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Haga takes confident second in Brands Hatch superpole

Yamaha Motor Italia rider Noriyuki Haga is hopeful of repeating his last visit to Brands Hatch, where he won a race in the season's most exciting meeting, after claiming a front row start in superpole today.
The Japanese star only narrowly missed out on his second successive pole position, losing time as he fought to control a massive slide on his grid-deciding lap. Haga lost a few tenths of a second in the incident but was able to compose himself and set his fastest lap of the weekend - an impressive 1:25.857. Only series leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) was able to go quicker than the Yamaha man, setting a pole time four tenths of a second quicker than Haga. Despite the minor disappointment of missing out on the honour of pole position, Haga and his team were delighted to secure a front row start and are confident that their machine settings will allow them to fight at the front in tomorrow's races. Haga's team-mate Andrew Pitt will start tomorrow's races from the second row after setting the sixth fastest time in superpole. The Australian had experienced a few small problems in the morning's second qualifying session, including a trip through the gravel after an incident with another rider, but was back to his best in superpole - recording a 1:26.291 on his flying lap.
Local rider Tommy Hill upheld British honour on board his Virgin Mobile Yamaha YZF-R1. The 21-year-old wild card ended regulation qualifying in seventh position and eventually ended up tenth in his first ever dry-weather superpole.
 
Sebastien Gimbert was the fastest of the Yamaha Motor France trio in 15th. The Frenchman squeezed into superpole in 16th place, despite a high-speed accident in the morning's final qualifying session. His Japanese team-mates both missed the cut: Norick Abe failed to improve his Friday time in the morning qualifying session and will start 19th, although he was able to go quicker in the afternoon free practice, while team-mate Shinichi Nakatomi will start 26th on his first visit to the demanding British course.  
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "The front row was our target so I am very happy with second because I made a mistake on my superpole lap when I grabbed too much brake and came out of the saddle. We have a very good setting and have been able to do two long race settings yesterday and today, so we know what tyres to use and how they are likely to work late in the race. Troy (Bayliss) is very fast but I think that tomorrow we will have the opportunity to go for the win. I am second in the championship but have not won a race yet, so I hope to fix this at Brands Hatch."
Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "We made a few changes to the bike overnight and it didn't feel quite as good in the morning session. We changed some things around in he afternoon and I think we're in good shape for the race. I had a few slides on my superpole lap and that probably cost me some time but the second row's alright and I'm confident for the race."   
Tommy Hill (Virgin Mobile Yamaha) "It's great to be running up there with these top riders. I'm learning a lot. Following Corser I could see tyre smoke everywhere from him spinning it up, so I'm taking it in and trying to do the same. Superpole was also a good experience and I'm looking forward to the races. The support from the fans is great but I'm not feeling any pressure - I'll do my best and try to enjoy the racing."
Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) "My lap time is one-and-a-half seconds quicker than last year and I'm pleased to have made superpole and the progress we have made with the bike. There is still a little bit more work before we are ready for the race, but we are going in the right direction and I am confident of a good result tomorrow."
Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "We tried some changes this morning but it was not really an improvement from yesterday. We improved the set-up in the afternoon and still have some things to try in the warm-up. This is the most difficult track of the year in terms of suspension settings so I hope we can find a good solution tomorrow."   
Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "I still have not found a good rhythm with this track. We still have some more things to try for tomorrow but mainly I need to improve my riding. I am quite far back on the grid but I am sure we can improve our performance in the races."
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "So far things have gone well this weekend, with no real troubles to speak of. Both Andrew and Noriyuki have been able to do many laps in practice and we are ready to fight in what should be two very close races."
Circuit Length: 4197 Temp: 22 Weather: Sunny     2006 WSB Brands Hatch 05/08/2006 Superpole Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'25.449 2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'25.857 3 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'25.901 4 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'25.933 5 Troy Corser Suzuki AUS 1'26.000 6 Andrew Pitt Yamaha AUS 1'26.291 7 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'26.323 8 Chris Walker Kawasaki GBR 1'26.542 9 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'26.560 10 Tommy Hill Yamaha GBR 1'26.580 11 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'26.794 12 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'26.814 13 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'26.850 14 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'27.047 15 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1'27.102
Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'26.272 2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'26.376 3 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'26.433 4 Troy Corser Suzuki AUS 1'26.494 5 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'26.601 6 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'26.635 7 Tommy Hill Yamaha GBR 1'26.665 8 Andrew Pitt Yamaha AUS 1'26.702 9 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'26.741 10 Chris Walker Kawasaki GBR 1'26.844 11 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'26.955 12 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'27.059 13 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'27.229 14 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'27.465 15 Pierfrancesco Chili Honda ITA 1'27.648 16 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1'27.690 19 Norick Abe Yamaha JPN 1'27.940 26 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1'28.896
QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 05/08/2006 Parkes top of the pops in practice   Broc Parkes   
Broc Parkes gave the Yamaha Motor Germany squad their third successive pole position after setting the fastest time in today's final qualifying at Brands Hatch.
The Australian fired in a lap of 1:28.447 late in the session to grab his second pole position of the season. Parkes' team-mate, Kevin Curtain, had topped the timesheets for most of the session with a 1:28.574 lap time, only to be deposed in the closing minutes of the session. World champion Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) was another late improver, moving to second, with Curtain third on tomorrow's grid. Provisional pole sitter Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) will start fourth after failing to improve his time from Friday.
Yamaha Team Italia riders Massimo Roccoli and Gianluca Vizziello will start from eighth and tenth places respectively after finding small improvements overnight. Yamaha GMT94's David Checa will start tomorrow's 23-lap Supersport World Championship round from 19th after missing most of yesterday's action due to a crash.
Tomorrow's supersport race takes place between the two superbike contests, with Curtain and Parkes looking to close the gap on series leader Sebastien Charpentier. Going into the race Charpentier leads Curtain by just 10 points, with Parkes a further 17 behind in third.
Circuit Length: 4197
  2006 WSS Brands Hatch 05/08/2006 Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 1'28.447 2 Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 1'28.500 3 Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 1'28.574 4 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'28.634 5 Stephane Chambon Kawasaki FRA 1'28.653 6 Cal Crutchlow Honda GBR 1'28.792 7 Leon Camier Honda GBR 1'29.083 8 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1'29.170 9 Yoann Tibero Honda FRA 1'29.222 10 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1'29.323 11 Xavi Fores Yamaha ESP 1'29.334 12 Maxime Berger Kawasaki FRA 1'29.447 13 Johan Stigefelt Honda SWE 1'29.505 14 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 1'29.546 15 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 1'29.666 19 David Checa Yamaha ESP 1'29.881
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Haga and Pitt in fine form at Brands

Yamaha Motor Italia riders Noriyuki Haga and Andrew Pitt continued their splendid run of form today, blasting their Yamaha YZF-R1s to provisional front row starts at Brands Hatch today.
Both riders featured at the top of the timesheets throughout the two one-hour practice sessions as they worked on finding the ideal settings for Sunday's two 25-lap races around the challenging British circuit.
Haga's R1 was the fastest bike through the speed trap, recording almost 276kph up the Hawthorn Hill straight as the Japanese star powered to a 1:26.563 lap time - good enough to give him third place on the provisional grid.
Team-mate Andrew Pitt also concentrated on his race settings but made a late charge to take fourth place at the chequered flag. The Australian ran strongly throughout the sessions and was able to make small refinements to allow his YZF-R1 to cope with the bumpy and demanding circuit. His best lap of 1:26.702 was good enough for fourth in the overnight standings.
British wild-card Tommy Hill proved his pole position in Silverstone was no fluke. The 21-year-old, who won the British R6 Cup in 2003, featured in the top four for much of the session on the Virgin Mobile Yamaha YZF-R1 with which he usually contests the British superbike championship. Hill ended the day ahead of numerous of the championship stars in eighth. Sebastien Gimbert was the fastest of the Yamaha Motor France trio in 15th, just two places ahead of team-mate Norick Abe. Shinichi Nakatomi had a tough day on his first visit to the demanding British circuit. The Japanese rookie only completed a handful of laps after crashing 15 minutes into the afternoon qualifying session. The 27-year-old was uninjured in the crash and will compete in tomorrow's final qualifying session.
Championship leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) topped the times with a 1:26.272 lap. World champion Troy Corser (Suzuki) was second. Second qualifying takes place tomorrow morning, with the final grid positions decided in the afternoon superpole session for the top 16 riders after the morning session.
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "As always we are working for the race and today we were able to complete a lot of laps and understand how the bike works on worn tyres. The bike is working very well from the very first session and I was able to do two race simulations. There are a few small things for us to try out tomorrow and hopefully these will help us to make some slight improvements for the race."
Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "No real troubles today. The bike's working pretty good already but there are still some more things for us to try and improve tomorrow. I had a slight problem with the front end running wide on the entry to the corners today, but we were quickly able to solve that. We've now got to try and make the bike ride better over the bumps and I have to try and go quicker through the third sector, as I am losing some time there. Most of today was spent trying out tyres and we still have some work to do in deciding what to use in the race. Nothing is standing out as the obvious choice for the race, as all the options we have available seem to work well."
Tommy Hill (Virgin Mobile Yamaha) "We came here with what we thought was a good package and I'm pleased with how things went today. We're maybe a little bit down on power (compared to the Yamaha Motor Italia machines) but we're able to make a bit up through the corners. We're also using development Pirelli tyres in the British championship, so we've got a few more adjustments to make to get the bike work better on these tyres. It's a great experience riding with these guys and I'm sure we can find that little bit extra tomorrow."
Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "I have raced here once before but I was so bad in the first session I think I forgot which way the track went! After the session my mechanic looked at the computer and we were able to find some big improvements. It felt much better in the afternoon and I think now we have a good starting point and I will be able to make a much better lap time tomorrow."
Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "This is a new track for me so I could have done without crashing. I am ok but the bike was very badly damaged in the crash. We will be ready for tomorrow and we should be able to find some improvements."
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "Other than the gearbox settings, the bikes are virtually the same as at Brno and are working very well here as well. Both riders are happy and are only requesting a few small changes. That has allowed us to focus on the race and both Noriyuki and Andrew have been very impressive in the way they have worked to find that little bit extra that will hopefully help them late in the race on Sunday."
 
Circuit Length: 4197 Temp: 22 Weather: Sunny     2006 WSB Brands Hatch 04/08/2006 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'26.272 2 Troy Corser Suzuki AUS 1'26.494 3 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'26.563 4 Andrew Pitt Yamaha AUS 1'26.702 5 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'26.741 6 Chris Walker Kawasaki GBR 1'26.844 7 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'26.955 8 Tommy Hill Yamaha GBR 1'26.987 9 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'27.165 10 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'27.285 11 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'27.308 12 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'27.372 13 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'27.468 14 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'27.510 15 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1'27.690 17 Norick Abe Yamaha JPN 1'27.940 26 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1'29.033
QUALIFYING 1 REPORT 04/08/2006 Curtain fast in first practice   Kevin Curtain   
Kevin Curtain claimed a provisional front row start for Sunday's eighth round of the Supersport World Championship at Brands Hatch in England.
The Yamaha Motor Germany rider's best lap of 1:28.674 was just four-hundreds of a second slower than provisional pole sitter Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda), with championship leader Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) and wild-card Cal Crutchlow (Honda) completing the provisional front row.
Broc Parkes was the second YZF-R6 rider, ending the day in fifth position but just three tenths slower than Sofuoglu in a close session that was spiced up by the inclusion of some fast wild-card riders from the British championship.
Italians Massimo Roccoli and Gianluca Vizziello ended the day seventh and 12th place respectively on their Yamaha Team Italia YZF-R6s, although there was disappointment for David Checa and the Yamaha GMT94 squad. The Spaniard crashed heavily in the opening stages of the qualifying session and was taken to the medical center but was passed fit to take part tomorrow.
Circuit Length: 4197 Temp: 22 Weather: Sunny     2006 WSS Brands Hatch 04/08/2006 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'28.634 2 Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 1'28.674 3 Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 1'28.739 4 Cal Crutchlow Honda GBR 1'28.792 5 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 1'28.948 6 Leon Camier Honda GBR 1'29.083 7 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1'29.183 8 Stephane Chambon Kawasaki FRA 1'29.302 9 Yoann Tibero Honda FRA 1'29.427 10 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 1'29.546 11 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 1'29.666 12 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1'29.732 13 Simone Sanna Honda ITA 1'29.778 14 Mauro Sanchini Yamaha ITA 1'29.863 15 Maxime Berger Kawasaki FRA 1'29.899 27 David Checa Yamaha ESP 1'31.509
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Superbike World Championship preview: Brands Hatch

This weekend sees the Superbike World Championship move to the famous Brands Hatch circuit in England for round eight of what is proving to be a pulsating series.
Brands is traditionally the highlight of the season, with the year's biggest crowd flocking to see some of the best racing of the year. An old-fashioned race track, Brands Hatch provides a challenging mix of fast, blind corners and radical elevation changes to test the riders' skill, bravery and machine set-up skills. It is a circuit rated by many riders as their favourite.
The Yamaha Motor Italia squad travels to the UK in good form, having seen Noriyuki Haga close in on series leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) last time out in Brno. Haga currently lies second in the series, 73 points behind Bayliss, and Brands Hatch is one of the Japanese rider's favourite venues, having taken his YZF-R1 to the win there last year.
He explained: "I like Brands Hatch a lot and last year I had two great races with Troy Corser. I was disappointed after Brno because I thought that I could win. I was very fast in qualifying, although I had big grip problems in both the races. It is going to be two more hard races this weekend but I am confident that we can be back fighting at the front again."
 
Haga has been a busy man since Brno, competing at last weekend's Suzuka 8-hour endurance event with Colin Edwards, although mechanical problems following a small crash during Edwards' first stint meant that he did not actually compete in the race.
Yamaha Motor Italia team-mate Andrew Pitt goes to Brands Hatch out to avenge a Brno nightmare. Having won his first world superbike race at Misano, the Australian had high hopes for the Czech race - only to be denied two potential podium finishes due to technical problems. The Australian enjoys riding at the British circuit posted a sixth and seventh place finish there last year.
In the 600cc world supersport class, Kevin Curtain closed the gap on Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) at the head of the championship with a win in Brno. The Yamaha Motor Germany rider now trails the Frenchman by just 10 points with five of the 12 races remaining.
"Things are in our own hands now," said the 40-year-old Australian. "We're working with a new bike this year and maybe we've made taken a few wrong turns with the set-up in the first part of the year. But we showed at Brno that the package is very good and capable of winning races. I was so happy after Brno and I'm really buzzing about Brands."
Broc Parkes made it a Yamaha Motor Germany one-two in Brno and currently lies third in the championship, just 18 points behind his team-mate and also right in contention for the title with five races remaining.
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

One point more for Everts and a Namur dream

Yamaha Intur Sports rider Stefan Everts won his eleventh event in succession at a hot and humid Loket circuit to own the Grand Prix of Czech Republic today. The reigning MX1 World Champion now needs to score just one point more than his nearest rival at the Belgian round next weekend at Namur, his favourite circuit, to claim a record tenth title.
Everts triumphed in both Czech motos in front of 23,000 spectators and has now reached a total of 19 consecutive heat victories with the YZ 450 FM as well as a career tally of 98 overall Grand Prix wins; a phenomenal amount.
The hillside circuit located 110km west of Prague had been slightly altered over 2005 with a new pit-lane setting giving the riders more time to see their pit-boards and a tight set of corners behind the technical area. The terrain was loose and littered with small stones that made the mud slippery in places and the layout tended to favour sheer speed over technical ability.
 
