Jump to content

Yamaha Racing News

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

2006 Superbike World Championship: round five - Silverstone

Britain's Silverstone circuit is the venue for this weekend's fifth round of the 2006 Superbike World Championship. So far the season has been a case of so near but so far for the Yamaha Motor Italia squad. In the eight races run so far this year, Noriyuki Haga has twice finished on the third step of the podium and never finished lower than fifth place. One DNF (crashing on the final lap while contesting the lead at the first race in Qatar) puts Haga fifth in the championship, although the Japanese star knows he now needs to start winning races if he is to stop the so far dominant Troy Bayliss (Ducati) from running away with the championship. Silverstone has proved a successful track for Haga in the past. He took a first and second position there in 2004 and gave the still-developing Yamaha YZF-R1 its first ever world superbike podium finish at last year's race. With the R1 now developed into a consistent front runner, the Yamaha Motor Italia squad sees Silverstone as a great opportunity to make their presence felt in the championship. "I have done well at Silverstone in the past so I am looking forward to racing there again this weekend," says Haga. "The last round at Monza was not so bad. I don't normally get on the podium there so to finish third in race two was a good result for me and the team. Silverstone is a track that we know suits me and the R1. We got our first podium there last year and we should be able to fight with the fastest riders again this year." Team-mate Andrew Pitt lies one place behind Haga in the championship standings. The Australian has also been very consistent this season and is looking to forget a nightmare outing at the British track last year. Pitt struggled to come to terms with the shorter International layout used for the first time last year and picked up a nasty leg injury during practice. Despite this, Pitt insists a top three finish is not out of the question this year, commenting: "I was a little disappointed not to be on the podium at Monza, because the improvements we've made to the bike means that this is a realistic target for us at every circuit. Silverstone wasn't the happiest of races for me last year and I'm not a big fan of the shorter circuit we use now. But at the end of the day it's just another race and you go there with the same target as always, which means getting on the podium." Yamaha Motor France rider Norick Abe arrives in Silverstone in the championship's top ten, despite failing to score in Monza. The Japanese star had a tough weekend in Italy, missing Saturday's practice session and bravely riding but failing to score in the races. Rapidly improving team-mate Shinichi Nakatomi had his best result in Monza with a tenth in race one and will be looking to continue his superbike education at the short and technical British circuit. In the Supersport World Championship Yamaha Motor Germany's Kevin Curtain will look to get his season back on track after the heartache of retiring through mechanical problems in Monza. The Australian remains second overall in the championship, 31 points behind defending world champion Sebastien Charpentier (Honda).
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Bad luck strikes again for Camel Yamaha Team at Le Mans

Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi's unfortunate start to his MotoGP World Championship defence continued today as the Italian rider was hit by another bout of bad luck at Le Mans, where he was forced to retire from the lead with an engine problem. This time his team-mate Colin Edwards was also hit by the jinx, the American being pushed wide in the second corner of the race and running into the gravel traps. The silver lining to the day for the team on a cloudy day in France was that Edwards did manage to get back on track and charge through from last place to finish in sixth - arguably the individual rider performance of the race.  Rossi started the fifth round of the season in confident mood after finding a good set-up for his YZR-M1 machine during the dry practice sessions and he quickly translated that pace to the race, moving from seventh on the grid up to second place by lap three. After two laps behind early leader John Hopkins (Suzuki) the World Champion took control and opened out a comfortable advantage over Dani Pedrosa (Honda), who also got past Hopkins. With eight laps remaining Rossi looked on course to become the first rider this season to win two races but to his despair disaster struck, leaving Pedrosa to fight it out with Marco Melandri (Honda) for the win. Melandri made the decisive move for victory with five laps remaining before Pedrosa was also passed for second place by Loris Capirossi (Ducati). Colin Edwards (6th; + 11.519 seconds) "To be honest I don't quite know what happened at the start. I had my plan which was to run it around the outside like I did last year but things just went haywire from the start and riders were coming at me from everywhere. I got baulked by somebody - it might have been Dani Pedrosa but I'm not sure - and I couldn't get to the outside so I had to move where the space was and go tight. Everybody was wide through the right and came across me as we went left into the chicane so I had nowhere to go but the gravel. Last year it would have probably been okay but the changes they made to the track played against me. I lost four or five seconds there and probably lost another four or five trying to get past people during the first six laps. I wanted to overtake on the exits but they all had so much grip at that stage of the race that it was impossible and I just had to wait for opportunities on the brakes. The setting of the bike was good - the only thing I was missing was a bit of rear grip at the end but with the pace I had we should have been on the podium today." Valentino Rossi (DNF) "The team did a great job with the new chassis this weekend and I really enjoyed being able to ride so fast during the race, so it is a real shame that it ended like that and of course I am very disappointed. Everything was working really well, the bike and tyres felt perfect but then the engine went. A bike stopping on me like this has only happened to me a couple of times in my career, and never with a four-stroke, so for it to happen today is typical of our luck at the moment. Something seems to have gone wrong for us at each of the first few races of the season, apart from Qatar, and it has put us in a difficult situation with regards to the championship. We know that championship is a big challenge now but the last word has not been spoken yet. Now we need to look at it race by race, maybe not think about the championship for a while and concentrate on trying to win as many races as possible from the remaining 12." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "We are trying to smile but obviously we are all very disappointed - especially Valentino. Our engineers did a great job to get the bikes prepared for this race and both Valentino and Colin were ready to fight for a top result. It was great watching Valentino in harmony with the bike and it looked as though it was going to be a classic Valentino Rossi race, making his way to the front and then controlling his advantage over second place. Unfortunately the engine broke and we are analysing it now to find out why. I have to say Colin rode a great race after being forced wide in the first corner and in general we will take a lot of positives from this weekend, even if we don't feel too great right now. Today we should have had two riders on the podium, but we have 12 more chances to try!" Most impressive result of the season so far for Tech 3 Yamaha Team The home Grand Prix for the Tech 3 Yamaha Team provided the best result of the season so far as lead rider, Carlos Checa finished 11th overall with teammate James Ellison also scoring championship points finishing 14th. In his 100th appearance for Yamaha in the premier class, Checa was involved in an exciting battle with factory riders Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki), Tony Elias (Honda) and Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki). Carlos is now the second longest serving Yamaha rider in the premier class behind Norick Abe who had 162 starts for the innovative Japanese company The result added further confirmation to the improvement in the Dunlop race tyres the team is using during the 2006 season with Carlos the closest he has been to the leading pack at the end of the race. The team will remain at the Le Mans circuit for a further two days to evaluate a range of the latest Dunlop rubber with various specifications for wet and dry conditions. Carlos Checa (11th, Fastest lap 1'36.781) "It was a good result and I also feel it is the best progress for the year as well. At the beginning I was putting in good lap times but after lap 11 or 12 the rear tyre dropped down and I couldn't keep the pace and of course I was thinking about finishing the race. I tried to keep in the 37's and keep the battle going with Vermeulen and Elias but I had a lot of movement at the rear and I thought 'ok I want to keep the tyre as good as possible.' Then Nakano was coming and I tried to push more to keep Nakano behind and I managed to do this. It was good to have a fight for most of the race. We will take a lot of information away from here. We know where we are and where we want to go. I was very happy with the progress of the bike and now we have two days of testing. I hope we can test many things that we have planned whether it is wet or dry especially on tyres and also to confirm all the settings on the bike that we think can help. I'm looking forward to this as at Turkey and China I was a little bit depressed as we seemed to keep hitting the same wall all the time but now I think we have jumped over the wall and we are much more in front than what we were and this is very satisfying for the team. Even if we are a bit behind we have improved the areas a lot more than before. I hope in two days we can finish everything because you always want to test more. I'm ready to test the two days and I have a lot of motivation to do this so we now know we have some direction to head and what we need to go faster. Dunlop has brought many things and has many ideas so it should be a big help for the next few races. James Ellison (14th Fastest lap 1'37.572) "The race wasn't so bad actually and I'm happy when I see my lap times are getting closer to Carlos all the time. We really made some positive progress this weekend. The way the race went was a good boost to myself as besides getting closer to Carlos's time I feel that I'm moving forward as I'm getting closer to the leaders in race time by the end of the race as well, but we have to improve so we can keep doing those lap times for most of the race. I'm looking forward to Monday and Tuesday where we have a full two-day test and I think we can make big improvements. It'll be great to get in two solid days of testing. I don't care what the weather's like as long as we get through the allocation of tyres we have. There's a lot of things I want to try on the bike as well so hopefully it will be dry so we can do all the work. What we want to do is start playing around with angles swingarm length and all that sort of stuff to find the best settings as obviously the tyres have a lot different characteristics to what the other Yamaha riders are using. Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director This has been the best weekend of the season so far. We have the best race position with 47 seconds to the leaders which is the closest gap we have ever had so far. Most important was the first half of the race as we were together with Vermeulen and Elias lapping at the same pace and I think that is the first time that has happened too. Unfortunately the second part of the race we struggled a little bit to keep the same pace and that is what we have to work on. In China we had the consistency without the performance. Now we have the performance but we have lost a little consistency so clearly this is what we have to work on. We are testing here Monday and Tuesday and Dunlop has brought plenty of tyres to test. The test will now be a lot easier when you have a more positive frame of mind because although it is not the best thing that can happen to finish 11th, it is not too bad when you know how competitive the MotoGP grid is. James also had his best race with both riders in the points and he continues to improve and get faster every time he rides the bike. We had a lot of laps in the dry and wet as we closed the gap to everyone else so we know now we're heading in the right direction and after this test I think things will be even better. Race classification MotoGP Round: 5 - 2006 MotoGP Le Mans Circuit: LeMans Circuit Length: 4180 Lap Record: 1' 35.078 (Valentino Rossi, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever:  1' 33.990 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2006) Race: 28 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   M. Melandri Honda  ITA  44' 57.369  2   L. Capirossi Ducati  ITA  +1.929  3   D. Pedrosa Honda  ESP  +2.269  4   C. Stoner Honda  AUS  +5.494  5   N. Hayden Honda  USA  +5.709  6   C. Edwards Yamaha  USA  +11.519  7   M. Tamada Honda  JPN  +16.692  8   S. Gibernau Ducati  ESP  +18.142  9   T. Elias Honda  ESP  +23.645  10   C. Vermeulen Suzuki  AUS  +39.362  11   C. Checa Yamaha  ESP  +47.730  12   S. Nakano Kawasaki  JPN  +47.782  13   A. Hofmann Ducati  GER  +1' 9.092  14   J. Ellison Yamaha  GBR  +1' 16.172  15   J. Hopkins Suzuki  USA  +2 lap(s)  Fastest Race Lap:   Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   V. Rossi Yamaha  ITA  1' 35.087  Championship standings MotoGP   Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Nicky Hayden Honda  USA 83  2   Marco Melandri Honda  ITA 79  3   Loris Capirossi Ducati  ITA 79  4   Daniel Pedrosa Honda  ESP 73  5   Casey Stoner Honda  AUS 65  6   Colin Edwards Yamaha  USA 45  7   Toni Elias Honda  ESP 44  8   Valentino Rossi Yamaha  ITA 40  9   Sete Gibernau Ducati  ESP 33  10   Makato Tamada Honda  JPN 33  11   Shinya Nakano Kawasaki  JPN 32  12   John Hopkins Suzuki  USA 21  13   Kenny Roberts Team Roberts KR  USA 20  14   Chris Vermeulen Suzuki  AUS 19  15   Carlos Checa Yamaha  ESP 15  18   James Ellison Yamaha  GBR 5  Manufacturers standings MotoGP   Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Honda 115  2  Ducati 79  3  Yamaha 69  4  Suzuki 35  5  Kawasaki 32  6  Team Roberts KR 20  Team standings MotoGP Pos. Team Points  1  Repsol Honda Team 156  2  Fortuna Honda Team 123  3  Ducati Marlboro Team 112  4  Camel Yamaha Team 85  5  Honda LCR 65  6  Rizla Suzuki 40  7  Kawasaki Racing Team 40  8  Konica Minolta Honda 33  9  Tech3 Yamaha 20  10  Team Roberts KR 20  11  Pramac D'Antin 6  Race classification GP250 Round: 5 - 2006 GP250 Le Mans Circuit: LeMans Circuit Length: 4180 Lap Record: 1' 37.594 (Randy de Puniet, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever:  1' 37.594 (Randy de Puniet, 2005) Race: 26 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   Y. Takahashi Honda  JPN  43' 42.773  2   A. Dovizioso Honda  ITA  +0.098  3   S. Aoyama Honda  JPN  +2.215  4   H. Aoyama KTM  JPN  +2.484  5   A. de Angelis Aprilia  SMR  +11.270  6   R. Locatelli Aprilia  ITA  +14.597  7   H. Barbera Aprilia  ESP  +16.829  8   M. Simoncelli Gilera  ITA  +17.041  9   S. Guintoli Aprilia  FRA  +17.589  10   J. Smrz Aprilia  CZE  +17.805  11   A. West Aprilia  AUS  +39.032  12   A. Ballerini Aprilia  ITA  +41.728  13   M. Cardenas Honda  COL  +45.150  14   S. Porto Honda  ARG  +46.545  15   A. Vincent Honda  FRA  +55.747  Fastest Race Lap:   Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   H. Aoyama KTM  JPN  1' 39.733  Championship standings GP250   Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Andrea Dovizioso Honda  ITA 92  2   Hector Barbera Aprilia  ESP 78  3   Hiroshi Aoyama KTM  JPN 75  4   Yuki Takahashi Honda  JPN 67  5   Jorge Lorenzo Aprilia  ESP 63  6   Roberto Locatelli Aprilia  ITA 57  7   Sylvain Guintoli Aprilia  FRA 38  8   Alex de Angelis Aprilia  SMR 35  9   Marco Simoncelli Gilera  ITA 31  10   Shuhei Aoyama Honda  JPN 27  11   Jakub Smrz Aprilia  CZE 27  12   Martin Cardenas Honda  COL 22  13   Anthony West Aprilia  AUS 19  14   Sebastian Porto Honda  ARG 17  15   Manuel Poggiali KTM  SMR 13  Manufacturers standings GP250   Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Aprilia 106  2  Honda 97  3  KTM 75
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Everts shut-out in Japan maintains dominant streak

Stefan Everts collected his fifth win in a row after pole position, two holeshots and two complete victories in front of 17,400 spectators this afternoon at a sun-bathed Sugo circuit for the Grand Prix of Japan and the fifth round of the 2006 FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship. The Belgian guided his YZ450FM to both chequered flags to extend his 100% record this season and walked away with a 92nd career success. After his seventh consecutive moto triumph Everts is now controlling the series by 61 points at the top of the standings. The Sugo circuit had been meticulously prepared; the natural terrain was carefully mixed with sandy soil and wood chippings to maintain a soft texture. The surface created various racing lines but became rough and bumpy very quickly, meaning that the smallest of errors would prove costly. The 33 year old gained his second pole position of the season on Saturday with a lap-time a second faster than Kawasaki's Tanel Leok. Fine weather conditions blessed raceday for the fourth consecutive Grand Prix. Everts blasted out of the gate for the first moto of 35 minutes and two laps duration and the potency of the YZ450FM was again apparent as he gained the holeshot and had a lead of almost five seconds after three laps. The World Champion was on cruise control from that point and led the pack until the chequered flag for his second consecutive Japanese moto triumph after owning the second sprint last year. For nine circulations (from 21) the Yamaha Intur Sports team flew in formation as Cedric Melotte held second spot. The Belgian eventually fell back into a frantic scrap for podium positions with Ken De Dycker, Steve Ramon and Tanel Leok. A mistake on the final lap demoted the disappointed number '4' to sixth. Everts re-enacted his authoritative performance in race two for a clear victory ahead of Steve Ramon, who clinched second spot on the podium. A holeshot and rapid few opening laps was the main difference in one of the Champion's more straight-forward Grand Prix. He deservingly went on a lap of honour to acknowledge the support and cheers of the Japanese public. Former AMA competitor and now contesting the Japanese Championship, Akira Narita was 11th on his YZ450FM and finished in the top ten with ninth in the second moto after a decent race fighting with some of Europe's fastest riders. Reigning national champion Takeshi Koikeda was 22nd with the YZ250. Yamaha now hold a 41 point lead in the Constructors Championship. In two weeks time round six will take place at the Sevlievo circuit in Bulgaria. Stefan Everts, Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team: "I won my first Championship in 1991 and to win here in Japan in my final year feels very nice. I have had a long career and a lot of support from many people and manufacturers so I must say thank you to the Japanese people for the memories. We have a lot of wins now but I am looking ahead, not behind, and I have to try and keep this form. I would like to win everything so we will keep on working hard and see what happens. It was special to win here for Yamaha. They have given us a lot of support and it has been great to be a part of the family; I hope we can do many things together in the future." Cedric Melotte, Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team: "I always seem to start well but cannot carry the speed. It was better at the beginning of the season. Last week I made a blood test and I am missing some iron and vitamins. I took some tablets for this GP but after the first 15 minutes of each moto I felt empty. I was light-headed and my muscles were heavy. It is frustrating and I don't know what is wrong. This has been a bad weekend." Carlo Rinaldi, Team manager: "It has been another great victory; Stefan was just perfect and there is not much more that we can say. The bike was great and the rider was great so that is excellent for us. The distance over the others was big because Stefan was so strong. Cedric had the speed to compete with the top riders but not the physical condition and at this stage it is a bit of a mystery. He is working hard and has satisfied many physical tests but the results say that something is wrong. We are in Japan but there was not more pressure on us because the preparation and organisation was very good. It was like racing at home because the Japanese people helped us so much, they fulfilled all of our requests and then some more." Laurens Klein Koerkamp: "In 2005 we won both MX1 and MX2 in the first Japanese GP for ten years in Yamaha-land so we thought that it would not be easy to do it again this time. To win all four heats at this GP was amazing and very good for Yamaha. We have always said the standard of the motorcycles was already very high, obviously there are some small changes for top level racing but the decent base is there and this is the best thing we can give to the Yamaha guys." Race classification MX1 Round: 5 - 2006 GP of Sugo, Japan Circuit: Sugo Circuit Length: 3737 Race: 22 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Everts Yamaha  BEL  40' 42.166  2   K. De Dycker Honda  BEL  +14.150  3   T. Leok Kawasaki  EST  +15.944  4   S. Ramon Suzuki  BEL  +23.606  5   B. Jorgensen Honda  DNK  +29.783  6   C. Melotte Yamaha  BEL  +42.607  7   J. Noble Honda  GBR  +48.686  8   J. Barragan KTM  ESP  +54.238  9   M. Priem Yamaha  BEL  +55.718  10   M. Van Daele Honda  BEL  +57.720  11   J. Bill Yamaha  GBR  +1' 9.842  12   K. Strijbos Suzuki  BEL  +1' 14.101  13   D. Theybers Suzuki  BEL  +1' 15.622  14   A. Narita Yamaha  JPN  +1' 30.186  15   A. Pyrhonen TM  FIN  +1' 34.744  16   J. Lindhe KTM  SWE  +1' 44.269  17   K. Masuda Honda  JPN  +1 lap(s)  18   J. Garcia Vico Honda  ESP  +1 lap(s)  19   K. Kaga Suzuki  JPN  +1 lap(s)  20   T. Koikeda Yamaha  JPN  +1 lap(s)  Race 2: 21 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Everts Yamaha  BEL  39' 44.664  2   S. Ramon Suzuki  BEL  +23.136  3   J. Barragan KTM  ESP  +30.861  4   K. Strijbos Suzuki  BEL  +37.393  5   M. Van Daele Honda  BEL  +40.505  6   M. Priem Yamaha  BEL  +46.230  7   J. Noble Honda  GBR  +49.265  8   K. De Dycker Honda  BEL  +54.644  9   A. Narita Yamaha  JPN  +58.827  10   D. Theybers Suzuki  BEL  +1' 2.228  11   K. Kaga Suzuki  JPN  +1' 7.661  12   T. Leok Kawasaki  EST  +1' 14.840  13   A. Pyrhonen TM  FIN  +1' 20.349  14   K. Masuda Honda  JPN  +1' 21.317  15   C. Melotte Yamaha  BEL  +1' 39.598  16   S. Idehara Yamaha  JPN  +1' 44.791  17   J. Lindhe KTM  SWE  +1 lap(s)  18   K. Ohkawara Yamaha  JPN  +1 lap(s)  19   T. Koikeda Yamaha  JPN  +1 lap(s)  20   M. Hiratsuka Kawasaki  JPN  +1 lap(s)  Championship standings MX1 Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Stefan Everts Yamaha  BEL 242  2   Tanel Leok Kawasaki  EST 181  3   Ken De Dycker Honda  BEL 168  4   Kevin Strijbos Suzuki  BEL 165  5   Steve Ramon Suzuki  BEL 151  6   Jonathan Barragan KTM  ESP 150  7   Cedric Melotte Yamaha  BEL 105  8   Manuel Priem Yamaha  BEL 99  9   Sebastien Tortelli KTM  FRA 99  10   Pascal Leuret  Honda  FRA 93  11   Julien Bill Yamaha  GBR 77  12   Marvin Van Daele Honda  BEL 77  13   James Noble Honda  GBR 77  14   Antti Pyrhonen TM  FIN 69  15   Brian Jorgensen Honda  DNK 68  16   Javier Garcia Vico Honda  ESP 60  17   Danny Theybers Suzuki  BEL 58  18   Stephen Sword Kawasaki  GBR 40  19   Johnny Lindhe KTM  SWE 23  20   Aigar Bobkovs Honda  LVA 21  Manufacturers standings MX1 Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Yamaha 242  2  Suzuki 201  3  Kawasaki 181  4  KTM 180  5  Honda 171  6  TM 69  MX2 : Mackenzie repeats Japanese success at Sugo Round: 5 - 2006 GP of Sugo, Japan Circuit: Sugo Date: 21 May 2006 Crowd: 17400 Temp: 25ºC Weather: Sunny Bike it Yamaha UK Dixon Racing rider Billy Mackenzie remains undefeated at the Japanese Sugo circuit as the Scot went 1-3 on his YZ250FM in the two MX2 motos to claim his second career Grand Prix success and Yamaha's first of 2006. The second race was won by World Champion Antonio Cairoli to give manufacturer a perfect 4-from-4 score at their home event. The track was dry, bumpy and technical as the organisers at the Sugo circuit again excelled in presenting a tough and interesting layout for the riders. The warm conditions aided towards a hard day's work for the stars of the MX2 class as 17, 400 spectators looked on. 22 year old Mackenzie, who celebrated his maiden triumph at Sugo in 2005, passed Ricci Racing's Kenneth Gundersen on the second lap of the first race to control the rest of the pack. Kawasaki's Christophe Pourcel was closing at one stage but 'Mac' kept a steady three second advantage to notch his first 25 point haul of the season and the fourth of his career. Cairoli had ended the first lap in the lead but crashed in an incident that also involved Marc de Reuver. The Italian had to fight hard to gain fourth place while Gundersen was not content with the set-up on his machine and crossed the finish line in ninth, taking 11th later in the day for a lacklustre eigth overall. Cairoli was strong off the start in the second moto and his holeshot was swiftly converted into a sizzling series of laps that dragged him away from Mackenzie and the pursuing de Reuver. Mackenzie was demoted to third from that position he kept a small distance over Gareth Swanepoel to ensure overall victory. Cairoli was alone at the front and his win marked the third of the season and fifth from ten motos for Yamaha. Ricci Racing's Alessio Chiodi struggled through the weekend after crashing and injuring his right knee during the second practice session. The Italian was taken for a scan that revealed that nothing was broken but the former Champion was in a lot of pain. He manfully tried to complete the qualification heat but withdrew after a few laps. Thanks to only 30 riders contesting the MX2 class Chiodi was also able to discount the Last Chance session and took to the gate in last place to bravely aim for some points. He managed to score 5 for 16th in race one and repeated the position in race two despite a small spill just before the finish line. The World Championship picture now looks more interesting as series leader Tyla Rattray crashed and could not pick up any points from Moto2. Cairoli is currently fourth and 32 points behind new number one Christophe Pourcel while Mackenzie is only 12 points behind his Yamaha compatriot in fifth. The teams and riders now start the long journey back to Europe before beginning to prepare for the Grand Prix of Bulgaria, due to take place at the Sevlievo circuit in two weeks. Billy Mackenzie, Bike it Yamaha UK Dixon Racing: "I always like coming to Japan! To leave here with a win is incredible and everything that I could have asked for. We have been working hard on the bike and we had some new parts supplied by Rinaldi this weekend and they really helped. The bike had a little bit more bottom-end which is what I needed. The track was really nice. I have to get my starts sorted but when that happens I'm sure I will be upfront more often. Last year I had some good races but also some bad ones so I have been working on being more consistent this season. There are still many GP's left and I am confident that we can move up the championship standings still." Antonio Cairoli, De Carli Yamaha: "We changed the bike last week and I practiced my starts and it really helped today. I took the holeshot twice and the situation is better now off the line. In the first moto Marc passed me after the whoops for the lead but I stayed close to him and when he went down after hitting some wet mud I fell also. I was fast but I lost a lot of time because I crashed again and it meant that I was always fighting back. Now I must work a little bit more on my condition and hope for some more luck!" Alessio Chiodi, Ricci Racing: "I had some bad luck yesterday because I had a good feeling with the track in practice but I crashed in next session when I lost the rear end of the bike. I'm not sure if it was my mistake but right afterwards my knee was hurting so much I was sure something was broken. The doctor said the bone was OK but now I need to get the ligaments checked out. Ten points today is better than nothing and a big injury." Kenneth Gundersen, Ricci Racing: "It was a hard day. In the first race I had a good start and was leading for a lap or two but then I crashed and finished ninth. In the last race I had a really bad start and I was struggling. We had some set-up problems. It wasn't a good weekend for me and will hopefully be better next time."    Race classification MX2 Round: 5 - 2006 GP of Sugo, Japan Circuit: Sugo Circuit Length: 3737 Race: 22 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   B. MacKenzie Yamaha  GBR  40' 27.246  2   C. Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA  +12.249  3   M. De Reuver KTM  NED  +22.606  4   A. Cairoli Yamaha  ITA  +26.790  5   D. Philippaerts KTM  ITA  +28.677  6   T. Rattray KTM  RSA  +38.296  7   G. Swanepoel Kawasaki  RSA  +41.888  8   T. Searle Kawasaki  GBR  +52.492  9   K. Gundersen Yamaha  NOR  +54.515  10   S. Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA  +55.594  11   A. Boissière Yamaha  FRA  +57.845  12   C. Nunn KTM  GBR  +1' 0.655  13   R. Goncalves KTM  POR  +1' 2.793  14   M. Nagl KTM  GER  +1' 24.448  15   L. Seguy Yamaha  FRA  +1' 43.036  16   A. Chiodi Yamaha  ITA  +1' 51.859  17   Y. Kojima Suzuki  JPN  +1' 57.798  18   M. Monni KTM  ITA  +1 lap(s)  19   Y. Ozaki  Yamaha  JPN  +1 lap(s)  20   M. Watanabe Yamaha  JPN  +1 lap(s)  Race 2: 21 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   A. Cairoli Yamaha  ITA  40' 1.774  2   M. De Reuver KTM  NED  +5.927  3   B. MacKenzie Yamaha  GBR  +10.002  4   G. Swanepoel Kawasaki  RSA  +13.618  5   C. Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA  +33.536  6   C. Nunn KTM  GBR  +36.838  7   T. Searle Kawasaki  GBR  +41.246  8   A. Leok Yamaha  EST  +43.951  9   R. Goncalves KTM  POR  +44.995  10   D. Guarneri Yamaha  ITA  +54.406  11   K. Gundersen Yamaha  NOR  +54.586  12   M. Nagl KTM  GER  +1' 6.943  13   M. Monni KTM  ITA  +1' 26.580  14   S. Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA  +1' 42.911  15   L. Seguy Yamaha  FRA  +1' 44.950  16   A. Chiodi Yamaha  ITA  +1' 51.338  17   D. Philippaerts KTM  ITA  +2' 9.160  18   M. Watanabe Yamaha  JPN  +1 lap(s)  19   K. Fukaya Honda  JPN  +1 lap(s)  20   Y. Ozaki  Yamaha  JPN  +1 lap(s)  Championship standings MX2 Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA 196  2   Marc De Reuver KTM  NED 194  3   Tyla Rattray KTM  RSA 181  4   Antonio Cairoli Yamaha  ITA 162  5   Billy MacKenzie Yamaha  GBR 150  6   David Philippaerts KTM  ITA 120  7   Carl Nunn KTM  GBR 119  8   Alessio Chiodi Yamaha  ITA 111  9   Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha  NOR 111  10   Tommy Searle Kawasaki  GBR 105  11   Rui Goncalves KTM  POR 90  12   Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki  RSA 87  13   Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA 70  14   Davide Guarneri Yamaha  ITA 64  15   Luigi Seguy Yamaha  FRA 63  16   Anthony Boissière Yamaha  FRA 50  17   Aigar Leok Yamaha  EST 46  18   Patrick Caps Honda  BEL 46  19   Maximilian Nagl KTM  GER 45  20   Manuel Monni KTM  ITA 42  Manufacturers standings MX2 Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Yamaha 225  2  KTM 223  3  Kawasaki 200  4  Honda 81  5  Suzuki 6
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Camel Yamaha pair to launch French assault from row three

Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards will start from the third row of the grid in the Grand Prix of France tomorrow after setting the seventh and ninth fastest times respectively in this afternoon's qualifying practice. The session took place in dry conditions with ambient temperatures reaching 18ºC after the sunshine finally overpowered the thick black clouds that hovered over the Le Mans circuit and caused the third free practice session to be held in wet conditions during the morning.  The improved weather allowed Valentino Rossi to continue the evaluation of Yamaha's latest chassis, with both of his YZR-M1 machines fitted with the updated specification following positive initial results yesterday. Edwards continued working on the standard version, with similar updates planned for the American at the next round in Italy, and again lapped consistently as one of the fastest riders throughout the session. After setting the pace in yesterday's dry free practice sessions, both Rossi and Edwards have found a good race set-up for their machines but they were unable to turn their pace into a top grid position after struggling to use their qualifying tyres to full potential in the late push for times. Valentino Rossi (7th; 1'34.840, 28 laps) "Today I am happy because we worked in the right way and found a good race setting for the bike. When we used the very soft tyre at the end of the session we again found some vibration problems caused by the extra grip but it's not such a problem on the race tyres. Anyway, looking at the qualifying results from the last few rounds the third row is an improvement and I think there is the possibility of a good result tomorrow. Myself and Colin have been at the top through all the practice on race tyres so we know we have a good pace compared to the other riders. To be honest I expected a better position this afternoon so I am a little disappointed but it is not a disaster. Now we wait to see what the weather does tomorrow, hope for a dry race and then try to turn around our recent bad luck in the race." Colin Edwards (9th; 1'34.970, 28 laps) "The track was a little slippery today, I guess after the rain this morning, and I didn't have the same level of grip on the front tyre. I wasn't as comfortable but we did a good job on the race tyres and my pace is decent. I think there's only three of us lapping in the 1'35s on race tyres so we've got every chance to do something in the race - it's just a shame about the chatter on the qualifying tyres because we could have been much further forward on the grid. I did four or five laps trying to break the 1'35 mark and eventually hit 1'34.9 on the last one but there was no way to go any faster. All things considered the third row isn't bad - there are a few guys who will go backwards tomorrow and a few others who will be tough to get past but, as I said before, we have the pace. Now it's a case of holding that throttle open longer than anyone else into turn one and seeing where we can get from there." 
Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "Unfortunately we missed out a little on the qualifying tyres because we couldn't use them properly but we're not too worried. On the whole the two days of practice have been very good for both riders and they both have good race pace. The only concern now is that they both have a good start in the race. We were able to set-up the new chassis for Valentino but also the older bike is working very well for Colin. Tomorrow is a good opportunity to get more information and confirm our direction with development but of course we also need points. Our aim for tomorrow is to close the gap between us and the championship leaders." Weather again plays havoc for Tech 3 Yamaha Team For the third time in as many races, the weather had a detrimental effect on progress for the Tech 3 Yamaha Team and tyre suppliers, Dunlop. All plans were thrown out of the window when the heavens opened before the morning's final practice session ensuring a wet track. The afternoon's qualifying battle although dry, was overshadowed by strong winds that added to the team's woes. Riders, Carlos Checa and James Ellison qualified in 14th and 17th positions respectively, but in a carbon performance from Friday's encouraging sessions the overall gap to the leaders in qualifying also narrowed. Additionally, relative novice Ellison is getting closer to his teammate and in doing so both riders are amidst a bunch of more fancied teams on other tyre brands on the grid. Carlos Checa (14th, 1'36.260, 49 laps) "This morning we tried an intermediate rear and we gained some information if it's conditions like that tomorrow. At this stage we know what tyres we will try no matter whether wet or dry. It is clear in my mind the tyres we will use depending on the conditions to fight with the guys that are close to us. On the qualifying tyres I had a wheelie problem and couldn't open the throttle fully in some areas of the track as the grip is good enough to make a good lap and also we had some chattering when we tied to be faster in qualifying. If it's a strange situation like this morning when it was wet then dry or the opposite we must make a strategy. We know we have nothing to lose so we can take a risk and then our choice will not be conservative, it will be risky. The bike is working quite well and we know some tyres that work ok but we only did 50% of the race total on this tyre The Yamaha is very suited to this track and we also have the speed to match it with many of the other teams. The other Yamaha with Edwards is not too far in front of me and this gives me confidence but like everyone else we have lost much time because of the weather but I'm quite confident the bike will work quite well here tomorrow. Our position hasn't changed so when we make the top 10 we will make a party. We tried our best and we know the limitations we are facing. I hope that we can grow together with Dunlop and finally get something to fight for the next level. We know the gap we must close with the top guys and that we must continue to improve which Dunlop is trying very hard to do." James Ellison (17th 1'37.019, 48 laps) "I'm not too unhappy as I am closer to Carlos than ever being less than 0.8 second behind. We also had a problem right at the end of the session that slowed us a bit. The Dunlop qualifying tyres need a few laps to get right up to speed and we just ran out of time as I was quite confident I had another half a second improvement. If we had got that last lap in I would've been a lot closer to Carlos. He knows how to ride the bike and had a lot more experience and my main aim to get right on his times. I know we're down the back but we had a lot of things we wanted to try this weekend. It's the same old story but again the weather played its part. I don't care what it is tomorrow I'm not really bothered although I'd prefer it to be dry because we now have a pretty good set up for the dry. This morning was a bit of a waste as the circuit was very greasy with all the oil coming through so we didn't get a very good wet setup. So if it's not dry I want it to be lashing down - nothing in between." Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "Today was not an easy day with the weather conditions we have had. Soaking wet to start this morning then finishing almost dry. Then it was dry this afternoon with a lot of wind so it has been difficult for everybody. We did quite a few laps with some of the race tyres and we had some interesting results. Then we tried some qualifying tyres and we continued to supply Dunlop with more information so they can continue the development program. This is definitely a good track fro Carlos, who has had some good results here and being at home of course the team wants to do well. The first day was very encouraging because we were just over a second off the best lap but today has been so different. Because of the wet morning, in half of the qualifying session we had to do many laps to find a race tyre. It went reasonably well but after yesterday we thought we could have been better on the grid so we are a little disappointed, especially with the weather. It is supposed to be very wet tomorrow and we have been going quite well with a lot of water on the track so who knows what will happen. Compared to what we have I don't think we are doing a lot worse than the others when you look at the other Yamaha team on another brand of tyre. We also are surrounded by other teams with other tyre brands as well. At this stage we are making improvements at every race as we test and race all in the same weekend. It may not be what everyone on the outside wants to see, we would love to be fighting at the front but, the reality is that in such a competitive sport as MotoGP we can't expect to have immediate success overnight. It all takes time and we should look at how long some others have taken to taste the success they are now enjoying." Round: 5 - 2006 MotoGP Le Mans Circuit: LeMans Circuit Length: 4180 Lap Record: 1' 33.678 (Valentino Rossi, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 33.678 (Valentino Rossi, 2005) Date: 20 May 2006 Temp: 18ºC Session 1 :  Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat.  1st Qualifying 1  D. Pedrosa  Honda  ESP   1' 33.990   2  S. Nakano  Kawasaki  JPN   1' 34.201   3  J. Hopkins  Suzuki  USA   1' 34.636   4  R. De Puniet  Kawasaki  FRA   1' 34.780   5  M. Melandri  Honda  ITA   1' 34.795   6  L. Capirossi  Ducati  ITA   1' 34.802   7  V. Rossi  Yamaha  ITA   1' 34.840   8  S. Gibernau  Ducati  ESP   1' 34.870   9  C. Edwards  Yamaha  USA   1' 34.970   10  N. Hayden  Honda  USA   1' 34.988   11  C. Stoner  Honda  AUS   1' 35.430   12  C. Vermeulen  Suzuki  AUS   1' 35.705   13  M. Tamada  Honda  JPN   1' 36.058   14  C. Checa  Yamaha  ESP   1' 36.260   15  K. Roberts  Team Roberts KR  USA   1' 36.501   16  T. Elias  Honda  ESP   1' 36.582   17  J. Ellison  Yamaha  GBR   1' 37.019
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Camel Yamaha Team quest returns to Europe

The Camel Yamaha Team get back to European territory this weekend as they look to bring their MotoGP World Championship points quest back on track in France, following a disappointing run of races on unfamiliar shores. The legendary Le Mans circuit, which has intermittently played home to the MotoGP World Championship since 1969, has been a fixture on the calendar for the last six seasons and this year plays host to the fifth round of an incredible campaign that has already seen four different winners. Reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi is one of those - his sole victory so far coming in the second round at Qatar - but he is aiming to put an end to the parity this weekend as he aims to recover from a largely disappointing run of early season results. A first-corner crash at Jerez and technical problems in the last two rounds at Istanbul and Shanghai mean the Italian lies 32 points adrift of current leader Nicky Hayden (Honda), but the most pressing issue for Rossi is to finally overcome the problems that have restricted development of the 2006 version YZR-M1 machine so far. The 4,180m track holds happy memories for the Camel Yamaha Team, with Rossi having taken pole position and the lap record on his way to victory last season, when he was joined on the podium by his team-mate Colin Edwards. A repeat result is the target for both riders this Sunday, with Edwards having recorded his first top-three finish of the season just days ago in China, when he also extended his run of points-scoring finishes to 25 - a number only previously achieved by Grand Prix legends Mick Doohan, Wayne Gardner, Eddie Lawson and Valentino Rossi. Valentino Rossi: A critical time MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi knows that the time is right to turn around his early misfortune and start picking up serious points in his bid to defend motorcycling's premier-class crown for the fifth successive season. The Italian currently lies sixth in the general standings but he is well aware that a change in fortune can spark a good run of results over the next few weeks and dramatically improve his situation. "Sunday was the second time in the first four races that we've scored virtually zero points and on both occasions it hasn't been our fault," reflects Rossi. "Luck has definitely not been on our side but the most important thing now is to sort our problems out as soon as possible because we have a run of important races coming up - starting at Le Mans. The next four or five rounds in Europe are the 'main course' of the season and it is a critical time for us. "We have got some new things to try at Le Mans so hopefully they can help us find a good base set-up but still have enough room for improvement to keep the pace with our rivals over the weekend. We are up against good riders on good machinery and we have to be at our maximum level to be able to beat them. I am already a few points behind the leader but the championship is very long, I have a lot of confidence in my team and we have time to put things right. "Le Mans is not one of my favourite tracks but last year it was very good for us. I took pole position, the fastest lap of the race on the final lap and the victory and Colin was also on the podium, so it was a perfect weekend for us. We hope this weekend can be the same."  Colin Edwards: Repeat podium the target Colin Edwards has his sights firmly set on consecutive podium finishes following his first top-three result in nine months at China on Sunday. Edwards also scored his maiden rostrum of 2005 in round four, which took place at Le Mans one year ago, when he led the race for several laps before eventually conceding positions to Valentino Rossi and Sete Gibernau. The Texan is hoping that can be a good omen for a repeat success this time around. "I seem to like round four of the season and I was really pleased it came good for me again in China," smiled Edwards. "Last year's podium at Le Mans was the kick-start to a decent run of results for me so I hope that can prove to be the case this time around. It's no secret that we've been having problems with the bike but we're working hard and if we're capable of winning races and taking podiums when we're in trouble then just think what we can do when everything is running smoothly! "I don't mind Le Mans as a circuit too much - it's a real 'stop and go' track, as everybody says, with hard braking, tight corners and hard acceleration. We'll have some work to do with the set-up of the bike but this track was good for us last year so hopefully it can prove a little bit easier to adapt to and not as critical in terms of the problems we've had at the last few circuits." Davide Brivio: Keeping our heads down Camel Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio is looking forward to the relative normality of life on the road as the MotoGP World Championship returns for a seven-week spell on European shores. After a gruelling start to the season including flyaway trips to Qatar, Turkey and China, the team's trucks - home to their travelling workshops and offices - will roll into Le Mans this week to provide a focal point for the hard work to begin. "After such a difficult start, which nonetheless has given us one win with Valentino and Colin's recent podium, I hope the next few weeks in Europe will be like a new beginning to the season for us." says Brivio. "The races coming up are crucial but all we can do is keep our heads down and continue to work hard on solving the problems we have found this year. There is clearly a lot of room for improvement but we know from the performances of Valentino and Colin already this season that the bike has real potential, so we are excited about finally seeing it performing to its maximum. Hopefully that can be at Le Mans. "The engineers at Yamaha have been working very hard to make sure that is the case and Valentino will have a new chassis available from the first practice session on Friday. We will compare it with the current one and will decide later if we will use it or not. We will also remain there for a test on Monday to continue with our development. Last year we had a very good weekend at Le Mans, which finished with both of our riders on the podium, so it would be nice to repeat that result! If we can shake off the bad luck that has been following us around the world recently then we have plenty of reason to be confident." Technically speaking: Le Mans according to Jeremy Burgess Le Mans is an archetypal stop-go track, with the added complication of one of the highest speed turns on the calendar, just after the short start-finish straight. There are several hairpins and chicanes, calling not just for balance and control under hard and repeated braking, but a neat and swift transfer from full braking to full acceleration on the exit of the corners. With nine right-handers and only four lefts, the track is also particularly hard on one side of the tyres, but according to Valentino Rossi's Chief Mechanic Jeremy Burgess there are no hidden secrets to the track in terms of machine set-up. "Le Mans as a circuit is probably the least technical on the whole calendar - it doesn't really have any stand-out features or characteristics that set it out from the rest, certainly not in a positive way," says Burgess. "You need good acceleration out of the slow corners, which is why we struggled there on our first visit with the M1 in 2004 because we were trying out new engines before tackling the true horsepower tracks like Barcelona, Mugello and Assen. "Last year we had a fully-developed bike so we were able to make the minor adjustments that this circuit requires and both Valentino and Colin were fast. Clearly with so much hard braking you need firmer fork settings and spring rates on the front, and then a slightly softer spring on the rear so that the rider can hold his line on the exit. That's it really - there are no secrets to Le Mans!" Valentino Rossi: Information Age: 27 Lives: London, UK Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 GP victories: 80 (54 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 161 (101 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) Pole positions: 40 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: 52 x MotoGP World Championships - 2 World Superbike ,p> Le Mans Lap Record: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2005 - 1'33.678 Le Mans Best Lap: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2005 - 1'33.226 2005 Results 1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha, 44'12.223 2. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Honda, +0.382 3. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha, +5.711
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Johnny Aubert takes championship lead

The UFO Corse Yamaha team claimed their best results of the 2006 World Enduro Championship at round three of the series, the GP of Euskadi staged at Gernika, Spain, where team riders Stefan Merriman and Johnny Aubert claimed a day win each in the highly competitive Enduro 2 class. Having both performed well at the GP of Portugal, where they also claimed a day win each, it was Merriman who was first to top the E2 class podium in Gernika after a consistent and incident free performance on day one. On day two Aubert claimed the win and moved to the top of the 2006 Enduro 2 world championship standings. With conditions wet and slippery on day one Merriman claimed the E2 class win and 25 important world championship points largely due to making fewer mistakes than his rivals. Remaining upright on all tests Stefan finished 15 seconds ahead of team-mate Johnny Aubert to make it a Yamaha one-two. Finishing third was Finn Samuli Aro. On day two WEC debutant Aubert simply proved too fast for his Enduro 2 class rivals and placed 47 seconds ahead of Merriman who claimed the runner-up spot. Despite having reversed their finishing order from day one Aubert's and Merriman's performances again ensured that Yamaha claimed a decisive one-two result with Aubert also moving to the head of the E2 world championship standings. Placing third, as he did on day one, was Samuli Aro. Johnny Aubert Enduro 2 class - Day 1 Second, Day 2 First: "I know that I am fast in muddy and rutted conditions but when I heard that the race was going to be difficult I thought that I would struggle, especially in the time checks. Finishing second on day one and winning day two is much better than I ever thought I could do. I am so happy to have won again, especially now that it puts me in the lead of the Enduro 2 world championship. I made one big mistake on the extreme test on day one, which cost me some time, but apart from that it went well. I did also make one mistake on one of the difficult up hills on the enduro test but I was pushing hard at the time so mistakes happen when you are riding hard. Despite my errors I wasn't so far behind Stefan so I knew that if I could ride well on day two I could win. Day two went really well for me. I felt good all the day, although a little tired at the end, and put in some really good test times. I didn't make any big mistakes, in fact my only mistake was hitting neutral once on the motocross test on lap two. I am really, really happy with the way the race has gone for me. Leading the world championship is fantastic." Stefan Merriman Enduro 2 class - Day 1: First, Day 2: Second: "It's been a good weekend for me finishing in first and second in the Enduro 2 class, which I'm pleased with. Obviously I would have liked to have won on both days but Johnny Aubert was really fast on day two. Mika Ahola was actually a little faster than me on day one but he made a big mistake on the enduro test, which lost him a lot of time. I rode consistent on day one and that really helped me. I didn't have any problems and things went really well. On day two I found things really hard. Not being the biggest of riders it takes every bit of my energy to hold on to the bike when I'm pushing hard, especially on a long enduro test like we had. The race was a little too hard, I think. All the riders were really tired at the end of the first day and then at the end of the second day they were absolutely exhausted. We were lucky with the weather really because if it had rained hard on either day then it would have been extremely difficult." Race classification Enduro 2 Round: 3 - Gernika, Spain Circuit: Gernika Race: 1 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Merriman Yamaha  AUS  39' 58.620  2   J. Aubert Yamaha  FRA  +40' 13.180  3   S. Aro KTM  FIN  +40' 36.810  4   M. Ahola Honda  FIN  +41' 43.410  5   P. Edmondson Honda  GBR  +41 ' 43.410  6   F. Planet KTM  FRA  +41' 50.300  7   C. Guerrero GasGas  ESP  +42' 15.530  8   X. Galindo KTM  ESP  +42' 23.910  9   A. Belotti KTM  ITA  +42' 34.130  10   A. Beconi Beta  ITA  +42' 53.710  11   N. Paganon Husqvarna  FRA  +42' 57.500  12   E. McConnell TM  GBR  +43' 19.960  13   C. Nambotin Husqvarna  FRA  +43' 25.640  14   E. Albepart Honda  FRA  +43' 39.360  15   F. Dini Yamaha  ITA  +43' 51.510  16   A. Botturi Aprilia  ITA  +43' 58.500  17   J. Curvalle Kawasaki  FRA  +44' 30.900  18   E. Memmi Sherco  FRA  +45' 31.110  19   J. Simoncini Suzuki  ITA  +46' 23.360  20   V. Salonen HusaBerg  FIN  +46' 43.080  Race 2: 1 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   J. Aubert Yamaha  FRA  51' 41.940  2   S. Merriman Yamaha  AUS  +52' 29.600  3   S. Aro KTM  FIN  +52' 55.990  4   C. Guerrero GasGas  ESP  +53' 11.890  5   M. Ahola Honda  FIN  +53' 11.500  6   P. Edmondson Honda  GBR  +53' 50.290  7   X. Galindo KTM  ESP  +54' 50.570  8   A. Belotti KTM  ITA  +54' 27.520  9   C. Nambotin Husqvarna  FRA  +55' 21.260  10   F. Dini Yamaha  ITA  +55' 2.510  11   N. Paganon Husqvarna  FRA  +55' 21.260  12   E. McConnell TM  GBR  +55' 23.440  13   A. Botturi Aprilia  ITA  +55' 31.660  14   V. Salonen HusaBerg  FIN  +56' 44.240  15   F. Planet KTM  FRA  +56' 52.920  16   F. Mancinelli Beta  ITA  +59' 52.920  17   J. Simoncini Suzuki  ITA  +59' 45.060  Championship standings Enduro 2 Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Johnny Aubert Yamaha  FRA 130  2   Samuli Aro KTM  FIN 128  3   Stefan Merriman Yamaha  AUS 123  4   Mika Ahola Honda  FIN 122  5   Fabien Planet KTM  FRA 83  6   Cristobal Guerrero GasGas  ESP 81  7   Xavier Galindo KTM  ESP 73  8   Paul Edmondson Honda  GBR 62  9   Fabrizio Dini Yamaha  ITA 52  10   Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg  FIN 49  11   Andrea Beconi Beta  ITA 47  12   Euan McConnell TM  GBR 44  13   Andrea Belotti KTM  ITA 43  14   Alessandro Botturi Aprilia  ITA 41  15   Nicolas Paganon Husqvarna  FRA 31  16   Petteri Silvan KTM  FIN 28  17   Emmanuel Albepart Honda  FRA 27  18   Thierry Klutz Sherco  BEL 21  19   Christophe Nambotin Husqvarna  FRA 20  20   Riku Rihelainen HusaBerg  FIN 19  Manufacturers standings Enduro 2 Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Yamaha 140  2  KTM 128  3  Honda 122  4  GasGas 85  5  Beta 52  6  HusaBerg 49  7  TM 43  8  Aprilia 41  9  Husqvarna 39  10  Sherco 31  11  Suzuki 13  12  Kawasaki 10  Enduro 1 : Micheluz faces gruelling conditions succesfully Round: 3 - Gernika, Spain Circuit: Gernika Date: 14 May 2006 Crowd: 6000 Temp: 24ºC Weather: Sunny Just as at the second round of the 2006 World Enduro Championship the UFO Corse Yamaha team were without the services of Spaniard Arnau Vilanova for the GP of Euskadi, staged in Gernika, Spain, due to the team's number one Enduro 1 class rider being unable to compete through injury. In his absence Italian Maurizio Micheluz, who claimed his best ever world championship result at the GP of Portugal one week earlier, again performed well aboard his WR250 to finish in sixth on both days of competition.  Hoping to improve on his fourth place finish on day two at the second round of the WEC series Micheluz rode consistently on day one in Spain despite the wet and extremely challenging conditions. Finishing close behind former 125cc World Enduro Champion Petri Pohjamo on day one, Maurizio was one of just 12 Enduro 1 class finishers on day two - an indication of just how tough the race was. Having placed in sixth on both days Maurizio is now placed in sixth in the Enduro 1 world championship standings just 12 points behind the fifth placed rider. Reigning Enduro 1 world champion Ivan Cervantes topped the E1 class on both days finishing ahead of team-mate Alessandro Belometti on day one and ahead of Italian Simone Albergoni on day two. Maurizio Micheluz Enduro 1 class - Day 1 sixth, Day 2 sixth: "It has been a good weekend for me really. It was an extremely hard race on both days, but a good one. I crashed several times on day one and lost a lot of time, which affected my result a little. I wasn't able to match the pace of the top three riders in the E1 class, so I know I have some work to do on my speed, but I was happy with my riding. I finished in sixth on both days, which I am happy with so it has been a good enough race for me."     Race classification Enduro 1 Round: 3 - Gernika, Spain Circuit: Gernika Race: 1 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   I. Cervantes KTM  ESP  40' 50.200  2   A. Belometti KTM  ITA  +41 ' 8.170  3   B. Oblucki Husqvarna  POL  +41' 9.540  4   S. Albergoni Honda  ITA  +41' 35.040  5   P. Pohjamo TM  FIN  +42' 44.750  6   M. Micheluz Yamaha  ITA  +43' 2.440  7   H. Rodrigues Yamaha  POR  +43' 36.600  8   N. Deparrois Husqvarna  FRA  +43' 41.860  9   P. Bergvall Suzuki  SWE  +44' 5.900  10   J. Gauthier Honda  FRA  +44' 16.400  11   M. Hartmann KTM  GER  +44' 47.850  12   J. Jou Yamaha  ESP  +46' 42.170  13   E. Gutkin TM  FRA  +47' 57.040  
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Edwards makes podium return in gruelling Shanghai affair

Camel Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards charged from the front row of the grid to the podium today with a determined performance in the Grand Prix of China. Whilst his team-mate Valentino Rossi was denied the chance to challenge for a top three spot after pulling in with a tyre problem on the sixteenth lap, Edwards reaped the rewards of a blistering start to the race, when he snatched the hole-shot and led the field over the opening stages. In sunny and warm conditions Edwards set a scorching pace that only a handful of riders were able to follow, but finally succumbed to pressure from Dani Pedrosa (Honda) on lap ten, the young Spaniard forcing his way past and taking his team-mate Nicky Hayden along for company. Rossi, meanwhile, had been making positive progress through the field, working his way up from thirteenth on the grid to fifth place in the race before bad luck struck once again. The Italian began to feel that there was something wrong with his bike and initially thought it was being caused by the rear tyre. After a swift change he attempted to rejoin the race, only to return to the pits next time around after realising the problem was coming from the front tyre. Edwards consolidated third place for his first podium appearance of the season as Pedrosa held off the challenge of Hayden to clinch his maiden MotoGP win. Colin Edwards (3rd; + 14.634) "I got a really good start and just decided to go as fast as I could over the opening laps. I was close to losing control on a couple of occasions but I decided that I'd rather crash out of the lead today than miss my chance of finishing on the podium, which meant I just couldn't back off. I had some chatter and I could only push the bike so hard; if I went any faster than 2'00.7 then the chatter forced me to slow down, so I didn't have much choice but to hang in there! The freight train came past with Dani and Nicky but I couldn't hang on to the back, they were both just too fast. We've had some problems this weekend and I didn't expect to be on the podium but I can't thank my team, Yamaha and Michelin enough for the way they worked to put me in a competitive position. I think I scored my first podium in round four last season too, so hopefully this can be a sign to kick on from here." Valentino Rossi (DNF) "I didn't get a bad start to the race and I passed a lot of riders but I had a battle with Marco Melandri that cost me some time. Some of his moves were quite strong, which I could understand if we were fighting for the win on the last lap but not for eighth place at that stage of the race. Anyway, the bike felt good but just as I got my pace to 2'00.1 it suddenly started to feel wrong and I thought I had a problem with the rear tyre. I came in to change it but as I went back out I realised it was actually the front tyre, so that was the end of the race for me. I'm really disappointed because I felt in the race that I had the pace to at least pass Hopkins and Edwards, so as far as I am concerned we have lost 16 points and a podium, which would have been a good result after the problems we've had this weekend. We've lost some ground in the championship so I am feeling very disappointed right now but there is a long way to go yet." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "First of all my congratulations to Colin and all his crew - they have kept going after a difficult start to the season and today they got their reward. Third place is good and I hope it can be the start of much better things from him for the rest of the season. Valentino had a bad day, and even if we had changed the front tyre the first time he came in, it would have taken too long and the race would have already been lost. He has been very unlucky this year - firstly with the incident in the first corner at Jerez and now this time with the tyre. It's always upsetting when your results are decided by things that are out of your control but there is nothing he can do about it, only look forward to making up for lost ground over an important run of races in the next few weeks."  Step forward in tyre consistency for Tech 3 Yamaha Team Some may say that finishing 14th and 17th in the Polini Grand Prix of China is an unacceptable result, but the Tech 3 Yamaha Team believes that after a weather effected weekend, positive steps have been made in the consistency of the Dunlop tyres, and are confident that now that has been attained, it will lead to further progression in the remaining races of 2006. By the completion of the today's race, Carlos Checa and James Ellison finished closer to many teams than in any of the season's previous races. Now that the question of the durability of Dunlop tyres has been answered, the next item on the team's agenda is to increase the performance and believe that the next level will be possible in the near future. Carlos Checa (14th, Fastest lap 2'02.610) "We have been working hard through the weekend and we knew that it was going to be difficult but our mission has been to reduce the difference to the large second group of bikes. We have come far in making the tyres last the distance but now our objective is to ensure that we improve our level of performance to lower our lap times over the entire distance. We haven't got the speed in the middle of the turn, especially in acceleration at the moment, but now that the tyres are lasting we need to increase the performance so we can go faster for longer and not be so far off in lap times. What Dunlop has been able to do in these four races makes me confident that they will be able to improve in the areas we need, to bring the lap times down and get even closer to those that are in front. I don't want to be negative but when the lap times are not there, everyone should be concerned. I knew that this was the situation in Dunlop when I came here so it is no surprise. I must carry on and fight against this situation and improve. We must not give up, - completely the opposite - we must work harder, more harder than the others if we want to catch them. I think we can improve one or two steps. The top level will be difficult if we compare with the other tyre rivals but we have to keep trying". James Ellison (17th, Fastest lap 2'03.139) "We're improving the durability of the tyres, but then the side grip dropped away and at a place like China where you're on the side of the tyre for a long period this is going to cost you a lot. To compensate for this I couldn't run the lines I wanted to, so I had to get over the front more. Don't get me wrong, we've made a big step with consistency but towards the end of the race I couldn't carry the corner speed I wanted. Obviously we still have work to do with the bike and the tyres to get the whole package working. The Dunlop guys have got a heap of new stuff coming to Le Mans and the test afterwards. They have been working very hard to improve the situation so we'll see what happens". Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "I am reasonably happy, although you can't jump up and down when you are finishing 14th and 17th, but I think that is the best race of the season for us so far. There was no major drop off in the lap times, the pace wasn't good enough to be in front but we were quite close to Kenny (Roberts Jr) with a factory engine on Michelin's and not far from de Puniet. We are happy with race distance durability but now we have to upgrade the performance because I think we need to be a second a lap quicker to be with the group we are looking at. "We have made some quite big improvements since the start of the project. There are another 13 races to go; Carlos working the way he is working, giving good feedback; James being closer than where he has been before; we have a two-days test after the French Grand Prix next week: hopefully Dunlop will continue the progression we are seeing. We go out of China with the feeling we have done quite a good Grand Prix". "We are seeing progress, everyone is working so hard and we must not stop. We must continue pushing and pushing."    Race classification MotoGP Round: 4 - 2006 MotoGP Shanghai Circuit: Shanghai Circuit Length: 5451 Lap Record: 1' 59.318 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever:  1' 59.009 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2006) Race: 22 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   D. Pedrosa Honda  ESP  44' 7.734  2   N. Hayden Honda  USA  +1.505  3   C. Edwards Yamaha  USA  +14.634  4   J. Hopkins Suzuki  USA  +19.265  5   C. Stoner Honda  AUS  +23.061  6   M. Tamada Honda  JPN  +23.879  7   M. Melandri Honda  ITA  +24.101  8   L. Capirossi Ducati  ITA  +24.467  9   S. Gibernau Ducati  ESP  +28.358  10   S. Nakano Kawasaki  JPN  +33.851  11   T. Elias Honda  ESP  +35.316  12   R. De Puniet Kawasaki  FRA  +52.004  13   K. Roberts Team Roberts KR  USA  +56.293  14   C. Checa Yamaha  ESP  +1' 3.575  15   A. Hofmann Ducati  GER  +1' 11.172  16   J. Ellison Yamaha  GBR  +1' 23.075  17   J. Cardoso Ducati  ESP  +1' 35.150  Fastest Race Lap:   Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   D. Pedrosa Honda  ESP  1' 59.318  Championship standings MotoGP   Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Nicky Hayden Honda  USA 72  2   Loris Capirossi Ducati  ITA 59  3   Daniel Pedrosa Honda  ESP 57  4   Marco Melandri Honda  ITA 54  5   Casey Stoner Honda  AUS 52  6   Valentino Rossi Yamaha  ITA 40  7   Toni Elias Honda  ESP 37  8   Colin Edwards Yamaha  USA 35  9   Shinya Nakano Kawasaki  JPN 28  10   Sete Gibernau Ducati  ESP 25  11   Makato Tamada Honda  JPN 24  12   John Hopkins Suzuki  USA 20  13   Kenny Roberts Team Roberts KR  USA 20  14   Chris Vermeulen Suzuki  AUS 13  15   Carlos Checa Yamaha  ESP 10  17   James Ellison Yamaha  GBR 3  Manufacturers standings MotoGP Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Honda 90  2  Ducati 59  2  Yamaha 59  3  Suzuki 29  4  Kawasaki 28  5  Team Roberts KR 20  Team standings MotoGP Pos. Team Points  1  Repsol Honda Team 129  2  Fortuna Honda Team 91  3  Ducati Marlboro Team 84  4  Camel Yamaha Team 75  5  Honda LCR 52  6  Kawasaki Racing Team 36  7  Rizla Suzuki 33  8  Konica Minolta Honda 24  9  Team Roberts KR 20  10  Tech3 Yamaha 13  11  Pramac D'Antin 3
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Edwards seals front row start at Shanghai

Camel Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards will start from the front row of the MotoGP grid in tomorrow's Grand Prix of China after setting the third fastest time in a dramatic single qualifying session today. After battling through torrentially wet conditions yesterday, the riders enjoyed a cloudy but dry free practice this morning as they sought to find a suitable dry set-up for their machines. The afternoon started in similar conditions but a brief rain shower midway through the session confined the riders to a tense spell in their pit garages before a thrilling late shootout for grid positions. Whilst Edwards battled for the top spot with eventual pole setter Dani Pedrosa (Honda) and second-fastest John Hopkins (Suzuki), his Camel Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi was unable to repeat the kind of form that saw him dominate proceedings in the wet conditions yesterday. The Italian was one of several riders to struggle with a lack of dry practice time as he looked to iron out set-up problems and find his pace. He now faces another battle through the pack after setting the 13th fastest time, meaning he will start from the fifth row of the grid. Colin Edwards (3rd; 1'59.383, 15 laps) "This has been a really strange weekend because we started off by finding a setting for the wet and then converted it to the dry - usually it is the other way around! I felt so comfortable with the bike yesterday and I was disappointed when I saw that I was down in thirteenth, but I knew the reason for that and I was really confident about today. I can't really explain why we were off the pace in Turkey but have been right on it here in China, because we have hardly touched anything with the bike, just played around with the suspension. We've got some chatter in certain areas of the track but it's worse when the grip is good, especially when we put a qualifying tyre on. On race rubber you can hardly notice it so I think we have a good setting to go the distance tomorrow and I am happy with my tyre choice. I've had some decent starts to races so far this season but haven't been able to maintain the pace, so hopefully I can turn that around tomorrow. It feels good to be back on the front row." Valentino Rossi (13th; 2'00.720, 18 laps) "For sure we have a lot of problems and it's disappointing to be back in this position again after such a good day yesterday. When the grip becomes normal again, like today, we have a lot of chatter and it's very hard to ride the bike. Really this situation is quite bad, as the chatter has returned again today and it is similar to how it was in Jerez. Now we have to start from the fifth row and so it's going to be a very hard race. We have talked a lot tonight in the garage and now we will try some things in the morning during warm-up and hope that we can make some final improvements. Now I need to ride a defensive race, try not to make any mistakes and try to take as many points as possible."  Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "A very good result for Colin - it's been a while since he was on the front row so it is good to see him back there. He seems much more comfortable on the bike and it's good to see that he is able to ride it so effectively. Unfortunately Valentino wasn't able to follow up his good performance from yesterday with a similar result today, so we will have to take a look at the data with the engineers and try to come up with some ideas for the warm-up tomorrow." Clouds clear to allow progress for Tech 3 Yamaha Team The rain clouds of the opening day cleared sufficiently to permit steady progress for the Tech 3 Yamaha Team during Day Two of the Polini Grand Prix of China at the technically demanding Shanghai International Circuit. However, the solitary qualifying session for all important grid positions was briefly interrupted when a light sprinkling of rain covered the circuit to curtail proceedings for a quarter of the one-hour period. With a new batch of Dunlop qualifying tyres, team riders Carlos Checa and James Ellison secured 14th and 17th positions respectively, the most encouraging aspect for the team being both riders are closer to the leading lap times than in previous Grands Prix. With race weekend's doubling as tyre tests, it has confirmed that the team is heading in a positive direction in both wet and dry conditions. Carlos Checa (14th, 2'01.052, 18 laps) "Considering everything that has happened with the weather, it hasn't been too bad. In the morning session on race tyres we have found a direction to move forward and now physically I'm feeling ok after my injuries from Jerez. I have all my strength and gives me more confidence to push hard for the entire race which is quite important to me. I hope tomorrow can be a dry race as we have a few solutions to try in the warm-up and we'll see if we can improve a few other areas to make better and better. The front tyre is working quite well, but the rear we need to increase grip and stability. We already know the race tyre but after the break in qualifying we couldn't run any more race tyres tests as we had to use the new qualifying tyres to make sure we kept within range of the others". James Ellison (17th. 2'02.088, 16 laps) "The qualifying tyres are working quite well now. We've made a massive improvement compared to what we have done previously. I'm also just a second from Carlos and that is the closest I've been all year which is another encouraging sign for me. Tomorrow in warm-up we're going to try the race tyre I prefer which is a slightly bigger one and run the whole session with it. With the bigger tyre we have found the stability we were missing so that's a good confidence boost and if the temperature is hotter as the forecast indicates that's going to help us as well. We've been making big improvements every session this weekend and we're getting closer on the race set up considering we really only had that one hour session this morning. During a meeting we have to test qualifying, slicks and wet tyres so it's hard to find a race setup but that's what we have to do. After four races we've now found a good direction to push forward and unlike other teams we have no data from previous years to work on so with everything considered I think that we are finally making the progress we have been aiming for". Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "We've had a good two days and given a lot of information to Dunlop about wet weather tyre development. Carlos found a good feeling with his tyre for the dry and so did James. We've done all our times since Qatar on race tyres but now the qualifying tyres seem to be working well. Carlos is in between Elias and Rossi which shows we are between good riders and different bikes. I'm very pleased with James this afternoon. I'm sure when James gets some more confidence he will improve a lot. Hopefully the race will be dry, because nobody has done a lot of laps but we are happy. We are progressing and we are improving. We won't win the race or be on the podium tomorrow but we are performing our mission as we started from scratch with Dunlop. Also, now that Carlos is recovered I think it will help him racing more aggressively and more comfortably".     Round: 4 - 2006 MotoGP Shanghai Circuit: Shanghai Circuit Length: 5451 Lap Record: 2' 13.716 (Alex Barros, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 59.009 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2006) Date: 13 May 2006 Temp: 19ºC Session 1 :  Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat.  1st Qualifying 1  D. Pedrosa  Honda  ESP   1' 59.009   2  J. Hopkins  Suzuki  USA   1' 59.373   3  C. Edwards  Yamaha  USA   1' 59.383   4  S. Nakano  Kawasaki  JPN   1' 59.570   5  N. Hayden  Honda  USA   1' 59.574   6  S. Gibernau  Ducati  ESP   1' 59.639   7  C. Stoner  Honda  AUS   1' 59.890   8  M. Melandri  Honda  ITA   2' 0.014   9  R. De Puniet  Kawasaki  FRA   2' 0.044   10  L. Capirossi  Ducati  ITA   2' 0.078   11  M. Tamada  Honda  JPN   2' 0.176   12  C. Vermeulen  Suzuki  AUS   2' 0.304   13  V. Rossi  Yamaha  ITA   2' 0.720   14  C. Checa  Yamaha  ESP   2' 1.052   15  T. Elias  Honda  ESP   2' 1.275   16  A. Hofmann  Ducati  GER   2' 1.972   17  J. Ellison  Yamaha  GBR   2' 2.088
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Rossi floats back to the top at wet Shanghai

Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi returned to the top of the MotoGP time sheets today as hard work during practice and testing following the last round at Istanbul began to bear fruit on the opening day of the Grand Prix of China. In soaking conditions caused by a steady downpour of fine rain throughout the day, Rossi repeated the form that saw him take a wet victory at the Shanghai circuit last season with the fastest times in both today's free practice sessions.  After setting the pace by just 0.002 seconds from Casey Stoner (Honda) in the morning, the Italian moved up a gear in the afternoon to improve his time by almost three seconds, holding off the challenge of Loris Capirossi (Ducati) by 0.355 seconds with an exemplary display of wet-weather riding. Meanwhile, his Camel Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards also reported improved feeling with his YZR-M1 machine following positive progress during the Turkish test session, although the American was struggled to turn that into outright pace this afternoon. Valentino Rossi (1st; 2'09.393, 36 laps) "In Turkey we were able to understand some of the problems we were having with the bike and we found some good solutions. The modifications we made using that data here this morning were really good and now I can ride the bike at 100%. Even though it was wet the grip levels were very good, I was able to get a lot of lean angle in the corners and it was really good fun to ride as I want to. I'm really happy because I was fastest in both free practices today and this is a good sign for the weekend. The bike is working well in the wet but I think the solutions we have found for the setting will also work in the dry. Hopefully we will get the chance to find out tomorrow because the worst scenario would be to have another day of wet practice and then a dry race on Sunday." Colin Edwards (13th; 2'11.838, 24 laps) "I'm reasonably happy with today. We did some good work on the setting of the bike but when we got it to where I wanted to push for a good time we had a minor setback with the tyre and I had to go for a different compound, which didn't quite work out. The main thing is that I'm comfortable with the bike and I'm confident I can go much quicker tomorrow whether it's wet or dry. We basically started out with the dry setting we found in Turkey and made small adaptations for the wet conditions here. We found a really good suspension solution at the end so now we just need to put the whole package together with the right tyres tomorrow and run with it." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "That was a very good session, especially after the problems we had in Istanbul. The engineers made some good steps with the setting and, thanks to their good work at the test in Turkey, Valentino was able to be fast again today. Watching him ride to the best of his ability is always very enjoyable and the situation here is clearly very different to what we found when it rained in Turkey. As far as Colin is concerned his lap time today does not reflect his true potential here. He has found a good setting and, although he couldn't finish the session off as he would have liked, there is a lot more to come from him. We have started off well at other races this year and not ended up with the right result so we have to make sure this good work continues right through until Sunday afternoon."  Rain dampens proceedings for Tech 3 Yamaha Team Although the rain overshadowed proceedings, the conditions gave the Tech 3 Yamaha Team an excellent chance to continue testing the ever improving range of Dunlop wet weather tyres. Both riders tested many different combinations of tyres during the two, one-hour practice sessions and recorded valuable data should the showers continue for the remainder of the weekend with Carlos Checa and James Ellison in 16th and17th positions respectively. Carlos Checa (16th, 2'14.914, 36 laps) "It has been a busy day testing tyres and these wet conditions have given us a perfect chance to find a direction to head with the amount of wet-weather tyres Dunlop has for us. But it's what we have to do to continue and hope we can improve further soon. I am not very happy as I'm five seconds off but that is what happens sometimes when we are testing at the same time as trying to find a setup. Now we have to find the tyre to settle on should these conditions continue over the weekend". James Ellison (17th. 2'15.880, 36 laps) "From this morning we made some adjustments by lowering the bike and softening the bike right off and it worked well as the lap times started to come down. We tried a few different tyres during the session and the last tyre we tried was pretty good. Carlos liked it as well so we have something to work on in the morning but we just have to find a way of generating more heat in the side of the tyre which is the problem we're having. Once we do that we should be in much better position. Testing during a meeting is a bit hard but at the end of the day that is what we are here for". Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "Although the positions of Carlos and James are not the best, we are quite satisfied with the work that has been done today because again, we have done a few hours in the rain and they both have been through a lot of different tyres. "It's a tough job but this is "year one" with Dunlop in MotoGP with a factory bike and they have a lot to learn and a lot to understand to catch up to the other brands. We have to go through this testing program - that is something we have to do - and not everything we test is always suitable. But this is our mission and we have to continue. I'd like to thank my riders - especially Carlos - for the good job he is doing. Hopefully, by the end of the season, with all the tyre testing we do during a Grand Prix, we will be a lot closer. The target is to be a pretty competitive in 2007 but we're not going to catch up with the other two immediately."    Round: 4 - 2006 MotoGP Shanghai Circuit: Shanghai Circuit Length: 5451 Lap Record: 2' 13.716 (Alex Barros, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 59.710 (Sete Gibernau, 2005) Date: 12 May 2006 Temp: 17ºC Free Practice :  Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat.  Free Practice  1  V. Rossi  Yamaha  ITA   2' 9.393   2  L. Capirossi  Ducati  ITA   2' 9.748   3  J. Hopkins  Suzuki  USA   2' 10.007   4  S. Gibernau  Ducati  ESP   2' 10.187   5  N. Hayden  Honda  USA   2' 10.247   6  M. Melandri  Honda  ITA   2' 10.411   7  D. Pedrosa  Honda  ESP   2' 10.815   8  C. Stoner  Honda  AUS   2' 11.016   9  M. Tamada  Honda  JPN   2' 11.313   10  R. De Puniet  Kawasaki  FRA   2' 11.425   11  C. Vermeulen  Suzuki  AUS   2' 11.438   12  K. Roberts  Team Roberts KR  USA   2' 11.615   13  C. Edwards  Yamaha  USA   2' 11.838   14  S. Nakano  Kawasaki  JPN   2' 12.496   15  T. Elias  Honda  ESP   2' 12.807   16  C. Checa  Yamaha  ESP   2' 14.914   17  J. Ellison  Yamaha  GBR   2' 15.880
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Camel Yamaha Team follows express route to the orient

The whirlwind start to the 2006 MotoGP World Championship continues next weekend as the paddock's globetrotting journey heads eastwards across Asia to the Shanghai International Circuit in China. After visiting Spain, Qatar and Turkey in the opening three rounds of the series, the Camel Yamaha Team take their points quest back to the skies for another 'flyaway' race, before returning to start a European road trip that covers seven races in nine weeks - starting at the Le Mans circuit in France only seven days after the Chinese event. Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards arrive in the country known locally as 'The Big Land' with a mixed bag of results under their arms after an unpredictable start to the campaign. Rossi followed up a first-corner fall at Jerez with victory in Doha before battling to fourth place in Istanbul after a weekend dogged by technical difficulties and bad weather. It has been a similar story for his Texan team-mate, who has shown excellent pace in practice but has yet to find a set-up package that will enable him to compete for race victories and podiums. The Shanghai circuit was designed by architects Hermann Tilke and Peter Wahl and its layout was inspired by the shape of the Chinese character 'shang', which stands for 'high' or 'above'. Other symbols represented in the architecture of the circuit facilities originate from Chinese history, such as the team buildings, which are arranged like pavilions on a lake to resemble the ancient Yuyan-Garden in Shanghai. One of the circuit's most impressive features is the extraordinary main grandstand, which holds capacity for 29,000 spectators and provides a spectacular view of almost 80 percent of the circuit. Valentino Rossi: Tight and technical After taking a surprise wet-weather victory at this circuit last season, Valentino Rossi is hoping for an identical result in different conditions this time around. The torrential rain that fell during the inaugural event at Shanghai one year ago set the scene for one of the most impressive performances of Rossi's career but, given the choice, the World Champion is hoping for a much more straightforward way to demonstrate his superiority next Sunday. "Out of all the victories in my career, China last year was the one I least expected because of the problems we had with the bike during the weekend and with the rain on race day," explains Rossi, who became the all-time record points scorer in Grand Prix history thanks to his fourth place finish in Turkey last week - a result that outs him fifth in the championship. "It was the first time I had won in the wet on the Yamaha, so it was a special victory, but this year I would definitely prefer a dry race. The 2006 version M1 didn't work as well as we had hoped in the wet practice sessions in Turkey and we need as much dry track time as possible to get the bike setting as I like it." Like Turkey the Shanghai circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke, but it is much more similar to the German architect's other effort at Sepang in Malaysia, with tight bends and long straights that, according to Rossi, make the rider's skill in setting the bike up even more important. "My first impressions of the circuit last year were very good but then it wasn't as much fun as I expected," explains the Italian. "It is actually quite tight and technical and is very much a Formula 1 track, so all the riders have a lot of hard work to do finding the right setting for the bikes. It is not ideal for MotoGP - it is a very demanding circuit and it will test the riders and the bikes to the maximum."
Colin Edwards: Expect the unexpected Colin Edwards says he is unsure about what to expect in China after experiencing such mixed fortunes at each of the opening three rounds this season. Like his team-mate, the American is hoping for favourable circumstances from the opening practice in order to gather crucial set-up data for the 2006 version YZR-M1 machine. "Because we had so little dry time at Shanghai last year I think there is a big question mark for everybody about what is going to happen," says Edwards, who currently lies ninth in the championship on 19 points. "It will be important to find a good setting for the bike as quickly as possible so that we can get some endurance testing in before the race and make sure we don't have the problems we've struggled with in previous weekends. This is a very important Grand Prix for us and we simply have to end it with a decent result before the championship heads back to Europe. "The test at Istanbul on Monday was quite beneficial because it gave us an idea of the lap times we could have done in the race if we weren't interrupted by the rain on Saturday, which was encouraging, although it didn't win us any points back! We got a lot of laps in, which is what we need right now, so the engineers have some good data to work on over the next week before the race and I'm confident they can come up with something for us in China." Davide Brivio: Positive thinking Camel Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio is looking towards the Grand Prix in China as a major opportunity to turn around the team's early-season fortunes. Having enjoyed a particularly fruitful weekend in Shanghai at this stage last season, the Italian is hoping the event can prove to be a turning point for the team at the start of a critical phase of the championship. "Last year's race in China was very important for us because we won, and won well, in the wet and this helped us to find the solutions to some problems we had with the dry setting, so we are hoping it can be the same this time," says Brivio. "It has been a difficult start to the season but despite the bad luck of Valentino's crash in the first round at Jerez he is still very close to the top. We're looking forward to seeing what both he and Colin are capable of when the problems are solved and hopefully that can start in China. "Now we have eight races in eleven weekends, which is a lot and puts pressure on everybody. For example our drivers will be going straight from China to pick up the trucks and driving them to France without a break, but I think it is worse for the riders because they have no time to rest. In any case the next three months are the core of the season and a period where the situation regarding the championship becomes much clearer. The conditions are the same for everybody so we have to make sure we work to the best of our abilities and come through with a good share of the points." Technically speaking: Colin Edwards' suspension technician Robert Gronlund Despite being drawn by the same hand as the Istanbul Circuit in Turkey, Shanghai has different characteristics that bring to mind closer comparisons with the other Herman Tilke circuit of Sepang. Combining fast straights and hard braking zones with a series of slow and difficult corners, bike set-up is again a question of finding a compromised balance, whilst the big unknown this weekend will be the conditions - with last year's mixed bag of weather and the typically hot and humid climate making grip levels a complete mystery until Friday morning practice. "In some ways Shanghai is similar to Turkey but in other ways it is very different," explains Robert Gronlund, Colin Edwards' Ohlins suspension technician. "For instance, it doesn't flow as much as that track but it does have a mixture of fast corners and very hard braking zones, so in terms of the set-up the key is again to have a good compromise - especially with the suspension. The bike needs to turn well into the slow corners because, like with the final section in Turkey, you can lose a lot of time there. "The thing about Shanghai is that we have only been once and it was sometimes wet and sometimes dry, so we have a very limited amount of data. Really we're not worried about that though because we feel we made an important step during the test in Turkey. We have reduced the vibration problems we had at Jerez and Qatar and found a solution to the difficulties we had at Istanbul - just generally making the bike easier to ride. A lot will depend on the grip levels at Shanghai and it certainly won't be easy, but we are looking forward to it." Valentino Rossi: Information Age: 27 Lives: London, UK Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 GP victories: 80 (54 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 160 (100 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) Pole positions: 40 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: 51 x MotoGP World Championships - 2 World Superbike Shanghai Lap Record: Alex Barros (Honda) 2005 - 2'13.716* Shanghai Best Lap: Sete Gibernau (Honda) 2005 - 1'59.710 Shanghai 2005 Results*: 1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 50'02.463 2. Olivier Jacque (Kawasaki) +1.700 3. Marco Melandri (Honda) +16.574 8. Colin Edwards(Yamaha) +31.033 * Wet Race
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Aubert and Merriman both win a day each

Having produced two impressive results at the opening round of the '06 WEC series, his first ever world championship enduro competition, UFO Corse Yamaha rider Johnny Aubert again showed just how talented a rider he is by claiming his first ever WEC win on day two in Portugal. In doing so Aubert made it the perfect weekend for the UFO Corse Yamaha squad as Stefan Merriman claimed top honours in the E2 class on day one.  On day one Merriman made up for his disappointments at the opening round of the series in Sweden and placed 19 seconds ahead of Finn Mika Ahola and a further 13 seconds ahead of Finn Samuli Aro. Finishing in fourth position, due in part to having struggled on the event's difficult extreme special test, Johnny Aubert placed in fourth. On day two Aubert made none of the mistakes that had slowed his progress on day one and wanting to simply stand on the podium the former motocross racer claimed his first WEC victory. Winning seven of the day's eight special tests Aubert placed 23 seconds ahead of Mika Ahola with Merriman in third. In the E2 world championship standings Aubert is placed third, five points behind class leader Aro, with Merriman fourth. Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha Enduro 2 class - Day 1 fourth, Day 2 first: "It's absolutely fantastic to have had such a great weekend and to have won my first ever world championship enduro race. I still can't believe it. When I saw the motocross and enduro tests I was confident that I could do well, but when I saw the extreme test I thought that I would really struggle. On day one I did find it difficult on the extreme test, and that affected my result. I also had a one big crash on the enduro test. "On day two I wanted to improve my extreme tests and fight for a position on the podium, and I did that. I felt really good on day two - on all the special tests. Winning my first world championship race in my first season of enduro is fantastic. I want to thank the UFO Corse Yamaha team for all there help and support and I hope I can continue with my good results. " Stefan Merriman (UFO Corse Yamaha Enduro 2 class - Day 1: first, Day third: "Winning on day one was great because things certainly didn't go to plan at the first round of the series in Sweden. I had a really good day, and enjoyed the event although it was really difficult. I got stuck on the extreme test, like most riders did, but that was my only real problem. "Day two was also good but Johnny was just faster than me. The tests got a lot rougher and I struggled a little with the long ruts in the corners. I pushed as hard as I could but it just wasn't enough. I know that with refinements to the bike's set-up I will be able to go faster so I'm looking forward to the next race in Spain. " 'Manxman' David Knight claimed top honours on both days in the Enduro 3 class finishing ahead of Finn Marko Tarkkala with Sweden's Bjorne Carlsson claiming third on both days.    Race classification Enduro 2 Round: 2 - Guimaraes, Portugal Circuit: Guimares Race: 1 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Merriman Yamaha  AUS  37' 16.200  2   M. Ahola Honda  FIN  +37' 21.550  3   S. Aro KTM  FIN  +37' 34.670  4   J. Aubert Yamaha  FRA  +37' 47.050  5   P. Edmondson Honda  GBR  +38' 10.500  6   F. Planet KTM  FRA  +38' 32.600  7   X. Galindo KTM  ESP  +38' 33.410  8   C. Guerrero GasGas  ESP  +38' 36.440  9   E. Albepart Honda  FRA  +39' 13.660  10   A. Beconi Beta  ITA  +39' 16.980  11   A. Botturi Aprilia  ITA  +39' 44.240  12   A. Belotti KTM  ITA  +39' 46.550  13   F. Dini Yamaha  ITA  +39' 51.230  14   A. Toresson Suzuki  SWE  +39' 56.700  15   J. Curvalle Kawasaki  FRA  +40' 9.680  16   N. Paganon Husqvarna  FRA  +40' 38.680  17   E. Memmi Sherco  FRA  +40' 41.140  18   J. Pedrero Sherco  ESP  +40' 51.120  19   V. Salonen HusaBerg  FIN  +41' 19.670  20   G. Canova Husqvarna  ITA  +41' 26.190  Race 2: 1 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   J. Aubert Yamaha  FRA  36' 37.550  2   M. Ahola Honda  FIN  +37' 0.790  3   S. Merriman Yamaha  AUS  +37' 31.980  4   S. Aro KTM  FIN  +37' 48.920  5   C. Guerrero GasGas  ESP  +38' 22.910  6   P. Edmondson Honda  GBR  +38' 37.720  7   F. Planet KTM  FRA  +38' 40.320  8   F. Dini Yamaha  ITA  +38' 56.140  9   A. Beconi Beta  ITA  +39' 2.520  10   X. Galindo KTM  ESP  +39' 4.900  11   E. McConnell TM  GBR  +39' 7.430  12   A. Belotti KTM  ITA  +39' 8.620  13   E. Albepart Honda  FRA  +39' 47.060  14   A. Botturi Aprilia  ITA  +39' 54.450  15   N. Paganon Husqvarna  FRA  +39' 55.110  16   V. Salonen HusaBerg  FIN  +40' 1.390  17   E. Memmi Sherco  FRA  +41' 10.880  18   J. Pedrero Sherco  ESP  +41' 26.730  19   F. Mancinelli Beta  ITA  +41' 38.640  20   G. Canova Husqvarna  ITA  +41' 47.760  Championship standings Enduro 2 Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Mika Ahola Honda  FIN 88  2   Samuli Aro KTM  FIN 88  3   Johnny Aubert Yamaha  FRA 83  4   Stefan Merriman Yamaha  AUS 76  5   Fabien Planet KTM  FRA 62  6   Cristobal Guerrero GasGas  ESP 49  7   Xavier Galindo KTM  ESP 46  8   Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg  FIN 41  9   Andrea Beconi Beta  ITA 36  10   Fabrizio Dini Yamaha  ITA 35  11   Paul Edmondson Honda  GBR 31  12   Alessandro Botturi Aprilia  ITA 28  13   Petteri Silvan KTM  FIN 28  14   Euan McConnell TM  GBR 26  15   Thierry Klutz Sherco  BEL 21  16   Emmanuel Albepart Honda  FRA 20  17   Riku Rihelainen HusaBerg  FIN 19  18   Andrea Belotti KTM  ITA 18  19   Patrik Wicksell KTM  SWE 15  20   Nicolas Paganon Husqvarna  FRA 11  Manufacturers standings Enduro 2 Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Yamaha 90  2  Honda 88  2  KTM 88  3  GasGas 53  4  HusaBerg 41  5  Beta 36  6  Sherco 28  6  Aprilia 28  7  TM 25  8  Husqvarna 17  9  Suzuki 7  10  Kawasaki 6  Enduro 1 : Micheluz scores best career result at Guimaraes Round: 2 - Guimaraes, Portugal Circuit: Guimares Date: 7 May 2006 Crowd: 7000 Temp: 20ºC Weather: Dry UFO Corse Yamaha team rider Arnau Vilanova was still unable to compete in the second round of the '06 World Enduro Championship due to having injured his left foot while practicing at his home in Spain prior to the event. Portuguese rider Helder Rodrigues and UFO Corse Yamaha rider Maurizio Micheluz produced Yamaha's best results in the Enduro 1 class. With Rodrigues placing fourth on day one, Micheluz finished in fourth on day two to claim his best ever world championship result and in doing so lifted himself to sixth position in the Enduro 1 world championship standings. At the head of the class Italian Simone Albergoni claimed his first win of the '06 season by topping the podium on day one. Locked in a close battle with reigning E1 world champion Ivan Cervantes just four seconds separated the pair at the end of the day. Placing in third on day one was Italian Alessandro Belometti. On day two the top two finishing positions from day one were reversed with Cervantes claiming the win, 30 seconds ahead of Albergoni. Again placing third was Belometti. Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 eighth, Day 2 fourth: "The race was really difficult - not only the special tests but also the course because of the rocks and dust. But it has been a good weekend for me. I am really pleased to have finished fourth on day two because it is my best result in the WEC so far. Day one went pretty well for me and I was pleased with the way I was riding. But day two was much better. "I had a big crash on the enduro test, which made things hard for me but on day two I felt a lot better. The tests were really difficult but I enjoyed them. I didn't really have any problems so I am really happy. "    Race classification Enduro 1 Round: 2 - Guimaraes, Portugal Circuit: Guimares Race: 1 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Albergoni Honda  ITA  38' 8.000  2   I. Cervantes KTM  ESP  +38' 12.900  3   A. Belometti KTM  ITA  +38' 50.090  4   H. Rodrigues Yamaha  POR  +39' 16.780  5   B. Oblucki Husqvarna  POL  +39' 53.930  6   M. Hartmann KTM  GER  +39' 46.830  7   P. Pohjamo TM  FIN  +40' 7.030  8   M. Micheluz Yamaha  ITA  +40' 14.910  9   N. Deparrois Husqvarna  FRA  +40' 55.980  10   P. Enes KTM  FRA  +41' 2,152.000  11   J. Jou Yamaha  ESP  +41' 35.030  12   F. Blanc KTM  FRA  +41' 38.290  13   F. Ferreira Yamaha  POR  +41' 5,255.000  14   M. Patrao Suzuki  POR  +42' 48.000  15   A. Mendes Yamaha  FRA  +43' 342.000  16   R. Hubers Yamaha  NED  +49' 2.330  17   S. Helio Yamaha  ESP  +1,13' 14.100  18   A. Fernandez Yamaha  POR  +1.14' 2,712.000  Race 2: 1 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   I. Cervantes KTM  ESP  37' 38.210  2   S. Albergoni Honda  ITA  +38' 8.640  3   A. Belometti KTM  ITA  +38' 29.650  4   M. Micheluz Yamaha  ITA  +39' 0.610  5   P. Pohjamo TM  FIN  +39' 3.150  6   F. Blanc KTM  FRA  +39' 28.410  7   H. Rodrigues Yamaha  POR  +39' 35.800  8   B. Oblucki Husqvarna  POL  +39' 48.210  9   M. Hartmann KTM  GER  +40' 8.100  10   N. Deparrois Husqvarna  FRA  +40' 35.300  11   A. Raphael Kawasaki  FRA  +40' 35.930  12   J. Gauthier Honda  FRA  +40' 38.550  13   J. Jou Yamaha  ESP  +41' 20.350  14   M. Patrao Suzuki  POR  +41' 38.500  15   A. Mendes Yamaha  FRA  +42' 46.410  16   F. Ferreira Yamaha  POR  +42' 51.880  17   R. Hubers Yamaha  NED  +43' 39.260  18   A. Fernandez Yamaha  POR  +59' 27.900  Championship standings Enduro 1 Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Ivan Cervantes KTM  ESP 94  2   Simone Albergoni Honda  ITA 83  3   Petri Pohjamo TM  FIN 73  4   Alessandro Belometti KTM  ITA 68  5   Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna  POL 65  6   Mauricio Micheluz Yamaha  ITA 61  7   Helder Rodrigues Yamaha  POR 55  8   Mike Hartmann KTM  GER 46  9   Peter Bergvall Suzuki  SWE 40  10   Freddy Blanc KTM  FRA 37  11   Robert Carlsson Yamaha  SWE 26  12   Frederik Georgsson KTM  SWE 23  13   Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna  FRA 23  14   Pär Olsson Yamaha  SWE 19  15   Joan Jou Yamaha  ESP 18  16   Leit Holm KTM  FIN 15  17   Mario Patrao Suzuki  POR 14  18   Fernando Ferreira Yamaha  POR 13  19   Alexandre Mendes Yamaha  FRA 12  20   Pedro Enes KTM  FRA 11  25   Andre Fernandez Yamaha  POR 6  27   Santos Helio Yamaha  ESP 4  Manufacturers standings Enduro 1 Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  KTM 94  2  Honda 83  3  TM 73  4  Yamaha 66  5  Husqvarna 65  6  Suzuki 54  7  Kawasaki 10
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Haga gives Yamaha Motor Italia plenty to cheer in Monza

Noriyuki Haga gave the Tifosi plenty to cheer about with a fine podium finish at Monza today. The ever-popular Yamaha Motor Italia star equaled his best ever result around the historic circuit with third place in race two to the delight of his locally based team and a large and passionate crowd. Race one saw Haga involved in a three-way battle for second place with Troy Corser (Suzuki) and Alex Barros (Honda), which ultimately saw him finish fourth at the end of 18 grueling laps. For race two the Japanese star made some small changes to the suspension of his YZF-R1, allowing him to lead the way with Corser and Troy Bayliss (Ducati) until a lack of grip in the closing stages forced him to consolidate his podium finish. Team-mate Andrew Pitt also gave two stirring performances despite failing to get off the line cleanly. The Australian found himself boxed in at Monza's notoriously slow first chicane, which meant that he was unable get away with the leading group. In both races Pitt was able to run similar lap times to the leaders, allowing him to work his way up to the second group. In both instances he was able to finish at the head of the pack, for fifth place in race one and sixth in race two. Bayliss won both races to extend his lead in the championship to 36 points over Corser, who was third and second in today's races. Haga lies fifth in the championship but with a reduced gap to third. The Yamaha rider is just four points behind James Toseland (Honda) and two adrift of fourth placed Barros. Yamaha Motor France's riders had mixed fortunes in Monza. World superbike rookie Shinichi Nakatomi continued to impress with a season best tenth in race one and 12th in race two. The Japanese rider came from 20th on the grid and was dicing with illustrious company throughout the races, one of whom was team-mate Sebastien Gimbert, who finished 12th in race one before retiring with clutch problems in the second. But Norick Abe suffered a nightmare in Monza and received no reward for a gritty performance. After missing the Saturday practice sessions through injury, Abe must have wished he had stayed in his motorhome after becoming one of seven riders to go down in a first corner pile-up in race one. For race two he came from 27th on the grid to finish the race 16th, a fine performance for a rider suffering neck and wrist injuries but unfortunately not one which brought any championship points. Despite his failure to score, Abe remains in the championship's top ten, dropping just one place to ninth. Nakatomi moves up to 17th and Gimbert 22nd. The next race takes place at the Silverstone circuit in three weekend's time. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "I'm very happy to finally get on the podium in Monza. We had two hard races and in the second I thought that I could stay with Bayliss and Corser but I had a small problem with rear grip. Our bike has worked very well this weekend and I am pleased for that I can make this good result at the home race of my team. I am now looking to get another good result in Silverstone as this is a track I like very much and where we had the first podium for the R1 last year." Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "It was all about making a good start and unfortunately in both races I couldn't get cleanly through the first chicane. I thought that I rode well and my lap times were the same as the guys in the front group but they had already made a break and it was impossible to catch them. I'm disappointed as I expected more and thought we could be on the podium today but in both races I beat the guys I was racing with and that's about as much as I could do." Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "I was too far behind on the start but on the track I could catch people. After ten or 11 laps I was catching again but l missed a gear and lost about five positions. After that, I had to work very hard but we got some points in both races. It was a positive for us." Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) "It was a difficult weekend, for the team and for me. We had big problems with the clutch. In the first race it was not so bad but the second race was no good for me." Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "We had very bad luck this weekend. My big crash on Friday was my mistake but also caused by the rainy conditions. So in first race I made a good start but somebody made a big mistake and many riders went out. That one was not my fault. In race two my right hand was in more pain than the first race and we didn't not have ideal settings because we had to miss practice sessions." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "On Friday we felt that a podium was possible and although it didn't go so well in final qualifying I was confident that both riders could challenge after a good performance in the warm-up this morning. I'm pleased for Noriyuki because on Thursday he said to me that he never finishes on the podium here. Andrew also rode well and has been strong all weekend, so we can go to Silverstone confident of challenging for the podium again." Martial Garcia (Team Manager - Yamaha Motor France) "Nakatomi confirmed his good result of the first race in the second one, although this time there was no big crash like in race one, so more riders finished. Gimbert had a big problem with the clutch so he could not ride the bike. For Abe the situation was clear and he only rode for the team, only for us, so true thanks to him. He tried his heart out but missed a point by only one position in race two." Race classification WSB Round: 4 - Italy Circuit: Monza Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1' 46.815 (Troy Bayliss, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever:  1' 46.815 (Troy Bayliss, 2006) Race: 18 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   T. Bayliss Ducati  AUS  32' 23.100  2   A. Barros Honda  BRA  +3.982  3   T. Corser Suzuki  AUS  +4.216  4   N. Haga Yamaha  JPN  +4.395  5   A. Pitt Yamaha  AUS  +13.605  6   K. Muggeridge Honda  AUS  +13.665  7   R. Laconi Kawasaki  FRA  +14.066  8   R. Rolfo Ducati  ITA  +19.170  9   L. Lanzi Ducati  ITA  +25.729  10   S. Nakatomi Yamaha  JPN  +28.350  11   C. Walker Kawasaki  GBR  +29.639  12   S. Gimbert Yamaha  FRA  +30.354  13   F. Foret Suzuki  FRA  +43.838  14   L. Alfonsi Ducati  ITA  +44.312  15   I. Clementi Ducati  ITA  +44.530  Race 2: 18 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   T. Bayliss Ducati  AUS  32' 17.705  2   T. Corser Suzuki  AUS  +1.916  3   N. Haga Yamaha  JPN  +6.479  4   A. Barros Honda  BRA  +10.227  5   J. Toseland Honda  GBR  +11.910  6   A. Pitt Yamaha  AUS  +17.551  7   K. Muggeridge Honda  AUS  +17.720  8   F. Nieto Kawasaki  ESP  +17.825  9   C. Walker Kawasaki  GBR  +22.873  10   R. Rolfo Ducati  ITA  +31.603  11   L. Lanzi Ducati  ITA  +31.610  12   S. Nakatomi Yamaha  JPN  +34.282  13   F. Foret Suzuki  FRA  +35.273  14   M. Fabrizio Honda  ITA  +35.306  15   R. Xaus Ducati  ESP  +40.552  16   N. Abe Yamaha  JPN  +51.516  Fastest Race Lap:   Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   T. Bayliss Ducati  AUS  1' 46.815  Championship standings WSB Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Troy Bayliss Ducati  AUS 175  2   Troy Corser Suzuki  AUS 139  3   James Toseland Honda  GBR 97  4   Alex Barros Honda  BRA 95  5   Noriyuki Haga Yamaha  JPN 93  6   Andrew Pitt Yamaha  AUS 79  7   Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati  ITA 59  8   Roberto Rolfo Ducati  ITA 46  9   Norick Abe Yamaha  JPN 40  10   Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki  ESP 37  11   Michel Fabrizio Honda  ITA 36  12   Ruben Xaus Ducati  ESP 34  13   Chris Walker Kawasaki  GBR 33  14   Regis Laconi Kawasaki  FRA 31  15   Karl Muggeridge Honda  AUS 30  17   Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha  JPN 18  22   Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha  FRA 7  Manufacturers standings WSB   Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Ducati 176  2  Suzuki 149  3  Honda 124  4  Yamaha 113  5  Kawasaki 57  6  Petronas 4  WSS : Roccoli tops the R6s in Monza Round: 4 - Italy Circuit: Monza Date: 7 May 2006 Crowd: 90000 Temp: 22ºC Weather: Sunny Italian youngster Massimo Roccoli had his best result as a world supersport rider, bringing his Yamaha YZF-R6 home fourth at Monza today. The Yamaha Team Italia rider survived a last lap scare when he touched Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) as he entered Parabolica corner for the final time. The pair, who had an intense battle in last year's superstock 1000 race at Monza, crossed the line side-by-side with the Yamaha man getting the verdict by just two-tenths of a second. Roccoli had been running a quiet race just behind the leading group for much of the 16 laps, only to be caught as he succumbed to arm pump in the latter stages of the race. He was unable to fend off the challenge of championship leader Sebastien Charpentier (Honda), who was charging through the field after a ride-through penalty, but successfully defended his place from Sofuoglu and the intense race-long battle between Yamaha Motor Germany's Broc Parkes and Ducati rider Stuart Easton. After qualifying down in 11th position Parkes had a difficult race. He found himself baulked at the first chicane and after picking off a few places he was unable to find a way past Easton and came home a disappointed seventh. It was day that promised so much but delivered so little for Yamaha Motor Germany. Kevin Curtain led for much of the way, until a technical problem halted him with four laps remaining. The Australian had been involved in a thrilling battle with eventual winner Yoann Tiberio (Honda) when his engine expired at the end of the home straight. Despite failing to score Curtain retains his second place in the championship standings. Third place for Charpentier sees him extend his lead over Curtain to 31 points with second-placed Monza finisher Robbin Harms (Honda) a further eight points adrift in third. Parkes remains fifth in the championship with Roccoli sixth. Roccoli's team-mate Gianluca Vizziello was another rider to leave Monza without any points. The Italian had been in sparkling form to qualify second but he spectacularly crashed out of sixth place after being baulked by another rider on lap three. Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia) "I got a good start and felt that I could fight for the podium today, but in the end I had some problems with my arm. When Charpentier came past me I wanted to try and stay with him but he was just too fast and I had to concentrate on getting the best result possible. The pain in my arm made it hard for me when entering the corners but I was determined to get a good result and when Sofuoglu passed me I fought straight back. I'm happy to get a good result today and finishing so close to the podium has only made me more determined." Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) "The main problem was qualifying back on the third row. I was able to make some good progress until I came across a Ducati that I had difficulty getting past. Sometimes I was able to get past on the brakes but I was never quite able to make enough of a break to stop him coming back at me down the straights." Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) "It's disappointing not to be able to take advantage of Charpentier's penalty and to take some points back but that's life and no one will go through a season without some bad luck, so hopefully this is ours for the season. There are still a lot of positives to take from this weekend and we just have to work hard and focus on Silverstone." Gianluca Vizziello (Yamaha Team Italia) "I'm not happy because I knew that I could fight for a good position and possibly the podium today. Someone cut across me going into Ascari so I had to brake hard and this made me crash out with Fujiwara." Race classification WSS Round: 4 - Italy Circuit: Monza Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1' 51.403 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever:  1' 51.403 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2006) Race: 16 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   Y. Tibero Honda  FRA  30' 14.618  2   R. Harms Honda  DNK  +1.924  3   S. Charpentier Honda  FRA  +4.255  4   M. Roccoli Yamaha  ITA  +7.224  5   K. Sofuoglu Honda  TUR  +7.499  6   S. Easton Ducati  GBR  +9.015  7   B. Parkes Yamaha  AUS  +9.117  8   J. Stigefelt Honda  SWE  +10.866  9   X. Fores Yamaha  ESP  +10.997  10   S. Chambon Kawasaki  FRA  +21.842  11   T. Lauslehto Honda  FIN  +25.332  12   S. Cruciani Honda  ITA  +25.478  13   D. Checa Yamaha  ESP  +26.654  14   V. Kallio Yamaha  FIN  +34.012  15   K. Andersen Suzuki  NOR  +38.406  Fastest Race Lap:   Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Charpentier Honda  FRA  1' 51.403  Championship standings WSS   Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Sebastien Charpentier Honda  FRA 91  2   Kevin Curtain Yamaha  AUS 60  3   Robbin Harms Honda  DNK 52  4   Yoann Tibero Honda  FRA 48  5   Broc Parkes Yamaha  AUS 38  6   Massimo Roccoli Yamaha  ITA 36  7   Xavi Fores Yamaha  ESP 30  8   Johan Stigefelt Honda  SWE 28  9   Kenan Sofuoglu Honda  TUR 27  10   Joshua Brookes Ducati  AUS 21  11   Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha  ITA 17  12   Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda  JPN 16  13   Christian Zaiser Ducati  AUT 15  14   Sebastien Le Grelle Honda  BEL 12  15   Stuart Easton Ducati  GBR 10  25   David Checa Yamaha  ESP 3  26   Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha  BEL 2  Manufacturers standings WSS   Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Honda 100  2  Yamaha 73  3  Ducati 33  4  Kawasaki 14  5  Suzuki 7  European Superstock : Corti tenth in Monza Round: 2 - Italy Circuit: Monza Date: 7 May 2006 Crowd: 90000 Temp: 22ºC Weather: Sunny Yamaha Team Italia rider Claudio Corti finished tenth in today's second round of the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup at his local Monza circuit. Starting from tenth on the grid following a gear selection problem in the second qualifying session, the YZF-R1 SP rider made a superb start to lie third at the end of the opening lap. The 18-year-old from Como struggled for traction and slipped back into a fierce battle for seventh place but found himself slipstreamed across the finish line. In a photo finish, fellow R1 SP riders Ilario Dionsi and Matteo Baiocco passed Corti across the line - the three Yamahas covered by just one hundredth of a second at the finish. Emilio Rocamora was 11th on another Yamaha, a further two hundredths of a seconds behind. Italian Alessandro Polita (Suzuki) led from start to finish to take his second win of the season, with Riccardo Chiarello (Kawasaki) and Ayrton Badovini (MV Agusta) making it an all Italian podium. With two of the ten rounds gone, Polita leads with a perfect 50 points, 18 ahead of second placed Badovini. Corti is the top placed Yamaha rider, with 14 points in ninth place. Claudio Corti (Yamaha Team Italia) "I made a good start but after a few laps I lost all feeling with the bike. From then all I could think about was getting some points for the championship. It's not good but at least I have scored some points today."   Race classification FIM Superstock 1000 Cup Round: 2 - Italy Circuit: Monza Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1' 51.212 (Alessandro Polita, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever:  1' 51.212 (Alessandro Polita, 2006) Race: 11 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   A. Polita Suzuki  ITA  20' 31,118.000  2   R. Chiarello Kawasaki  ITA  +0.357  3   A. Badovini MV Agusta  ITA  +9.079  4   A. Martinez Mas Kawasaki  ESP  +9.449  5   L. Scassa MV Agusta  ITA  +9.531  6   D. Dell'omo Suzuki  ITA  +10.066  7   D. Sacchetti Kawasaki  ITA  +15.548  8   I. Dionisi Yamaha  ITA  +16.711  9   M. Baiocco Yamaha  ITA  +16.714  10   C. Corti Yamaha  ITA  +16.725  11   E. Rocamora Yamaha  ESP  +16.979  12   L. Napoleone Suzuki  FRA  +19.278  13   S. Saltarelli Kawasaki  ITA  +25.388  14   M. Jerman Suzuki  SVK  +28.751  15   P. Solli Yamaha  NOR  +30.366  Fastest Race Lap:   Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   A. Polita Suzuki  ITA  1' 51.212  Championship standings FIM Superstock 1000 Cup   Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Alessandro Polita Suzuki  ITA 50  2   Ayrton Badovini MV Agusta  ITA 32  3   Luca Scassa MV Agusta  ITA 22  4   Riccardo Chiarello Kawasaki  ITA 22  5   Alex Martinez Mas Kawasaki  ESP 20  6   Ivan Silva Kawasaki  ESP 20  7   Denis Sacchetti Kawasaki  ITA 19  8   Enrique Rocamora Yamaha  ESP 18  9   Claudio Corti Yamaha  ITA 14  10   Danilo Dell'omo Suzuki  ITA 13  11   Matteo Baiocco Yamaha  ITA 12  12   Ilario Dionisi Yamaha  ITA 9  13   Simone Saltarelli Kawasaki  ITA 9  14   Sheridan Morais Suzuki  RSA 9  15   Richard Cooper Honda  GBR 4
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Yamaha men ready for Monza

Yamaha Motor Italia riders Andrew Pitt and Noriyuki Haga go into tomorrow's Monza races in good spirits after a strong showing in today's final qualifying sessions. Both riders have run consistently at the top of the timesheets, with Pitt third and Haga fourth at the end of the two one-hour qualifying sessions. Both men were to lose places in their grid deciding one-lap superpole runs, but with the leading riders covered by just fractions of a second around this long and fast circuit, Pitt and Haga are confident they can challenge at the front in what looks like being a pair of thrilling races. Haga, who was fastest in yesterday's practice session, went into superpole as the fourth fastest rider but was hampered by a vibration from the rear of his machine. The Japanese star parked his machine immediately after crossing the finish line, with the source of the vibration being traced to a faulty component. The problem caused Haga to slip back to 10th on tomorrow's grid, although the rider is confident of running with the leaders in tomorrow's races. Pitt ended regular qualifying as one of only three riders to break into the 1:46 bracket but was unable to replicate his best time on his superpole lap. The Australian was hampered on his flying lap due to the engine mapping switch not being set to the optimum position. Despite this handicap, Pitt was on schedule to take pole position at the second intermediate point, only to make a mistake on entry to the Parabolica corner. He ended the day in sixth position, confident he can make a good start and join the leading slipstreaming group around this unique circuit. Yamaha Motor France's three riders missed out on superpole at Monza. Frenchman Sebastien Gimbert was 18th fastest in the two one-hour sessions, only just missing out on a top 16 superpole place when his best time was eclipsed in the dying moments of the second session. Norick Abe missed the morning's final qualifying session as a result of the crash he had yesterday. Abe's best time of 1:49.497, set in Friday's less favourable conditions, was still good enough to qualify him for the races and the former MotoGP rider has been passed to ride by medical staff. Should he be fit enough to ride, he will start tomorrow's races from 27th. Team-mate Shinichi Nakatomi improved his Friday time by over a second to start from 20th place in his first visit to the historic circuit. Pole position for tomorrow's races goes to world champion Troy Corser (Suzuki) from his countryman Troy Bayliss (Ducati). Alex Barros (Honda) and Regis Laconi (Kawasaki) complete the front row. Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "My superpole lap wasn't that great. We only realized afterwards that we were using the wrong engine map setting and that would have cost us a little bit of power. Probably someone knocked it when they were taking the bike back to the pits after I ran out of fuel, but it's not a big deal, as I made a mess going into the last corner of my superpole lap and that has probably cost us a place on the front row. I'm quite happy though, because we are able to do good lap times on the race tyre. It's all about getting away with the leading group around here and from the second row I'm quite confident that won't be a problem for us." Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "I felt a problem from the back of my bike throughout the superpole lap, a banging or vibration that said something was not right. I also had some fluid come up on my visor as I went into Parabolica, so I thought that it was best to park the bike at the end of the straight, just in case something serious was wrong. Superpole was not so good but for the race I think we are in good condition. The races will be close but I will try my hardest to go for the win." Massimo Meregalli (Team Corodinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "Noriyuki wasn't as fast today as he was yesterday but I am confident that he will find his best form for the races as he always does. Andrew was also able to do a good race simulation today and we are ready for what should be some interesting races." Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "We made some progress today and I was able to go faster in the afternoon practice session than I did in qualifying. This looks good for the race and after some good results in Valencia hopefully we can find some more points in the races tomorrow." Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "I am planning to race tomorrow but today I had too much pain in my back and wrists to ride. It was a very big crash and thankfully I cannot remember anything about it. Nothing is broken and the doctors say that I can race, although I decided not ride today so that I can be in the best condition for tomorrow." Round: 4 - Italy Circuit: Monza Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1' 47.434 (Troy Bayliss, 2002) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 46.058 (Troy Corser, 2006) Date: 6 May 2006 Temp: 23ºC Session 2 :  Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat.  1st Qualifying  2nd Qualifying   Superpole  1  T. Corser  Suzuki  AUS   1' 47.591     1' 46.564     1' 46.058  2  T. Bayliss  Ducati  AUS   1' 47.043     1' 46.984     1' 46.360  3  A. Barros  Honda  BRA   1' 47.769     1' 47.218     1' 46.511  4  R. Laconi  Kawasaki  FRA   1' 47.763     1' 47.352     1' 46.597  5  C. Walker  Kawasaki  GBR   1' 48.530     1' 47.866     1' 46.978  6  A. Pitt  Yamaha  AUS   1' 47.793     1' 46.985     1' 47.015  7  K. Muggeridge  Honda  AUS   1' 49.764     1' 47.414     1' 47.082  8  J. Toseland  Honda  GBR   1' 47.751     1' 47.094     1' 47.133  9  Y. Kagayama  Suzuki  JPN   1' 48.828     1' 47.199     1' 47.156  10  N. Haga  Yamaha  JPN   1' 47.007     1' 48.026     1' 47.627  11  R. Rolfo  Ducati  ITA   1' 48.334     1' 47.959     1' 47.975  12  F. Foret  Suzuki  FRA   N/A     1' 47.935     1' 48.009  13  L. Lanzi  Ducati  ITA   1' 48.575     1' 47.937     1' 48.170  14  F. Nieto  Kawasaki  ESP   1' 49.578     1' 47.869     1' 48.240  15  M. Fabrizio  Honda  ITA   1' 48.070     1' 47.927     1' 48.969  18  S. Gimbert  Yamaha  FRA   1' 48.871     1' 48.208       20  S. Nakatomi  Yamaha  JPN   1' 49.890     1' 48.414       27  N. Abe  Yamaha  JPN   1' 49.497     N/A       WSS : Vizziello speeds to second in Monza Round: 4 - Italy WSS Circuit: Monza Date: 6 May 2006 Temp: 22ºC Weather: Sunny Gianluca Vizziello was the leading Yamaha rider in today's final world supersport qualifying session at Monza. The Yamaha Team Italia rider gunned his R6 around the fast Italian circuit in 1:51.753, an average speed of over 186kph, to take second on the grid for tomorrow's 16-lap race. The local rider won a national championship race at the circuit last weekend and would love to become the first man to win a world championship race on the latest model YZF-R6 in what is just his and the bike's fourth race in the class. In a close qualifying session, Yamaha Motor Germany's Kevin Curtain continued his run of front row starts, claiming fourth spot with a best time of 1:51.878. Vizziello's team-mate Massimo Roccoli had his best performance of the season in fifth but, by contrast, Yamaha Motor Germany's Broc Parkes suffered his worst qualifying of the year at Monza. He was one of the few riders who failed to improve his Friday time and will start from the third row, in 11th position. The Australian put his lowly position down to nothing more than being unable to put a consistent lap together but is confident of improving in the race. Pole position for tomorrow's race goes to championship leader Sebastien Charpentier (Honda).   Round: 4 - Italy WSS Circuit: Monza Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1' 52.635 (Chris Vermeulen, 2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 50.580 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2006) Date: 6 May 2006 Temp: 22ºC Session 1 :  Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat.  1st Qualifying  2nd Qualifying  1  S. Charpentier  Honda  FRA   1' 51.061     1' 50.580   2  G. Vizziello  Yamaha  ITA   1' 52.460     1' 51.753   3  K. Fujiwara  Honda  JPN   1' 51.844     1' 51.829   4  K. Curtain  Yamaha  AUS   1' 52.038     1' 51.878   5  M. Roccoli  Yamaha  ITA   1' 53.501     1' 52.006   6  R. Harms  Honda  DNK   1' 53.021     1' 52.082   7  K. Sofuoglu  Honda  TUR   1' 52.313     1' 52.645   8  Y. Tibero  Honda  FRA   1' 52.444     1' 52.466   9  S. Le Grelle  Honda  BEL   1' 53.479     1' 52.525   10  J. Stigefelt  Honda  SWE   1' 52.861     1' 52.530   11  B. Parkes  Yamaha  AUS   1' 52.602     1' 52.687   12  C. Zaiser  Ducati  AUT   1' 52.706     1' 52.915   13  S. Chambon  Kawasaki  FRA   1' 53.722     1' 52.762   14  B. Veneman  Suzuki  NED   1' 53.526     1' 52.877   15  S. Cruciani  Honda  ITA   1' 53.221     1' 52.922   16  K. Andersen  Suzuki  NOR   1' 54.575     1' 52.949   18  X. Fores  Yamaha  ESP   1' 54.949     1' 53.235   20  V. Kallio  Yamaha  FIN   1' 53.755     1' 53.612   21  D. Checa  Yamaha  ESP   1' 53.863     1' 53.623
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Haga fastest in Monza opener

Yamaha Motor Italia rider Noriyuki Haga gave his team reason to cheer at their home race as he sped to provisional pole position for Sunday's races at Monza. Light drizzle throughout the afternoon's one-hour qualifying session meant a reduced number of laps for the 30 superbike entrants but, despite the tricky conditions, Haga's best lap of 1:47.007 was only a fraction slower than Neil Hodgson's three-year-old ultimate lap record. Team-mate Andrew Pitt was happy with his day's work. The Australian ended the day in seventh but felt he could have been higher after taking a cautious line through the fast Parabolica curve. Both riders have been able to take advantage of improvements to their YZF-R1 machines, including a new specification swingarm. The team is hoping for dry conditions in tomorrow's final practice and qualifying sessions to allow them to make further improvements for Sunday's two 18 lap races, for which the final grid positions will be decided in tomorrow's superpole session. Yamaha Motor France had a tough day in Monza with Norick Abe destroying his machine in a spectacular highside mid-way through the session. The Japanese rider lost control of his YZF-R1 while exiting the Ascari chicane and was taken to hospital for precautionary checks. Tests confirmed that the rider has not broken any bones, although the team will wait until the morning before deciding if he is fit enough to take any further part in the weekend. Frenchman Sebastien Gimbert was the team's fastest rider, in 15th, with Japanese rookie Shinichi Nakatomi ending the day 23rd on his first visit to the circuit. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "A good session. We've made some changes to the bike and they seem to be working well here. The team has brought a new swinging arm for us to try and it seems to have some benefits, although there are also a few disadvantages too. We need to test more tomorrow to make a final decision, but the bike feels good. I ran a lot of laps along with Troy Bayliss and we were able to have some fun passing and repassing each other. Hopefully we can make some more improvements for the race. The team has many fans and sponsors here this weekend and I have some friends coming over from Japan tonight. I hope that we can put a good performance on for them." Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "We've come to Monza with a new set-up and so far it's working well for us. I'm feeling really confident with the bike and should probably be higher than seventh. On my fastest lap I was up at the first two splits but lost it all at the end. I probably just took it too easy going into Parabolica as I could see the spots of rain beading on my visor and wasn't sure how much grip there actually was. I'm quite happy though. We should be able to make some more improvements tomorrow and I'm confident that we'll be up there on Sunday." Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "It's a shame we couldn't do as many laps as we'd like because of the conditions today, as I must learn this circuit. We are not sure what the weather will be tomorrow but I am ready to improve whatever the conditions." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "It's been a good day but I don't want to get carried away as it is only Friday. We weren't sure what to expect here as this is a fast track and top speed isn't perhaps our strength but the riders are happy with their bikes and it seems that the new swingarm we are using is also a step forward. We'll see what tomorrow brings but for now we are all satisfied with our day's work." Martial Garcia (Team Manager - Yamaha Motor France) "Norick had a bad crash today and we will decide tomorrow if he can race or not. He had a bit of a bang on the head, although the doctors say that nothing is broken. We will let him rest and see how things are in the morning."     Round: 4 - Italy Circuit: Monza Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1' 47.434 (Troy Bayliss, 2002) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 46.981 (Neil Hodgson, 2003) Date: 5 May 2006 Temp: 19ºC Session 1 :  Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat.  1st Qualifying 1  N. Haga  Yamaha  JPN   1' 47.007   2  T. Bayliss  Ducati  AUS   1' 47.043   3  T. Corser  Suzuki  AUS   1' 47.591   4  J. Toseland  Honda  GBR   1' 47.751   5  R. Laconi  Kawasaki  FRA   1' 47.763   6  A. Barros  Honda  BRA   1' 47.769   7  A. Pitt  Yamaha  AUS   1' 47.793   8  R. Xaus  Ducati  ESP   1' 47.852   9  M. Fabrizio  Honda  ITA   1' 48.070   10  R. Rolfo  Ducati  ITA   1' 48.334   11  C. Walker  Kawasaki  GBR   1' 48.530   12  L. Lanzi  Ducati  ITA   1' 48.575   13  M. Neukirchner  Ducati  GER   1' 48.712   14  Y. Kagayama  Suzuki  JPN   1' 48.828   15  S. Gimbert  Yamaha  FRA   1' 48.871   16  I. Clementi  Ducati  ITA   1' 49.226   19  N. Abe  Yamaha  JPN   1' 49.497   23  S. Nakatomi  Yamaha  JPN   1' 49.890   WSS : Curtain third fastest in Monza Round: 4 - Italy WSS Circuit: Monza Date: 5 May 2006 Temp: 19ºC Weather: Dry Yamaha Motor Germany star Kevin Curtain was the leading R6 rider in qualifying for Sunday's fourth round of the Supersport World Championship at Monza in Italy. In dry but overcast conditions, the 40-year-old Australian was under the lap record pace as he set the third fastest time around the historic speedbowl, recording a best lap time of 1:52.038. Curtain was satisfied on what is his first visit to Monza with the latest YZF-R6. The squad are are taking advantage of a new specification front tyre from Pirelli. Both Curtain and his team-mate Broc Parkes have tested the tyre with good results and are delighted to have it available on a race weekend.  Yamaha Team Italia rider Gianluca Vizziello, who won the national supersport championship race at Monza the previous weekend, ended the day sixth with Parkes alongside him on the provisional second row of the grid, in seventh. Massimo Roccoli was 14th fastest on the second Yamaha Team Italia R6, with Yamaha GMT94's David Checa 19th in his first world supersport outing of the year. Championship leader Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) was the fastest man today with a 1:51.061 lap. Final practice for Sunday's race takes place tomorrow afternoon.   Round: 4 - Italy WSS Circuit: Monza Circuit Length: 5792 Lap Record: 1' 52.635 (Chris Vermeulen, 2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 51.061 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2006) Date: 5 May 2006 Temp: 19ºC Session 1 :  Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat.  1st Qualifying 1  S. Charpentier  Honda  FRA   1' 51.061   2  K. Fujiwara  Honda  JPN   1' 51.844   3  K. Curtain  Yamaha  AUS   1' 52.038   4  K. Sofuoglu  Honda  TUR   1' 52.313   5  Y. Tibero  Honda  FRA   1' 52.444   6  G. Vizziello  Yamaha  ITA   1' 52.460   7  B. Parkes  Yamaha  AUS   1' 52.602   8  J. Stigefelt  Honda  SWE   1' 52.861   9  R. Harms  Honda  DNK   1' 53.021   10  S. Cruciani  Honda  ITA   1' 53.221   11  T. Lauslehto  Honda  FIN   1' 53.307   12  S. Le Grelle  Honda  BEL   1' 53.479   13  M. Roccoli  Yamaha  ITA   1' 53.501   14  B. Veneman  Suzuki  NED   1' 53.526   15  M. Berger  Kawasaki  FRA   1' 53.662   16  S. Chambon  Kawasaki  FRA   1' 53.722   17  V. Kallio  Yamaha  FIN   1' 53.755   18  D. Checa  Yamaha  ESP   1' 53.863   24  J. Enjolras  Yamaha  FRA   1' 54.695   25  X. Fores  Yamaha  ESP   1' 54.949   27  C. Peris  Yamaha  CAN   1' 55.100   29  D. Garcia  Yamaha  ITA   1' 55.472
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Encouraging day's work for Camel Yamaha Team in Istanbul

Following Sundays' Turkish Grand Prix, the Camel Yamaha Team stayed on to test in Istanbul, making the most of a dry day after a rain-interrupted weekend as they searched for improvements to the 2006-spec YZR-M1. Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards, who finished fourth and ninth respectively in the MotoGP race, had continued to experience problems throughout the weekend and were unable to find a perfect race set-up. Yesterday's test was therefore aimed at finding a better base setting and gathering yet more data in order to provide the Yamaha engineers with more information to work with ahead of the next race in China. It was a fruitful day's work and the Team was able to make up for the time lost to the rain on Saturday, with both riders finding a marked improvement to their settings and posting some good lap times. Edwards completed 60 laps with a best time of 1'53.31, whilst Rossi's fastest time of the day was 1'53.61 after 72 laps. The MotoGP paddock will reconvene in just over a week's time for the fourth race of the season in Shanghai, China, where Valentino Rossi took victory in the rain last year. Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "Once again we decided to take the chance to stay on and test after the race, as we saw this weekend that we still have work to do. Yesterday was a very important test for us as we continued from what we did during the weekend and tried a few more ideas in order to try to improve, and hopefully to fix, the problems that we've been having this season. We made some good progress with both riders and found a better setting for the bike and this was reflected in the lap times, which were better than those that Colin and Valentino set on Friday, when it was dry. Our work this weekend was interrupted by the rain on Saturday and we weren't able to find a good setting in time for the race, but yesterday we achieved that so hopefully that will help us in China. All this information will help the Yamaha engineers in their work over the next week, and now we look forward to a better situation for both our riders in China." Camel Yamaha Team Times: 1. Colin Edwards, 1'53.31 (60 Laps) 2. Valentino Rossi, 1'53.61 (72 Laps)
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Superbike World Championship preview: round four - Monza

Round four of the Superbike World Championship sees the series move to the historic Monza circuit in Italy, the fastest racetrack on the entire calendar. With top speeds often exceeding 300kph down the long home straight, the first of three Italian races this year is always an exciting slipstream battle on this unique circuit. For the Yamaha Motor Italia world superbike team this race takes on an extra importance, as their headquarters is based just a few kilometres from the circuit. While the points on offer are exactly the same as at the 12 other rounds of the championship, the emotional boost of a good result in their backyard will provide extra motivation for the team and their riders - especially after a difficult weekend at the last round in Valencia. Both the team's riders struggled for traction at the Spanish circuit, with a pair of fifth places for Noriyuki Haga and a couple of top tens for Andrew Pitt, keeping both riders in the top six of the championship - Haga fourth and Pitt sixth. And while historically the Monza circuit may not be one of the strongest for Yamaha's YZF-R1, both riders are confident that they can fight up front this weekend. Fans' favourite Haga had a difficult time in Monza last year, finishing ninth and 11th in the two races. This season the Japanese rider has consistently been among the frontrunners, finishing third once, fourth twice and fifth twice in the five races he has finished. Surprisingly Haga has never won in his adopted homeland. The Japanese star has won 19 races in his illustrious superbike career, but his best results in Italy are two third places (Monza 2002 and Imola 2005). Despite this, Haga still looks forward to Monza, as he explains: "Monza is not such a difficult track and good fun... if you have a fast bike! Valencia was difficult for us in many ways but now we must put it behind us and look forward to the championship. Monza is a very important race for the team and I will be doing my best to get a good result for them. Monza was my worst race of 2005 but our bike is definitely much better now than it was this time last year and our top speed is generally quite good, so if we can find a good setting and get away with the front group then anything can happen." With fifth and sixth place finishes, team-mate Pitt was the highest placed Yamaha rider at Monza last year. "Front end grip was the big problem at Valencia but it shouldn't be a factor in Monza. At Valencia you are leaned over on the side of the tyre for so long but Monza is completely different, mostly long straights and slow corners. Because of the slipstreaming it is important to get away with the leading group at Monza. Our starts have been pretty good this year so there is no reason why we can't be up there in the races." Yamaha will also be represented by the Yamaha Motor France team in Monza. The squad travel to Italy in high spirits after gaining their best results of the season in Valencia, where Norick Abe scored two fourth places and fellow Japanese rider Shinichi Nakatomi scored his first world championship points with a pair of 12ths. The team's other rider, Sebastien Gimbert, returns at Monza after missing Valencia due to his world endurance commitments. As always, Yamaha will be well represented in the supporting classes at Monza. In the Supersport World Championship, Yamaha Motor Germany riders Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes lie second and fourth in the points after three rounds. Italian young guns Massimo Roccoli and Gianluca Vizziello are both running in the top ten of the series and go to Monza having finished first and second in the Italian championship round there last weekend. One rider who will not be present in Monza is last year's FIM Superstock 1000 champion Didier van Keymeulen. The Belgian had been riding a Yamaha YZF-R6 for the Moto 1 squad in world supersport but has split with the team following irreconcilable differences regarding machine and team set-up. Roccoli and Vizziello's Yamaha Team Italia team-mate Claudio Corti was another winner in the national championship race, won the superstock class. After taking a top 10 in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup opener in Valencia, the European Superstock 600 champion is looking for his first world championship win at his home circuit this weekend.
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno