3 Matej Smrz Honda CZE 0'9.170 4 Xavier Simeon Suzuki BEL 0'14.674 5 Michele Pirro Yamaha ITA 0'20.559 6 Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 0'26.737 7 Cederic Tangre Yamaha FRA 0'27.989 8 Loic Napoleone Suzuki FRA 0'27.437 9 Ayrton Badovini MV Agusta ITA 0'32.785 10 Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 0'34.403 11 Lorenzo Baroni Ducati ITA 0'37.299 12 Ilario Dionisi Suzuki ITA 0'37.586 13 Nicolo Canepa Ducati ITA 0'40.906 14 Marko Jerman Suzuki SVK 0'46.422 15 Dario Giuseppetti Yamaha GER 0'58.452
Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Matej Smrz Honda CZE 1'44.768
 Rider Standings 27/05/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Mark Aitchison Suzuki AUS 78 2. Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 70 3. Nicolo Canepa Ducati ITA 60 4. Michele Pirro Yamaha ITA 56 5. Ilario Dionisi Suzuki ITA 54 6. Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 51 7. Xavier Simeon Suzuki BEL 51 8. Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha BEL 45 9. Brendan Roberts Ducati AUS 35 10. Matej Smrz Honda CZE 31 11. Rene Mahr Yamaha GER 26 12. Cederic Tangre Yamaha FRA 23 13. Marko Jerman Suzuki SVK 23 14. Sheridan Morais Ducati RSA 19 15. Danilo Dell'omo MV Agusta ITA 13
Manufacturer Standings 27/05/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 101 2. Suzuki 91 3. Ducati 85 4. Honda 43 5. MV Agusta 24 6. Kawasaki 4
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Cairoli and Yamaha extend collaboration for three more years

Yamaha is pleased to announce that current FIM MX2 World Championship leader Antonio Cairoli has signed a new contract to remain in blue colours for a further three years and will contest the MX2 series for the 2008 campaign.
The popular and talented 21 year old has steered a YZ250F for the Italian De Carli team since 2004 and in that time has claimed the 2005 World Championship and finished 3rd and 2nd the other two seasons; totalling 15 career victories .
Cairoli’s form has been magical this season with five straight wins and ten moto triumphs from a possible twelve. He leads the ’07 competition from 64 points over Christophe Pourcel. The Sicilian is committed to the 2008 MX2 World Championship for his fifth term on the YZ and with Claudio De Carli’s impressive crew but for the following two years he could make a switch to MX1 or even consider an AMA berth over the Atlantic.  “I am really happy with the new deal,” said the flamboyant winner of Grand Prix in Holland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Germany this season who visited the Yamaha factory in Iwata earlier this week. “We made a good arrangement for both Yamaha and I and it is great to get it confirmed. I will definitely be in MX2 next season and then we will see, maybe MX1. It was an easy decision to make because I have a happy home with Yamaha and the team. MX2 is a difficult class but we have one of the best bikes.”
“We are really happy that Tony has signed for Yamaha for three years and will continue with us,” commented De Carli. “It will be another step in a positive direction and also nice because Tony began his emergence as a top rider with our team. I am pleased that the decision was an easy one for him and that he feels happy racing with us.”
“Tony is the most talented young rider in the World Championship and we are very happy to have an agreement with him for the upcoming three years,” offered Yamaha Motor Europe’s Racing Manager Laurens Klein Koerkamp. “He is an important asset for the Yamaha brand. Not only is he a fantastic rider but a warm person with a lot of personality. He very much fits into the Yamaha family because we are a ‘human’ company. We believe that he has a lot of potential, whether he wishes to go to MX1 or to the US to race Supercross in the next few years. We are looking forward to a prosperous and exciting future together."
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Coppins stretches podium record with third at Sugo

Yamaha Motocross Team's Joshua Coppins continued his 100% podium record with third place overall at a cloudy and windy Sugo circuit - crowded by 24,000 spectators -for the Japanese Grand Prix and the sixth round of fifteen in the FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship today.
The New Zealander rode to a brace of third positions on the works YZ450F-FM in front of the attending Yamaha president Mr Kajikawa and company employees, and thanks to a poor day for his most direct title rival, Kevin Strijbos, he extended his lead in the championship standings to more than one Grand Prix with 63 points in total.
The immaculate Sugo track was again a technical and difficult prospect for the MX1 and MX2 classes. A long period of rainfall on Friday afternoon softened the terrain that was already well prepared and mixed deeply with wood chippings. The result was a mud that swiftly became rough and rutted with several lines providing ample choice and strategy for the riders. It was the third year in succession that the World Championship had visited the venue close to the city of Sendai and the third time this century for the Japanese round. Sugo, in Yamaha ownership, lies a few kilometres from the road racing complex and was established 32 years previously.
After hot and bright conditions on Saturday, in which Coppins sealed his second consecutive pole position by two tenths of a second, race day was windy and cloudy with frequent sunny spells.
The first moto saw a battle for second as Billy Mackenzie ran away for the first ever British win in MX1. Coppins held a position as runner-up for almost the entire moto under pressure from David Philippaerts and then Jonathan Barragan. The Spaniard was eventually able to push through with two laps to go as Coppins admitted that his riding was not the best as he sought the quicker lines.
In the second sprint he again rode a lonely race to third after Ken de Dycker experienced brake trouble ahead and retired. He was close to Mackenzie and the chance of taking second place approaching the final two laps but could not get level with the eventual overall winner to overtake.
Marc de Reuver had a difficult day. The Dutchman started poorly in the opening moto and then slipped off in the deeply rutted corner after the pit lane. He circulated outside of the top twenty just behind leader Mackenzie and set similar lap-times but then fell again in the final laps, this time heavily off the biggest jump on the course, and suffered a concussion with nasty black eye. Feeling dazed and dizzy De Reuver did not take to the waiting zone for the second moto.
Team Jubilo Yamaha - the squad that competes in the Japanese National Championship - boasted the talents of former AMA competitor Akira Narita. The three times Japanese Champion failed to finish the first moto and picked up four points for seventeenth in the second.
The Yamaha Motocross Team now travel directly back to Europe and both Coppins and de Reuver will have a free weekend before making preparations for the comparatively short trip to St Jean d'Angely in western France. The French round will constitute the seventh round of the championship and precedes the Bulgarian Grand Prix two weeks afterwards.
Joshua Coppins - Yamaha Motocross Team: "I did not have a good feeling on this track, even on Saturday but I was able to push for a fast lap. I was surprised with pole position because I was struggling a little bit. I could not find the lines I wanted and couldn't get a rhythm going in the first moto. I was fighting the bike and not enjoying the race so for the second moto I tried riding a gear higher and making the bike work more for me instead of the other way around. It did not go as well as I hoped but I tried my best. I knew there would be many winners and many different guys on the podium this year but I am the only one to be here every week so far. I want to continue to do what I am doing. If 3-3 is a bad day then I am pleased with that. For sure this season is more stressful for me and the championship is always in the back of my mind but I want to win more GPs. Sometimes you have to lose the battle to win the war and that was the case today for me."    Marc de Reuver - Yamaha Motocross Team: "I was fifth at the start of the first heat but made a small mistake just before the finish line. I lost some time because I had to bash the bars and levers back into position. Billy Mackenzie lapped me and I ran behind him without any problem until the big crash over the table-top. The front wheel just washed out on the landing and I hit my head hard. I don't even remember how I got back to the paddock and Michele and Carlo thought it was better that I don't ride. It is a disappointing weekend but I am lucky that I only have a black eye."
Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team: "Overall it was a positive day but I cannot say that I am satisfied. In both motos Josh did not ride as well as he can and it is important to flow on this track because it is very rough. He showed his strength however to take third place both times and that was good in the circumstances. It was a very bad day for Marc. He looked very fast but made a mistake and crashed. He then fell again in a big way and luckily was not seriously injured; it was not convenient for him to race the second moto."   Circuit Length: 3737 Weather: Dry     2007 GP of Sugo, Japan 27/05/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 39'31.947 2 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'8.939 3 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'13.608 4 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'27.369 5 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'31.616 6 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'40.288 7 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'42.846 8 Yoshitaka Atsuta Honda JPN 0'43.191 9 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'46.266 10 James Noble Honda GBR 1'1.475 11 Manuel Priem TM BEL 1'5.560 12 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 1'9.411 13 Kazamusa Masuda Honda JPN 1'48.276 14 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 1'49.305 15 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 1'51.752 16 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL 2'5.433 17 Scott Columb Suzuki NZL -1 Laps 18 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL -1 Laps 19 Kohij Ohkawara Yamaha JPN -1 Laps
Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mike Brown Honda USA 40'20.363 2 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'3.066 3 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'7.996 4 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'27.232 5 Yoshitaka Atsuta Honda JPN 0'9.033 6 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'40.274 7 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'48.099 8 James Noble Honda GBR 0'53.372 9 Manuel Priem TM BEL 1'6.877 10 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 1'8.637 11 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 1'45.054 12 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 1'54.087 13 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL 2'3.623 14 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN -1 Laps 15 Kuraudo Toda Suzuki JPN -1 Laps 16 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL -1 Laps 17 Akira Narita Yamaha JPN -1 Laps 18 Kohij Ohkawara Yamaha JPN -1 Laps 19 Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA -1 Laps 20 Scott Columb Suzuki NZL -1 Laps
RACE REPORT 27/05/2007 Cairoli stays on podium after tricky Japanese GP    Yamaha De Carli's Antonio Cairoli saw his winning streak of five Grand Prix come to an end in Japan but the Sicilian - who announced a new three year agreement with Yamaha the same day - took a second moto win and second position overall behind arch-rival Christophe Pourcel in the sixth meeting of the MX2 campaign.
Sugo was another capable circuit on which Cairoli could show off his speed and skills. The mud was hugely technical by virtue of the holes, dips and bumps that carved very quickly into the surface. The course demanded concentration but also allowed for individual expression thanks to the choice in racing lines and vast jumps.
On a warm but overcast Saturday Cairoli dominated the second qualification heat for his fifth Saturday win of the season and one that he claimed was the easiest so far. His speed ensured selection of second place in the start gate for Sunday.
After an unfamiliar bad start and then a small (and rare) race crash by Cairoli in the first moto, while closing fast on Tyla Rattray for second position, the Italian lost the chance to fight for the win and he had to accept a distant third place. The 21 year old, who had won the last seven motos in succession and whose previous lowest result had been a second position in Spain, re-evaluated his approach for the next race of 35 minutes and 2 laps. He rounded the first corner at the front of the pack and unveiled a more familiar sight that motocross fans are quickly becoming accustomed to in 2007 by setting the pace ahead of Rattray and Pourcel. Both of his pursuers would crash deep into the moto giving the YZ250F pilot a clear run to the finish line for his tenth win from twelve. Pourcel was able to recover to overtake a lagging Tommy Searle for second spot in the final stages and post a better overall score for the win.
Yamaha Team Ricci's Kenneth Gundersen was again unfortunate to only place eighth overall. The Norwegian was slow out of the gate in each moto and then had to ditch his goggles twice as sand and dirt had entered the eyewear. With the roost kicked up by the rear wheels of the machines ahead he was limited in whatever progress he could make, posting twelfth and ninth by the end of the afternoon.
Nicolas Aubin suffered the effects of a long trip during the week, and was not able to operate at the level normally shown by the French youngster who has arguably been one of the breakthrough performers this season. He was thirteenth and sixteenth for thirteenth overall. His team-mate David Guarneri could not score in Moto1 due to a third lap crash in which he broke his clutch. He was stronger in the second race and took ten points for eleventh in only his third Grand Prix this year.
Bike It Yamaha Dixon Racing's Carl Nunn was tenth overall. The British Champion simply could not gel with the track in the first race and was disappointingly dragged down to eighteenth. The Briton gave a better account of himself in the second moto and took part in an entertaining tussle with team-mate Martin Barr (who grabbed a career best twelfth) and Guarneri. Nunn eventually moved past Gundersen for eighth place by the end of the distance.
Cairoli conceded two points to Pourcel in the World Championship standings but his margin still rests at a hefty 66. Gundersen and Aubin are seventh and eighth respectively.
The Grand Prix of France at St Jean d'Angely will form the seventh round of the World Championship and will take place in two weeks time.
Antonio Cairoli - Yamaha De Carli: "I was a bit unlucky at this GP because I felt very good in the second moto. I did not start so well in the first race and Christophe took a lead of many seconds. I lost a lot of time stuck behind a Kawasaki rider and the track was so wet; I did not want to make a mistake. My lines were not great either. After I got through I chased Christophe and Tyla. The gap was around twenty seconds and I got it down to five but I made a small error and crashed. Before the second race I watched the MX1 moto for some lines. When I got the holeshot I found my speed right away and leading the race was easy, especially after the first twenty minutes. Christophe and Tyla made some mistakes and Searle was a long way away. I want to win again in France for sure and start to take more points away from the other guys in the championship. I don't want to repeat my mistakes from last year so when the win is there I will go for it but otherwise the top three is acceptable."    Kenneth Gundersen, Yamaha Team Ricci: "I don't know why but in both motos I got sand inside my goggles and had to take them off, after that it was very difficult to ride. I had two bad starts but I gave everything I had today and I could not do any better, so in one way I am happy."
Nicolas Aubin - Yamaha Team Ricci: "I had a very long journey here and as a result only slept two hours last night. I felt like I was asleep on the bike; I could not react and was making stupid mistakes. My crash in the first moto was like the mistake of a junior. Anyway, I have learned a lot for the future and I have to work hard in the next few GPs now to regain the points that I lost today."    Carl Nunn - Bike it Dixon Yamaha Racing: "The first moto was really bad. Things were OK at the beginning but I then just went backwards; I did not even have any rhythm to lose. The bike wasn't working because I was not riding it correctly. I felt terrible and made everything hard work. I went down and then after that I lost all momentum. The second race was a lot better and had some good battles. I finished eighth and was happy with that because I was able to raise my game significantly. It was the first time all weekend I enjoyed the track and was able to put the bike where I wanted it to go."   Circuit Length: 3737 Weather: Dry     2007 GP of Sugo, Japan 27/05/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 39'45.553 2 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'5.524 3 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 0'38.981 4 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'50.085 5 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 1'8.766 6 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 1'20.922 7 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'29.208 8 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 1'32.731 9 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 1'33.926 10 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'52.268 11 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 2'2.674 12 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR -1 Laps 13 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA -1 Laps 14 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL -1 Laps 15 Youhei Kojima Suzuki JPN -1 Laps 16 Yu Hirata Honda JPN -1 Laps 17 Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR -1 Laps 18 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR -1 Laps 19 Yuya Ozaki Yamaha JPN -1 Laps 20 Elliott Banks-Browne Suzuki GBR -1 Laps
Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 40'44.387 2 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'5.667 3 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'9.007 4 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'30.867 5 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'44.728 6 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'47.756 7 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'3.866 8 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'7.021 9 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 1'12.036 10 Youhei Kojima Suzuki JPN 1'17.201 11 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 1'19.994 12 Martin Barr Yamaha GBR 1'26.537 13 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 1'32.576 14 Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 1'34.426 15 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 1'35.437 16 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 1'36.083 17 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 1'43.889 18 Tadashi Kugimura Yamaha JPN 1'56.363 19 Jake Nicholls Suzuki GBR 2'5.405 20 Yu Hirata Honda JPN -1 Laps
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Japanese rendez-vous next for Yamaha’s off-road stars

The sixth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship will take place next weekend at the Sugo circuit for the Grand Prix of Japan. For the third time this century and the third season in succession, Yamaha’s elite crew of MX1 and MX2 racers will head to the impressive and popular venue close to the city of Sendai. Importantly, the firm enter their home event holding the lead in the Rider’s and Manufacturer’s standings of both classes and will defend an unbeaten record at Sugo.   Yamaha Motocross Team’s Josh Coppins currently enjoys a 43 point advantage in the MX1 classification. With one third of the fifteen race series already completed Coppins has forged a strong and notable start to his career as a Yamaha rider by guiding the Rinaldi-tuned works YZ450FM to three Grand Prix wins and seven moto triumphs from ten. He travels to Japan knowing that the Italian squad have tasted oriental victory in 2004 and 2005. “Of course I would love to win for Yamaha at their home GP and that is another goal of mine this season,” said the 30 year old title favourite, who’s lowest finish this year has been a sixth position.
The New Zealander missed the 2006 edition of the race through injury but finished fourth in 2005 after taking part in a classic five rider scrap. “I like the track a lot,” he continued. “I have only been once but had a pretty good result there. I like how it is pretty rough, technical and jumpy. The terrain is also interesting. I am also fond of Japan, when you have to travel so far it helps that you like the actual country. I enjoy taking in the countryside and somehow I feel very safe when I am there. The people are so polite and very helpful.”
Coppins, along with the Rinaldis and team-mate Marc de Reuver, will visit the Yamaha Motor Co (YMC) factory at Hamamatsu in the days leading up to the GP. “I am really looking forward to that,” he added. “As I get towards the later stages of my career I am starting to appreciate a lot more the history of our sport and places like Yamaha with their museum for motorsport. I am keen to see their old world championship bikes in both road racing and motocross. I have never actually been to a factory before so I am looking forward to meeting the bosses and the guys responsible for the bikes. It will be nice also to see how the work and the testing that I do filter through to the production machines.”    The Sugo circuit has won rave reviews for not only its challenging layout but the care and attention directed to the soil that quickly becomes bumpy, rutted and technical. Marc de Reuver, who was third in the MX2 class there twelve months ago, is one of the many fans among the riding fraternity. “I always prefer tracks that are not rock hard and Sugo is nice to ride,” the charismatic Dutchman said. “It has big braking bumps, which is good for sand riders because we can play a little bit with the bike going into the corners. The layout is not too fast and the jumps are enjoyable.”
The 24 year old has had a tough baptism to the MX1 class but top three moto results in Holland, Italy and Germany indicate there is more to come from De Reuver and a maiden overall podium is around the corner. “For sure MX1 is different from what I expected,” he revealed. “As an MX2 rider you look at them and you think, ‘they are not a lot faster and not as aggressive’ but now that Stefan Everts has gone it seems that everyone sees the big prize. That second moto in Valkenswaard, only my second race, was so crazy. Mantova also, people were attacking, passing and really going for it, which I had not seen before. It seems like I am still in MX2! From the first to the last lap they push. MX1 is hard, especially physically.”  
Team Manager Carlo Rinaldi is relishing the chance for his new rider line-up to show YMC staff first-hand the fruits of their efforts on the factory floor. “I enjoy going to Japan first of all because we like the nice and kind cooperation from Yamaha and secondly because we love the track,” he remarked. “We have always taken good results there. The dirt and the layout are excellent and we have seen some great races. I think Josh will have some pressure but he has proved to us so far that he manages under those kinds of conditions. I believe that racing in Japan will give him an extra boost.”
“Visiting the factory will be something different for us and an added treat on our trip,” he added. “I honestly have never been to YMC so it will be interesting for me and the riders also.”    Yamaha’s home dominance in the MX1 category is mirrored (in fact bettered) in MX2 where the YZ250F has taken the first two steps of the podium in both 2005 and 2006. The factory stand a very good chance of further spoils next week thanks to the fantastic form of Team De Carli’s Antonio Cairoli, who is unbeaten in the five Grand Prix held so far and has notched nine moto wins from ten.
The Sicilian, who has finished runner-up for the past two seasons in Sugo, will also visit the facilities in Hamamatsu with team principal Claudio De Carli. “I love going to Japan and the whole experience, with the factory trip included, should be interesting also,” he said last week after winning the German Grand Prix at Teutschenthal. “I really like Sugo. I am definitely going there to win this time because I have finished second twice now.”
“The beginning of the season has been perfect,” affirmed De Carli. “It has gone like a dream and everything has been good. We worked well in our testing during the winter and Tony is physically very good and confident. We now have to do our best to keep going in this direction although it won’t be easy all year.”
The Italian boss was also full of praise for the 2007 YZ250F on which Cairoli has been torturing his rivals – most notably reigning champion Christophe Pourcel – this season and still has not finished lower than second place.
“The bike we have, as well as the stock version, is a little bit different from last year and is better for the rider because it turns and handles better in the corners,” he said. “It certainly suits Tony’s style. We have made some work on the delivery of the power, so it is more usable for the rider. We made some suspension adjustments and overall we are really happy with the equipment we have.”
The Grand Prix of Japan will be followed by trips to France and Bulgaria in the month of June as the 2007 campaign reaches the halfway point.
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno