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Rossi recovery foiled in Turkish thriller

Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi made up valuable points in the MotoGP World Championship title chase after charging from eleventh place on the grid to take fourth overall in today's Turkish Grand Prix. Despite making a quick start from his lowly grid position, the Italian made a mistake on lap two and dropped as far back as twelfth. However crucial changes made to the setup of his YZR-M1 before the race then allowed him to pass no fewer than seven riders, as he lapped at the same pace as the leading group over the course of the race. By the time he had made his way through the pack it was too late for the Italian to challenge for the podium but a crash for Dani Pedrosa (Honda) on the final lap boosted his final position to fourth. Today's result makes Rossi the highest point-scorer of all time in the Grand Prix World Championship, overtaking Max Biaggi. Rossi's Camel Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards made a decent start and remained in touch with the leaders for the opening laps but was unable to make any further progress and ended the race in ninth - the same position he had started from on the grid. At the front Marco Melandri (Honda) repeated his win from last season but was pushed all the way by Casey Stoner (Honda), who led the race until three corners from the end, when Melandri made his definitive pass. Nicky Hayden (Honda) was left to snap up the final podium position after Pedrosa's misfortune, the Spanish youngster tumbling out at turn one on the final lap when attacking Melandri and Stoner. Valentino Rossi (4th; + 6.209) "I got a good start off the line but I had been thinking about the first corner incident at Jerez and what had happened to Lorenzo in the 250 race, so I decided to go to the inside and it cost me four or five places. I made the positions back by the end of the first lap but I made a mistake under braking on lap two and lost three seconds and the chance for a podium today. We have had so many problems this weekend but we solved some of them in time for the race with some big modifications after the warm-up this morning and then the bike was okay, especially in the second half of the race when I really enjoyed riding it. It will be interesting to see how much more progress we can make in the test tomorrow because it is a long championship and the most important thing right now is not where we are in the standings or the points difference to the leader - the priority is to get the bike working as we know it can. This is a tough series and when you have problems you don't lose one or two places, you lose ten. It looks like there was a great battle at the front - it's a shame I wasn't involved! Looking at the championship right now I would say the top seven all have a chance to win the title but there is a long way to go yet." Colin Edwards (9th; + 22.847) "We didn't get it done at all this weekend and we need to sit down and work out why. It was always going to be a tough race today but I just didn't have the feeling or confidence with the bike to go out and battle with the guys we should be running with, which is the front group. We've got a test tomorrow and I'm keen to get out there and get as many laps in as possible. It's hard to overcome problems like the ones we're experiencing now because you don't get enough time during a Grand Prix weekend, so we'll get as much data together as we can before China. We simply have to come up with something for there because this situation can't go on for any longer." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "Looking at Valentino's race pace he could have easily been on the podium today, or even won the race, which is a big plus point for us considering the problems we have had. On lap three he was seven seconds down but he finished closer to the winner than that, despite having to fight past so many riders. Even so this has not been a satisfactory weekend for us and we know we still have a lot of work to do, starting in tomorrow's test. We have two very positive riders and this mood runs all the way through the team, so we will be working very hard tomorrow. The changes we made to Valentino's bike today are encouraging but now we have to further this development. It was a tough Grand Prix but we have come out of it with many positives." Disappointing weekend for Tech 3 Yamaha Team The variable weather conditions that prevailed over the Istanbul Park Circuit during the Grand Prix of Turkey, cast a giant cloud over the efforts of the Tech 3 Yamaha Team that contributed to a disappointing weekend for all involved. After the improvement of the previous Grand Prix in Qatar, Carlos Checa and James Ellison were determined to continue the momentum but their efforts over the three days were not rewarded as they finished in 15th and 18th positions, respectively. However dark the cloud may appear, there was a silver lining as the unpredictable conditions ensured that the team logged important data to furnish the team's tyre supplier, Dunlop, for the remaining 14 rounds of the 2006 season. Carlos Checa (15th; + 59.855) "We started the race with a completely new setup starting from zero again and trying a new tyre so we didn't know what to expect. I had a good start and pushed hard but on the third lap I lost the front and ran off the track. I tired again but I had another slide and decided to back off a little and settle into a good rhythm to save the tyre. This worked a little as I was able to get my fastest lap near the end of the race. I also had some trouble with my shoulder near the finish as there are so many left hand corners here. "'It wasn't the best setup but with so much time lost we had to make a decision and unfortunately we went the wrong way. The way the weekend went I am not very happy but like I keep saying, this is a development year for Dunlop in MotoGP and it is most important that we supply them with as much information as possible so they can progress. When they go forward, we go forward and that is the main aim. That will help us as the season continues with the next race in China, and hopefully, my shoulder will be 100% by then." James Ellison (18th; + 1 lap) "It's like I'm making excuses all the time and its getting tiring but we haven't found a proper setting to start with. It's no one's fault as we're all working hard to try and find what we're looking for. It's not just us either as all four Yamaha riders seem to be struggling to find a decent setup. I thought for sure after the progress we make in Qatar we would have an even better weekend here and get a decent result. "On Friday we knew which direction to go, but I think, as it wasn't as warm today as on Friday it didn't help us. It's a combination of getting things to work and unfortunately the combination we tried today didn't work. I'm really disappointed." Herve Poncharal - Tech 3 Yamaha Team Director "It was certainly a tough weekend but the positive point is that we worked hard with dry tyres on day one, we did the same with the wet tyres on day two and we have given a lot of useful information to Dunlop. "Truthfully the race was not as bad as it looks. We were consistently quicker in the race than we were on Friday and Carlos's last laps were his fastest. Sure it wasn't fast enough but Carlos is still having problems with his left shoulder and we go out of here with some ideas of how to improve. "I can't say we are happy to finish where we were but I think we have been working quite well and I want to thank Carlos for being very constructive and very positive. With a rider like him I'm sure we can go forward and improve."    