Everts' 98th win 
Everts was denied his fifth consecutive pole position by just two hundreds of a second by Kevin Strijbos but it mattered little as the Belgian made a decent jump out of the gained and was just pipped to the holeshot by Josh Coppins. By the end of the first lap Everts had placed his YZ 450FM ahead of the pack and proceeded to show the CAS Honda rider the fastest route around the steep course. For two thirds of the duration the pair were not separated by more than two seconds but approaching the final ten minutes Everts broke his opponent's resistance and claimed his eighteenth moto in succession.
The second race was a more curious affair as a bump on the first turn meant the 33 year old had to chip away at a lead held first by Jonathan Barragan and then Kevin Strijbos. As in previous Grand Prix this year Everts soon hit the front and was able to remain aloof for further domination.
Stefan Everts    
Cedric Melotte was struck by more bad luck with a stone. After partially swallowing a pebble in South Africa the Belgian this time had a rock enter his boot and press against his shin. He had to pit and unfasten the boot while holding sixth and dropped down to sixteenth. Melotte had made some changes to the YZ's engine to suit the swirling track and got into his stride late in the second moto after a bright start to capture eighth and take eleventh overall.
Round twelve of fifteen will occur in just seven days time at the 'Enduro-esque' and special setting of Namur. With a 149 point lead and just 200 left to win Everts needs to leave his home race with just one point more than Kevin Strijbos to be Champion for the tenth time and the sixth successive occasion in a row with Yamaha since 2001 in 500cc, MXGP and MX1 categories. He will also remain the sole winner of the MX1 class since the series' inception in 2004.
Stefan Everts, Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team: "It has been a hard GP for me. The track was not that difficult in the layout and you could see that by how fast everyone was going. The next few tracks will be more technical and better for me. Josh was riding well in that first moto. There were a few places on the track where I did not have such good lines and he was closing the gap but it is hard to know the full situation when you are in front. In the end I figured out a few places where I could improve and I think he must have made a mistake but it was quite easy to win that moto finally. My start wasn't that good in the second race and for a few laps I was in third position with Jonathan and Kevin having a small lead. I had to try hard to pass them both and it was tough, but it was also nice not having to always be working from first position. The new section around the back of the pits was very difficult and it was a place where you could make or lose some ground. That is eleven races in a row now but I am not trying to focus on records and take each weekend as it comes. It is the chance of a lifetime to become Champion at the Citadelle; it is something that I never dared to dream of and now it might come true. I have been working hard throughout my career for a moment like that and I have many people to thank so that I am in a position like this."
Cedric Melotte   
Cédric Melotte, Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team: "The weekend was not so bad. I had a good qualification yesterday and we changed a few small things on the bike. I felt much better, and when my wrist is in good condition I can suggest more things to the team to improve the overall package for me. I was happy with the seventh best time. In the first moto I made a good start and kept the rhythm of the leaders for twenty minutes but then I had to let Ken and Strijbos go. I then could not believe it when a stone got in between my brace and my boot. It pushed hard against my shin. I gritted my teeth for ten minutes but I could not go on any longer and had to pull into the pits to get it sorted. In the second race I slid a bit wide on the first corner otherwise I would have had the holeshot but in the first few laps I struggled to find my pace and was hitting some bad lines. After 15 minutes things got better and easier but I felt tired towards the end. I am happy about this weekend. I have not had much luck this season but I am keeping motivated and that is encouraging."
Carlo Rinaldi, Racing Manager, Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team: "It was perfect this weekend even though the win was far from easy this time. In the first moto Stefan made a good start and took the lead but Coppins was right there and pushed so hard for the whole moto, so Stefan had to do his best to keep Josh behind him. In the second heat he had a collision in the first corner and had to come through; that time it was Strijbos who was the quickest. This was the 98th win and it is just amazing. We made some small tweaks to the engine so it would suit Cédric's riding style better. The track was tricky because it was slippery so he had a different characteristic on the power to help him with that."
Circuit Length: 1630 Temp: 27 Crowd: 23000 Weather: Humid     2006 GP Loket, Czech Republic 30/07/2006 Race 1 - 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Stefan Everts Yamaha BEL 40'8.345 2 Joshua Coppins Honda NZL 0'4.521 3 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'15.160 4 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'24.355 5 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'34.034 6 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'38.930 7 James Noble Honda GBR 0'46.271 8 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 1'5.258 9 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 1'11.872 10 Wyatt Avis KTM RSA 1'18.916 11 Manuel Priem Yamaha BEL 1'24.088 12 Clement Desalle  Suzuki BEL 1'28.349 13 Alex Salvini Suzuki ITA 1'29.152 14 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 1'30.160 15 Lauris Freibergs Suzuki LVA 1'33.605 16 Cedric Melotte Yamaha BEL 1'34.833 17 Marko Kovalainen Honda FIN 1'45.452 18 Bas Verhoeven Kawasaki NED 1'47.520 19 Aaron Bernandez Honda ESP -1 Laps 20 Gordon Crockard Honda GBR -1 Laps
Race 2 - 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Stefan Everts Yamaha BEL 40'35.004 2 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'5.770 3 Joshua Coppins Honda NZL 0'15.616 4 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'25.449 5 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'35.807 6 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'39.903 7 Gordon Crockard Honda GBR 0'45.960 8 Cedric Melotte Yamaha BEL 0'55.615 9 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'58.644 10 Manuel Priem Yamaha BEL 1'3.424 11 Wyatt Avis KTM RSA 1'9.872 12 James Noble Honda GBR 1'11.729 13 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 1'17.070 14 Alex Salvini Suzuki ITA 1'45.936 15 Marko Kovalainen Honda FIN 1'54.677 16 Aaron Bernandez Honda ESP -1 Laps 17 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA -1 Laps 18 Aigar Bobkovs Honda LVA -1 Laps 19 Cyril Coulon Suzuki FRA -1 Laps 20 Lauris Freibergs Suzuki LVA -1 Laps
Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Joshua Coppins Honda NZL 1'51.735
 Rider Standings 30/07/2006
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Stefan Everts Yamaha BEL 542 2. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 393 3. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 368 4. Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 355 5. Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 353 6. Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 273 7. Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 202 8. Cedric Melotte Yamaha BEL 190 9. Manuel Priem Yamaha BEL 189 10. Javier Garcia Vico Honda ESP 172 11. Julien Bill Yamaha GBR 167 12. James Noble Honda GBR 161 13. Joshua Coppins Honda NZL 158 14. Brian Jorgensen Honda DNK 131 15. Antti Pyrhonen TM FIN 128 16. Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 127 17. Gordon Crockard Honda GBR 117 18. Sebastien Tortelli KTM FRA 99 19. Wyatt Avis KTM RSA 84 20. Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL 84
Manufacturer Standings 30/07/2006
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 542 2. Suzuki 449 3. Honda 403 4. Kawasaki 359 5. KTM 329 6. TM 128
RACE REPORT 30/07/2006 Cairoli takes seventh moto but finishes off the podium   Antonio Cairoli   
Antonio Cairoli's excellent showing and defeat of Christophe Pourcel in the second MX2 moto at Loket this afternoon gave the World Champion his seventh success of the season and makes him outright the most successful rider so far this term. The Italian missed out on the podium by one point however after a first race crash relegated him to eleventh.
After rain during late afternoon and Saturday evening the track was at its dampest for the first MX2 moto. Gaining traction on the corners was a cause for concern for most of the riders and tyre choice became a little more complicated than usual. Passing places were not prevalent and the terrain became very rough.
Antonio Cairoli   
Cairoli was luckless at the start of the first moto as he fell along with Championship leader Pourcel and Kenneth Gundersen. Billy Mackenzie was also held up. The Italian struggled to fight his way through the lower pack without a rear brake and eventually finished eleventh while a fully fit Gundersen had to retire on the first lap because of a damaged front wheel.
In the second sprint Cairoli was ruthless in swerving his way up to leader Pourcel from seventh place on the first lap. The duo, who are also contesting the World Championship at the top of the standings, put on a good show for the hefty crowd for several laps but the Team Yamaha De Carli rider's speed eventually pulled him clear to win by eight seconds.
Alessio Chiodi had his best race finish since notching third at the opening moto at Teutschenthal in May by taking a strong fourth place in race one but was a victim of a first corner tangle later in the afternoon and ploughed a path to thirteenth for a final slot of eighth. His team-mate Gundersen hit the ground on the opening lap of race two and could manage a highest position of sixteenth by the end of the 35 minutes and 2 laps.
The third member of the Yamaha Team Ricci, Davide Guarneri woke on Saturday with a sore throat and a fever. The Italian was not fit enough to ride.
Alessio Chiodi   
With Pourcel walking the podium as overall runner-up Cairoli lost just two points to the French teenager today. The Championship table now shows the gap at 34 points between the pair with David Philippaerts eleven behind in third. There are still 200 points remaining in the last four GPs.
As with the MX1 class, the next MX2 meeting on the schedule will visit the unique setting of Namur in seven days time.
Antonio Cairoli, Team Yamaha De Carli: "The first race was so unlucky for me again. After the crash the tube going into the rear brake came off and after five laps the brake faded and did not work. I was riding well but it was difficult going down the hills. I have not had much fortune this year; the guys in the Rinaldi team said for a technical problem to happen like that was incredible! I crashed with Sebastien Pourcel and lost a lot of time in that first moto. The second race was great. I know that when I start in the top six or seven I can win and have done that this year. I hope that Pourcel might have some bad luck otherwise it is going to be difficult to catch him in the Championship."
Kenneth Gundersen   
Kenneth Gundersen, Yamaha Team Ricci: "In the first moto I crashed with Cairoli at the start and his footpeg went through my front wheel. A few spokes were broken; I could not ride like that and had to stop. In the second race I had a bad start and crashed on the first lap. I was maybe half a lap behind and rode to get some training! This was the first week in a long time that I felt OK with my physical condition and my hand. Things were finally supposed to go well but better luck next time."
Alessio Chiodi, Yamaha Team Ricci: "My knee is good and my head is also getting better in terms of my confidence. I am a bit disappointed about the second moto because today I think it was possible to finish on the podium. I was fourth in the first race but also quite close to Philippaerts and Nunn but I crashed at the start of the second moto after hitting another rider. I re-started last by more than ten seconds and I just tried my best. I was thirteenth and I was sad for that but happy that things are getting better."
Circuit Length: 1630 Temp: 27 Crowd: 23000 Weather: Humid     2006 GP Loket, Czech Republic 30/07/2006 Race 1 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 38'56.828 2 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'8.367 3 Carl Nunn KTM GBR 0'9.715 4 Alessio Chiodi Yamaha ITA 0'10.499 5 Tommy Searle Kawasaki GBR 0'11.374 6 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'11.982 7 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'18.908 8 Patrick Caps Honda BEL 0'22.267 9 Marc De Reuver KTM NED 0'37.341 10 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 0'38.527 11 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 0'39.616 12 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 0'43.508 13 Carlos Campano KTM ESP 0'45.858 14 Manuel Monni KTM ITA 0'48.154 15 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 1'5.207 16 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 1'19.549 17 Jason Dougan Honda GBR 1'21.998 18 Billy MacKenzie Yamaha GBR 1'24.114 19 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 1'27.398 20 Jeremy Tarroux Kawasaki FRA 1'28.324
Race 2 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 40'30.754 2 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'8.146 3 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'25.722 4 Marc De Reuver KTM NED 0'35.106 5 Carl Nunn KTM GBR 0'39.534 6 Billy MacKenzie Yamaha GBR 0'43.070 7 Tommy Searle Kawasaki GBR 0'45.350 8 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'48.750 9 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'50.634 10 Manuel Monni KTM ITA 1'3.639 11 Carlos Campano KTM ESP 1'5.815 12 Patrick Caps Honda BEL 1'7.347 13 Alessio Chiodi Yamaha ITA 1'8.718 14 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 1'21.788 15 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 1'35.066 16 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'38.263 17 Pierre-Alexandre Renet Honda FRA 1'38.924 18 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha SWE 1'40.952 19 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 1'54.933 20 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 2'7.497
Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 1'52.177
 Rider Standings 30/07/2006
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 416 2. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 382 3. David Philippaerts KTM ITA 371 4. Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 330 5. Marc De Reuver KTM NED 314 6. Carl Nunn KTM GBR 277 7. Tommy Searle Kawasaki GBR 254 8. Billy MacKenzie Yamaha GBR 246 9. Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 236 10. Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 225 11. Alessio Chiodi Yamaha ITA 211 12. Rui Goncalves KTM POR 209 13. Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha SWE 197 14. Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 153 15. Manuel Monni KTM ITA 143 16. Luigi Seguy Yamaha FRA 94 17. Anthony Boissière Yamaha FRA 87 18. Matti Seistola Honda FIN 85 19. Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 77 20. Patrick Caps Honda BEL 68
Manufacturer Standings 30/07/2006
Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. KTM 504 2. Yamaha 476 3. Kawasaki 441 4. Honda 173 5. Suzuki 22
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Rossi's American comeback thwarted at Laguna Seca

Please note that due to technical difficulties the Saturday qualifying report has not been sent. The report can be read on http://www.yamaha-racing.com. We apologise for any inconveniences caused.  What looked certain to be another stunning race recovery from Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi ended in disaster today as the reigning MotoGP World Champion retired from the US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca with tyre and engine troubles. After starting from tenth on the grid Rossi slowly worked his way through the field and with just five laps remaining he was on course for a valuable fourth place finish. However, with blazing sunshine bringing track temperatures up to a soaring 56ºC, the punishing conditions inevitably took their toll and Rossi's rear tyre developed a problem, which forced the Italian to drop his pace. To add to Rossi's woes, his the water-cooling system then malfunctioned and within moments the engine of his YZR-M1 machine overheated, blowing clouds of smoke into the air and bringing his participation in the race to an end.  Things started out brightly for Rossi's Camel Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards before also ending in disappointment, the Texan getting a decent start from the front row of the grid and lapping with the lead group before identical tyre troubles began to kick in. With the searing heat also playing havoc on his physical condition, having suffered from flu symptoms and an upset stomach throughout the weekend, Edwards was unable to maintain his pace and he dropped back from fifth place to eventually cross the line in ninth. Nicky Hayden (Honda) took his second victory of the season to extend his advantage at the top of the championship to 51 points over Rossi, who has dropped to fourth overall with six rounds remaining.  Colin Edwards (9th; +53.228) "My start wasn't great; I got off the line okay but then as I leaned over into turn one the power went a bit and I got slower and slower, so a few guys came past me. After that I just had to give it all I had to hold on and do 24.1s and 2s, which anyway is faster than we were doing on race tyres yesterday. I also had a bit of a problem stopping the bike, which was another thing to contend with. After ten laps I was completely wrecked, I think being ill on Friday took a lot out of me and suddenly I had no power left in my body. I was feeling so bad that I was seriously considering coming in, but then I saw Stoner crash and so I thought I had better hold on and try and get some points! On about lap 20 the tyre started spinning up and it just kept on getting worse and worse on each lap. I had a few big moments where I scared myself a bit, especially coming into turn one a few laps from the end. With about three or four laps to go I looked over at my rear tyre and saw just how bad the problem was, and it was all I could do to bring it safely home. Obviously I'm pretty gutted, the weekend hasn't worked out how we hoped, but that's racing!"
 
Valentino Rossi (DNF)"We've been in a really difficult situation all weekend, with a lot of problems and unfortunately things got even worse today! We made a big improvement this morning in warm-up and I was much faster, so I thought that maybe we could do a good job in the race and to start with we made good progress from our grid position. But then we had a problem with the rear tyre and I lost all grip and was forced to slow right down in order not to crash. Then we had a problem with the water-cooling system for the engine, it overheated and when I saw the smoke, I knew it was over. Anyway, now we're 51 points down on Hayden with only six races left, so for the first time I will race for the rest of the season without thinking about the pressure of the championship. My plan is to have a lot of fun over the remaining races and try to win as many as possible, and then who knows what might happen?"  Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director"It's been a very difficult day from every angle. We had two separate problems of a different nature which affected both riders. Colin could have done a really good race but he was hampered by his physical condition and then later by a problem with his rear tyre. Valentino had exactly the same problem with his tyre and then when he slowed down the cooling system on his engine failed and it overheated, so he had to retire. Now we're a lot of points behind in the championship and we have a mountain to climb, but we won't give up and we will fight to the end."   Tech 3 Yamaha Team secures season best result at Laguna Seca On the eve of the summer break, the Tech 3 Yamaha Team has secured a season best result with Carlos Checa finishing in seventh position proving that the persistence and dedication the team has put in since the stat of the year is paying dividends.  The race was run in the most severe conditions but Carlos showed his fitness and determination to also be the first Yamaha home after the demise of Valentino Rossi.  James Ellison started on fire to make up plenty of ground from his grid position but he too was affected by tyre wear in the middle of the race before recovering to finish in the points in 13th position.  Carlos Checa (7th; +44.825)"We are very satisfied with the result. We made a good position at the beginning of the race to be behind Valentino and Nakano and I was able to keep the gap to them. Then in the middle of the race the tyre dropped down a bit in performance because of the heat and so I struggled the last five or six laps. The final result in seventh is the best result so far so we must be very happy considering the conditions for the entire weekend it was not easy for us. We made the choice of a tyre for the race that we haven't tested before so overall we have to be satisfied as we struggled a little on this track. Finally, after the risk we take with the tyre choice to finish in this position the team is very happy. Yes we were the first Yamaha home but it has been a shame for Yamaha this year. I think Colin had some trouble with is tyre and for Valentino he is always putting in more than 100% and he doesn't have much luck this year. At the end of the day I am part of Yamaha and I am disappointed for that. Yes it is nice to be first Yamaha but I would like to do it in normal conditions - that is the right satisfaction that I want."  James Ellison (13th; +1.19.283)"That was one hard race but at the start I was feeling very good. I got a great start to be away with Tamada and De Puniet and I thought I was in for a good battle. For quite a few laps I was with them but then the front tyre started to go away and I had some big moments. The front tyre was moving around quite a bit with the rise in temperature and with me trying to brake a little harder as I wanted to pass these guys the tyres was just a bit soft and I lost a lot of confidence in it so I just started dropping back. Then I thought to myself 'I'm not doing this again as it looks like I'm not trying hard enough so I thought I'm going for it. If I crash I crash but it was actually still turning even though it was squashing like mad. That gave me confidence as even though it was moving around heaps it was still gripping. I was getting quicker towards the end and the bikes in front were getting closer. Plus I could see all these flags around the track with people cheering me so I had a really good race towards the end of it. It's just a pity that I had those moments in the middle of the race. I should've just bitten the bullet and pushed through that. We all got some points so everyone can go away from here happy."  Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director"This is for sure the best result we have had so far. It's also a great way to finish the first half of the season to go on holiday and enjoy them. We knew today was going to be a very tiring race as the temperature was so hot and from practice we saw a lot of guys struggling. We took a big gamble for the race as we started with something for Carlos that we have never tested before and it was quite hard to go into the race without knowing what was going to happen. To finish seventh which is our best race position so far this year to be first Yamaha is really showing that the technical project is really working well. We are happy because we are improving all the time and I think Carlos did a beautiful job the whole weekend long like he did in Germany James did a good job as he was very consistent the entire race and I think that with a bit more consistency he could have caught one or two rider in front of him because he was definitely faster than them towards the end of the race. But anyway let's be positive. Both our riders are in the points, no tyre problems and were really consistent from lap one to the end so we can be happy with that. Let's go on holiday and continue to work hard when we return in a few weeks time."   Circuit Length: 3610Temp: 39Crowd: Weather: Dry  2006 MotoGP Laguna Seca 24/07/2006 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 45'4.867 2 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0'3.186 3 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'10.929 4 Kenny Roberts Team Robert KR USA 0'11.941 5 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 0'27.439 6 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0'38.820 7 Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 0'44.825 8 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 0'48.526 9 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'53.228 10 Sete Gibernau Ducati ESP 1'6.279 11 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 1'11.941 12 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 1'14.407 13 James Ellison Yamaha GBR 1'19.283 14 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 1'41.277 15 Toni Elias Honda ESP -1 Laps   Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'23.333   Rider Standings 23/07/2006   Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 194 2. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 160 3. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 150 4. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 143 5. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 126 6. Casey Stoner Honda AUS 91 7. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 84 8. Kenny Roberts Team Robert KR USA 79 9. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 74 10. Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 67 11. Makato Tamada Honda JPN 64 12. Toni Elias Honda ESP 59 13. Sete Gibernau Ducati ESP 58 14. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 57 15. Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 53 18. James Ellison Yamaha GBR 20  Team Standings 23/07/2006   Pos. Team Points 1. Repsol Honda Team 354 2. Camel Yamaha Team 227 3. Fortuna Honda Team 209 4. Ducati Marlboro Team 191 5. Rizla Suzuki 131 6. Honda LCR 91 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 88 8. Team Roberts KR 79 9. Tech3 Yamaha 73 10. Konica Minolta Honda 64 11. Pramac D'Antin 22  Manufacturer Standings 23/07/2006   Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 246 2. Yamaha 181 3. Ducati 135 4. Suzuki 92 5. Team Robert KR 79 6. Kawasaki 75
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Rossi and Edwards get to grips with Laguna Seca

The blazing Californian sunshine and a bumpy new track surface made life even more turbulent than usual at Laguna Seca today as preparations for the US Grand Prix got underway for the Camel Yamaha Team and their MotoGP World Championship rivals. Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards made a bright start to the day, lapping fifth and second fastest in the morning free practice, but both struggled in the afternoon session and were unable to improve their times as they focused on adapting the set-up of their YZR-M1 machines to the unique demands of the wild western circuit. Rossi himself indulged in a moment of rodeo riding as he ran across the gravel traps after misjudging a braking marker going into the Corkscrew corner.  To make matters worse for Edwards he also began to struggle from the effects of flu symptoms and an upset stomach, which were not helped by afternoon temperatures exceeding of 30ºC. His morning benchmark was bettered by only five other riders, however, the fastest of those being American compatriot Kenny Roberts Jr. (Team KR) with a lap of 1'23.859 - just inside Edwards' own official lap record of 1'23.915 set during the race last year. Tomorrow the pair will have one more free session to adjust their machine set-up before tackling the all-important qualifying practice.  Colin Edwards (5th; 1'24.310, 44 laps)"At the moment we're just working to get the bike better, trying to find the right setting for the track. The new surface is not great - I don't think they could have made it any bumpier if they tried. It's been hard to ride today because I've also been suffering with flu symptoms and an upset stomach. I'll go to the Clinica Mobile for some treatment tonight and hopefully get a good night's sleep because I really don't want to feel like this again tomorrow, it was really hard to ride this afternoon. The morning session was quite good and I was feeling pretty confident, but I started to feel worse throughout the day and things went downhill a bit this afternoon. We tried some new things in the second session and didn't find exactly the right setting, but we have some more ideas for tomorrow and I'm confident that if I'm feeling okay I can be back on the pace."   Valentino Rossi (11th; 1'24.674, 47 laps)"I think that they've done a good job on the circuit and done nearly everything we've asked for. The track is quite dirty at the moment but the new asphalt has much better grip and by Sunday I think it will be okay. Turn one is especially much safer and much less dangerous. The problem that we have now is that it's still very bumpy in parts of the track, which is not good. In most places it's better but they've put the new asphalt down over the old bumps, so they're still there. This is unfortunate; the worst part is after the corkscrew, turns 9 and 10. I was happy with how we started today - I did some good laps towards the end this morning and was starting to feel good with the bike and the track - but this afternoon we had a lot more problems. I didn't have a good feeling in the corner and the bike was quite hard to ride. The bumps are causing us some difficulties and we need to understand how to make the M1 work at this track. It is only Friday but we have a lot of work to do. We need to make some tests with the qualifying tyre tomorrow morning and hopefully we will have a better situation than in Germany. It is going to be very important that we qualify well because it's hard to pass on this track."    
Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director"We have some work to do, as always on a Friday! After the morning session we expected to be a lot closer to the front in the afternoon but the situation remained the same and we didn't make any major improvements. We have collected a lot of data that our engineers will check overnight and we will see how we can move forward in the morning. With the American riders all going fast here there is more competition at the top so Valentino knows he has work to do. Colin did a good job today considering his physical condition so we hope he will be feeling better tomorrow and will be able to make some more steps forward with the bike before qualifying."  Testing for Tech 3 Yamaha Racing Team in Californian sunshine With a new track surface and extreme temperatures to contend with it was a testing time for the Tech 3 Yamaha Team to find a suitable setup in preparation for Sunday's US Grand Prix at the undulating Laguna Seca circuit in the hills of Monterey.  Carlos Checa managed to slot himself into 12th position a shade behind Valentino Rossi on his Yamaha as the team had to contend with a layout that is much rougher than last year. In another encouraging sign for the Spaniard, Carlos was faster than the factory Ducati's and Kawasaki's and is confident that he can find even more speed to claim a top 10 qualifying position tomorrow  James Ellison who sits in 18th position overnight, is also confident that he can move further up the grid although, he lost some time in the afternoon's free practice wresting with his bucking Yamaha over the now notorious bumps slamming his helmet through the screen in a successful effort to keep it under control.  Carlos Checa (12th, 1'24.883, 61 laps)"It has been a pretty tough first day as we had to do a lot of work and we still haven't found a proper setup that we can work on. Obviously with the new track condition, we have been working with the setup of the bike but also with the tyres to find the best combination that is going to work for both so that we can be as fast as possible. We have made much progress in the last few races and it is important that we can continue that same rate here. Hopefully, the track will be in a bit better condition tomorrow now that there has been some rubber laid down and hopefully the weather conditions will stay the same as I think the Dunlop tyres should work pretty well around here if these conditions remain. If it does stay the same it will allow us to test some more tyres as we now know the durability of the Dunlops is there so we just have to find the one that suits this track as the quality of the asphalt and the finishing is not good. Grip is not the problem but it is all the bumps, especially on the exit of the Corkscrew where we are becoming airborne like a motocross bike that we have to find a good solution. The surface is like laying on a beach and feeling the unevenness of the sand underneath you; that is how uneven the track is now! They have made many improvements to the safety of the track but I wish they had taken a bit more time to get the surface correct."   James Ellison (18th 1'25.768, 48 laps)"It has been a difficult day in some ways but we have made some good progress as well. The first hour was a matter of finding what the track was like as it is not as good a surface as last year. The good thing is that we left the bike the way it was in Germany and it has worked well from the start plus we know we can improve a lot of areas and being less than a second behind Rossi is a bit of a confidence boost as well. We are not having too many grip problems as we used one set of tyres for most of the second session doing 23 laps on them. Plus, we are not getting any chatter here it's just trying to get the drive in some areas as it is so bumpy. Coming onto t he straight on one lap it got so out of shape that I slammed my head through the screen and broke it so that tells you how uneven the surface is around here now. We're going to lower the bike a bit overnight to see if that helps in getting it to handle a bit better but overall I am happy that we are heading in the right direction and now we know what we are up against with this track I think we should be able to get some decent times tomorrow and hopefully be right up with Carlos by tomorrow afternoon  Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director"The important thing for us to do after our best race of the season at Sachsenring last week is to continue on the same path that we have seen in recent races. I was a bit worried this morning as Dunlop has a lot of information about this track as they have raced here many times over the years in the American superbike class but unfortunately the new surface has changed that.. I don't know what the situation is with the other tyre manufacturers as they battle then new track surface but I have to say I am quite happy with how the Tech 3 Yamaha Team and the Dunlop tyres performed today. I hope that we will be able to improve in our qualifying performance as well but that may be difficult as if you don't get a clear lap it can be quite difficult to pass around here. With the weather forecast we feel that the track condition should stay the same as far as grip levels go so we should be able to test a few more tyres to find out which one will suit us on Sunday. The main problem is the bumps as we have to find a setup that is going to ride over them but it is the same for everybody. For the most part the surface does seem pretty good grip and from what we saw today with the Dunlops I don't think we should have a problem with the durability of the tyre. Let's hope our progress continues here in America and we can put on a good show like last week."  Circuit Length: 3610Temp: 29Crowd: Weather: Dry  2006 MotoGP Laguna Seca 21/07/2006 Free Practice Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Kenny Roberts Team Robert KR USA 1'23.859 2 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 1'24.125 3 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'24.194 4 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 1'24.223 5 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1'24.253 6 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'24.320 7 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 1'24.339 8 Toni Elias Honda ESP 1'24.494 9 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 1'24.523 10 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 1'24.663 11 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'24.822 12 Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 1'24.883 13 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 1'25.094 14 Sete Gibernau Ducati ESP 1'25.252 15 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 1'25.294 18 James Ellison Yamaha GBR 1'25.768
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Hot Haga takes Brno pole

Brno lap record holder Noriyuki Haga once again showed his liking for the Czech circuit by obliterating the opposition to claim pole position for tomorrow's two Superbike World Championship races, the first time he has started at the front of the grid since 2002.  The Japanese Yamaha Motor Italia ace gunned his YZF-R1 around the fast and flowing circuit in a time of 2:00.457, over half a second quicker than second placed James Toseland (Honda). Ducati riders Lorenzo Lanzi and Troy Bayliss complete the front row for tomorrow's race. It is the third time Haga has won pole position in a world superbike event and the first pole for his Yamaha Motor Italia team since they moved up to the class at the beginning of 2005.  Yamaha Motor France's trio of riders narrowly missed out on superpole, with Frenchman Sebastien Gimbert less than two-hundreds of a second behind Alex Barros (Honda) in the 16th and final superpole position. Meanwhile the team's Japanese riders Shinichi Nakatomi and Norick Abe had difficulty with the surprisingly low grip levels on the circuit. Nakatomi made big progress in the afternoon session. He was the 12th fastest rider in the one-hour session, one place behind Haga and one ahead of Pitt, but will start in 19th based on his time from the morning qualifying session. Abe will start the two 20-lap races one place behind his team-mate after struggling to find rear grip with his YZF-R1 in practice.   Andrew Pitt took over a second from his best lap of the weekend in superpole, recording a 2:01.482 to move from tenth in regular qualifying to seventh position and a slot on the second row on the final grid. Pitt was plagued with some minor electrical problems that forced him to switch to his spare machine for superpole but, despite running different gearing and suspension to his preferred machine, he was still able to post a 2:01.482 lap time.
Times tumbled during today's qualifying sessions, with the surface providing considerably more traction than in Friday's sessions. With hot conditions set to make for a tough day's racing tomorrow, both riders worked hard to find a set-up that will work over 20 laps of the challenging circuit. Haga and Pitt were able to run fast and consistent times as they worked on finding an optimum race setting during the day's two one-hour practices, before showing the ultimate pace of their YZF-R1s in the grid deciding one-lap superpole.  Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "Yes, of course, I am very happy with pole position. The feeling with the bike is very good and even before superpole I knew the settings and tyres I will use for the race. I was able to ride a good lap and get the pole. Tomorrow will be very hard work and I hope that the temperature will be cooler for the races. The tyre wear is very high in this heat but that is the same for everyone and I am happy that we have such a good setting for the bike, as I expect some very hard races."  Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "In the end second row's not too bad. My bike stopped before superpole so I had to go on my second bike and it wasn't set up at all how I'd like it. It was a bit chaotic as we tried to change some things around but I'm quite happy. We were able to do some consistent lap times and as long as we don't have any more problems we should be ready for the races."  Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) "I am a little bit frustrated because my qualifying time is almost three seconds faster than last year, yet I am again starting on the fifth row - that shows how the level of competition has gone up this year. Overall though, I am happy with how practice has gone. We have made some steps forward with the bike and the times of all the riders are close. I'm only just behind guys like Barros, so I am quite positive for tomorrow's races."  Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "I'm not so happy with today. The temperatures are much higher than when we tested here and because of this the grip levels are much lower. I tried a new swingarm in the practices and I like this and will use it in the race. The afternoon was better, although I have not yet been able to decide on a tyre choice and therefore suspension settings for the race."  Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "Still we are struggling with rear grip on the exit of corners. As a result I tried entering the corners faster, but this has caused some chatter to occur. We will try some more settings in the warm-up to try and find a solution for the races."  Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "A great job from Noriyuki today. It was hard to know how superpole would go as each session had been quite different. He rode such a great lap and was very smooth - in fact when I watched the lap on TV I commented to the team that he didn't seem to be pushing so hard. It was very satisfying to win our first superpole, especially to do it with such a big gap to second. Andrew did an excellent job too. He had to go out on his second bike and that was set-up differently, so to get the second row was good."  Circuit Length: 5403Temp: 33Crowd: Weather: Sunny  2006 WSB Brno 22/07/2006 Superpole Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 2'0.457 2 James Toseland Honda GBR 2'1.056 3 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 2'1.073 4 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 2'1.207 5 Troy Corser Suzuki AUS 2'1.351 6 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 2'1.453 7 Andrew Pitt Yamaha AUS 2'1.482 8 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 2'1.498 9 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 2'1.620 10 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 2'1.799 11 Fabien Foret Suzuki FRA 2'2.124 12 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 2'2.208 13 Chris Walker Kawasaki GBR 2'2.220 14 Steve Martin Petronas AUS 2'2.569 15 Alex Barros Honda BRA 2'2.757   Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 2'1.779 2 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 2'1.783 3 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 2'2.206 4 James Toseland Honda GBR 2'2.213 5 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 2'2.298 6 Chris Walker Kawasaki GBR 2'2.447 7 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 2'2.449 8 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 2'2.534 9 Steve Martin Petronas AUS 2'2.539 10 Andrew Pitt Yamaha AUS 2'2.566 11 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 2'2.620 12 Troy Corser Suzuki AUS 2'2.657 13 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 2'2.700 14 Fabien Foret Suzuki FRA 2'2.777 15 Pierfrancesco Chili Honda ITA 2'2.810 17 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 2'2.892 19 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 2'3.111 20 Norick Abe Yamaha JPN 2'3.431  QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 22/07/2006 Curtain grabs first world championship pole in Brno  Kevin Curtain secured the first pole position of his long world supersport career to give his Yamaha Motor Germany team their second successive pole position.  In what will be his 58th race in the class, the veteran Australian confirmed the progress made by his squad to the new-for-2006 YZF-R6, posting a record-breaking 2:05.900 lap around the long and historic circuit. In a frantically close 45-minute session, the top three riders were covered by less than one tenth of a second. Completing an excellent day for Yamaha Motor Germany, team-mate Broc Parkes, pole sitter last time out in Misano, will also start from the front row. The 24-year-old Australian stopped the clock at 2:05.997 to end the day third, behind Curtain and Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda). Monza race winner Yoann Tibero completes the front row on his Honda.  Misano winner Massimo Roccoli starts from eighth on his Yamaha Team Italia YZF-R6, with team-mate Gianluca Vizziello ending practice in 12th. David Checa of the Yamaha GMT94 squad will start tomorrow's 18-lap race from 11th.  Circuit Length: 5403Temp: 31Crowd: Weather: Sunny  2006 WSS Brno 22/07/2006 Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 2'5.900 2 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 2'5.952 3 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 2'5.997 4 Yoann Tibero Honda FRA 2'6.202 5 Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 2'6.242 6 Simone Sanna Honda ITA 2'6.736 7 Johan Stigefelt Honda SWE 2'7.019 8 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 2'7.145 9 Christian Zaiser Ducati AUT 2'7.186 10 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 2'7.201 11 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 2'7.359 12 David Checa Yamaha ESP 2'7.362 13 Mauro Sanchini Yamaha ITA 2'7.502 14 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 2'7.561 15 Kai Borre Andersen Suzuki NOR 2'7.598
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Haga on form as rain thwarts Pitt’s qualifying run

Noriyuki Haga returned to the scene of one of his finest moments to end first qualifying in fourth position at Brno today. The Yamaha Motor Italia rider won at the classic Czech circuit last year, despite qualifying way back on the fifth row, and today confirmed his liking of the circuit by putting his YZF-R1 on the provisional front row for Sunday's race. A combination of high temperatures and residue left from car racing meant that the riders struggled for grip on the dirty surface and struggled to match their times from last month's three-day test at the same venue. Haga's best lap of the day was 2:02.904, over a second slower than his best time on race tyres at last month's test, but just half-a-second behind provisional pole man James Toseland (Honda). A heavy shower with just minutes of the session remaining meant that team-mate Andrew Pitt was unable to make what he expected to be his fastest lap of the day. The Australian, winner last time out in Misano, ended the day in 13th position. Despite his lower than expected position, the former supersport world champion was happy with his day's work, having made small but important improvements to his YZF-R1's settings and completing a race simulation.
Yamaha Motor France's trio of riders spent most of the session having their own personal battle just outside the top 16. Norick Abe, Sebastien Gimbert and rookie Shinichi Nakatomi. Just three tenths of a second separated the riders as Frenchman Gimbert ended the day 19th, ahead of Japanese colleagues Abe and Nakatomi, who were 20th and 21st position respectively. Final qualifying for Sunday's two-race seventh round takes place tomorrow. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "Fourth is ok but really I am not so happy. The grip levels are much lower than when we tested here. I think that there have been cars racing on the circuit and they have left some rubber on the track. We only have three different tyres to choose from and I tried the soft and medium ones. The soft was sliding around like a qualifier after a few laps and the feeling was also not so good with the medium. I am surprised because I usually have a good feeling with the bike and the tyres. We can try some things for tomorrow but I think that the heavy rain will change the surface anyway. Maybe that will be better or maybe it will be worse. We have to wait and find out." Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "What can I say, I'd just gone out on a new tyre when it started to pour down! Up until that point it'd gone fine. There's not a lot of grip out there but I was quite happy with the bike and had been able to get in a race simulation. We improved things quite a bit between the morning and afternoon and we're definitely going in the right direction." Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "Unfortunately I missed the team's test here through injury but it should not be a big problem as Brno is one of my favourite tracks. Today the problem for me is again rear traction. The surface is very slippery but the team will try a few thing for tomorrow to try and improve the bike and give me a chance to run at the front on Sunday." Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "Brno is a long and challenging circuit but it is not a new track to me as we tested here recently. I was able to go quickly straight away but at the end it started to rain when I went out with a new tyre on and I couldn't go for a final fast lap. I am sure that we can make a big improvement tomorrow because the bike and the track will probably be in better condition." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "After good tests here and at Lausitz I think we expected a little bit more from today. We're having some problems with the grip levels but this seems to be as a result of the track surface. Looking at the lap times it seems that everyone is only able to do two or three fast laps before the performance level drops off. We'll work further on the settings for tomorrow but we'll have to see if the track surface improves overnight." Qualifying 1                                         Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Total Time 1, James Toseland, Honda, GBR, 2'2.349 2, Fonsi Nieto, Kawasaki, ESP, 2'2.723 3, Lorenzo Lanzi, Ducati, ITA, 2'2.847 4, Noriyuki Haga, Yamaha, JPN, 2'2.904 5, Karl Muggeridge, Honda, AUS, 2'3.058 6, Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki, JPN, 2'3.107 7, Michel Fabrizio, Honda, ITA, 2'3.112 8, Chris Walker, Kawasaki, GBR, 2'3.178 9, Regis Laconi, Kawasaki, FRA, 2'3.389 10, Steve Martin, Petronas, AUS, 2'3.408 11, Troy Bayliss, Ducati, AUS, 2'3.146 12, Troy Corser, Suzuki, AUS, 2'3.475 13, Andrew Pitt, Yamaha, AUS, 2'3.528 14, Alex Barros, Honda, BRA, 2'3.728 15, Ruben Xaus, Ducati, ESP, 2'3.901 16, Pierfrancesco Chili, Honda, ITA, 2'3.915 17, Roberto Rolfo, Ducati, ITA, 2'3.947 18, Fabien Foret, Suzuki, FRA, 2'4.136 19, Sebastien Gimbert, Yamaha, FRA, 2'4.245 20, Norick Abe, Yamaha, JPN, 2'4.373 21, Shinichi Nakatomi, Yamaha, JPN, 2'4.580 22, Craig Jones, Petronas, GBR, 2'5.152 23, Pawel Szkopek, Ducati, CZE, 2'5.165 24, Joshua Brookes, Kawasaki, AUS, 2'5.863 25, Ivan Clementi, Ducati, ITA, 2'6.299 26, Vittorio Iannuzzo, Suzuki, ITA, 2'7.241 27, Marco Borciani, Ducati, ITA, 2'7.895 28, Jiri Drazdak, Yamaha, CZE, 2'8.039 29, Berto Camlek, Yamaha, SVN, 2'8.237 30, Marek Svoboda, Yamaha, CZE, 2'8.372 31, Milos Cihak, Suzuki, CZE, 2'8.524                     QUALIFYING 1 REPORT - 21/07/2006 Yamaha Motor Germany pair fastest in first Brno practice Yamaha Motor Germany riders Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes topped the timesheets in this afternoon's first qualifying session at Brno. The Australian YZF-R6 riders were able to take advantage of three days testing at the Czech venue last month and, just as at the test, it was Curtain who ended the day as the fastest rider - one tenth of a second ahead of his team-mate. Both riders were fractionally slower than the times they achieved in testing, Curtain's best of 2:06.407 comparing to a 2:06.0 set last month, with the hot conditions responsible for a reduction in grip levels. Third fastest in today's first qualifying session was Italian Simone Sanna (Honda), with Turkish rider Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) completing the provisional front row. Misano winner Massimo Roccoli ended the day eighth on his Yamaha Team Italia YZF-R6, with Yamaha GMT94's David Checa 11th and Gianluca Vizziello 12th on the second Yamaha Team Italia entry. Qualifying 1                                         Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Total Time 1, Kevin Curtain, Yamaha, AUS, 2'6.407 2, Broc Parkes, Yamaha, AUS, 2'6.556 3, Simone Sanna, Honda, ITA, 2'6.736 4, Kenan Sofuoglu, Honda, TUR, 2'6.863 5, Sebastien Charpentier, Honda, FRA, 2'6.906 6, Yoann Tibero, Honda, FRA, 2'6.979 7, Johan Stigefelt, Honda, SWE, 2'7.034 8, Massimo Roccoli, Yamaha, ITA, 2'7.176 9, Christian Zaiser, Ducati, AUT, 2'7.188 10, Barry Veneman, Suzuki, NED, 2'7.407 11, David Checa, Yamaha, ESP, 2'7.408 12, Gianluca Vizziello, Yamaha, ITA, 2'7.476 13, Gregory Leblanc, Honda, FRA, 2'7.682 14, Robbin Harms, Honda, DNK, 2'7.720 15, Mauro Sanchini, Yamaha, ITA, 2'7.733 16, William De Angelis, Honda, ITA, 2'8.073 17, Kai Borre Andersen, Suzuki, NOR, 2'8.084 18, Matthieu Lagrive, Honda, FRA, 2'8.269 19, Sebastien Le Grelle, Honda, BEL, 2'8.269 20, Maxime Berger, Kawasaki, FRA, 2'8.272 21, Stephane Chambon, Kawasaki, FRA, 2'8.336 22, Xavi Fores, Yamaha, ESP, 2'8.397 23, Vesa Kallio, Yamaha, FIN, 2'8.667 24, Miguel Praia, Honda, POR, 2'8.883 25, Tatu Lauslehto, Honda, FIN, 2'9.054 26, Julien Enjolras, Yamaha, FRA, 2'9.113 27, Luka Nedog, Ducati, SVN, 2'9.214 28, Stuart Easton, Ducati, GBR, 2'9.495 29, Alessio Corradi, Yamaha, ITA, 2'9.740 30, Sebastiano Zerbo, Yamaha, ITA, 2'9.884 31, Vactav Bittman, Honda, CZE, 2'10.274 32, Alessio Velini, Yamaha, ITA, 2'10.320 33, Bernat Martinez, Yamaha, ESP, 2'10.337 34, Tom Tunstall, Honda, GBR, 2'10.437 35, Vladimir Ivanov, Yamaha, RUS, 2'10.536 36, Javier Hidalgo, Honda, ESP, 2'11.257 37, Andrea Berta, Yamaha, ITA, 2'12.193 38, David Garcia, Yamaha, ITA, 2'12.632
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Superbike World Championship: round seven, Brno

Brno in the Czech Republic is the venue for this weekend's seventh round of the Superbike World Championship, with the Yamaha Motor Italia squad looking forward to the event for a variety of reasons. The historic circuit was the venue of the team's first world superbike race win last year, when Noriyuki Haga came through from 18th in qualifying to win the second race by over three seconds. And with team-mate Andrew Pitt going to Czech on the back of his first win in the class in the last race at Misano, the team is understandably relishing the second half of the 2006 championship. At 5.4km, Brno is the longest circuit on the superbike calendar. It is a wide and flowing circuit with grippy tarmac and many elevation changes. It's a circuit that has been proven to suit the characteristics of the YZF-R1 and with the Yamaha Motor Italia squad having tested there alongside the other Pirelli development teams last month, Haga and Pitt go to the venue with good base settings for their machines. For Haga, Brno comes in the middle of a hectic schedule and kicks off a grueling three weekend run of races. The Japanese star has spent most of the time since Misano back in his homeland, testing the machine he will ride in the Suzuka 8-hour endurance race with MotoGP rider Colin Edwards. He returned to Europe last weekend, where he was the fastest rider in the three-day official Pirelli tyre test at Eurospeedway Lausitz. Haga topped the timesheets on qualifying tyres, his best of 1:37.6 equalled only by world champion Troy Corser (Suzuki). However the Yamaha man demonstrated his superiority in race trim, with a 1:38.2 lap that saw him joint top with series leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati). The Japanese rider currently lies second in the championship and, although Australian rider Bayliss has carved out a 94 point advantage in the standings, Yamaha's Japanese star won't stop fighting for the title that has eluded him in his career so far. "Yes, I am very busy just now," said Haga. "The Suzuka bike has some big differences from the one I ride in world superbikes, especially the tyres, but it was no problem for me to switch back to my usual bike and the Pirelli tyres for the test in Germany. Brno is where we won the first race with the R1 last year and for sure the bike is much better now than it was then, so I hope we can have a good weekend. After Brno we go back to Suzuka for the race and then Brands Hatch is the week after. I am just taking each race as it comes but hope to always be up there and fighting for the win." Pitt ended the Lausitz test just one-tenth of a second behind his team-mate. The Australian currently lies sixth in the championship and just 32 points behind second-placed Haga. "Both riders had a good test in Lausitz and are ready for the race in Brno," commented Yamaha Motor Italia team coordinator Massimo Meregalli. "Pirelli brought along a lot of tyres for us to test and we were also able to try some small upgrades to the suspension set-up. Noriyuki managed a good race simulation at the end and both he and Andrew were happy at the end. I don't like making predictions for the races but we're all feeling positive for going to Brno. The riders want to win so I hope that we can have a good weekend." In the Supersport World Championship, Yamaha riders are showing strongly with three of the top five riders mounted on the latest generation YZF-R6: Yamaha Motor Germany's Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes in second and third, and Yamaha Team Italia's Massimo Roccoli moving into fifth following a win in Misano. The Yamaha Motor Germany duo will be looking for a good performance at one of their team's local circuits this weekend after both had disappointing time in Misano. Parkes finished third after making an incorrect tyre choice and Curtain a lowly sixth after failing to find a good machine set-up throughout the race weekend. Both are looking to pull back the advantage of championship leader Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) over the second half of the season. The Frenchman currently has a 30 point lead over second-placed Curtain, but with the latest YZF-R6 improving at every race the Australian knows that the destiny of the title is still very much in the hands of him and his team personnel. "We learned a lot when we tested at Brno," explained Curtain. "We tried a lot of stuff and by the end we maybe lost our way a bit, but we know what works around there and hopefully that means we can go there and be right on it from Friday morning. It's coming up to that important time in the season now. Nothing is ever decided in the first half of the season but now we are getting to that stage where we need to be taking points back from Sebastien if we are to win the title."
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Transatlantic challenge beckons for Camel Yamaha Team

Just five days after their stunning showing at the Sachsenring circuit in Germany the Camel Yamaha Team will be back on track on the other side of the Atlantic as the MotoGP World Championship takes another whirlwind trip across the globe from the east of Europe to the west coast of the USA. Following an absence of almost a decade, the Laguna Seca circuit near Monterey in California plays host to the world's premier motorcycle race series for the second consecutive season and represents a crucial date with destiny for both Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards. Last season both riders finished on the podium, an ideal way to celebrate Yamaha's 50th Anniversary and a fitting reward for the factory's role in bringing the sport back to the continent. This time, however, nothing less than a victory will satisfy the Italian and the American, who both have their own agendas as they tackle one of the most important races of the season so far. For Rossi the eleventh round of seventeen represents another key opportunity to close the gap to series leader Nicky Hayden (Honda) and provides a chance to strike a major psychological blow on the Kentucky rider, who used his explicit local knowledge of the circuit to take victory last season. However, crucial data gathered by Rossi and his team in that race, as well as track modifications that have taken place since then in the interest of safety, have levelled the playing field and the reigning World Champion is confident the advantage can swing in his favour. The goal for Edwards is to take his first ever victory in MotoGP racing after coming desperately close in the Dutch TT earlier this season. The American has shown flashes of winning potential this season and he would like nothing more than to finally savour the top step of the podium at his home Grand Prix before heading to Japan with an identical target at the prestigious Suzuka 8-hour race. Valentino Rossi: Strong from the start Following on from his remarkable victory in Germany, Valentino Rossi is looking forward to his second visit to California thanks to an enjoyable and promising Laguna Seca debut one year ago. The reigning MotoGP World Champion was the first non-American rider across the line as he took third place in his first ever USGP but this year he doesn't plan to have anybody in front of him at all as he looks to sign off for the summer with another maximum points haul. "Even though I didn't know the track last year I was able to follow Nicky for many laps and then Colin too, so I learnt a lot from both of them," explains Rossi. "By the end of the race I was getting stronger and I actually set my best time on the last lap so I hope that this year we can be strong from the start and this time beat the Americans! We had some difficulties with the bike in Germany and we don't have time to make many big changes before this weekend, but hopefully the good setting we found for the race on Sunday and the data we have from last year will be enough. "The latest modifications to the track will make a difference and we will see how they are when we get there. After last year we discussed everything with the Safety Commission and we made some more suggestions to improve the track, because really it was not at the level of the rest of the championship. It's okay for Superbikes but we are coming into the corners 40km faster, so it was necessary to make some more changes, especially at turn one. Now we have to wait to see if it is better and safer this year." Colin Edwards: Victory still the target Colin Edwards is approaching the second home Grand Prix of his career with his focus completely set on taking victory, despite his set-up troubles with the YZR-M1 in Germany. After finishing second to Nicky Hayden in Laguna last year and battling with the same rider for victory at Assen in Holland earlier this season - only to lose out in the final corner - conceding ground to his compatriot is a scenario the Texan does not plan on repeating as the pair tussle for home glory this time around. "Before Sachsenring I said that I am not hoping to win at Laguna Seca, I am expecting to win, and that remains the case," affirms Edwards, who will be in Los Angeles on Tuesday to take part in a MotoGP bike parade along Hollywood Boulevard before attending the screening of the new MotoGP movie 'The Doctor, The Tornado and The Kentucky Kid', in which he stars. "We had our problems in Germany but we also had problems at Catalunya earlier in the season and seven days later I was fighting to win at Assen. It seems the bike that we have works at some circuits and not so well at others so, like Assen, Laguna will be a bit of a shot in the dark. One thing for sure is that I'm going to fight and barge and do whatever it takes to win. If it comes down to a scrap between the Americans, Hayden and I, then I know I can come out on top this time. Hopefully the bike will work as well as it did at Assen and if it does than I definitely won't make the same mistakes." Davide Brivio: Double top the target Camel Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio is confident that both riders can take the role of protagonists in what promises to be another groundbreaking step for the sport's popularity in America. Brivio watched Edwards and Rossi finish on the podium in last year's inaugural event and he is hopeful of a repeat performance on Sunday - this time with one of the pair on the top step. "Last year both our riders were on the podium and the target is the same this time, but in better positions," says Brivio. "The competition in MotoGP is getting tougher and tougher as the season goes on but we need to keep working as we are now because there is a long way to go. With six rounds left after the summer it would be nice to go on holiday with the psychological boost of victory at Laguna Seca. "We know that Nicky Hayden is fast at this circuit but this is the challenge. We are all in racing because we enjoy the battle and on the evidence of what we saw last year I think both our riders can be up there giving Nicky a hard time this Sunday. We're going there with great confidence after Valentino's win in Germany and I think Laguna comes at the perfect time for Colin, who needs to get back on the podium. It is only a few days but for him and for us the race can't come soon enough." Technically speaking: Laguna according to Daniele Romagnoli Famed, feared and revered for the world-famous 'Corkscrew' corner, the Laguna Seca circuit near Monterey in California lived up to its billing as one of the most exciting circuits on the calendar when MotoGP visited for the first time ever last season. With only a few short straights, a series of fast and sweeping corners and elevation changes that leave front wheels frequently spinning through thin air, the 3.602km circuit provides the ideal viewing spectacle for fans but is surprisingly straightforward when it comes to machine set-up. "Actually Laguna was not as technical as we thought it might be when we visited for the first time last year," explains Daniele Romagnoli, Chief Engineer for Colin Edwards. "It is a special circuit because there are almost no straights so there is no need to use the full gear range or the maximum power of the bike. Power delivery is much more important than top-end power and it must be smooth and easy for the rider to manage. At the same time the circuit is very 'up and down' so the chassis is important because the bike needs to keep turning in several different conditions. You need good traction when the bike is leaned over - especially at the end of the main straight when the bike is at an angle at high speed and in the Corkscrew. The Corkscrew also requires stable suspension and good performance under braking because, as we saw with Colin last year, it is a place he likes to overtake. "Honestly it was quite easy to find a good set-up for Colin last year. His experience at the circuit meant that we already had some good information for the gear and suspension settings before we arrived. This time things are a little different because, even though we can dial in the same settings on the bike, the tyres have changed a lot from last year so we will need to work on something new to adapt the chassis and the suspension. We had a difficult weekend finding the right setting in Germany but Colin will not let this affect him and we will come out fighting like we did at Assen." Valentino Rossi: information Age: 27 Lives: London, UK Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 GP victories: 83 (56 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 166 (107 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) Pole positions: 41 World Championships - 7 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP) Colin Edwards: information Age: 32 Lives: Conroe, Texas Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 First GP: Japan, 2003 (MotoGP) GP starts: 58 x MotoGP World Championships - 2 World Superbike Laguna Seca Lap Record: Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 2005, 1'23.915 Laguna Seca Best Lap: Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2005, 1'22.670 2005 United States Grand Prix Results: 1. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda, 45'15.374 2. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha, +1.941 3. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha, +2.312
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Coppins and De Reuver succeed Everts for 2007

With the announced retirement of nine times motocross world champion Stefan Everts at the end of this season, Yamaha is very pleased to have signed both Joshua Coppins and Marc de Reuver for the 2007 MX1 world championship season. The new signings will have a tremendous challenge in trying to maintain the team's past and present winning success, but Yamaha believe that the 2005 MX1 vice world champion Joshua Coppins (29 yrs, New Zealand) and this year's MX2 world championship title challenger Marc de Reuver (23 yrs, The Netherlands) both have the speed and talent to become worthy successors in the Yamaha Motocross Team. At the start of the millennium Joshua Coppins has gradually delivered on the ever increasing expectations since he stepped onto the world stage of motocross in 1995. In 2000 Coppins proved he had the consistency and speed to one day challenge for the top prize when he finished fourth in the MX250 world championship. Two years later he came close to the title for the first time with a runner up position in the MX250 world championship. Being the current MX1 vice world champion Joshua Coppins was expected to become Everts' biggest rival this season, but bad luck struck in the form of a broken right shoulder sustained a few days before the opening round of the world championship in Zolder, Belgium. The injury kept him sidelined for the first half of the season and only recently, at round eight of the championship at the British GP in Matterley Basin, Coppins made his impressive return, finishing third overall. He repeated the result a week later at the Swedish GP, held on the 2nd July 2006 in Uddevalla. "Since I came to Europe 11 years ago I have always been very impressed with the Rinaldi-Yamaha team. They have been right up there for more than 15 years and since 2001 they have proven to be pretty much unbeatable. Especially this year their new bike is winning almost everything. So what more can I ask for? Being able to ride with them next year will give me the best opportunity ever to win the world title I've been chasing for so long," said Coppins. While Coppins is a seasoned MX1 challenger, Marc de Reuver will make his full campaign debut in the super competitive MX1 class. Currently he is still in the fight for the MX2 world championship title (placed fourth). At the young age of 18 De Reuver was already among the MX125 world titles candidates and in 2003 he won his first GP in Teutschenthal (Germany) finishing the year in seventh position. Further improvement was on the cards, but injuries halted his progress in the 2004 and 2005 seasons. Yet now in 2006 Marc is fully recovered and is looking to fulfill the high expectations. "I'm really happy to be back with the brand where it all started with. I won my first race aged six on a PW50 and I have competed on Yamahas for more than ten years, winning many races, so I know from my own experience they make great machines. Seeing the successes of the YZ450 it clearly is the bike to have in the MX1 class. The Rinaldi team is renowned for their professionalism and rider focus and I hope this support will make the difference for me to mount a successful challenge for the MX1 title," he explained. Yamaha are fully focused for 2007 in keeping the momentum going of Yamaha Motocross Team's incredible winning streak. Yamaha Motor Europe racing manager Laurens Klein Koerkamp is confident he has found the men that can carry the baton from Everts successfully. He explained: "MX1 is the most important and prestigious off-road world championship class, so it is Yamaha's main target to win this title and prove the technological leadership of our YZ model range. Since 2001 we have proven year after year that our four-stroke engine and chassis technology sets the standard on the highest competitive level. "Finding worthy successors for the greatest motocross racer of all times is not easy, or maybe I should say impossible. But we believe Josh and Marc both stand out as extremely talented riders who have an enormous motivation and 'never give up' attitude, this we believe will keep us on top in 2007". Profiles  Name            Joshua "Lizard" Coppins          Marc "Calimero" de Reuver  Date of birth   11th March 1977                  21st February 1983  Place of birth  Motueka, New Zealand             Amstelveen, Netherlands  Nationality     New Zealand                      Dutch  Residence       Balen Hulsen, Belgium            Amstelveen, Netherlands  Height          176 cm                           191 cm  Weight          75 kg                            75 kg  Marital status  Girlfriend, Lisa                 Single  Hobbies         Sailing, biking, jet skiing,     Internet and fitness training                  trials riding, BMX.   Career results        Joshua Coppins                          Marc de Reuver  1995  MX250 World championship debut   1996  23rd MX250 World championship   1997  17th MX250 World championship   1998  13th MX250 World championship   1999  7th MX250 World championship            MX125 World championship debut  2000  4th MX250 World championship            39th MX125 World championship                                               MX125 Dutch champion  2001  6th MX250 World championship            8th 125 World championship                                               MX125 Dutch champion  2002  2nd MX250 World championship            9th 125 World championship  2003  12th MXGP World championship (injured)  7th 125 World championship                                               First MX125 win at European GP                                                (Germany)  2004  3rd MX1 World championship       British Champion MX1       First MX1 GP win at Isle of Wright (UK) 14th MX2 World championship                                                     (injured)  2005  2nd MX1 World championship       British Champion MX1                    20th MX2 World Championship                                               (injured)  2006  MX1 World championship                  MX2 World championship  World championship titles overview - Yamaha Motocross Team  1992  MX250 world championship  Donnie Schmit  1994  MX125 world championship  Bob Moore  1999  MX500 world championship  Andrea Bartolini  2001  MX500 world championship  Stefan Everts  2002  MX500 world championship  Stefan Everts  2003  MXGP world championship   Stefan Everts  2004  MX1 world championship    Stefan Everts  2005  MX1 world championship    Stefan Everts
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Rossi and Edwards begin tough set-up job at Sachsenring

The Camel Yamaha Team began their preparations for the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring today with riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards working hard to adjust their YZR-M1 machines to the tortuous demands of the MotoGP World Championship's shortest and slowest circuit. The first day of free practice was held in cloudy yet warm conditions of around 20ºC, with the threat of storms hanging ominously over the circuit throughout the day but thankfully not progressing beyond a couple of spells of light rainfall as the riders squeezed every available minute out of the two hour-long sessions. Both Rossi and Edwards admitted running into difficulties as they adjusted the base setting of the bike, which so far hasn't proven as well suited to this circuit as it has to faster tracks such as Donington, Assen, Mugello and Catalunya in recent weeks. The Italian ran sixth fastest in the morning session, with the American ninth, but they were both unable to match the progress made by their rivals in the afternoon and they slid marginally down the time sheets at the end of the day - Rossi ending up seventh with Edwards in eleventh. Both riders face a crucial day of set-up work tomorrow as they prepare for the tenth round of the season on Sunday. Valentino Rossi (7th - 1'23.871; 43 laps) "We knew before we came here that this was not one of my favourite circuits and that it was always going to be a big effort from the first day. Unfortunately that is proving to be the case and I have not got comfortable with the bike or the track today. We are trying a whole 'sack' of things to make the bike better but we keep running into problems and haven't found the best way to work yet. Luckily we still have two hours tomorrow to do this so we hope the weather stays dry because we need all that track time to work on the bike. Anyway I am still confident because Jerry and the engineers have shown in the past few races when I have been injured that they have a great ability to set the bike up using a minimal amount of data. Tomorrow we will have to stay concentrated and see what we can do. It already looks like it will be a tough battle on Sunday but the tough ones are always the most fun!" Colin Edwards (11th - 1'24.100; 33 laps) "We're struggling. The bike feels a bit rough in a few sections and we need to make some drastic changes tomorrow to get it working how we want. The bike and I are not getting along with the circuit at the moment and I'm losing around half a second in the second section alone, which is clearly not good enough. We have to work on that and generally improve the speed through the corner in all the other sections - it's not carrying enough pace and no matter what I tried it just wasn't happening today. We know we've still got a lot of work to do but that's what we're here for and I'm looking forward to tomorrow." 
Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "Clearly we still have plenty of work to do tomorrow because we are not where we want to be on the first day. We need to improve the pace of both riders, who are struggling with different kinds of problems. As always they are working together for the good of the team and the engineers will use their feedback to try and come up with some better settings tomorrow. This is a very particular track because it is so tight and twisty, unlike any other circuit in the world, so we have to look for something particular with the setting. That is not as easy as it sounds but we will keep going!" Checa within reach for Tech 3 Yamaha Racing Team in Germany Although at least half of the opening practice session for Sunday's German Grand Prix was lost due to the now familiar inclement conditions, Carlos Checa on the Tech 3 Yamaha was less than a second off pole position at the end of the day's proceedings to be well within striking distance to score his best grid position of the year. A further encouraging sign for Checa after the afternoon's second free practice session was the inspiration that he is less than two-hundredths of a second behind fellow Yamaha rider, Colin Edwards. This has set the scene for an interesting duel in the solitary qualifying shootout tomorrow. The same cannot be said for Carlos's team mate, James Ellison as he struggled with tyre selection problems to be in 19th position although he remains confident that the situation will improve after finding a suitable front tyre to hasten progress tomorrow. Carlos Checa (12th, 1'24.116, 47 laps) "The day started pretty well as we were very close to the front guys but lost a little in the afternoon. Truthfully though, the day was quite acceptable for our situation. We still need more grip on the side of the tyre, especially on the right side around here. In the slow area where we don't need so much throttle - we only open the throttle maybe 10-15% - this is no so bad but, the areas where you go harder on the gas at the back of the track I don't have enough support and grip in the rear. We have to find something in the settings and in the tyre which will improve this situation - especially the very fast downhill right hand turn. It is hard to put the bike on the side of the tyre and open the throttle hard to get drive. But saying that, lately in the last few races we are improving in all areas every time I ride the bike and to be closer to the other Yamaha's than we have been all year gives me a good feeling. This is what you need to keep trying after all the hard work the team and Dunlop have been doing so hopefully the progress will again continue tomorrow and I can move closer to the front." James Ellison (19th 1'25.833, 41 laps) "A steady start to the weekend really but from one round to the next the bike changes so much and you have to start from scratch all over again. The twists of the second split are the best bit for me at the moment but the fast bits where you dab the brake and let it run in, it just vibrates and there is no stability. I tried a wider rim today that seems to help but it makes it harsh although it improves the corner entry and that gives me more confidence. I think with the tyre construction we were using it's a lot stronger and doesn't seem to squash as much. What we need to do now is go back a bit to a little softer tyre as because the rim is wider the tyre is a lot stronger and there is no give in it. The harder tyre seems to be picking up all the bumps and ripples a lot more. At least we are finding a direction. I know we are a bit off Carlos at the moment but this afternoon we are near the time he was doing this morning so we are really a session behind. I think we will find a good direction now we have the new front tyre. We were so far off this morning and losing time with the wet track that this afternoon was really our first session. We made steps in this afternoon's session so I think tomorrow will be a lot better. Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "I seem to say this every week but this first session was very good. Carlos is again lapping closer to the leaders and this morning was just 0.6 second off the fastest time. We know the lap times here are pretty close because of the low lap times but he is very close to the other Yamaha's which makes us happy. It shows that we are getting the right pace and have improved quite a lot on the tyre department. We lost half a session this morning but it is the same for everybody. It may be a bigger deal for us in a way as we need more track time than everybody else but c'est la vie, there is nothing we can do with the weather. "Although we haven't done a race distance yet, so far the feeling is not too bad to get the firm indication for what we need. The weather should be warmer tomorrow, with the sun expected to come out and we plan to do a lot of laps because the race is long. So far we are happy. "But I am worried for James. To be last is not good and the tyres have improved so much. We have to find some speed because it is now over halfway through the season and it is very important and crucial for him to be quicker."    Round: 10 - 2006 MotoGP Sachsenring Circuit: Sachsenring Circuit Length: 3671 Lap Record: 1' 23.705 (Sete Gibernau, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 22.756 (Max Biaggi, 2004) Date: 14 July 2006 Temp: 20ºC Free Practice :  Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat.  Free Practice  1  M. Melandri  Honda  ITA   1' 23.145   2  D. Pedrosa  Honda  ESP   1' 23.486   3  L. Capirossi  Ducati  ITA   1' 23.490   4  N. Hayden  Honda  USA   1' 23.525   5  K. Roberts  Team Roberts KR  USA   1' 23.676   6  J. Hopkins  Suzuki  USA   1' 23.693   7  V. Rossi  Yamaha  ITA   1' 23.871   8  C. Stoner  Honda  AUS   1' 23.889   9  S. Gibernau  Ducati  ESP   1' 24.022   10  M. Tamada  Honda  JPN   1' 24.030   11  C. Edwards  Yamaha  USA   1' 24.100   12  C. Checa  Yamaha  ESP   1' 24.116   13  S. Nakano  Kawasaki  JPN   1' 24.190   14  R. De Puniet  Kawasaki  FRA   1' 24.582   15  T. Elias  Honda  ESP   1' 24.626   16  A. Hofmann  Ducati  GER   1' 25.092   19  J. Ellison  Yamaha  GBR   1' 25.833  
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Merriman and Aubert on the podium in Canada

With many riders commenting that the motocross and enduro special tests in Canada were similar to those found in Finland it was little surprise that Samuli Aro topped the Enduro 2 class on both days at the fifth round of the WEC. Having claimed the E2 class win on both days at the GP of Italy, Samuli continued his good form to claim two more day wins. On day one Yamaha riders Stefan Merriman and Johnny Aubert surrounded the Finn on the podium with the UFO Corse Yamaha team mates placing 30 seconds apart and in second and third places respectively. On day two Aro was again the rider to beat and was joined by countryman Mika Ahola and Johnny Aubert on the podium. For Merriman numerous crashes early in the day knocked the Australian's confidence in the challenging conditions and saw him place in an eventual fifth position. For Aubert day two was also a difficult one, but for a very different reason. Having broken a rib at the GP of Italy Aubert had been unable to train or ride a bike prior to the Canadian GP and as a result found the event extremely hard. In the '06 Enduro 2 world championship standings Stefan Merriman is currently second to Samuli Aro while Aubert lays fourth, just 10 points off third. Currant Enduro 3 world championship leader David Knight continued his domination of the E3 class in Canada topping the class on both days. Finishing three and a half minutes ahead of his team-mate Marko Tarkkala on day one the Manxman then placed close to five minutes ahead on day two and in doing so finished the weekend unbeaten in the E3 class. Claiming third on both days was French rider Seb Guillaume.
Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1: Third, Day 2: Third "I feel extremely tired after the race because I wasn't able to train or ride since the last round of the world championship, because I broke some ribs. I have tried my hardest but I felt really tired at the end of each day. I made some small crashes on day one but apart from that everything went pretty well. I finished on the podium so I was happy with that. "I crashed once on each of the special tests on the first lap on day two and then twice on the extreme test on the final lap. Apart from being really tired during the race it has been a good event. It wasn't as difficult as the race in Italy, which was a good thing. The tests were difficult but the course was really enjoyable." Stefan Merriman (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1: Second, Day 2: Fifth "Day one went ok but my performances on the enduro test let me down. It was very similar to Finnish conditions, which obviously favoured Aro and Ahola. I pushed as hard as I could without wanting to ride over the limit but it was so difficult on the enduro test because there were tree roots, rocks and ruts everywhere. "Day two went badly right from the start because I crashed three times in the first enduro test. I just couldn't find any sort of a rhythm and every time I hit a tree root I seemed to crash before I knew what had happened. I lost a lot of time there. That knocked my confidence and it was hard to get it back. It was so easy to damage your bike in the enduro test so I just took it steadily. "The event was really good - the organisers have done a great job. I would have liked the ground conditions to have been a little harder but apart from that it has been great."    Race classification Enduro 2 Round: 5 - Parry Sound, Canada Circuit: Parry Sound Race: day 1 Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Aro KTM  FIN  45' 16.980  2   S. Merriman Yamaha  AUS  +54.190  3   J. Aubert Yamaha  FRA  +1' 23.920  4   M. Ahola Honda  FIN  +2' 24.540  5   F. Planet KTM  FRA  +2' 25.110  6   N. Paganon Husqvarna  FRA  +3' 24.000  7   C. Guerrero GasGas  ESP  +3' 38.530  8   X. Galindo KTM  ESP  +3' 55.780  9   F. Dini Yamaha  ITA  +4' 22.090  10   V. Salonen HusaBerg  FIN  +4' 27.820  11   K. Caselli KTM  USA  +4' 35.630  12   N. Kanney Yamaha  USA  +4' 50.690  13   E. McConnell TM  GBR  +5' 28.700  14   G. Kearney Suzuki  AUS  +7' 44.720  15   G. Giroux Suzuki  CAN  +8' 16.740  16   K. Glasgow KTM  CAN  +9' 12.190  17   K. Graffunder KTM  CAN  +10' 51.960  18   R. Reed KTM  CAN  +12' 40.800  19   D. Watt  HusaBerg  CAN  +12' 41.730  20   B. Rempel KTM  CAN  +12' 49.060  Race 2: day 2 Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Aro KTM  FIN  58' 27.680  2   M. Ahola Honda  FIN  +52.650  3   J. Aubert Yamaha  FRA  +1' 56.220  4   F. Planet KTM  FRA  +1' 59.320  5   S. Merriman Yamaha  AUS  +2' 37.710  6   N. Paganon Husqvarna  FRA  +3' 6.000  7   X. Galindo KTM  ESP  +3' 22.660  8   A. Botturi Aprilia  ITA  +3' 55.180  9   C. Guerrero GasGas  ESP  +3' 58.010  10   K. Caselli KTM  USA  +4' 25.450  11   N. Kanney Yamaha  USA  +4' 30.760  12   F. Dini Yamaha  ITA  +4' 53.670  13   V. Salonen HusaBerg  FIN  +6' 32.650  14   K. Glasgow KTM  CAN  +6' 51.570  15   E. McConnell TM  GBR  +7' 42.090  16   G. Giroux Suzuki  CAN  +10' 28.030  17   D. Watt  HusaBerg  CAN  +13' 5.760  18   I. McKill KTM  CAN  +13' 19.200  19   T. Burman HusaBerg  SWE  +13' 50.690  20   K. Graffunder KTM  CAN  +14' 7.000  Championship standings Enduro 2 Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Samuli Aro KTM  FIN 228  2   Stefan Merriman Yamaha  AUS 205  3   Mika Ahola Honda  FIN 200  4   Johnny Aubert Yamaha  FRA 190  5   Fabien Planet KTM  FRA 142  6   Cristobal Guerrero GasGas  ESP 135  7   Xavier Galindo KTM  ESP 131  8   Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg  FIN 92  9   Fabrizio Dini Yamaha  ITA 91  10   Alessandro Botturi Aprilia  ITA 85  11   Nicolas Paganon Husqvarna  FRA 75  12   Paul Edmondson Honda  GBR 74  13   Andrea Beconi Beta  ITA 62  14   Andrea Belotti KTM  ITA 61  15   Euan McConnell TM  GBR 58  16   Kurt Caselli KTM  USA 40  17   Emmanuel Albepart Honda  FRA 39  18   Petteri Silvan KTM  FIN 28  19   Thierry Klutz Sherco  BEL 21  20   Christophe Nambotin Husqvarna  FRA 20  Manufacturers standings Enduro 2 Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  KTM 228  2  Yamaha 226  3  Honda 200  4  GasGas 139  5  HusaBerg 92  6  Aprilia 85  7  Husqvarna 83  8  Beta 67  9  TM 57  10  Suzuki 36  11  Sherco 31  12  Kawasaki 16  Enduro 1 : Fifth position on both days for Micheluz Round: 5 - Parry Sound, Canada Circuit: Parry Sound Date: 16 July 2006 Crowd: 4000 Temp: 26ºC Weather: Sunny Spaniard Ivan Cervantes and Italian Simone Albergoni shared a day win each in the Enduro 1 class at the GP of Canada, the fifth round of the '06 World Enduro Championship. It was Cervantes that topped the first day ahead of Albergoni after the two riders fought tooth and nail all day. With just 10 seconds separating the two, Pole Bartosz Oblucki claimed third, finishing close to one minute behind Albergoni. On day two positions were reversed at the top of the class with Albergoni getting the better of the current E1 championship leader. Winning four of the day's nine special tests Albergoni placed 40 seconds ahead of Cervantes with the Spaniard finishing almost the exact same distance ahead of third placed rider Bartosz Oblucki. Due to the logistical challenges and high costs of competing in Canada less than 10 E1 WEC regulars travelled to North America with just nine and eight riders respectively scoring points in the E1 class. With just one rider representing the UFO Corse Yamaha team in Canada Italian Maurizio Micheluz had a good weekend finishing in fifth position on both days. Finding the soft and in places rocky conditions difficult to master, Maurizio finished day one without problems but then crashed hard on day two. Despite being de-tuned by his crash Maurizio claimed valuable championship points and currently sits in fifth in the E1 world championship standings. Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1: Fifth, Day 2: Fifth "I felt like I rode quite well on day one - not great but ok. I didn't make any mistakes and I finished fifth, which I was reasonable happy with. I think that if I had pushed any harder I would have crashed because I didn't feel so comfortable in the conditions. "On day two I crashed hard on the second enduro test and I didn't feel so good after that. I just wanted to finish the race as best as I could after that. It was a strange race because the ground in the special tests was very different to what I am used to. The organisation was very good though and the race was really interesting."    Race classification Enduro 1 Round: 5 - Parry Sound, Canada Circuit: Parry Sound Race: day 1  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   I. Cervantes KTM  ESP  46' 51.770  2   S. Albergoni Honda  ITA  +10.090  3   B. Oblucki Husqvarna  POL  +1' 7.480  4   A. Belometti KTM  ITA  +1' 21.980  5   M. Micheluz Yamaha  ITA  +2' 39.810  6   A. Roberts Yamaha  AUS  +3' 9.030  7   M. Hartmann KTM  GER  +3' 51.760  8   S. Cuthbertson KTM  CAN  +7' 48.260  9   J. Skinner KTM  CAN  +10' 58.180  Race 2: day 2  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Albergoni Honda  ITA  59' 14.260  2   I. Cervantes KTM  ESP  +39.070  3   B. Oblucki Husqvarna  POL  +1' 18.960  4   A. Belometti KTM  ITA  +1' 22.820  5   M. Micheluz Yamaha  ITA  +4' 55.480  6   A. Roberts Yamaha  AUS  +6' 0.140  7   S. Cuthbertson KTM  CAN  +9' 40.140  8   J. Skinner KTM  CAN  +12' 5.560  Championship standings Enduro 1 Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Ivan Cervantes KTM  ESP 241  2   Simone Albergoni Honda  ITA 212  3   Alessandro Belometti KTM  ITA 174  4   Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna  POL 167  5   Mauricio Micheluz Yamaha  ITA 161  6   Petri Pohjamo TM  FIN 105  7   Helder Rodrigues Yamaha  POR 97  8   Mike Hartmann KTM  GER 84  9   Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna  FRA 75  10   Freddy Blanc KTM  FRA 74  11   Peter Bergvall Suzuki  SWE 52  12   Julien Gauthier Honda  FRA 43  13   Frederik Georgsson KTM  SWE 41  14   Roberto Bazzurri Husqvarna  ITA 32  15   Anthony Roberts Yamaha  AUS 30  16   Shane Cuthbertson KTM  CAN 27  17   Joan Jou Yamaha  ESP 27  18   Robert Carlsson Yamaha  SWE 26  19   James Skinner KTM  CAN 25  20   Manuel Pievani KTM  ITA 24  29   Fernando Ferreira Yamaha  POR 13  30   Alexandre Mendes Yamaha  FRA 12  33   Arnau Vilanova Yamaha  ESP 10  35   Andre Fernandez Yamaha  POR 6  37   Santos Helio Yamaha  ESP 4  Manufacturers standings Enduro 1 Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  KTM 241  2  Honda 212  3  Husqvarna 177  4  Yamaha 166  5  TM 105  6  Suzuki 77  7  Kawasaki 24
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

South Africa falls to Everts and Yamaha might

Reigning World Champion Stefan Everts, of the Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross team, now has just three more victories to reach a magical and all-time record total of 100 career wins after taking his 97th success and tenth consecutive triumph at Sun City in South Africa today. The 33 year-old Belgian clinched both motos in dominant and now familiar fashion in front of 25,300 spectators to stretch his unbeaten run to ten rounds and nineteen races. A journey of almost 200km was necessary to reach the luxurious holiday 'oasis' of Sun City from the capital of Johannesburg. The complex boasts one of the best and most spectacular hotels in the world in the form of the 'Palace' and the motocross circuit is an entirely man-made creation sculpted from land next to the large car-park situated just beyond the entrance to the resort. The venue set standards once again for its organisation and the pleasant layout of the surroundings including two sides of the track flanked by grandstands and decent viewing possibilities. The terrain had been improved over the two previous years with softer dirt allowing for more ruts and racing lines although the hard pack was still slippy in places. Everts captured his fourth pole position in a row and sixth of the season yesterday with a late lap only eight hundredths of a second ahead of Steve Ramon. He started moto one in third place and needed a circulation to gently ease his way past his countryman and then holeshotter Josh Coppins. With a customary clear track stretching ahead, Everts began to work and pulled out a lead of five seconds over his Honda rival in a matter of minutes. His 18th consecutive moto victory was then a formality and he only had to worry about the backmarkers which was a tough task in itself. The second outing was almost a carbon-copy and Everts crossed the line almost five seconds ahead of the New Zealander with Ramon also in attendance. The eighth double of 2006 represented Everts' first triumph on African soil and the landmark means that his lead in the standings has pulled to 136 points. In theory his tenth World Championship could be won in the fairytale setting at Namur, Belgium during the first week of August. Cédric Melotte finished the opening race in sixth position and put up a stiff resistance to the speed and aggression of Ken de Dycker while holding fourth but eventually had to concede two places to his fellow Belgian and Tanel Leok. Later on in race two he was picking his way through the field after a bad start but got a stone in his throat and struggled to breathe. The luckless Belgian was again forced to stop and the DNF was his sixth of the campaign. He is 8th in the World Championship 14 points behind Pascal Leuret. The Grand Prix of the Czech Republic, home to two World Championship celebratory parties for Everts and Yamaha in the last five years, will take place once more at the Loket circuit in the far west of the country near the idyllic town of Karlovy Vary. Stefan Everts, Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team: "I am a bit surprised myself at how I can win so many GPs, and maybe in a few years time I will look back at what I have done so far and realise the achievement. I have also never won ten in a row, nine was the most; so that is a personal record. I have never won in South Africa before so that also was special. I did not wave to the crowd on the last lap this time! I came here with a positive outlook after two years of bad luck and it really worked out today." Cédric Melotte, Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team: "I am trying to ride and enjoy myself on the bike at the moment and that is what I did in the first race. My arms got a little bit tired in the last three or four laps. I had a really bad start in the second race but I was coming back slowly. I was gaining on De Dycker and Leuret and was enjoying myself. I was pushing hard for the top ten but then something entered my throat and I could not breathe and wanted to vomit. It is a real shame because I could not continue and should have had a good result." Carlo Rinaldi, Racing Manager, Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team: "It was another perfect weekend. Stefan's starts were not as good as we have become accustomed to but he proved again who is the fastest. There is not much to say because we have seen this type of GP before this season; Stefan just wants to win at any cost. We made a few settings on the bike but we changed hardly anything. Cédric had a half decent race the first time and while he was coming back from a bad start he got a piece of dirt caught in his throat. He could not breathe and had to stop, losing a lot of points, so that was a pity."   Race classification MX1 Round: 10 - 2006 GP of Sun City, South Africa Circuit: Sun City Race 1: 20 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Everts Yamaha  BEL  39' 49.835  2   J. Coppins Honda  NZL  +5.555  3   S. Ramon Suzuki  BEL  +11.709  4   T. Leok Kawasaki  EST  +19.545  5   K. De Dycker Honda  BEL  +21.713  6   C. Melotte Yamaha  BEL  +53.306  7   P. Leuret  Honda  FRA  +1' 2.336  8   M. Priem Yamaha  BEL  +1' 4.923  9   K. Strijbos Suzuki  BEL  +1' 11.786  10   J. Bill Yamaha  GBR  +1' 27.554  11   A. Pyrhonen TM  FIN  +1' 34.262  12   W. Avis KTM  RSA  +1' 49.209  13   J. Barragan KTM  ESP  +2' 43.560  14   J. Garcia Vico Honda  ESP  +1 lap(s)  15   G. Crockard Honda  GBR  +1 lap(s)  16   C. Dugmore Kawasaki  RSA  +1 lap(s)  17   K. Stegen  Suzuki  RSA  +1 lap(s)  18   L. O'Farrel Yamaha  RSA  +1 lap(s)  19   D. Keramidis Honda  GRC  +3 lap(s)  20   C. van Niekerk TM  RSA  +4 lap(s)  Race 2: 20 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Everts Yamaha  BEL  40' 19.139  2   J. Coppins Honda  NZL  +4.591  3   S. Ramon Suzuki  BEL  +9.215  4   T. Leok Kawasaki  EST  +37.551  5   K. Strijbos Suzuki  BEL  +40.730  6   J. Barragan KTM  ESP  +1' 25.723  7   K. De Dycker Honda  BEL  +1' 32.927  8   P. Leuret  Honda  FRA  +1' 37.300  9   A. Pyrhonen TM  FIN  +1' 39.573  10   J. Bill Yamaha  GBR  +1' 40.537  11   G. Crockard Honda  GBR  +1' 41.009  12   M. Priem Yamaha  BEL  +2' 4.872  13   W. Avis KTM  RSA  +1 lap(s)  14   C. Dugmore Kawasaki  RSA  +1 lap(s)  15   J. Noble Honda  GBR  +1 lap(s)  16   L. O'Farrel Yamaha  RSA  +1 lap(s)  17   R. van der Westhuizen Honda  RSA  +2 lap(s)  18   K. Stegen  Suzuki  RSA  +2 lap(s)  19   K. Bowen KTM  RSA  +3 lap(s)  20   A. Nielsen Yamaha  KEN  +3 lap(s)  Championship standings MX1 Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Stefan Everts Yamaha  BEL 492  2   Kevin Strijbos Suzuki  BEL 356  3   Steve Ramon Suzuki  BEL 334  4   Tanel Leok Kawasaki  EST 330  5   Ken De Dycker Honda  BEL 322  6   Jonathan Barragan KTM  ESP 235  7   Pascal Leuret  Honda  FRA 186  8   Cedric Melotte Yamaha  BEL 172  9   Javier Garcia Vico Honda  ESP 172  10   Manuel Priem Yamaha  BEL 168  11   Julien Bill Yamaha  GBR 167  12   James Noble Honda  GBR 138  13   Brian Jorgensen Honda  DNK 131  14   Antti Pyrhonen TM  FIN 128  15   Marvin Van Daele Honda  BEL 127  16   Joshua Coppins Honda  NZL 116  17   Gordon Crockard Honda  GBR 102  18   Sebastien Tortelli KTM  FRA 99  19   Danny Theybers Suzuki  BEL 84  20   Wyatt Avis KTM  RSA 63  Manufacturers standings MX1 Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Yamaha 492  2  Suzuki 409  3  Honda 361  4  Kawasaki 334  5  KTM 291  6  TM 128  MX2 : Cairoli takes first victory of 2006 Round: 10 - 2006 GP of Sun City, South Africa Circuit: Sun City Date: 16 July 2006 Crowd: 25300 Temp: 31ºC Weather: Hot MX2 World Champion Antonio Cairoli climbed the top step of the podium for the first time this season at a hot Grand Prix of South Africa. The De Carli Yamaha rider completed an excellent tenth round of the FIM World Championship for the manufacturer and only the second time this term that Yamaha have owned both classes on the same day. The Sun City circuit was again a gleaming picture of good organisation and attention to detail. In its third and final year of hosting the South African round the venue even counted on an improved terrain, perhaps the biggest weak point of past editions. Softer dirt from the dark clay texture meant less dust and more grip. Cairoli was masterful in qualification and enacted a text-book performance by leading from gate to flag in the second heat, earned second pick of slot on the start line for the two 35 minute and 2 lap motos. The first race saw the World Champion circulating in a lonely third after a dodgy start meant that he lost the back of David Philippaerts and Tyla Rattray disputing the win. He pushed through to third despite having trouble with a bent plastic radiator guard catching the bars of the 250F because of an off-track excursion. The top three finish was a decent platform from which to try for the overall and he defeated local favourite Rattray by winning the second moto in style for his sixth race trophy from the twenty held so far. Kenneth Gundersen was visiting South Africa for the first time having missed the last two years due to injury. The first moto saw the Norwegian clatter a haybale that had been dragged into his path and he fell heavily onto his left hand. The Ricci Racing rider needed medical attention at the side of the track and will now head back to Italy tomorrow night for an examination on a possible broken bone in his wrist. Alessio Chiodi showed signs that he is coming back to the decent speed he showed before a fast practice crash in Japan left the former World Champion with an injured knee. The Italian is still missing race fitness however and ended the day twelfth overall after a set of average starts. Davide Guarneri slipped off his 250 in the first qualification heat race yesterday and injured his right knee. The Italian was a reduced force but scored ninth overall with moto finishes of ninth and 12th. Antonio Cairoli, Team Yamaha De Carli: "For sure I am very happy about this win because for many GPs I have been close to victory but one mistake has cost me dear. I managed to take one moto in the past but then finished too far back in the other. It is the first time I have won in South Africa. I had some trouble with the radiator guard in the first moto after I jumped off the track; it was difficult to balance and I lost a lot of time. It was a fast race so I thought about the points. I really liked the track because the mud was softer this year and there were many jumps." Alessio Chiodi, Yamaha Team Ricci: "The knee is a little bit better but my physical condition is not so good because I have not been able to train properly recently. I hope things will get better, it is coming back slowly."   Race classification MX2 Round: 10 - 2006 GP of Sun City, South Africa Circuit: Sun City Race 1: 20 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   D. Philippaerts KTM  ITA  39' 58.600  2   T. Rattray KTM  RSA  +1.252  3   A. Cairoli Yamaha  ITA  +27.332  4   G. Swanepoel Kawasaki  RSA  +32.669  5   C. Nunn KTM  GBR  +34.481  6   T. Searle Kawasaki  GBR  +38.529  7   D. Guarneri Yamaha  ITA  +42.451  8   S. Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA  +45.990  9   A. Chiodi Yamaha  ITA  +46.376  10   C. Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA  +47.003  11   M. Monni KTM  ITA  +59.201  12   R. Goncalves KTM  POR  +1' 11.559  13   T. Church Kawasaki  GBR  +1' 39.682  14   J. Dougan Honda  GBR  +2' 1.111  15   M. Kok Suzuki  RSA  +2' 4.076  16   B. MacKenzie Yamaha  GBR  +1 lap(s)  17   K. Fitzgerald Yamaha  RSA  +1 lap(s)  18   N. Naude  Yamaha  RSA  +1 lap(s)  19   F. Fourie KTM  RSA  +1 lap(s)  20   F. Ford Yamaha  RSA  +1 lap(s)  Race 2: 20 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   A. Cairoli Yamaha  ITA  40' 44.327  2   T. Rattray KTM  RSA  +4.810  3   C. Nunn KTM  GBR  +6.250  4   C. Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA  +21.592  5   M. Monni KTM  ITA  +23.473  6   R. Goncalves KTM  POR  +26.331  7   S. Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA  +29.590  8   T. Searle Kawasaki  GBR  +30.146  9   D. Guarneri Yamaha  ITA  +38.294  10   G. Swanepoel Kawasaki  RSA  +52.685  11   B. MacKenzie Yamaha  GBR  +1' 2.303  12   A. Chiodi Yamaha  ITA  +1' 29.588  13   T. Church Kawasaki  GBR  +1' 47.242  14   J. Dougan Honda  GBR  +1 lap(s)  15   N. Naude  Yamaha  RSA  +1 lap(s)  16   R. Branch Kawasaki  RSA  +1 lap(s)  17   J. Kruger KTM  RSA  +1 lap(s)  18   J. de Bruin Yamaha  RSA  +1 lap(s)  19   F. Fourie KTM  RSA  +1 lap(s)  20   K. Fitzgerald Yamaha  RSA  +2 lap(s)  Championship standings MX2 Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA 379  2   Antonio Cairoli Yamaha  ITA 347  3   David Philippaerts KTM  ITA 329  4   Tyla Rattray KTM  RSA 305  5   Marc De Reuver KTM  NED 284  6   Carl Nunn KTM  GBR 241  7   Billy MacKenzie Yamaha  GBR 228  8   Tommy Searle Kawasaki  GBR 224  9   Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki  RSA 210  10   Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA 207  11   Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha  NOR 194  12   Rui Goncalves KTM  POR 193  13   Alessio Chiodi Yamaha  ITA 185  14   Davide Guarneri Yamaha  ITA 153  15   Manuel Monni KTM  ITA 125  16   Luigi Seguy Yamaha  FRA 94  17   Anthony Boissière Yamaha  FRA 87  18   Aigar Leok Yamaha  EST 73  19   Matti Seistola Honda  FIN 69  20   Pierre-Alexandre Renet Honda  FRA 56  Manufacturers standings MX2 Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  KTM 459  2  Yamaha 433  3  Kawasaki 403  4  Honda 153  5  Suzuki 22
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Italy celebrate again as Rossi takes sensational win

Just seven days after Italy won the football World Cup with a dramatic victory against France in Berlin, Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi produced an equally stunning performance to seal another success for his country on German soil thanks to a remarkable MotoGP win at the Sachsenring circuit near Dresden. Starting from tenth place on the grid after struggling to find the right set-up for his YZR-M1 machine in practice, the odds were stacked heavily against Rossi as he aimed to close the gap on series leader Nicky Hayden (Honda) with another win. However, the reigning World Champion again confounded all the predictions with his superb skill and dogged determination. Already shifted up one place on the grid from his qualifying position of eleventh after Casey Stoner (Honda) was ruled out of the race through injury, Rossi continued to make his way forward as soon as the red lights were out, passing four riders by the end of the first lap to immediately get in contact with the lead group. After carefully picking off Kenny Roberts (Team KR) and Makoto Tamada (Honda), Rossi set about the lead group of Hayden, Dani Pedrosa (Honda) and Marco Melandri (Honda) and by lap 13 of 30 he was in front. The Italian held on to a slim lead for all but one of the remaining laps, when Melandri made one of his many attacks stick, before holding off a barrage of attacks from all three rivals in a dramatic final corner to seal his fourth win of the season. Whilst Rossi was able to rescue a dismal situation in practice, unfortunately the same could not be said for his team-mate Colin Edwards, who was unable to make any further progress with his bike setting in the morning warm-up and struggled to eleventh place. Valentino Rossi (1st; 41'49.248) "That was an unbelievable race for me and my team. The first thing I have to say is 'sorry' to my M1 because last night was the first time in our relationship that I ever doubted her! But she was true to me once again and for this I owe a huge thank you to Jeremy and all my mechanics and engineers. Last night I didn't think I could win this race but we made a change in the morning warm-up and then again before the race in the afternoon and today my M1 flew. In some parts of the track it was very, very fast. We also did a great job together with Michelin and at the start I realised that my rhythm was good enough to battle for the win. Once I got to the front I knew I was probably two or three tenths faster than the other guys but it wasn't enough to escape and I had to battle with Dani, Nicky and Marco - each one was a great fight. Marco was so strong at the end of the race and I have to give my big congratulations to him, but thankfully I got the right line in the last corner and I was able to win. Italy became World Champions in the football last weekend and I won today; Germany is a good country for us!" 
 
Colin Edwards (11th; + 29.308) "What can I say? I guess I'm just slow around here. The guys worked their butts off all weekend trying to give me something but we simply couldn't get the bike working and I never had the pace. It looked like Valentino was in the same situation but today he pulled out something like his 700th miracle and you can only take your hat off to a great champion. We changed some things for the warm-up this morning but I wasn't comfortable so we went back to the setting from yesterday, which we knew wasn't ideal either. The first few laps were okay but I struggled to pass Toni Elias and by the time I got past him we were way back. From there on it was just a battle to keep the bike on the track and there wasn't much more I could do but bring it home." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "Valentino was unbelievable today, fantastic. This was a very important victory for the championship because we've collected a lot of points but more than that it is a big psychological boost to win a fight in this way. This victory is a fruit of the hard work from the engineers, the team and Valentino - we have a great group of people here and they never give up. We always try to win races and today Valentino made it possible. Colin wasn't able to recover a difficult situation but now he has seven days before getting a big chance to turn things around in his home Grand Prix." Sachsenring provides huge step forward for Tech 3 Yamaha Racing Team With another top 10 finish and a result that saw Carlos Checa finish closer to the leaders that at any other race of the 2006 season, the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring circuit provided a huge step forward for the Tech 3 Yamaha Team and the performance of the team's Dunlop tyres. Checa was involved in a tense battle throughout the race to miss out on seventh place by just 0.389 of a second to eventually finish ninth in an enthralling race won by fellow Yamaha rider and defending world champion, Valentino Rossi. Carlos was only 17 seconds in arrears after the 30-lap battle. In another positive result, Checa's best lap of 1'23.097 was just 0.424 of a second off the fastest lap of the race. Englishman, James Ellison had to overcome handling problems in his quest to finish 13th, picking up some valuable points for himself and the team. Carlos Checa (9th, +17.097 secs Fastest lap 1'23.779) This has been a very good result for us and I am very happy. The gap to the winner was the closest we have ever been this year, so that is another positive step considering that we had some chatter and after 17 laps something went wrong with the engine. This is no excuse of course but, basically overall our consistency and speed is good. The first race of the year we were 59 seconds behind the winner, now we are 17 seconds and also we were with other riders fighting for positions so this has been a very big improvement. I'm quite satisfied. We started with the tyre we knew from practice and overall we are working quite well. Now I hope that Yamaha will help us with the chatter and maybe the engine a little bit. On the chassis side, the tyres are getting better and better but we need to work on the chassis as we can see the official team is struggling as well. I think it is a general problem with the Yamaha we must work together and even us with different tyres we are finding this problem but we will continue to work hard and hopefully we can continue to progress and improve the way we have done in the last four races. ". James Ellison (13th +1'02.029 Fastest lap 1'25.634) "I wish I could say I was happy but that would be far from the truth. I had very bad chattering for most of the race. The whole balance of the bike was really good but I couldn't run it into turns very fast because of the chatter so I had to pull back and I couldn't run the speed I wanted to. The tyres were working well but I couldn't get the times I wanted. At the start I could see Colin and the rest of the boys and I kept them close for 10 laps or so but then the chatter starting getting worse and worse and it started happening in more areas of the track. I just had to bring it home so I'm happy I did that and got some more points for myself and the team but that's about all I'm happy about as I'm pretty disappointed. I've had a chat to Carlos about the chatter as he has dealt with things like that for years. He told me that if you try to carry the speed going into the corner it just gets worse so you have to brake as hard as you can and then throw it in because he knows it's going to chatter. I've just got to change my riding to adapt to it because, it takes a while as if a bike is chattering the last thing your brain is telling you is to just throw it in because you think you will crash. I've just got to get on with it and see what I can do. I really hope the next race at Laguna Seca is different because this year has become extremely frustrating. I can't tell you how much I want to improve and get up to a pace I know I can run at." Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "Altogether, a very good weekend and the very best weekend for us so far this season. We were only 17 seconds behind the winner at the end so for sure this is by far the best result we have had. We were a bit worried about the second part of the race but the tyre was really stable and we have definitely gained on performance and durability of the Dunlop tyres. At the end of the race we were in front of Hopkins on the Suzuki and on Bridgestones. We were catching Vermeulen but just a bit too late to pass him - another lap and we would have! We could've been seventh, that's no big deal but clearly we are happy we improving. To be 12 seconds in front of Edwards was another positive sign for us. We are not talking about Valentino because he is on another planet after what he has done today. To be the second Yamaha in the race, second Yamaha on the grid and fastest Yamaha in morning warm-up was extremely satisfying for everyone so it confirms that the Yamaha/Dunlop combination worked very well here at Sachsenring and the improvements are getting bigger and improving all the time. We have another race before the summer break so we hope to continue at this same pace and to be able to fight again for a top 10 finish. James rode a steady race as he didn't finish that far from Colin which is ok. Both our riders were in the points. In the team's championship we move up, Carlos is gaining some more points so we are happy. Race classification MotoGP Round: 10 - 2006 MotoGP Sachsenring Circuit: Sachsenring Circuit Length: 3671 Lap Record: 1' 23.355 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever:  1' 23.355 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2006) Race: 30 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   V. Rossi Yamaha  ITA  41' 59.248  2   M. Melandri Honda  ITA  +0.145  3   N. Hayden Honda  USA  +0.266  4   D. Pedrosa Honda  ESP  +0.307  5   L. Capirossi Ducati  ITA  +8.764  6   S. Nakano Kawasaki  JPN  +9.147  7   C. Vermeulen Suzuki  AUS  +16.608  8   S. Gibernau Ducati  ESP  +16.648  9   C. Checa Yamaha  ESP  +17.097  10   J. Hopkins Suzuki  USA  +17.786  11   T. Elias Honda  ESP  +27.425  12   C. Edwards Yamaha  USA  +29.308  13   J. Ellison Yamaha  GBR  +1' 2.029  14   J. Cardoso Ducati  ESP  +1' 19.997  Fastest Race Lap:   Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   D. Pedrosa Honda  ESP  1' 23.355  Championship standings MotoGP Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Nicky Hayden Honda  USA 169  2   Valentino Rossi Yamaha  ITA 143  3   Daniel Pedrosa Honda  ESP 140  4   Marco Melandri Honda  ITA 134  5   Loris Capirossi Ducati  ITA 118  6   Casey Stoner Honda  AUS 91  7   Colin Edwards Yamaha  USA 77  8   Shinya Nakano Kawasaki  JPN 67  9   Kenny Roberts Team Roberts KR  USA 66  10   John Hopkins Suzuki  USA 64  11   Makato Tamada Honda  JPN 59  12   Toni Elias Honda  ESP 58  13   Sete Gibernau Ducati  ESP 52  14   Chris Vermeulen Suzuki  AUS 46  15   Carlos Checa Yamaha  ESP 44  17   James Ellison Yamaha  GBR 17    Manufacturers standings MotoGP Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Honda 221  2  Yamaha 172  3  Ducati 127  4  Suzuki 81  5  Kawasaki 71  6  Team Roberts KR 66  Team standings MotoGP Pos. Team Points  1  Repsol Honda Team 309  2  Camel Yamaha Team 220  3  Fortuna Honda Team 192  4  Ducati Marlboro Team 177  5  Rizla Suzuki 110  6  Honda LCR 91  7  Kawasaki Racing Team 84  8  Team Roberts KR 66  9  Tech3 Yamaha 61  10  Konica Minolta Honda 59  11  Pramac D'Antin 20  Race classification GP250 Round: 10 - 2006 GP250 Sachsenring Circuit: Sachsenring Circuit Length: 3671 Lap Record: 1' 25.118 (Sebastian Porto, 2004) Fastest Lap Ever:  1' 24.618 (Alex de Angelis, 2005) Race: 29 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   Y. Takahashi Honda  JPN  41' 30.350  2   A. de Angelis Aprilia  SMR  +0.058  3   J. Lorenzo Aprilia  ESP  +1.013  4   A. Dovizioso Honda  ITA  +4.021  5   H. Barbera Aprilia  ESP  +9.384  6   R. Locatelli Aprilia  ITA  +19.242  7   A. West Aprilia  AUS  +26.457  8   H. Aoyama KTM  JPN  +26.607  9   S. Aoyama Honda  JPN  +26.741  10   S. Guintoli Aprilia  FRA  +30.621  11   A. Baldolini Aprilia  ITA  +44.754  12   F. Battiani Aprilia  ITA  +45.063  13   M. Poggiali KTM  SMR  +48.793  14   J. Smrz Aprilia  CZE  +52.317  15   A. Espargaro Honda  ESP  +52.369  Fastest Race Lap:   Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   A. de Angelis Aprilia  SMR  1' 25.284  Championship standings GP250  Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Jorge Lorenzo Aprilia  ESP 174  2   Andrea Dovizioso Honda  ITA 172  3   Yuki Takahashi Honda  JPN 133  4   Alex de Angelis Aprilia  SMR 131  5   Hiroshi Aoyama KTM  JPN 116  6   Roberto Locatelli Aprilia  ITA 114  7   Hector Barbera Aprilia  ESP 100  8   Sylvain Guintoli Aprilia  FRA 65  9   Anthony West Aprilia  AUS 58  10   Marco Simoncelli Gilera  ITA 55  11   Shuhei Aoyama Honda  JPN 48  12   Alex Debon Aprilia  ESP 35  13   Jakub Smrz Aprilia  CZE 34  14   Manuel Poggiali KTM  SMR 31  15   Martin Cardenas Honda  COL 28  Manufacturers standings GP250 Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Aprilia 221  2  Honda 189  3  KTM 120  4  Gilera 55
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Camel Yamaha riders in a spin at Sachsenring

Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards both face an uphill battle in tomorrow's German Grand Prix after struggling to come to terms with the undulating demands of the Sachsenring circuit in the final free practice and qualifying session today. Neither rider was able to find an adequate setting for the YZR-M1 in yesterday's opening sessions and despite making progress today they did not take the necessary steps forward required to make a challenge for the front row of the grid, which is headed by Dani Pedrosa (Honda) for the second successive race. As the action got underway below clear blue skies and pleasant summer temperatures of 22ºC, Rossi's main difficulty was balancing the intense force exerted on the front end of the bike at this circuit, a problem exacerbated by the extra rear grip offered by the softer qualifying tyres. Whilst the Italian is hopeful of working on a solution with his team overnight, Edwards is less optimistic having been unable to exactly pinpoint the root of his problems and leaving only tomorrow's 20-minute warm-up to clarify an adequate set-up and tyre choice for the race. Rossi will aim to make as much progress as possible early in the race as he starts from the fourth row in eleventh spot whilst Edwards has an even bigger challenge ahead as he looks to remount from a row further back in fifteenth. Valentino Rossi (11th - 1'22.868; 32 laps) "The race setting is not so bad but things were very different on the qualifying tyre. We are getting too much weight onto the front end of the bike and when the rear qualifying tyre grips so much this pushes the front even harder and I almost crashed a couple of times. My hand is still a bit sore but to be honest when I am riding I don't even think about it and this is not what is troubling us today. It looks like tomorrow will be tough because Dani Pedrosa has a very fast pace but I am starting from a long way back. Unfortunately I can't say that we are down in eleventh because I was unlucky; today we deserve to be in eleventh and we have a lot of work to do. It's difficult to overtake at this track and you need a good setting to make up positions in the race. At the moment our bike is not quite ready and this situation is not limited to today - it seems we have struggled in practice all year. Once again I need another great job from my mechanics tonight so that I can try and chase the lead group tomorrow." Colin Edwards (15th - 1'23.087; 29 laps) "I'm feeling disappointed and frustrated tonight because we've tried everything - changed the steering head column, the rear links, the swingarm links - but not got anywhere. The bike is a little better than yesterday but it is still not fast enough and when I'm following other guys around it seems as though they are running at a different track. Honestly, I think the team has worked harder here than at any other circuit this year but it's just not happening for us and we need a miracle now. The bike is a bit of a handful at the moment and the worrying thing is that I don't know exactly where we can find the improvement in time for tomorrow's race. Anyway, we'll keep working and see if we can come up with something in the morning." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "Again it will be a difficult start to the race for us, with Valentino and Colin on the fourth and fifth rows. We are struggling with the qualifying tyre, even though Valentino's race pace is not so bad - very similar to Pedrosa and Hayden. The problem for him now is his position on the grid because it is a big disadvantage at such a tight circuit like this. We will do our best to make the right changes for him in the morning and hopefully we can come up with something for Colin too. We need a big effort from the whole team over the next 24 hours and I'm sure our riders will do their bit to perform." Confidence inspiring qualifying session for Tech 3 Yamaha Team Under the blazing German sunshine the solitary qualifying session for the MotoGP class was a confidence inspiring occasion for the Tech 3 Yamaha Team as lead rider, Carlos Checa qualified in 12th fastest position, just 1.1 seconds off pole position taken by Dani Pedrosa (Honda). In the final moments of the session, Carlos was denied the rare experience of being the leading Yamaha rider as world champion, Valentino Rossi relegated the experienced Spaniard one place on the grid by just 0.096 second. Teammate, James Ellison improved his time to move up the grid slightly but is nonetheless, disappointed that he ran out of time to improve his 18th place on the grid. Carlos Checa (12th, 1'22.964, 33 laps) "Of course for us personally this is good as we are quite close to Valentino and at this moment he is the best rider even if here his position is not his usual. This weekend we have worked quite well heading in the right direction and making advances with the Dunlop race tyres but we still have some limitations especially with the qualifying tyres. We are ready for tomorrow with a pretty good setup and hopefully we can build on what we have been doing in the recent races. We cannot be perfectly satisfied with this situation because it is clear that all riders on Yamaha are struggling around here. "Anyway for the race I am more confident than I am with qualifying. We have a good tyre and I think the setting we have chosen for the race we will have a good pace but hopefully even though warmup is early tomorrow there will be enough heat in the track to do some more final testing to make sure we have made the right decisions. I must get a good start as if we are too far back in the first corner with how close the lap times are it will be very difficult to move up many positions as it is also very hard to overtake around here. James Ellison (18th 1'24.464, 28 laps) "I'm not happy as although I dropped my times, yesterday's sessions were a loss. With the setup we had on Friday you kind of lose your confidence because we had so many problems it takes time to build up confidence again. If you arrive at a circuit and the bike works it's awesome because you can build on it all weekend but when you start bad like it's very difficult to get your head up to speed again. We've been chipping away and slowly building to the times we wanted to get but we really wanted to get into the 23 second bracket. We made a couple of mistakes with the last qualifier so I'm very disappointed with that to be honest. We had another tyre lined up but we just ran out of time. We might've gone quicker, we might've gone slower - who knows - it would've just been nice to try it. I'm not happy at all as I have only qualified five-tenths faster than I did last year and I'm on a bike way more capable than what I had. That's the result, so I have to live with it and try and get a good start to get away with them and hopefully move up a few places." Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "It was another positive day for us as in the morning and afternoon Carlos was right up there with everybody else. For the majority of both sessions Carlos was the first Yamaha and it was only in the last seconds that Valentino got him but we are on the same row and in front of Colin Edwards. This makes us very happy - not to see Valentino and Colin so far back - but shows us the improvements that keep continuing with the Dunlop tyres. We are confident we can do a good first part of the race but because of the rain on Friday morning and all the setting changes we had to make, we didn't manage to do a full race distance in hot conditions as yesterday was a lot cooler on track. Tomorrow's forecast is a lot hotter than today, so we are a little bit concerned about the last 10 laps of the race because 30 laps around here on a high temperature track is very demanding on tyres - this is our main worry to see how those 10 laps unfold but I guess we have to wait and see. We have improved on our qualifying tyres but unfortunately the last run of Carlos for some reason we couldn't improve. If we had dropped another tenth of a second we could be a row closer because the lap times are so close but our main concern is durability and race distance more than grid position. It was also quite a good improvement from James. Yesterday he was nowhere and today he is running low to mid 1'24 second laps, which for MotoGP is a fairly decent lap time. Let's hope he can run at that pace for the entire race because there are guys in front of him that he can stay with and hopefully pass during the race.""    Round: 10 - 2006 MotoGP Sachsenring Circuit: Sachsenring Circuit Length: 3671 Lap Record: 1' 23.705 (Sete Gibernau, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 21.815 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2006) Date: 15 July 2006 Temp: 22ºC Session 1 :  Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat.  1st Qualifying 1  D. Pedrosa  Honda  ESP   1' 21.815   2  K. Roberts  Team Roberts KR  USA   1' 21.907   3  N. Hayden  Honda  USA   1' 22.083   4  S. Nakano  Kawasaki  JPN   1' 22.273   5  L. Capirossi  Ducati  ITA   1' 22.329   6  M. Melandri  Honda  ITA   1' 22.420   7  S. Gibernau  Ducati  ESP   1' 22.469   8  C. Stoner  Honda  AUS   1' 22.577   9  J. Hopkins  Suzuki  USA   1' 22.701   10  M. Tamada  Honda  JPN   1' 22.866   11  V. Rossi  Yamaha  ITA   1' 22.868   12  C. Checa  Yamaha  ESP   1' 22.964   13  R. De Puniet  Kawasaki  FRA   1' 22.974   14  C. Vermeulen  Suzuki  AUS   1' 23.050   15  C. Edwards  Yamaha  USA   1' 23.087   16  T. Elias  Honda  ESP   1' 23.660   18  J. Ellison  Yamaha  GBR   1' 24,464.000  
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno