Jump to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.
Yamaha Owners Club

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.

Yamaha Racing News

Get the latest Yamaha Racing News with the Yamaha Owners Club
Show all categories

Tech 3 Yamaha completes 2007 line-up with Sylvian Guintoli

The Tech 3 Team is pleased to announce that the Yamaha-Dunlop project will continue in 2007 with a two-rider line-up. After signing Makoto Tamada last week, Tech 3 Yamaha has completed its 2007 squad with the addition of French 250cc rider and current Tech 3 test rider Sylvain Guintoli.
Herve Poncharal, Team Principal of Tech 3 Yamaha, said “I am very grateful to Yamaha for supporting us for one more season and enabling us to have two riders on the new 800cc motorcycle. Furthermore, I am very happy to announce that Sylvain Guintoli will be our second rider alongside Makoto Tamada. The Tech 3 Yamaha Team will be the only team to run Dunlop tyres in MotoGP and we are delighted that we will have such a talented line-up to continue with the great work that we’ve done in 2006.”
“It’s a dream come true for me to finally step up to the MotoGP class,” added French star Guintoli. “Herve and I have known each other for years and to be given the chance to ride with a Yamaha factory team is a fantastic opportunity for me. I want to thank Herve Poncharal and Yamaha for this chance and I can’t wait to begin working with them.” 
Alex Asigno

Rossi starts on Yamaha 800 in Valencia

Just a couple of days after the dramatic finale to his rollercoaster season, Valentino Rossi was back out on track in Valencia yesterday and today, already thinking about next season’s revenge as he got to grips with Yamaha’s new 800cc motorcycle. After the final race of the 990cc era on Sunday, most of his MotoGP rivals were also out on their new bikes as the teams began the long winter of testing in the build-up to the first race next March.
Having only ridden the Yamaha 800cc bike briefly on two previous occasions, this test was the first chance for Rossi and his team to assess it in detail and really begin to work on its development. They concentrated on a variety of different set-ups throughout the test with the aim of gathering as much data as possible to aid the Yamaha engineers in their task. Discounting some times from riders who chose to start off on their 990 bikes, which included Rossi for some laps yesterday, the Italian set the seventh fastest lap time of the 800s overall with a time of 1’33.10 yesterday.
Rossi’s team-mate Colin Edwards will get his first taste of the new bike at Sepang in two weeks time before both riders head to Jerez together for the final test of the year at the end of the month.
Valentino Rossi “It was really good to have two days to rest after such a sad day on Sunday and I’m already feeling much better, in fact I wish the season started in two weeks time! We actually started off the test by doing some laps on the old 990cc bike as we wanted to have one more go at understanding why we lost! Then it was time to finally put it all behind us and get on with the new campaign. It’s been great to be able to try the new bike straight away, when the 990 is still fresh in my mind, as it’s easy to compare and understand the differences. Our bike is already quite good; it’s at a good level for this early stage of development. This is the third time I’ve ridden it and it’s got better each time because they’ve been working hard in Japan. They haven’t made so many big changes yet, just small things like the engine setting, but already it’s a bit faster. Yesterday we were fastest, which was exciting, but today we’ve been trying some different things and we were quite a lot slower. Anyway I’m not worried about that, the most important thing at the moment is to get as much information as possible and really start to understand and get to know the bike. This has been a useful test, I’m already feeling very motivated about the new bike and I am sure that next time I ride it in Jerez it will be even better!”.
 
Davide Brivio – Camel Yamaha Team Director “It was nice to start the 2007 season straight away and not to dwell on the past and this has been a very important test for us with our new 800cc bike. Yesterday Valentino was quite fast which was encouraging. Today we worked on some different things and so he was a bit slower, but at this stage all this information is extremely useful in order to help develop the bike for the next test. Next Colin will have his chance to try the bike and give his opinion and this will also be very important for our engineers. It’s been interesting for us to have a look at our competitors here this week; everyone is already fast so it’s clearly going to be another hard and competitive season and we know we’re all going to have to work very hard through the winter!”
Unofficial lap times
Wednesday 1st November 2006 1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 990, 1’32.70 2. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda 990, 1’32.73 3. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda 990, 1’32.90 4. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 800, 1’33.10 5. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki 800, 1’33.14 6. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 800, 1’33.17 7. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 800, 1’3318 8. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 800, 1’33.21 9. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati 800, 1’33.43 10. Alex Barros (BRA) Ducati 990, 1’33.64 11. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 800, 1’33.66 12. Jeremy McWilliams (IRL) Ilmor 800, 1’35.80 13. Andrew Pitt (AUS) Ilmor 800, 1’36.60s
Thursday 2nd November 2006 1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 800, 1’32.66 2. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 800, 1’32.69 3. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki 800, 1’32’95 4. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati 800, 1’33.96 5. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 800, 1’33.02 6. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 800, 1’33.03 7. Alex Barros (BRA) Ducati 990, 1’33.40 8. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 800, 1’33.78 9. Jeremy McWilliams (IRL) Ilmor 800, 1’35.90 10. Andrew Pitt (AUS) Ilmor 800, 1’36.40 
Alex Asigno

Edwards '800 debut interrupted by rain at Sepang

Colin Edwards got his first chance to try out Yamaha’s brand-new 800cc MotoGP bike today, but his debut on the bike was cut short due to bad weather at Sepang. Torrential rain fell on the Malaysian circuit from 1pm, flooding parts of the track and bringing about scenes reminiscent of September’s Grand Prix, when a similar storm led to the cancellation of Qualifying. The rain did begin to ease up as the afternoon wore on but parts of the track remained underwater and Edwards, along with all other MotoGP riders present, chose to stay in his garage. Nonetheless Edwards and his crew made the most of a dry morning and the American was able to complete 32 laps before it began to rain, forming a positive initial opinion of the new bike in the process and setting the fastest time of the day with a lap of 2’03.56. Second fastest was Suzuki rider Chris Vermeulen with a time of 2’03.90. Colin Edwards(1st – 2’03.56, 32 Laps): “The weather has been a pain but actually we’d already accomplished more or less everything we wanted for the first day. The aim of today was to get on the new bike, do a few laps and just generally get a feel for it. I went out on one tyre for about 15 laps and then on another for 12 and my initial impression was pretty good; in fact the bike feels great for this stage of its development. Obviously power-wise it feels different, but other than that it just feels like it’s rounded-off a bit; not such a knife-edge and a little bit more forgiving. We didn’t change anything drastic from the set-up that Valentino's been running, but just made a few tweaks here and there through the morning to get things working better for me. Hopefully we’ll be a bit luckier with the weather tomorrow and then we can start to really work on it and see where we get to.” Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director: “Today the weather didn’t allow us to use the day to our full advantage, but anyway we completed quite a few laps and this was very important to get Colin’s initial comment on our new bike. This is the first taste for him and his information is going to be very important for our engineers. Unfortunately the weather this afternoon was just too bad and it was impossible to carry on, but now we hope for better conditions tomorrow so we can continue what we began today.”
Unofficial Lap Times (800cc Bikes)
1.Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha, 2’03.56 2.Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki, 2’03.90 3.John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki, 2’04.06 4.Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda, 2’04.69 5.Toni Elias (SPA) Honda, 2’04.98 6.Makoto Tamada (JPN) Yamaha, 2’05.11 7.Tadayuki Okada (JPN) Honda Test Rider, 2’05.90 8.Carlos Checa (SPA) Honda, 2’11.05
Sepang Lap Record: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2006, 2’02.127
Sepang Best Lap: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2006, 2’00.605 
Alex Asigno

Positive day for Yamaha at Pirelli test

Positive first outing for Haga and Corser on the All-New R1 After working hard to make the first race version of the 2007 YZF-R1 ready for a two day Pirelli Development Teams’ test at Valencia, the Yamaha Motor Italia team enjoyed two positive days of work under clear Spanish skies. Troy Corser set a best of 1’34.9 with a race set-up, with Noriyuki Haga on a 1’35.1, on qualifying tyres. Both existing team rider Haga and new signing Corser made back-to-back evaluations of the 2006 and 2007 models, and despite the ’07 model being in its very first stage of development and testing, each rider found real improvements in the performance of the new machine.
Haga spent his time on the new machine, while Corser moved on to the ’07 machine after riding most of day one on the previous model. The fastest rider in the test was Max Biaggi (Suzuki) who set a fastest lap of 1’33.9 on race tyres.
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia): "We started yesterday just making a shakedown test on the new ’07 bike. Compared to the ’06 bike it was a good start. It’s already quite a good bike and of course we are only at the first step. We have understood what we need from this test and I am sure it will be even better in Qatar. The feeling from the bike is different, front and rear, and it turns a little bit better than the ’06 bike. The ’07 engine is easier to control because the feeling from the engine is good, although right now we only have one specification of race engine. We need to make some adjustments to the mapping and the take it from there”.
 
Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia): "We tried some new swingarms and experimented with the length of the bike, but even considering that, out lap times weren’t so bad. This was our first day with the new bike because on day one I hardly touched the new bike. For a first full day on the new bike I think we have got some good info to take away and prepare for the Qatar test. I think the new bike overall is maybe already a little bit better than the fully developed ’06 bike. And we have only just started. The ’06 bike feels a bit more nervous, and the new one feels easier to ride overall. It feels more stable under braking, even thought he ’06 bike was good in that respect too. The ’07 just feels even more stable again. We are still working on the throttle but already the ’07 engine pulls right through the midrange to the higher revs. It just feels more linear. We tried some new versions of the development tyres and found an improvement with both front and rear. I’m pretty happy."
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "We can only think of this test as a positive one. To do so many laps and have so few problems was great. In the end we used the new bike all day on the second day and Troy was faster on the new bike when compared to the old one. We are quite optimistic because we didn’t expect this. Because the bike is new we can expect to experience a few problems. The bike was finished only on Saturday night and after we had run in the engines and checked that everything was working we put them in the trailer and drove straight to Valencia. So we were expecting a few small problems, as usual when all is new. When we go home will have a lot of data to check and we go to the next test with good experience from this first one "
OFFICIAL SBK TESTS Circuit: Valencia Circuit Length: 4005km Lap Record: 1' 35.007 (Neil Hodgson, 2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 33.758 (Troy Bayliss, 2006) Temp: 23ºC
WSB - fastest time over two days Biaggi, Suzuki 1’33.9 Lanzi, Ducati 1’33.9 Kagayama, Suzuki 1’34.2 Bayliss, Ducati 1’34.2 Toselan, Honda 1’34.2 Nieto, Kawasaki 1’34.8 Corser, Yamaha 1’34.9 Laconi, Kawasaki 1’34.8 Haga, Yamaha 1’35.1 Rolfo, Honda 1’36.7
Pirelli Test Session: Spain Circuit: Valencia Date: 14-15 November 2006 Temp: 23ºC Weather: Sunny
Parkes flies solo at Valencia Yamaha Motor Germany rider Broc Parkes was on form once more in testing, posting competitive times despite having a heavy workload of machine and tyre evaluation duties to perform, in the absence of his team-mate Kevin Curtain. His absolute best lap on day two was a 1’37.0, putting him fourth fastest overall.
Parkes rode most of the test alone, aided at some points by Yamaha Motor Europe test rider, Jeffry de Vries.
Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) was the fastest rider on display, setting a 1’36.4.
Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) "It would have been good to have another day and I had a lot of work to do as it was. We wanted to get through a lot of new things on the bike and we had to get those worked out properly, so we didn’t devote so much time to testing tyres to start with. We went through a lot of stuff anyway and the bike is working well. I think I did a 1’37 flat, and that was only half a second off the fastest guy, so that was pretty good. We have new quick shifters now and the bike is lighter, so we can move the weight around the bike if we want."
Pirelli Valencia Test WSS Circuit: Valencia Circuit Length: 4.005km Lap Record: 1' 38.664 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 36.4 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2006 - this test) Temp: 20ºC WSS - fastest time over two days S. Charpentier, Honda 1’36.4 K. Sofuoglu, Honda 1’36.8 G. Nannelli, Ducati 1’36.9 B. Parkes, Yamaha 1’37.0 F. Foret, Kawasaki 1’37.7 B. Veneman, Suzuki 1’38.6 P. Riba, Kawasaki 1’39.3
Alex Asigno

Dry day aids Edwards' 800cc progress

After yesterday’s torrential downpour, the rain stayed away today and the sun came out at Sepang for the second day of MotoGP testing at the Malaysian track. Yamaha pilot Colin Edwards, who is riding Yamaha’s new 800cc motorcycle for the first time this week, was able to complete 48 laps and make significant improvements to the setting of his bike, despite suffering a small slide into the gravel in turn one at one stage. Edwards was luckily unhurt and was able to continue working on the same bike after a short time. The two Suzukis of John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen where fastest today, putting in times of 2’02.77 and 2’02.78 respectively. Having set the fastest time yesterday, Edwards was able to improve on that and finished the day third fastest with a best lap of 2’02.91. Following yesterday’s washout, Yamaha have elected to stay for one more half day of testing tomorrow before heading home for a short break ahead of the final test of the year in Jerez. Colin Edwards (3rd – 2’02.91, 48 Laps): “The sun came out today, luckily, but the track was still wet this morning so we had to wait until about eleven before we could get going. Anyway things felt pretty good straight away and we were able to start doing some real work, playing around with some new stuff and just generally improving the setting all over. We then tested some new front tyres for Michelin and the second one especially felt really good. As a result I was pushing quite hard and just held onto the brake a little too long into turn one, which is when I came off. It wasn’t a big crash; I was trying to find the limit and it just bottomed out. Anyway it wasn’t a great drama and within half an hour I was back out on the same bike. After that we just kept on tweaking away at the setting; we ruled a few things out and some things in and made a lot of progress. I feel like we’ve accomplished a lot in a short time and now we’ve just got a few more things to try out tomorrow before we head home.”
Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director: “Today was a good day and, although we had to wait for the track to dry, we had time to get through a lot of work. Colin went well today and he was able to give some very important information to our engineers, as well as put in some good lap times. We managed to complete everything we had scheduled for the day and we’re pleased with his progress. Finally we have decided to stay for one more half day of testing tomorrow to make up for the time we lost yesterday, and then we will have a short break before the next test in Jerez, which is also going to be very important for the ongoing development of our bike.”
 
Unofficial Lap Times (800cc Bikes)
1.John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki, 2’02.77 2.Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki, 2’02.78 3.Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha, 2’02.91 4.Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda, 2’03.74 5.Toni Elias (SPA) Honda, 2’03.87 6.Carlos Checa (SPA) Honda, 2’04.08 7.Makoto Tamada (JPN) Yamaha, 2’04.65 8.Tadayuki Okada (JPN) Honda Test Rider, 2’05.70
Sepang Lap Record: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2006, 2’02.127
Sepang Best Lap: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2006, 2’00.605
Alex Asigno

De Reuver makes promising Yamaha debut

New 2007 factory Yamaha Motocross team rider Marc de Reuver completed his first laps with his works YZ450FM in Italy last week and then guided a production 450cc YZ to victory in the high-profile RedBull Knockout beach race in Holland at the weekend.
The 23 year old De Reuver, who finished fifth in the 2006 MX2 World Championship and makes his debut in the MX1 class for the 2007 Grand Prix campaign, completed his first Yamaha test in Italy, where he spent 3 very positive days with his new team. “We started testing with the stock bike, moved onto the kitted version and then the factory YZ450FM. More or less right from the beginning I was happy with what I was riding,” commented Marc. “The Yamaha is very different from what I had before and it was up to the quality of what I was expecting. Everyone knows the level and reputation of the Rinaldi team so it was great to start working with them.”
“I found the group very professional,” he continued. “There were six people working for me and I have never had something like that before. There was an engine specialist, someone for the suspension and basically whatever I needed. Every day we would have a meeting altogether and for me the whole environment was very productive and efficient.” “We rode on a hard pack course then went to a slightly sandier circuit before going to Rinaldi’s track, which is long and narrow and very technical. The strongest part of the bike for me was the handling. The Yamaha feels very stable and I felt like I always knew what the bike was doing.”
As the Netherlands’ top rider, De Reuver will retain a high profile alongside fellow new Yamaha recruit Josh Coppins next season and will push to be the first Dutchman to claim victory in the MX1 class since the inception of the category in 2004. “I feel very confident and for sure I know that I can be inside the top five, I have the right tools to do the job,” he commented.
 
Racing Manager Carlo Rinaldi was enthused by De Reuver’s early efforts. “We started the test with the production bike and Marc was satisfied already from the beginning, he commented that it felt comfortable and safe. We then went forward with a step by step process to build the bike for him using the materials we had. We had a good few days and found a decent base from which to get the bike ready for next season. Watching Marc ride was very positive and I was impressed with how he took to the Yamaha.”
After his promising first test-session, De Reuver travelled back to his homeland for his first race outing on a Yamaha in the RedBull Knockout race, that took place on November 12 on the beach of Scheveningen. In a field numbering near 500 competitors, including recognised names such as Steve Ramon (3rd in the 2006 MX1-GP) and ex-GP star Erik Eggens, De Reuver showed his superiority in the sand and guided a stock YZ450F to first position to earn his Yamaha spurs. “There was quite a bit of pressure because we had made some commercials that had been going out on Dutch TV from October and then Steve Ramon entered the race at the last minute,” he recalled. “It was good fun though; I love beach races. The long straight was a bit dangerous and I knew the beach specialists would be quick, but the YZ450F I rode from Yamaha Motor Netherlands was well prepared and overall it was an exciting experience.”
Alex Asigno

Edwards rounds off first 800cc test in positive fashion

Colin Edwards completed his first test of the 800cc era with another good morning’s work at Sepang today, making more progress on the development of Yamaha’s new prototype machine and finishing the day with the 3rd fastest time in the process. Edwards once again spent the time working on general set-up with his team, especially chassis and suspension, as well as testing some new tyres for Michelin.
Suzuki rider John Hopkins was fastest again with a best lap of 2’01.64, followed by his team-mate Chris Vermeulen, who recorded a time of 2’02.04. Edwards was third with a time of 2’02.43 after 32 laps. The Camel Yamaha Team will reconvene for the final test of 2006 in Jerez, Spain, on 28th-30th November, when Colin Edwards will be re-joined by team-mate Valentino Rossi.
Colin Edwards (3rd – 2’02.43, 32 Laps): “Today was another really good day. I was quicker again and it felt really good to be able to consistently run fast times comfortably. We got a lot of great work done on a variety of things, even though we only tested in the morning. We did a fair bit for Michelin, they’ve got some good stuff and it seems pretty clear what the right direction is for us to go in with regards to tyres. We’ve played about with the chassis and the suspension, as well as a few other things, and when we came to add everything together you could see we were making some good progress. As far as getting input for the final bike they’re going to roll out for us next year, I think we’ve done a pretty good job during these three days. I’m really happy with my first test on the 800, we seem to get on okay and now I am looking forward to the next test in Jerez, where I am sure Valentino and I together can make even more progress.”
Daniele Romagnoli – Colin Edwards’ Crew Chief: “This has been an encouraging first test for our team and for Colin with Yamaha’s new 800cc bike. We’ve changed quite a bit with the overall set-up and we’ve definitely made some big improvements from the bike we first tried on Wednesday. We’ve also worked quite a lot on tyres with Michelin and found some options that seem to be working well for us. The most important thing is that Colin already seems to be getting on very well with the bike, he can ride it well and he’s been fast all week. We’re very satisfied with this first test and it seems like we’re in good shape for this stage of development.”
Unofficial Lap Times (800cc Bikes)
1.John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki, 2’01.64 2.Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki, 2’02.04 3.Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha, 2’02.43 4.Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda, 2’03.28 5.Makoto Tamada (JPN) Yamaha, 2’03.36 6.Toni Elias (SPA) Honda, 2’03.55 7.Carlos Checa (SPA) Honda, 2’04.27 8.Tadayuki Okada (JPN) Honda Test Rider, 2’04.44
Sepang Lap Record: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2006, 2’02.127
Sepang Best Lap: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2006, 2’00.605
Alex Asigno

Yamaha's Merriman on the podium in ISDE

2006 FIM International Six Days Enduro – Taupo New Zealand (November 14-19 November)
Germain finishes fourth in E1 class Yamaha France rider Marc Germain has finished in fourth place in the overall Enduro 1 class at the 81st running of the International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) staged in Taupo, New Zealand. Competing aboard his WR250F Marc performed brilliantly to win the E1 class on the opening day of the competition and continued to perform well on days two, three and four despite being disadvantaged by being the first rider in the event. On day five, the wettest day of the competition, Marc placed just 17th in the E1 class but he showed great speed again at the sixth and final day’s motocross race, which placed him just outside the top three in the E1 final standings.
Topping the Enduro 1 class in New Zealand was former World Enduro Champion Juha Salminen, who returned to international enduro competition after two years of racing in the US GNCC series. In winning the Enduro 1 class Salminen helped Finland win the Trophy Team competition.
Finishing as runner-up in E1 was Italian Simone Albergoni, who also placed second in this year’s E1 world championship. Third was reigning E1 world champion Ivan Cervantes.
Backing up Marc Germain’s strong performance UFO Corse Yamaha rider Maurizio Micheluz ended the event in eighth in the Enduro 1 class, producing one of Italy’s best individual performances. Finishing in sixth, 10th, fifth, eighth and sixth respectively on the first five days Maurizio added a solid ISDE performance to his season of strong WEC results. Early in the week former world championship motocross rider Darryl King was well placed in the Enduro 1 class aboard his WR250F but was forced to retire from the event on day three due to an injured elbow. Finishing close behind Micheluz in the final E1 class standing Australian Yamaha rider Christopher Hollis placed an eventual 10th while countryman Anthony Roberts finished his week in 14th on his WR and French veteran David Fretigne piloted his Yamaha to 15th having placed third on day one.
 
Mark Germain (Yamaha France) Enduro 1 class – Fourth: “On day one I knew I could win because I like flat, grassy special tests. Once the special tests started to get rougher I wasn’t quite fast enough. It was an advantage being the first rider on day one but after that it’s difficult being the first rider on the special tests. I found that the course on day four was not so hard for me, despite the weather not being so good. We spent a long time riding on big stone roads in the forest. Being the first rider in the event the tracks were pretty nice to ride, but with the soft ground I think that it would have been difficult for the riders at the back of the entry. It’s been a great race but there were not so many spectators during the week. The organisation was really good, the track was well marked, and I liked the special tests – for me it has been a good six days.”   Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class – Eighth: “It has been a difficult event, especially on day four and five. The conditions are very soft in many places, which made it hard to not make any mistakes on some of the special tests because of the ruts. But I have enjoyed the race, especially the third day, which was my best. I am also pleased with my riding during the week. I didn’t make too many mistakes and generally everything went well.”
Merriman on the podium in E2 class UFO Corse Yamaha rider Stefan Merriman claimed a well deserved podium at the end of the 81st ISDE finishing third in the highly competitive Enduro 2 class. Although competing for Australia the New Zealand born rider had a promising start aboard his WR450F with a victory on day one taking an early E2 class lead. Placing in third on day two Merriman then finished as runner-up on days three, four and five to claim his eventual third place in the finalrankings.
Winning the Enduro 2 class was Finn Samuli Aro. Competing for the Finnish Trophy team along with E1 class winner Juha Salminen Samuli won just two of the event’s six days in the E2 class but his consistency ensured that come the end of the competition he was the rider to beat in E2. Following Samuli home was countryman Mika Ahola in the runner-up position.
Taking part in his first ever ISDE competition as part of the French Trophy team UFO Corse Yamaha rider Johnny Aubert performed like an experienced six days rider and claimed an impressive fifth overall in the Enduro 2 class. Finishing third on the opening day Johnny then finished in fifth on days two, three, four and five to place close behind US rider Kurt Caselli.
Stefan Merriman (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class – Third: “The event certainly hasn’t been easy, it’s been really challenging on days four and five. Just staying upright on some of the special tests has been tough and trying to push 100 per cent has been really difficult. As far as Six Days go I reckon it’s one of the best we’ve had for several years. I reckon that some of the Club team riders must have found it tough from day three onwards because there were some really difficult sections on the course and tests. The Australian team has ridden really well. The weather and terrain conditions suit the Scandinavians and the British riders more than the Aussies, so the team result is great. I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to win the E2 class but there are so many things that have to go right in the six days to win. I caught quite a lot of riders on the special tests, which cost me time, but dealing with slower riders is a part of the ISDE.”
Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class – Fifth: “I was not exactly sure what to expect from my first ISDE but I am happy that it has gone well for me. I think that the French team have also ridden well, and I am proud to have been a part of it. I have learned a lot from this experience and although the conditions changed a lot during the week I enjoyed the event. The final motocross race was amazing, it was an incredible feeling racing against Joel Smets.”
Stefan Merriman   
81st ISDE – Results
Enduro 1 class 1. Juha Salminen (KTM) 2.31:19.08; 2. Simone Albergoni (Honda) 2.34:16.59; 3. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 2.34:56.99; 4. Marc Germain (Yamaha) 2.35:37.88; 5. Eero Remes (Honda) 2.36:49.19; 6. Ricky Dietrick (Kawasaki) 2.37:53.51; 7. Petri Pohjamo ™ 2.38:23.31; 8. Maurizio Micheluz (Yamaha) 2.38:33.65; 9. Marc Bourgeois (Husqvarna) 2.38:55.28; 10. Christopher Hollis (Yamaha) 2.39.06.12; 11. Fredrik Georgsson (KTM) 2.40:03.04; 12. Niklas Gustafsson (KTM) 2.40:08.38; 13. Thomas Oldrati (Husqvarna) 2.40:17.64; 14. Anthony Roberts (Yamaha) 2.40:49.60; 15. David Fretigne (Yamaha) 2.40:59.56
Enduro 2 class 1. Samuli Aro (KTM) 2.34:15.10; 2. Mika Ahola (Honda) 2.34:41.34; 3. Stefan Merriman (Yamaha) 2.34:51.99; 4. Kurt Caselli (KTM) 2.35:01.54; 5. Johnny Aubert (Yamaha) 2.35:19.92; 6. Shayne King (Honda) 2.37:09.75; 7. Jari Mattila (Honda) 2.38:46.87; 8. Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 2.39:15.42; 9. Glenn Kearney (Suzuki) 2.39:16.27; 10. Emmanuel Albepart (Honda) 2.39:50.09; 11. Paul Whibley (Honda) 2.40:04.54; 12. Joel Smets (Suzuki) 2.40:19.11; 13. Jake Stapleton ™ 2.40:19.11; 14. Joshua Strang (Kawasaki) 2.40:42.12; 15. Jimmy Jarrett (Suzuki) 2.40:48.89
Trophy Team competition 1. Finland 9:50.59 - Mika Ahola E2; Samuli Aro E2; Jari Mattila E2; Petri Pohjamo E1; Juha Salminen E1; Marko Tarkkala E3
2. France 24:59.89 - Emmanuel Albepart E2; Johnny Aubert E2; David Fretigne E1; Marc Germain (Yamaha) E1; Seb Guillaume E3; Fabien Planet E3
3. Spain 29:56.83 – Ivan Cervantes E1; Xacob Agra E2; Joan Jou E2; Oriol Mena E3; Cristobal Guerrero E3; Xavier Galindo E3
4. Italy 33:15.53 - Simone Albergoni E1; Maurizio Micheluz E1; Roberto Bazzurri E2; Fabrizio Dini E2; Alessio Paoli E3; Alessandro Zanni E3
5. Sweden 34:01.32 - Bjorne Carlsson E3; Joakim Ljunggren E2; Andreas Toresson E2; Daniel Persson E3; Fredrik Georgsson E1; Niklas Gustafsson E1
6. Australia 34:42.04 - Damian Smith E1; 2. Glenn Kearney E2; Stefan Merriman E2; Anthony Roberts E1; Bradley Williscroft E3; Jake Stapleton E2
Alex Asigno

Tony Cairoli wins European Championship Supercross (SX)

Antonio Cairoli claimed his second big international prize in his young career by sealing the 2006 SX UEM championship. The 2005 MX2 world champion scored enough points at the 24th Fiat Supercross of Genova event held last weekend to claim the SX title. Earlier in the year Cairoli already won the Italian MX2 championship and finished as vice world champion in the MX2-GP class, making 2006 an almost prefect season. After Cairoli won the SX race in Milan earlier this year he succeeded in beating rival Renet in Geneva for the final race of the three round SX UEM championship. The victory even came a little unexpected as it was never a main goal of the Sicilian to challenge for SX glory; "Honestly I never considered this championship to be one of my main goals, I don’t even do special training for indoor SX races. But after competing at Bercy (Paris) and Milan I discovered that I was able to compete with the top European riders. I won the first round at Milan and prior to this last race I was only five points behind leader Renet, so I thought I’d better go to Genova!” said Cairoli. “It was a good race for me, I was fastest in most of the sessions and won the qualification and semifinal. At SX events the public is always fantastic and they really supported me, they were a real motivator! In the final I was away quickest, but same as in Bercy, Grant passed me soon after the start. I couldn’t really catch him. With Alessi I believe I could have fought until the end for the second place, but I made a small mistake and crashed when I hit a bale with my handlebar. I was able to defend third position and fortunately Degli Espositi passed Renet which handed me the title. To win this title is a real pleasure because I’m a big Supercross fan. I believe I can still improve my style and riding, but to carry the title of European SX Champion is not bad for now. I really want to thank the public for supporting me and of course my team who made a perfect supercross setting to my YZ250F. My team boss Claudio de Carli is now deciding what will be the next race to compete in, but first we take a very welcome break in December.”
 
Results Genova: 1 Grant , 2 Alessi, 3 Cairoli, 4 Mills, 5 Degli Espositi, 6 Renet, 7 Pellegrini, 8 Izoird, 9 Meo, 10 Dami
Classification EC: 1 Cairoli 41, 2 Renet 41, 3 Mills 33, 4 Grant 25, 5 Aubin 25 
Alex Asigno

Bad weather hinders MotoGP testing in Jerez

The last MotoGP test of the season got underway at the Andalucian circuit of Jerez today, with unexpectedly cold temperatures delaying the start of activity until late morning for the Yamaha duo of Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards. Unfortunately, it then began to rain soon after track temperatures had risen to suitable level and Rossi and Edwards, testing Yamaha’s new prototype 800cc motorcycle side-by-side for the first time, were only able to complete a few laps in the dry.
Rossi nonetheless topped the unofficial time sheets at the end of the day, posting a top time of 1’41.745 after 17 laps. Edwards was third fastest in the dry with a lap of 1’42.293 and the Texan also took the chance to try out his new bike in the wet, completing 36 laps in total before calling it a day. Sandwiched between the Yamaha pair was Suzuki rider John Hopkins, who set the second fastest time of 1’42.161 out of a total of 12 riders testing.
Valentino Rossi (1st – 1’41.745, 16 laps) “I’m very happy to see that we have no chatter here, because we had quite a lot of problems in the first race last season. This is one of my favourite tracks and it’s a great pleasure for me to be able to ride comfortably again at it; it feels like another track compared to last March! Our new bike seems to work well and so far I am very happy with it. Unfortunately we only had time for a few laps before the bad weather stopped us just when we were about to begin to test some different things, but anyway we have made a good start. Even though the bike is clearly going well for both Colin and I at the moment, we know that we have a lot of work to do and so these next two days are going to be very important to us. I have some new stickers on my bike and a new helmet; they’re a reference to the legend of King Arthur and ‘Excalibur’! I want to show everyone that we are ready to fight back and that we’re ready to do our very best throughout these winter tests. Let’s hope the weather is good tomorrow so we can begin our task properly!”
Colin Edwards (3rd – 1’42.293, 35 Laps) “It was pretty cold this morning, not really what we were hoping for! We had to hang around until about 11.30 before it was warm enough to go out; it’s not really such a great idea for us to ride when it’s only 18 degrees on track! Once we finally got out there things actually felt pretty good straight away and I was happy with how the bike was adapting to a different track. We’d played around a bit with the geometry in Malaysia but I think that for here we probably need to go back a bit to what Valentino had originally, just to calm the bike down a little in some of the fast corners. Once it started raining we decided to get out there and do some laps in the wet, just to get an idea of how the new bike goes in the rain. I think that was the most productive thing we did all day because, once we were running without much traction in the wet, we could see that we do have a few issues to sort out with relation to the engine braking. We did about 15 laps in the rain, played around with a few settings and started to understand what was going on. It definitely hasn’t been a wasted day, despite the weather, and we’ll carry on tomorrow and see what we can do.”
 
Unofficial Lap Times
1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha, 1’41.745 2. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki, 1’42.161 3. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha, 1’42.293 4. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda, 1’44.030 5. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati, 1’44.307 6. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki, 1’44.394 7. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda, 1’44.876 8. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati, 1’45.574 9. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Honda, 1’46.200 10. Jeremy McWilliams (IRE) Ilmor, 1’47.216 11. Vittorio Guareschi (ITA) Ducati Test Rider, 1’50.386 12. Alex Barros (BRA) Ducati, 1’59.078 
Alex Asigno

Yamaha sign off for 2006 with a positive final day in Jerez

The long 2006 MotoGP season finally drew to a close for Yamaha today as the team rounded off the year with a final day’s work in Jerez, before the start of the winter testing ban tomorrow. Rossi and Edwards spent their last day on track continuing with general development work of Yamaha’s new prototype 800cc motorcycle, testing different chassis, new suspension settings and a variety of new tyres for Michelin under sunny Spanish skies.
The fastest lap of the day was set by Honda rider Dani Pedrosa with a time of 1’39.910, followed closely by Valentino Rossi who set a time of 1.40.123 on his 69th and final lap of the day, nearly half a second under his own lap record pace. Edwards was seventh fastest in the unofficial time sheets after a best lap of 1’41.254 from 41 laps.
After 17 races and more than 30 additional days of testing this year, Rossi, Edwards and the entire Yamaha MotoGP set-up will now head home for the winter holidays. They will reconvene for the first test of 2007 in Sepang, Malaysia on 22nd January.
Valentino Rossi (2nd - 1’41.254, 69 laps) “We had a very good test today; it’s been very productive for us because we were able to check many different things for our new bike. We continued to test tyres with Michelin in order to find the correct direction for their development and we also kept working with the chassis and were able to try some different suspension settings. We’ve got some very good information for the Yamaha engineers and now they will work hard over the winter in order to have everything ready for the next test in January. The weather was good today, warm and sunny and in these conditions it was fun to ride on this track, which is one of my favourites. This has been an important test and I am really pleased with the level that we have got to in a short space of time. Of course we still have a lot of work to do, but now it’s finally the end for this year and it’s time to have a rest so we can come back ready to fight in January!”
 
Colin Edwards (7th – 1’41.254, 41 Laps) “I had a small technical problem near the end of the day so I had to stop a little bit early, but other than that it’s been another good day all round. We tested quite a lot more front tyres but honestly the best tyre package we found was what we tried first thing in the morning straight out of the box; that felt pretty good! Other than that we just kept on playing around with the general set-up, trying to learn as much as possible about the new bike. We tried a different chassis today, it’s one Valentino's been testing and it’s definitely the best one so far. We weren’t really looking for times but we ran pretty consistently in the low 41’s all day and I definitely felt like I could have found a bit more if I’d needed to push hard. Overall it’s been a really good test and I am pretty excited about the new bike; we’ve come on in leaps and bounds in just the six days I’ve ridden it. Now I am heading home and looking forward to a nice relaxing Christmas with the family before we get going again in January!”
Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director “We’ve been able to do a great job throughout these November tests and everyone has worked very hard. All three tests have been very important for us in order to get as much information as possible for Yamaha to work with over the winter, the engineers have done a good job with the bike and now they will put everything together over the break. In January we will have our final 2007 bikes and then we can start our real preparation for the long season ahead.”
Unofficial Lap Times
1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda, 1’39.910 2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha, 1’40.123 3. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda, 1’40.524 4. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki, 1’40.766 5. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki, 1’41.049 6. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Honda, 1’41.142 7. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha, 1’41.254 8. Alex Barros (BRA) Ducati, 1’41.276 9. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati, 1’41.492 10. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati, 1’41.595 11. Tadayuki Okada (JPN) Honda Test Rider, 1’43.392 12. Vittoriano Guareschi (ITA) Ducati Test Rider, 1’44.071 13. Jeremy McWilliams (GBR) Ilmor, 1’44.661 14. Andrew Pitt (AUS) Ilmor, 1’44.983
Jerez Lap Record: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2005, 1’40.596 Jerez Best Lap: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2006, 1’39.064
Alex Asigno

Yamaha Factory Racing and Camel end their MotoGP partnership

Following Camel’s recent announcement, Yamaha Factory Racing would like to express its thanks to Camel and Japan Tobacco International for their partnership and support over the 2006 MotoGP season.
Our thanks go out to all those involved in the project; they have formed an important part of our team over the past year.
It has been a great honour for Yamaha to work with such an experienced sponsor and Camel’s enthusiasm throughout the season has been greatly appreciated by the entire Yamaha Factory Racing Team and the Yamaha Motor Group.
Alex Asigno

WSBK - WSS Qatar test

Corser and Haga prove new R1's abilities at Losail test The second significant test session in the run-up to the 2007 season proved to be another giant step for the all-new YZF-R1 and despite poor track conditions in the early sessions and having a mountain of development parts to work through, both Yamaha Motor Italia riders, Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga, were able to set fast times.
Corser, highly impressive on the new machine at such an early stage in its development, proved to be second quickest rider overall, with a 1’58.9 best lap, while Haga had to wait until he got close to an optimum set-up to record a 1’59.7, less than a second from Corser. Fastest rider on show was 2006 champion, Troy Bayliss, with a 1’58.1.
The Yamaha Motor Italia team had three different chassis specs in Losail, increasing in stiffness from standard to increasingly heavily braced, and the same number of rear swingarms, one near standard and two full race versions. The riders had to work their way through various combinations to choose the best one as a base, as well as try out the new generation of Pirelli tyres. Corser also tried out the full 2007 spec rear suspension unit.
Troy Corser - Yamaha Motor Italia "Even given the conditions in the first couple of days this test has been good for us. We tried out three different rear swingarms, and three chassis, and worked our way through the various combinations of each. Trying out various new tyres at the same time makes it a bit harder but we are pretty happy overall. The longest run I did was about ten laps on the final afternoon and I think Troy Bayliss and I were about the only ones who could get the tyres to do a longish run. I only stopped my long run because the tyre had spun on the rim. We still have some things to work though, because we lost time by having to go in and out of the pits so much to change tyres. We still have a few things to go over again at Phillip Island but the main thing is that I feel comfortable on the bike after only a short time riding it. We were not that worried about lap times this test, as it was more about getting a feeling with the bike - but the lap times were coming in any case."
 
 
Noriyuki Haga - Yamaha Motor Italia "We have new swingarms and chassis to test but it is very hard to evaluate them when the track is the way it was in the first couple of days. But in the end we found a good combination of chassis and swingarm, but we did not get such a good feeling from the tyres as we hoped. We still need to work on the set-up of the back end of the bike because with so little grip from the track it is difficult to know the exact direction to take. On fresh tyres we can do the times. We did a long run but we could have made a longer one if we had more duration from the tyre life."
Massimo Meregalli - Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia "We are really happy about the test and the riders have delivered us a good reward for all the hard work we have put in during the last three months on the new R1. We worked really hard and the bike is already good. We go home to do some more work before we got to Australia, where we can make our final preparations for the start of the season."
Laurens Klein Koerkamp - Yamaha Racing Manager “The riders had a lot of material to work though, various chassis specs and swing arms to test, and there were a lot of options. Noriyuki found this difficult at first, but near the end he did a large quantity of laps and found a way. He set a constant range of fast laps in his longest run. Troy was fast from the beginning so you can easily see his experience of testing and in set-up. That is what we expected when we signed him, and it is clearly coming out now. His feedback is concise, clear, accurate and easy to understand for the engineers. And he is fast! Now, we need to go to Phillip Island to reconfirm what we found here. The biggest positives are how well the new bike is going, even at this stage, and how well Troy has worked with the team.”
OFFICIAL SBK TESTS: QATAR Circuit: Losail, Doha Circuit Length: 5.380km Race Lap Record: 2'00.061 (Noriyuki Haga, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 58.1 (Troy Bayliss, 2006, at this test) Temp: 21ºC
Unofficial times 1. Bayliss Ducati Xerox 1’58.1 2. Corser Yamaha Motor Italia 1’58.9 3. Biaggi Suzuki Alstare 1’58.9 4. Toseland Honda Ten Kate 1’59.1 5. Laconi Kawasaki PSG-1 1’59.2 6. Lanzi Ducati Xerox 1’59.3 7. Nieto Kawasaki PSG-1 1’59.5 8. Haga Yamaha Motor Italia 1’59.7 9. Kagayama Suzuki Alstare 2’00.1 10. Rolfo Honda Ten Kate 2’01.7
Pirelli Test Session: Qatar Circuit: Losail, Doha Date: 19 - 21 December 2006 Temp: 21ºC Weather: Sunny, windy on first two days
Curtain and Parkes go 1-2 in Supersport Yamaha Motor Germany team-mates Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes had a busy three days in Qatar but found the optimum settings to handle the difficult track conditions, which were present almost throughout the test. The warmer final day provided a window of opportunity for the entire team and all the parts and machine settings scheduled to be tested were finally evaluated, resulting in impressive lap times.
Curtain was fastest of all, by a single tenth of a second, setting a 2’02.5 with Parkes on 2’02.6, as they rolled out a new standard in the class at Losail.
Despite the fast lap times the track conditions, even on day three, were not ideal for good rear tyre duration, although the team was particularly pleased to have found a front tyre from the new batch of choices, which withstood the demands of a gritty and relatively cold track surface.
Kevin Curtain - Yamaha Motor Germany "Today was heaps better than the previous two, in terms of set-up and grip. We made big improvements to the suspension and we had lots of things to test. Unfortunately the first day was like riding around on a sandy tennis court! You couldn’t test anything and the sand chewed out the tyres in two laps. Today the wind went away as well and a bit of rubber on the track helped traction. We got a good gauge on what tyres will work or won’t work but we still have to work on the rears. Pirelli will sort that out, I’m sure."
Broc Parkes - Yamaha Motor Germany "It ended up pretty good. You could say perfect except for a crash I had in the morning of day two, but it went pretty well otherwise. We got through everything that we wanted to. The tyres worked well but the distance for the rear is the problem. It was too cold and too sandy on the surface and it needs to be warmer as well. Our times ended up really good but it would have been nice to have some even more competitive bikes around to benchmark us. I feel right on the bike, which is important."
Terrell Thien - Yamaha Motor Germany Team Manager “Not such an easy test as it was hard to find tyres, set-up and everything. But on the last day we found a good set-up, good tyres, but we still have some issues with the duration of the rears. For fronts we should be sorted, even if it is warmer or colder in the race. The times are particularly good in the early laps but the track was quite cold at this test, and it should be hotter for the race."
Pirelli Test WSS: Qatar Circuit: Doha, Losail Circuit Length: 5.380km Lap Record: 2'03.921 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 2'02.5 (Kevin Curtain, 2006, at this test) Temp: 21ºC
Unofficial times 1. Parkes Yamaha Motor Germany 2’02.5 2. Curtain Yamaha Motor Germany 2’02.6 3. Nannelli Ducati SC Caracchi 2’03.3 4. Foret Kawasaki Gil Motorsport 2’04.5 5. Riba Kawasaki Gil Motorsport 2’05.2.  
Alex Asigno

Dakar Preview

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

Yamaha riders control Dakar before hitting African soil

Yamaha WR450F mounted riders have dominated the opening two stages that took the caravan from the start in the Portuguese capital Lisbon to the ferry crossing bound for Africa at the Spanish harbor of Malaga. Portuguese enduro stars Helder Rodrigues and Ruben Faria won a stage each to lead the bike category into Morocco.
Ruben Faria was the surprise winner of the opening leg, beating his country man Helder Rodrigues by 16 seconds in the very tough deep sand of the first special stage. The circumstances took a lot of engine power and resulted in a fuel consumption that was higher than expected. Because of that, Ruben Faria had to nurture his fuel load towards the end, but saw his attempts for home glory rewarded.
Rodrigues, the top Yamaha finisher of the 2006 Dakar, countered on day two by winning the mountainous hard packed special in Spain, holding a 47 seconds advantage overall on Faria. By leading the standings Rodriques seems well on the way to improve his ninth position finish of last year, although this early in the rally he takes things steady. Yamaha's frontman David Frétigné had a less favorable start to his fourth Dakar campaign. Nevertheless he managed to finish 12th on the first day and 8th on the second, bringing him a 9th position in the overall ranking.
Day three of the rally will take the riders from Nador to El Rachidia. This first leg on the African continent is a serious one with total length of 648 km, including a specials stage of 252 km.
 
Helder Rodrigues (POR), winner 2nd stage and 1st overall "I meant to hit hard in the opening stage in my home country, but I just missed the victory by a tiny margin. I'm happy to win the stage of day two though. Now we hit Africa and we will see what we can do, I'm taking it on a day by day basis".
Ruben Faria (POR), winner 1st stage and 2nd overall "I decided to go for an all-out attack, because I knew that it was my chance to win the stage. I had to slow down a bit towards the end to reduce fuel consumption and I reckon I could have ridden even faster. It was a very different route from last year, much more sand, I really like that. But it was exhausting too, I had to overtake at least 80 other competitors!
Day two was a great stage again, although it wasn't as good as the first since I had a fall and hurt my knee. I just hope the injury isn't too bad. I'm not totally reassured, so I will be going to hospital for a few examinations.
David Frétigné (FRA), 9th overall "On day one I had problems with my brakes and that cost me valuable time. The special stage of day two was pretty hazardous and slippery, easy to get it wrong if you loose your concentration. But my bike works perfectly now and that makes all the difference, I was able to get a good feeling with the bike and into a good riding rhythm.
A stage like the one of day two is very complicated, because you can lose a lot if you take too many risks and make a mistake, but it is also important to have a good pace in order to stay in contention. It's a rather difficult balancing act."
Alex Asigno

WSBK - WSS Phillip Island test

Yamaha makes steady progress with the new YZF-R1 The all-new YZF-R1 was given its first 2007 testing shakedown by Yamaha Motor Italia riders Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga, at the final official Pirelli tests of the close season. Corser took the equal fourth best time of the three days, with a lap of 1’32.2, set on day two - some 0.2 seconds under the current race lap record pace. Haga also had to rely on a day two best to set his fastest mark of the sessions, a 1’32.8, in what was another largely closely contested outing for the five Superbike teams in attendance.
For this second outing with the new R1, the team had limited preparation time. Meaning that not all of the usual adjustments in chassis/ swingarm combination were available to the riders, and thus the ultimate best times were limited. Corser, despite this temporary handicap, was still a force on his home circuit while Haga found a good race set-up on the final day. Both riders managed to gather important information for the final test in Qatar next February. Fastest rider at the test was Troy Bayliss, who scored a new Superbike track best of 1’30.7, with his team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi half a second behind.
Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia) "The top speed and the engine feel is not bad, but we are struggling a bit with rear grip coming out of corners. We are a bit too sideways. So the lap times are not coming for us at the moment. I’m pretty happy with the bike and the team is working well, but we just need a bit more testing, and this is only the third day of riding a Yamaha at Phillip Island. We need to adjust the swingarm angle. We could use a hard tyre and get the same grip and push as a qualifier. But it’s not that disheartening because despite having some troubles we are not that far away on lap time. I know where I’m losing time and how much time I’m losing, and I’m confident we can fix it."
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "Finally I found a good setting and good acceleration, but I still had problems with a few things, same as Troy. Today I made 20 laps in a long run, which went very good, but after eight laps the rear problem started and the tyre started grooving. We need more testing with the new parts.”
 
 
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) " We did not experience a rear grip problem in Qatar during the last test, so this was an important test. Now we can make the necessary changes to the specs to become fully competitive with our new R1. In discussion with the riders and chief mechanics, we know what the solution is for the set-up and we will test the parts here during race weekend. It is not a big thing, but we simply did not have time to bring these parts here now. Noriyuki made a good race simulation today."
OFFICIAL WSB TESTS: AUSTRALIA Circuit: Phillip Island Circuit Length: 4.445km Race Lap Record: 1'32.402 (Troy Bayliss, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 30.7 (Troy Bayliss, 2007, at this test) Temp: 25ºC
World Superbike 1. Bayliss Ducati Xerox 1’30.7 2. Lanzi Ducati Xerox 1’31.2 3. Toseland Honda Ten Kate 1’31.7 4. Corser Yamaha Motor Italia 1’32.2 5. Laconi Kawasaki PSG-1 1’32.2 6. Kagayama Suzuki Alstare 1’32.3 7. Nieto Kawasaki PSG-1 1’32.3 8. Biaggi Suzuki Alstare 1’32.4 9. Haga Yamaha Motor Italia 1’32.8 10. Rolfo Honda Ten Kate 1’33.2
Pirelli Test Session: Australia Circuit: Phillip Island Date: 13 - 15 January 2007 Temp: 25ºC Weather: Sunny, cooler in mornings
Curtain equal fastest and at record pace Yamaha World Supersport Team riders Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes completed their latest schedule of long haul testing in an ultimately successful fashion, with Curtain setting the joint fastest lap of the test and Parkes carrying out a satisfactory long run to simulate a real race.
Curtain tied for the new circuit Supersport best ever lap with Honda rider Kenan Sofuoglu, each setting a remarkable 1’33.9 - more in 2006 Superbike territory than Supersport. The new selection of rear tyres the team tested proved able in terms of permitting a few fast lap times, but the rears operated best in the lower track temperatures of the morning sessions. The main competitors had quite some difficulties countering the lap times of Curtain, resulting in many crashes.
Parkes suffered a crash on the second day and a trivial problem with his repaired bike on the morning of the final day stopped him improving his still impressive best of 1’34.8 even more. Nonetheless, the team tested all their new equipment and the new tyre solutions, in readiness for the start of the season on February 24th, at Losail, in Qatar. This test was the first outing under direct ownership of Yamaha Motor Europe. Although the team still operates from their Yamaha Motor Germany workshop, the overall management and ownership of the team is transferred to the European headquarter of Yamaha in the Netherlands. This enables the team to benefit from Yamaha Motor Europe’s experience and resources.
Kevin Curtain (Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I did a 1’33.9, and I was really impressed! Pretty good for a 600. Today was obviously good in terms of the outright lap times but we have quite a big rear endurance problem on the tyres that give the best lap time, and I think most people have the same. We always have a known quantity tyre that we can fall back on for the race and in general my test has been really good right from the start. The front has been good here, and we know what works and doesn’t work. We basically used the setting from the recent Qatar tests as a base point."
Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport Team) "A pretty good test but yesterday I crashed one of my bikes and we didn’t use it again that day, and then we put a new gearbox in the other bike. Due to my crash, I suffered a problem with chattering and that cost us a lot of time in the morning, when the conditions where best, so I couldn’t improve my time. In the afternoon we did a race simulation and that was really good. We used a tyre from last year on the back for that and of course the individual times were not as good. Track temperature has been a big question here."
Terrell Thien (Team Manager - Yamaha World Supersport Team) “We could only set our very best times when the track temperature is around 20 degrees, and above 30 everything goes slower. So for long runs in these conditions we have to use an older spec tyre, without the same outright grip, but with the endurance. For our work, everything was on schedule, if not a little ahead. That allowed us to work on some electronics, and if we use all the electronics we have, it saves the rear tyre a lot. This may be the way for the future."
OFFICIAL SBK TESTS: AUSTRALIA Circuit: Phillip Island Circuit Length: 4.445km Race Lap Record: 1'36.399 (Broc Parkes, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 33.9 (Curtain and Kenan Sofuoglu, 2007, at this test) Temp: 25ºC
World Supersport 1. Curtain Yamaha World Supersport Team 1’33.9 2. Sofuoglu Hannspree Honda 1’33.9 3. Nannelli Ducati SC Caracchi 1’34.3 4. Charpentier Hannspree Honda 1’34.4 5. Parkes Yamaha World Supersport Team 1’34.8 6. Veneman Hoegee Suzuki 1’35.6 7. Foret Kawasaki Gil Motorsport 1’35.7 8. Riba Kawasaki Gil Motorsport 1’36.0 9. Kallio Hoegee Suzuki 1’37.0
Alex Asigno

Configure browser push notifications
Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.