Race classification MotoGP Round: 3 - 2006 MotoGP Turkey Circuit: Istanbul Circuit Length: 5378 Lap Record: 1' 52.877 (Toni Elias, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever:  1' 52.334 (Sete Gibernau, 2005) Race: 22 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   M. Melandri Honda  ITA  41' 54.065  2   C. Stoner Honda  AUS  +0.200  3   N. Hayden Honda  USA  +5.458  4   V. Rossi Yamaha  ITA  +6.209  5   T. Elias Honda  ESP  +6.587  6   L. Capirossi Ducati  ITA  +16.682  7   C. Vermeulen Suzuki  AUS  +16.777  8   S. Nakano Kawasaki  JPN  +21.537  9   C. Edwards Yamaha  USA  +22.847  10   M. Tamada Honda  JPN  +30.483  11   S. Gibernau Ducati  ESP  +30.543  12   R. De Puniet Kawasaki  FRA  +34.284  13   K. Roberts Team Roberts KR  USA  +45.112  14   D. Pedrosa Honda  ESP  +53.525  15   C. Checa Yamaha  ESP  +59.855  16   A. Hofmann Ducati  GER  +1' 1.241  17   J. Hopkins Suzuki  USA  +1' 38.628  18   J. Ellison Yamaha  GBR  +1 lap(s)  Fastest Race Lap:   Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   T. Elias Honda  ESP  1' 52.877  Championship standings MotoGP Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Nicky Hayden Honda  USA 52  2   Loris Capirossi Ducati  ITA 51  3   Marco Melandri Honda  ITA 45  4   Casey Stoner Honda  AUS 41  5   Valentino Rossi Yamaha  ITA 40  6   Daniel Pedrosa Honda  ESP 32  7   Toni Elias Honda  ESP 32  8   Shinya Nakano Kawasaki  JPN 22  9   Colin Edwards Yamaha  USA 19  10   Sete Gibernau Ducati  ESP 18  11   Kenny Roberts Team Roberts KR  USA 17  12   Makato Tamada Honda  JPN 14  13   Chris Vermeulen Suzuki  AUS 13  14   Carlos Checa Yamaha  ESP 8  15   John Hopkins Suzuki  USA 7  17   James Ellison Yamaha  GBR 3  Manufacturers standings MotoGP Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Honda 65  2  Ducati 51  3  Yamaha 43  4  Kawasaki 22  5  Team Roberts KR 17  6  Suzuki 16  Team standings MotoGP Pos. Team Points  1  Repsol Honda Team 84  2  Fortuna Honda Team 77  3  Ducati Marlboro Team 69  4  Camel Yamaha Team 59  5  Honda LCR 41  6  Kawasaki Racing Team 26  7  Rizla Suzuki 20  8  Team Roberts KR 17  9  Konica Minolta Honda 14  10  Tech3 Yamaha 11  11  Pramac D'Antin 2
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Camel Yamaha Team progress dampened in Istanbul

Local weather forecasts predicting heavy rain for today's qualifying session at the Grand Prix of Turkey were borne out today as an early downfall and intermittent afternoon showers thwarted the Camel Yamaha Team's hopes of improving their YZR-M1 machines ahead of tomorrow's 22-lap race. After struggling to find an ideal setting for the demanding Istanbul Park circuit in yesterday's free practices, both Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi had hoped to complete some dry laps before this afternoon's crucial grid decider but they were forced to splash their way through the puddles and battle hard for ninth and eleventh place respectively. Edwards' cause wasn't helped by a heavy fall in the morning session, which left him nursing several bruised joints, whilst Rossi has yet to get comfortable with his bike in either wet or dry conditions. For the second successive race, pole position went to an Australian rookie as Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) showed impressive wet pace with a fastest lap of 2'04.617, holding off the challenge of yesterday's pacesetter Nicky Hayden (Honda) and Sete Gibernau (Ducati), who complete the front row. Colin Edwards (9th - 2'07.334, 21 laps) "I had a big highside this morning and came down heavily on my head, shoulders and knee. It was pretty painful but after two laps back on the bike you soon forget about that. To be honest I felt quite comfortable in the wet but if we want to be competitive in this race we have to find another two seconds from somewhere and I'm not quite sure where at the moment. Our tyre rivals seem to have an advantage but I also have to say 'hats off' to Nicky Hayden - I'm not sure how close he was to ending one of those laps on the floor but he showed that Michelin have a good wet tyre so we clearly need to find the performance from our own bike. Wet or dry we have to pull a result out from somewhere tomorrow, but after this afternoon's session I'm definitely keeping my fingers crossed for sunshine in the morning." Valentino Rossi (11th - 2'07.552, 20 laps) "We're having a lot of difficulty, not just at this track but during this period. Unfortunately the problem with the bike came late in the pre-season and we have not had time yet to fully understand it. It means we are off the pace here in the wet and the dry, but we don't completely understand why. It seems that our tyre competitor is strong here but we can't blame this. Nicky Hayden was very fast all day and after him the next Michelin rider is Casey Stoner; with the amount of MotoGP experience he has in these conditions we should be in front of him. I'm surprised, because last year our bike was really good in the wet and after the new bike worked so well at Catalunya during the rainy pre-season tests I was confident it would be good today as well, but it has been the opposite. I don't have enough confidence in the front to lean the bike over as much as I would like on the entry to the corners and not enough grip on the rear to make it up on the exit. If it's dry tomorrow then we have some things to try in the morning, but if the conditions are the same as today then it's going to be very hard for us." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "We are clearly in a very difficult situation at the moment and we need to first understand our problems before we can work to improve them. The engineers are looking at the data as we speak and seeing if we can come up with something for tomorrow. Our team have shown in the past that they are capable of producing quick solutions and I have full confidence in them; somehow we have to find a better performance in the wet and in the dry conditions."  Rain causews frusrtation in qualifying for Tech 3 Yamaha Team The overcast skies and showers that greeted the Tech 3 Yamaha Team at the Istanbul Park circuit today caused many headaches as they searched for a suitable set-up in the miserable conditions at the undulating track. Rainwater pooled at various places on the track during today's sessions, making riding treacherous, but Carlos Checa and team mate James Ellison were determined to work through a variety of options in order to find the best race set-up. Despite their hard work, the contrasting elements over the two days of practice and qualifying conspired to hamper their attempts for a satisfactory solution, and the pair could only manage 15th and 19th positions respectively for tomorrow's 22-lap race. Carlos Checa (15th 2'10.322, 20 laps) "The rain caused many problems for me and I can't say I'm very happy with my qualifying position. We had some settings for the dry to try today but the bad weather changed all of it. If the rain is still here tomorrow it will be important to get a good start to improve my position early. If we can do that and with the direction we are heading in, with our choice of tyres and set-up, we have a chance of a good result. This morning we seemed to have found a good direction in the very wet conditions and this afternoon wasn't so wet but we also made some more good progress, but as I said I am not really happy with the final result. We should remember that Dunlop haven't got very much experience with wet weather tyres on MotoGP bikes, but I think that no matter what the conditions are we have made positive improvements ahead of the race." James Ellison (19th 2:12.298 19 laps) "I would be lying if I said I was happy. With the amount of water on the track and the slower times it was impossible for the tyres to hold their heat on the straight so that made it very difficult when I wanted to start pushing hard into the corners. Dunlop is learning all the time and that is part of being with one of those teams that are developing tyres at the same time. With the feedback we are giving them, I'm confident that it will work well for us in the future considering the experience the other tyre manufacturers have in all conditions." Herve Poncharal - Tech 3 Yamaha Team Director "It was a good chance to have a proper wet tyre test with many tyres to choose from and we proved to be quite competitive. We now have some useful information for Dunlop in our wet weather tyre development. I am confident that we will have a better result in the race than we have had in the dry and wet sessions of the last two days, because we know now which direction to go, even though we did not have enough time to test everything that we wished to."    Round: 3 - 2006 MotoGP Turkey Circuit: Istanbul Circuit Length: 5378 Lap Record: 1' 53.111 (Marco Melandri, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 52.334 (Sete Gibernau, 2005) Date: 29 April 2006 Temp: 12ºC Session 1 :  Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat.  1st Qualifying 1  C. Vermeulen  Suzuki  AUS   2' 4.617   2  N. Hayden  Honda  USA   2' 4.823   3  S. Gibernau  Ducati  ESP   2' 5.003   4  L. Capirossi  Ducati  ITA   2' 5.540   5  J. Hopkins  Suzuki  USA   2' 5.700   6  R. De Puniet  Kawasaki  FRA   2' 6.102   7  C. Stoner  Honda  AUS   2' 7.277   8  S. Nakano  Kawasaki  JPN   2' 7.294   9  C. Edwards  Yamaha  USA   2' 7.344   10  K. Roberts  Team Roberts KR  USA   2' 7.345   11  V. Rossi  Yamaha  ITA   2' 7.552   12  T. Elias  Honda  ESP   2' 7.763   13  M. Tamada  Honda  JPN   2' 8.143   14  M. Melandri  Honda  ITA   2' 8.393   15  D. Pedrosa  Honda  ESP   2' 10.956   16  C. Checa  Yamaha  ESP   2' 10.956   19  J. Ellison  Yamaha  GBR   2' 12.298
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Tricky first day for Camel Yamaha in Istanbul

Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards spent the first day of practice for the Grand Prix of Turkey gathering important set-up data after encountering different track conditions to those they enjoyed here season. With this year's event taking place some six months earlier than the inaugural race here last October, overcast skies contributed to cool ambient temperatures of 20ºC and produced low grip levels on track, where Nicky Hayden (Honda) set the free practice pace with a best lap of 1'53.623.  Rossi adapted swiftly to the conditions in the morning and set the third fastest time of the opening practice, but he struggled to make any significant improvements in the afternoon and ended up eleventh on the overall time sheets. Edwards, meanwhile, was sixth fastest in both sessions - improving his lap time in the afternoon by 1.4 seconds. With plenty of work still to do the only worry for the riders now is the threat of rain, with dark clouds hovering over the circuit and local forecasts predicting a downfall tomorrow. Colin Edwards (1'54.042, 38 laps) "We started out with the base setting from Qatar but it didn't work very well for us here. Basically we then decided to go with a newer front tyre than the one we've been using in testing and it went much better. Combined with a few tweaks to the suspension I built up my confidence in the front and I was able to lay down some good lap times. In the end we put a pretty consistent run together and I'm happy. We're still getting some vibrations but it's only in a couple of corners and we can work around them with more time on the bike tomorrow; hopefully it will stay dry. The track was really dirty this morning but it started to clean up in the afternoon. If it stays dry then the grip should improve as the weekend goes on, but they're saying it might rain so I guess we'll have to wait and see." Valentino Rossi (1'54.662, 43 laps) "This morning we were fast straight away and this was quite encouraging. We were third and we thought that we would be able to continue in this way during the afternoon. However we made some modifications in order to improve the acceleration and unfortunately we lost a lot of grip in braking. In fact our lap times were more or less the same in the afternoon but the track was about half a second faster - this morning it was quite dirty - and now we are in 11th place. I am a bit worried but also quite positive because we made some changes at the end of the session, back towards this morning's settings, and we improved a lot and set our fastest lap of the day. So far we don't have any vibration and so we hope that it won't appear tomorrow if the grip improves." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "In the morning things went well for Valentino and in the afternoon they went well for Colin so you could say we had a balanced day! The good news is that we have been able to work as we would on a normal weekend, without the distractions caused by the problems we experienced in the first race. We collected a lot of good information today that we can put to use tomorrow and find a way forward with the set-up of the bikes. The only question mark is the rain so the only thing we ask for is at least a few dry laps so that we can evaluate the solutions we come up with tonight. Valentino lost his feeling a little bit this afternoon but we will compare the data from the whole day and find the best way to work tomorrow."  Opening day brings highs and lows for Tech 3 Yamaha Team in Turkey The opening day of the third Grand Prix of 2006 at the sensational Istanbul Park circuit proved challenging for Tech 3 Yamaha Team riders Carlos Checa and James Ellison, and the pair finished the day 16th and 17th respectively after the two Free Practice sessions. Despite some set-up troubles, both riders however found some positive aspects from the day and Checa is happy to be almost fully fit again after an injury affected the start of his campaign. The Spaniard is now in a determined frame of mind to get back to the sterling performances he exhibited in pre-season testing. Ellison, meanwhile, showed that he is becoming more comfortable with the Yamaha YZR-M1 as his times get closer to his more experienced team-mate at every outing. Carlos Checa (1'56.838, 42 laps) "Today wasn't the best day. We've been testing the front tyres for a different setting but nothing seems to make a big difference to our times. Hopefully we will find a good direction for tomorrow, especially in the fast areas of the track. We are having a bit of trouble with the grip from the rear, but it seems to be the same for everyone. The Dunlop people are working hard to give us what we desire and every race the tyres are improving. It is only early in the season so I believe it won't be too long before we are a lot closer. I am confident working with Dunlop and hopefully we can get better tyres as soon as possible. My shoulder has improved so much since Qatar which is encouraging, although I still do not have full strength, especially under hard braking." James Ellison (1'56.943, 40 laps) "Today hasn't been too bad to be honest, although it hasn't been as good as we had hoped. We have made steady progress as we're tweaking things here and there. It's a completely different circuit to Qatar so we have a lot to work on but we'll make a few changes to improve the balance. I love this circuit. It is one of my favourite tracks, along with Laguna Seca and Phillip Island, so that helps when it comes to getting things done. With the layout, it has a bit of everything - especially the fast right hander. Doing nearly 300km/h with your knee on the deck and the bike moving underneath you is something very special. Hopefully tomorrow we can make some more progress with our race set-up and set some faster times." Herve Poncharal - Tech 3 Yamaha Team Director "Today was not easy in places. The position on the sheets isn't too important but we have to find some solutions. Carlos has almost recovered from the physical problem at Qatar with his left shoulder, which is encouraging, but we're still not at our full potential. We are quite happy with what is happening with Dunlop and they are working hard. They are listening and bringing new products to every race but at the end of the day we are fighting with two other brands that have been here much, much longer than Dunlop. There are also a lot more riders that can give them feedback and more data to work with. We knew this before we started the season, but we have confidence in Dunlop's capacity. It is only the third race and they have come from nowhere in MotoGP because it the first year for them with a factory machine. We are really not that far away and we will continue fighting. Tomorrow is another day and hopefully we will be in a better position for the race, come Sunday."    Round: 3 - 2006 MotoGP Turkey Circuit: Istanbul Circuit Length: 5378 Lap Record: 1' 53.111 (Marco Melandri, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 52.334 (Sete Gibernau, 2005) Date: 28 April 2006 Temp: 20ºC Session 1 :  Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat.  1st Qualifying 1  N. Hayden  Honda  USA   1' 53.623   2  C. Stoner  Honda  AUS   1' 53.861   3  M. Melandri  Honda  ITA   1' 53.971   4  D. Pedrosa  Honda  ESP   1' 54.001   5  T. Elias  Honda  ESP   1' 54.022   6  C. Edwards  Yamaha  USA   1' 54.042   7  L. Capirossi  Ducati  ITA   1' 54.055   8  J. Hopkins  Suzuki  USA   1' 54.277   9  S. Gibernau  Ducati  ESP   1' 54.279   10  M. Tamada  Honda  JPN   1' 54.422   11  V. Rossi  Yamaha  ITA   1' 54.662   12  C. Vermeulen  Suzuki  AUS   1' 54.722   13  S. Nakano  Kawasaki  JPN   1' 54.967   14  K. Roberts  Team Roberts KR  USA   1' 55.179   15  R. De Puniet  Kawasaki  FRA   1' 55.700   16  C. Checa  Yamaha  ESP   1' 56.838   17  J. Ellison  Yamaha  GBR   1' 56.943 
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Rossi set for 100th MotoGP appearance in Turkey

Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi reaches another special milestone in his illustrious career this weekend as he contests his 100th consecutive premier-class race in the Grand Prix of Turkey. The Italian and his team-mate Colin Edwards travel to the Istanbul Park circuit, located 300 kilometres north west of the capital city of Ankara, looking to build on tentative first impressions of the track from last year, when they finished second and seventh respectively in a race won by Marco Melandri. The third round of the current season will also be Rossi's 160th appearance in all classes since making his 125cc debut in Malaysia in 1996. So far he has amassed an incredible tally of 80 victories, his latest coming just over two weeks ago in the Grand Prix of Qatar; a triumph that also moved the 27-year-old level with Mick Doohan on 54 premier-class wins, leaving him second only to the legendary Giacomo Agostini, on 68. The Istanbul Park circuit was designed by famed German architect Hermann Tilke, the man behind the Sepang, Bahrain and Shanghai circuits, and was used for the first time by the MotoGP World Championship last October. The spectacular 5.378 kilometre track features fourteen turns - eight lefts and six rights - and like Phillip Island it has the unusual characteristic of running anti-clockwise. Like the Losail circuit in Qatar, several of the Istanbul track's corners are based on famous bends at other circuits, such as the 'Senna Esses' at Sao Paolo, the 'Spoon Curve' at Suzuka and the 'Eau Rouge' at Spa. Spectators have ideal facilities to enjoy the action, with seating capacity for around 130,000 fans and an impressive main grandstand which can hold up to 25,000. Sunday's schedule will start one hour later than usual, with the red lights due to go out for the MotoGP race at 1500h local time (CET +1). Valentino Rossi: Record Breaker As well as taking him level with Mick Doohan in terms of career wins, Valentino Rossi's victory at Qatar also pulled him to within striking distance of the all-time record Grand Prix points total, currently held by Max Biaggi. Having now scored a total of 2886 points in all classes Rossi will move ahead of Biaggi simply by finishing in ninth place or above this Sunday. However, as always, his only target is victory at one of only two circuits on the current calendar where he has yet to climb onto the top step of the podium in at least one of the three classes. "Qatar was like the start of my championship but we're already behind in the points and we need to do our best to catch up," said Rossi. "My rivals are very strong and we need to be able to fight for the win again in Turkey. Istanbul isn't one of my favourite tracks and we had a really hard time there last year - we had already won the championship and it was difficult to stay 100% focused at that stage of the season, plus we had some set-up problems with the bike. This time we go there feeling fully motivated. "We don't know how the new bike will react at this circuit; I hope that it will go well and that we won't have any vibration problems. There are some fantastic fast corners so if the bike is working well it could be great fun to ride there. We tested again after Qatar and we made some improvements, and although we still haven't completely solved our problems hopefully even if they do reappear at some stage, we're going to be able to cope with them better now." Colin Edwards: Hard work will pay off Colin Edwards is keen to get to Turkey this weekend as he aims to convert the fast and consistent pace he has shown during pre-season testing and Grand Prix practice sessions into a solid race result. Eleventh and ninth place finishes from the first two rounds have not been a true reflection of the Texan's efforts this year and he is keen to turn things around at a circuit he admits he struggled to get to grips with last season. "I have to say I wasn't too enamoured with the track when we rode it last October but I was busy trying to adapt to a new riding style at the time and it didn't make life easier," says Edwards. "This time my riding style is sorted out but we still have a few problems with the bike so we'll have to see how it goes. I was very disappointed with the way things went in Qatar but it has been nice to have an extra weekend off over Easter to mull things over and I can't wait to get out and put it right on the track. "So far this season we've been strong in practice - if anything just struggling a little bit to make the step up on a qualifying tyre but in general the pace on race tyres has been good. We were unlucky at Jerez and I was really confident of a good result in Qatar but we came up against a few problems in the race that hadn't bothered us in practice. The day of tests after the race gave us some good data to work from and hopefully things run smoothly from day one in Turkey." Davide Brivio: An interesting challenge Camel Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio sees this weekend's race as the ideal opportunity to measure early development of the 2006 version YZR-M1 machine at another challenging and demanding venue. After overcoming initial problems in Qatar to end the weekend with a victory for Valentino, the Italian is hoping for more of the same from his team in Turkey and expects the timing of this year's race to favour a more fruitful outcome than last October's event at the same circuit. "Last year Istanbul Park was one of the circuits where we had the most difficulties but that Grand Prix was the penultimate of the season, when everything was already won," explains Brivio. "It will be interesting to see how we go this time around, with the race at the beginning of the year and coming at a time when we really need to get some points for both riders. "It will be a challenging weekend because we still have to fix the problems that we have had with the 2006 version of the YZR-M1. We will test again on Monday in Istanbul after the race, in order to further try to improve the bike. Despite these issues, we showed in Qatar that we can already be competitive and now we have to take that to Turkey. Valentino's win has given the whole team and the engineers a real boost and the motivation is definitely there to try to win again in Turkey." Technically speaking: Anrea Zugna on Istanbul Like all Herman Tilke tracks, Istanbul Park possesses a wide variety of corners and the challenge is further enhanced by plenty of gradients, with the track built on four different ground levels. However, by far the most exciting feature of the layout is turn eleven - a fifth gear bend that is taken at speeds approaching 270km/h, making it easily the fastest corner in the MotoGP World Championship. Combined with some of the tightest chicanes on the calendar, the key to set-up at Istanbul Park is about making compromises. "Istanbul is a tricky circuit because it has some of the fastest corners in the world combined with some of the slowest," explains Andrea Zugna, Colin Edwards' Data Engineer. "In turn eleven you need good stability at high speed to give the rider the confidence he needs to attack the corner, but from turn twelve to the end of the lap you have three very slow chicanes which require good agility; so you have to find a balanced set-up between those two characteristics. "This track is also unique because of the changes of elevation. For example turn one dips downhill before going immediately up again, creating a lot of compression on the front forks. The rider's skill is also very important because there is only really one racing line and they must find it - especially through the three consecutive lefts in the middle of the lap, where it is also very bumpy. It is important that they have confidence in the front through here. Last year Colin struggled a little because it was the first time he used his new riding style but his pace in practice was good and his fastest lap came towards the end of the race so we know the data is good. Hopefully it will make life a little easier this weekend!" 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: 159 (99 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 Istanbul Lap Record: Marco Melandri (Honda) 2005 - 1'53.111 Istanbul Best Lap: Sete Gibernau (Honda) 2005 - 1'52.334 2005 Results: 1. Marco Melandri (Honda) 41'44.139 2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +1.513 3. Nicky Hayden (Honda) +6.873 7. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +29.255
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

MX1 : Victory 90 for Everts after Portuguese thriller

Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team rider Stefan Everts steered his YZ450FM to a sixth consecutive victory and the third this season today at a warm Grand Prix of Portugal and the Agueda circulated populated by 15,500 spectators. It was the 90th career success for the reigning number one and came after a gripping first moto tussle with Sebastien Tortelli (KTM).  The third round of fifteen in the 2006 FIM MX1 World Championship took place in good weather conditions with sunshine and decent temperatures bathing the fifth and sixth motos of the season. Only 24 hours early the climate had been quite different. Hard rain throughout Friday night and some more showers Saturday forced the FIM to shrink the Saturday practice timetable to conserve the sodden track. With only one free practice before the 30 minute qualification 33-year-old Everts sealed the third fastest lap time. The track was dry and rough for the opening moto and the various ruts provided a nice technical contrast to the faster sections of the course. The first outing of the day was a classic and one of the best performances by Everts in several years. The Belgian fought all race long with Sebastien Tortelli and produced what has to be considered as a contender for the 'over-taking move of the season' by leaping past the Frenchman cresting a jump-on-the-turn to regain the lead early in lap ten. Tortelli kept applying pressure but Everts was faultless and needed to be. Eventually the Frenchman made a mistake on the final circulation and crashed giving the reigning number one an easy passage to the chequered flag. In the second race Everts was fourth going around the second corner but attacked aggressively and passed leader Tortelli in the same bend as earlier in the day. The Frenchman crashed shortly afterwards and dislocated his hip. The severity of the injury is unknown but if he is forced to miss the next Grand Prix then it will leave Everts in a strong position in terms of the Championship. Alone at the front he controlled the moto by a relatively comfortable margin over Jonathan Barragan (KTM). Cedric Melotte continues to find his speed after a pre-season wrist injury but the friendly Belgian suffered with two bad starts and a second moto crash today. The 27-year-old had to dispel a lot of energy to come back from a lowly position in the first moto to ninth and then fell on the tight second corner of the second race and was far behind the field before deciding to retire after another spill. Stefan now heads Tanel Leok (Kawasaki) by 27 points in the world championship standings. After two consecutive rounds within the Iberian Peninsula the fourth test of the series will take place in a fortnight at the Teutschenthal circuit for the Karcher Grand Prix of Germany. Stefan Everts: "It has been a hard day for me, especially with that first moto. I was in the lead but Sebastien was there the whole race and pushing me. I had to ride defensively because I know he is very aggressive and could try anything. The moment he passed me I got him back going up the hill and I think that was an important move that decided the rest of the race. In the second moto I was very aggressive on the first lap and could pass Sebastien in the same place. I tried to pull away but the moment I saw him on the ground I lost my concentration and couldn't really find my rhythm or pace. Jonathan followed me hard and I know he is very fit. It was another tough race but I am happy with this double victory." Cedric Melotte: "I don't know what happened today but it was not a good weekend for me. My jumps were not bad out of the gate but everybody closed me off on the first turn and that happened twice. I had two bad starts and the track was not good for passing. I tried to come back in the first race and ended up ninth; I know I can do better than that but I was feeling a bit lost out there. In the second heat I crashed on the second corner with Brian and took a long time to get going again. I tried hard to come back but lost the front wheel. It was hard to restart again and finally I decided to stop. It was a weekend without any luck and I just want to focus on the next GP now." Carlo Rinaldi: "It was a very good day on Stefan's side as once again he proved that he wants to beat everybody, even if it means riding defensively like he did in the first moto. It looked like Tortelli had a bit more than him but he rode with a good strategy and in a smart way. In the second moto he was quickly in the lead and tried to manage the gap with Barragan but was not riding so well or as smooth as he usually is. It was a bad day for Cedric and I feel very sorry for him because he needs some good results. It was very difficult to come back on this track." NB: In the last few years the manufacturer standings were calculated by FIM based upon the total GP result (combined overall standings after two motos), with 25 points for the manufacturer winning the overall GP. This was remarkable as riders can win 25 points per heat, and therefore a maximum of 50 points per GP. As per 2006 the manufacturer standings of FIM are based upon the same calculations as for the riders championship: for each heat manufacturer points are to be gained, regardless of the overall GP position.   Race classification MX1 Round: 3 - 2006 GP of Agueda, Portugal Circuit: Agueda Race: 21 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Everts Yamaha  BEL  40' 11.933  2   S. Tortelli KTM  FRA  +20.727  3   K. De Dycker Honda  BEL  +33.544  4   K. Strijbos Suzuki  BEL  +40.260  5   J. Barragan KTM  ESP  +44.074  6   T. Leok Kawasaki  EST  +49.921  7   S. Ramon Suzuki  BEL  +54.458  8   J. Noble Honda  GBR  +1' 19.327  9   C. Melotte Yamaha  BEL  +1' 25.116  10   S. Sword Kawasaki  GBR  +1' 28.637  11   J. Garcia Vico Honda  ESP  +1' 30.252  12   G. Crockard Honda  GBR  +1' 30.862  13   M. Priem Yamaha  BEL  +1' 33.701  14   B. Jorgensen Honda  DNK  +1' 36.929  15   P. Leuret  Honda  FRA  +1' 42.669  16   M. Van Daele Honda  BEL  +1' 50.107  17   J. Bill Yamaha  GBR  +1' 52.142  18   A. Pyrhonen TM  FIN  +2' 5.337  19   C. Federici Kawasaki  ITA  +1 lap(s)  20   L. Freibergs Suzuki  LVA  +1 lap(s)  Race 2: 21 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Everts Yamaha  BEL  39' 23.754  2   J. Barragan KTM  ESP  +5.746  3   K. Strijbos Suzuki  BEL  +11.695  4   T. Leok Kawasaki  EST  +18.728  5   K. De Dycker Honda  BEL  +22.443  6   M. Priem Yamaha  BEL  +29.741  7   J. Bill Yamaha  GBR  +50.317  8   P. Leuret  Honda  FRA  +1' 1.967  9   W. Avis KTM  RSA  +1' 9.310  10   A. Pyrhonen TM  FIN  +1' 15.542  11   J. Garcia Vico Honda  ESP  +1' 18.807  12   L. Freibergs Suzuki  LVA  +1' 21.424  13   G. Crockard Honda  GBR  +1' 30.916  14   D. Theybers Suzuki  BEL  +1' 34.707  15   A. Salvini Suzuki  ITA  +1' 37.602  16   J. Lindhe KTM  SWE  +1' 38.460  17   M. Van Daele Honda  BEL  +1' 39.379  18   S. Sword Kawasaki  GBR  +1' 40.329  19   K. Salaets Yamaha  BEL  +1' 40.598  20   B. Jorgensen Honda  DNK  +1' 48.115  Championship standings MX1 Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Stefan Everts Yamaha  BEL 142  2   Tanel Leok Kawasaki  EST 115  3   Sebastien Tortelli KTM  FRA 99  4   Kevin Strijbos Suzuki  BEL 98  5   Ken De Dycker Honda  BEL 97  6   Jonathan Barragan KTM  ESP 97  7   Steve Ramon Suzuki  BEL 83  8   Cedric Melotte Yamaha  BEL 66  9   Pascal Leuret  Honda  FRA 65  10   Manuel Priem Yamaha  BEL 53  11   Stephen Sword Kawasaki  GBR 51  12   Javier Garcia Vico Honda  ESP 44  13   James Noble Honda  GBR 42  14   Antti Pyrhonen TM  FIN 41  15   Julien Bill Yamaha  GBR 39  16   Marvin Van Daele Honda  BEL 30  17   Brian Jorgensen Honda  DNK 27  18   Danny Theybers Suzuki  BEL 25  19   Wyatt Avis KTM  RSA 18  20   Gordon Crockard Honda  GBR 16  Manufacturers standings MX1 Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Yamaha 142  2  KTM 125  3  Suzuki 121  4  Kawasaki 115  5  Honda 97  6  TM 41    MX2 : Cairoli takes first podium of the season Round: 3 - 2006 GP of Agueda, Portugal Circuit: Agueda Date: 23 April 2006 Crowd: 15500 Temp: 20ºC Weather: Changeable MX2 World Champion Antonio Cairoli was third overall today at Agueda for the Portuguese Grand Prix. The De Carli Yamaha representative made the perfect start in the first moto and defended a slender margin ahead of Kawasaki's Christophe Pourcel for the entire race distance. It was his second consecutive moto win after success in Spain last week, but, like the meeting at Bellpuig, the Italian was luckless in the other half of the Grand Prix and was the victim of a collision entering the first turn that caused him to crash and restart last. The world champion showed considerable skill on a layout that was difficult to pass on, rising to 10th - good enough to take his first top three result of the year. The track was very rough and dry after sunny spells on Saturday and clear blue skies throughout race day. The Grand Prix had begun under a dark cloud - literally - as heavy rain battered the circuit through Friday night and forced the MX2 qualification heats to be scrapped in favour of a 30 minute timed practice period. Thankfully the weather did not play further havoc and 15,500 spectators attended encouraged by a decent forecast. Kenneth Gunderson had taken his first podium since 2002 at Zolder and proceeded to notch a moto victory at Bellpuig last week for the first time in three years. The Norwegian was in no condition to play the role of protagonist on this occasion however after feeling sick all weekend. He started well in moto1 and was briefly as high as third but faded back to 12th and had to be assisted into the medical centre for a saline drip. In moto two he tried to gather some points but had to pull out after eight laps. Bike it Dixon Yamaha's Billy Mackenzie was sixth overall. The 22-year-old Scot had marked his first career Grand Prix podium at the same venue for the 2005 Grand Prix of Portugal and was the second Yamaha home in moto one after just being beaten to a possible fifth position by the KTMs of Carl Nunn and David Philippaerts; the trio crossed the line only three seconds apart. In the second moto he was slightly off the pace and had to fend off British championship rival Tommy Searle for sixth. Former three times world champion Alessio Chiodi was the second best Yamaha rider with fifth overall. The veteran was pass the chequered flag in eighth after finally managing to get the better of Rui Goncalves and Searle. The Italian was not assisted by a poor jump from the gate that placed him mid-pack on the opening lap. Later in the day he made a better launch from the line and rode safely to third. Davide Guarneri was again unfortunate after a crash caused him to retire in moto one. He was 15th in moto two. Cairoli is now fourth in the series standings and 39 points behind Tyla Rattray who won for the third consecutive GP. Chiodi is fifth and Mackenzie is tied in seventh. The world championship will reconvene after a one week break at Teutschenthal for the Karcher Grand Prix of Germany on May 7th. Antonio Cairoli, De Carli Yamaha: "The first race was good for me but I am not happy about the second because of the crash at the start. I pushed so hard to close the gap to the other riders and take positions but this track was not an easy one for overtaking. I finished tenth which was OK but it was not a good day for me. Race after race we are getting better and faster. I want to fight with Tyla and he is a very fast rider. We need to be stronger at the start because I showed that I have the speed." Kenneth Gunderson, Ricci Racing: "I don't know what the problem is now but I know I am sick. I need to see a doctor on Tuesday and find out what's wrong. I think it must be a virus or something because I could push for two laps and then after that I was completely finished. I tried in the first moto to get some points but in the second it was impossible." Alessio Chiodi, Ricci Racing: "The first moto was all about a bad start and the track made it difficult to pass. The other riders were fast and it was difficult to catch them. Finishing 8th was not so good and I understood where I needed to improve. In the second moto I was riding with more confidence. My rhythm was fast and I could take third. The track was difficult because in some places you had grip and in others not and it was very rough. I am about 80 per cent satisfied with the result today."     Race classification MX2 Round: 3 - 2006 GP of Agueda, Portugal Circuit: Agueda Race: 22 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   A. Cairoli Yamaha  ITA  40' 13.833  2   C. Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA  +0.890  3   T. Rattray KTM  RSA  +19.172  4   M. De Reuver KTM  NED  +33.150  5   C. Nunn KTM  GBR  +47.112  6   D. Philippaerts KTM  ITA  +48.536  7   B. MacKenzie Yamaha  GBR  +50.388  8   A. Chiodi Yamaha  ITA  +54.435  9   R. Goncalves KTM  POR  +1' 5.476  10   T. Searle Kawasaki  GBR  +1' 8.568  11   G. Swanepoel Kawasaki  RSA  +1' 12.363  12   K. Gundersen Yamaha  SWE  +1' 26.011  13   M. Seistola Honda  FIN  +1' 28.273  14   A. Boissière Yamaha  FRA  +1' 29.044  15   P A. Renet Honda  FRA  +1' 50.163  16   N. Aubin Kawasaki  FRA  +1' 31.498  17   M. Monni KTM  ITA  +1 lap(s)  18   M. Schiffer KTM  GER  +1 lap(s)  19   J. Wing KTM  SWE  +1 lap(s)  20   X. Hernandez Yamaha  ESP  +1 lap(s)  Race 2: 21 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   T. Rattray KTM  RSA  39' 11.834  2   C. Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA  +8.857  3   A. Chiodi Yamaha  ITA  +17.681  4   P. Caps Honda  BEL  +22.236  5   M. De Reuver KTM  NED  +25.641  6   B. MacKenzie Yamaha  GBR  +27.180  7   T. Searle Kawasaki  GBR  +30.227  8   C. Nunn KTM  GBR  +32.700  9   G. Swanepoel Kawasaki  RSA  +35.124  10   A. Cairoli Yamaha  ITA  +45.236  11   L. Seguy Yamaha  FRA  +50.739  12   A. Boissière Yamaha  FRA  +58.974  13   S. Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA  +1' 4.029  14   M. Nagl KTM  GER  +1' 5.196  15   D. Guarneri Yamaha  ITA  +1' 16.064  16   M. Seistola Honda  FIN  +1' 18.555  17   N. Aubin Kawasaki  FRA  +1' 19.248  18   M. Monni KTM  ITA  +1' 39.370  19   X. Hernandez Yamaha  ESP  +1' 45.106  20   P A. Renet Honda  FRA  +1' 59.068  Championship standings MX2 Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Tyla Rattray KTM  RSA 128  2   Marc De Reuver KTM  NED 108  3   Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA 108  4   Antonio Cairoli Yamaha  ITA 89  5   Alessio Chiodi Yamaha  ITA 81  6   Carl Nunn KTM  GBR 76  7   David Philippaerts KTM  ITA 74  8   Billy MacKenzie Yamaha  GBR 74  9   Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha  SWE 73  10   Tommy Searle Kawasaki  GBR 57  11   Rui Goncalves KTM  POR 54  12   Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA 52  13   Patrick Caps Honda  BEL 46  14   Luigi Seguy Yamaha  FRA 42  15   Davide Guarneri Yamaha  ITA 38  16   Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki  RSA 37  17   Antoine Meo Honda  FRA 27  18   Matti Seistola Honda  FIN 26  19   Anthony Boissière Yamaha  FRA 24  20   Pierre-Alexandre Renet Honda  FRA 20  24   Aigar Leok Yamaha  EST 13  28   Xavier Hernandez Yamaha  ESP 5    Manufacturers standings MX2   Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Yamaha 139  2  KTM 137  3  Kawasaki 110  4  Honda 68
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

WSB : Abe back to the front in Valencia

Yamaha's world superbike riders overcame a lack of traction to bring home a good haul of points at round three of the series in Valencia today. Norick Abe was the leading Yamaha rider, ending the day with a pair of fourth places and only narrowly missing out on a podium finish in his second outing. The Japanese star was in superb form all weekend after his Yamaha Motor France squad brought along a new specification engine for the race. The team, which uses and is responsible for development of Yamaha's YEC kit parts, worked hard after below par performances in Qatar and Phillip Island. In both races Abe made good starts and worked hard to battle with fellow Yamaha rider Noriyuki Haga. In the afternoon's second race the two-time 500cc Grand Prix winner looked like coming home third for what would have been his first ever superbike podium, only to be passed by Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) on the final lap. Despite a little disappointment at missing out on third, Abe was delighted with the performance of his R1 and at being back running with the leaders. Yamaha Motor Italia riders Haga and Andrew Pitt had a tough day struggling with set-up problems. For Haga, the two races were virtually carbon copies of each other, holding third for much of the race but succumbing to Lanzi and Abe in the final few laps. The Japanese rider suffered electrical problems in both outings, affecting his machine's quick shift system and the power delivery of the engine. Despite the first race problems, Haga was able to bring his R1 home in fifth place. Set-up changes and the replacement of various electrical components brought hope of a better result in race two and, after a good start, Haga was challenging eventual winner Troy Bayliss (Ducati) in the battle for second. Unfortunately for Haga the problem reemerged and his lap times dropped off, drawing him into the clutches of Abe and Lanzi. Despite his disappointment at not battling for the podium, Haga had the consolation of moving up two places in the championship, leaving Valencia in fourth place. Pitt also had two similar races, unable to fix the front end grip problems he faced all weekend. The Australian came home tenth in the first race following a bad start and finished ninth in race two, at the back of a three-way battle for seventh with Kawasaki riders Chris Walker and Regis Laconi. Yamaha Motor France's improved fortunes allowed Shinichi Nakatomi to show his true colours. The Japanese newcomer grabbed two 12th places in a wonderful display of aggressive riding on his R1. After a somewhat lonely race one, the second outing saw Nakatomi was involved in an intense four-way battle for tenth that included no less than multiple Grand Prix winner Alex Barros (Honda) and former superbike world champion James Toseland (Honda). In the end Nakatomi finished just a tenth of a second behind Toseland, but claimed Barros as a scalp. Both Valencia races were won by Bayliss, with defending world champion Troy Corser (Suzuki) second both times. In the championship, Bayliss extends his lead to 22 points over second placed Corser with Toseland third and Haga fourth. Pitt slips back one place to sixth, with Abe's 26 points taking him up to eighth place overall. The next round takes place at Yamaha Motor Italia's local Monza circuit in two weeks' time. Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "Two good results today, so I am very happy with that. In the second race compared to the first I had a better feeling but in the beginning the top two were gone and in a different world. I caught up with Lanzi then tried so hard to catch Haga. When I passed him I tried to make a gap but by that stage the tyres were spinning a lot. I think the Ducati has good traction in that condition, because Lanzi was very fast at the end. So I am a little disappointed to miss the podium but the whole day was a big improvement over the first rounds, so I am very happy." Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "After qualifying we knew that this was going to be a tough race but the problems we had today made it impossible to fight for the podium. In the first race the traction was not so good but I thought I could take third until the engine lost power. For the second race the feeling with the bike was better but the problem came back and there was nothing I could do when Abe and Lanzi came past." Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "In the first race we also tried something different on the start and it didn't work, which gave me a lot of work to do. We made some improvements to the bike after qualifying and between the races but I was still struggling for front end grip. The bike was actually quite good for the first ten laps but when it went off I couldn't push as hard as I wanted to. I was able to run with guys like Toseland and Laconi but the confidence in the front end wasn't there and I couldn't make a pass." Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "I'm pleased to have two good races and score some championship points. The main difference this weekend was that the team has made the bike a lot better than at the first two races, so I could go fast and have some good battles in the second race. We had three days of testing here as well so that also makes a difference." Martial Garcia (Team Manager - Yamaha Motor France) "We found the correct settings today and adapted well to the tyres. We made tests all winter with the old tyres but are now racing with the new ones, which are much better but they do increase chattering and sometimes that means we are lost in the set-up. In the Misano test we recovered confidence and we can see the results now." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "It has been a difficult weekend for us. Noriyuki's bike developed an electrical problem which caused some problems with the engine power. We replaced the sensors between the races but it did not fix the problem. Andrew had problems with front end grip but rode well to get some good points. To be honest, we know that Valencia is not one of our best circuits but we are an ambitious team with a goal of winning the championship so even though we came here knowing it would be difficult we are never satisfied with fifth places. On the positive side, Noriyuki has moved up the championship table to fourth and when you consider that he was seventh in the championship this time last year we are clearly going in the right direction."  Race classification WSB Round: 3 - Spain Circuit: Valencia Circuit Length: 4005 Lap Record: 1' 35.007 (Neil Hodgson, 2003) Fastest Lap Ever:  1' 34.633 (Neil Hodgson, 2003) Race: 23 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   T. Bayliss Ducati  AUS  37' 4.634  2   T. Corser Suzuki  AUS  +2.765  3   L. Lanzi Ducati  ITA  +14.225  4   N. Abe Yamaha  JPN  +17.126  5   N. Haga Yamaha  JPN  +18.225  6   Y. Kagayama Suzuki  JPN  +18.495  7   R. Xaus Ducati  ESP  +22.693  8   R. Laconi Kawasaki  FRA  +24.233  9   J. Toseland Honda  GBR  +28.799  10   A. Pitt Yamaha  AUS  +28.946  11   A. Barros Honda  BRA  +34.558  12   S. Nakatomi Yamaha  JPN  +37.151  13   M. Fabrizio Honda  ITA  +43.368  14   D. De Gea Honda  ESP  +45.753  15   F. Foret Suzuki  FRA  +46.586  Race 2: 23 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   T. Bayliss Ducati  AUS  37' 6.508  2   T. Corser Suzuki  AUS  +0.790  3   L. Lanzi Ducati  ITA  +15.133  4   N. Abe Yamaha  JPN  +16.004  5   N. Haga Yamaha  JPN  +16.929  6   F. Nieto Kawasaki  ESP  +17.056  7   C. Walker Kawasaki  GBR  +19.967  8   R. Laconi Kawasaki  FRA  +21.395  9   A. Pitt Yamaha  AUS  +21.801  10   M. Fabrizio Honda  ITA  +32.166  11   J. Toseland Honda  GBR  +32.259  12   S. Nakatomi Yamaha  JPN  +32.355  13   F. Foret Suzuki  FRA  +32.648  14   A. Barros Honda  BRA  +33.875  15   S. Martin Petronas  AUS  +38.052  Fastest Race Lap:   Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   T. Corser Suzuki  AUS  1' 35.374  Championship standings WSB Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Troy Bayliss Ducati  AUS 125  2   Troy Corser Suzuki  AUS 103  3   James Toseland Honda  GBR 86  4   Noriyuki Haga Yamaha  JPN 64  5   Alex Barros Honda  BRA 62  6   Andrew Pitt Yamaha  AUS 58  7   Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati  ITA 47  8   Norick Abe Yamaha  JPN 40  9   Michel Fabrizio Honda  ITA 34  10   Ruben Xaus Ducati  ESP 33  11   Roberto Rolfo Ducati  ITA 32  12   Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki  ESP 29  13   Yukio Kagayama Suzuki  JPN 24  14   Regis Laconi Kawasaki  FRA 22  15   Chris Walker Kawasaki  GBR 21  20   Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha  JPN 8  23   Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha  FRA 3  Manufacturers standings WSB Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Ducati 126  2  Suzuki 113  3  Honda 91  4  Yamaha 84  5  Kawasaki 40  6  Petronas 4  WSS : Curtain completes Yamaha's century of supersport podiums Round: 3 - Spain Circuit: Valencia Date: 23 April 2006 Crowd: 42000 Temp: 21ºC Weather: Sunny Yamaha scored its 100th podium finish in the Supersport World Championship with a second place for Yamaha Motor Germany's Kevin Curtain in Valencia today. Curtain's podium makes Yamaha the first manufacturer to reach that milestone in a class in which it has consistently been strong. Massimo Meregalli's win at Misano in 1997 was the manufacturer's first podium finish in the class and since then Yamaha has gone on to win three manufacturer and a rider's world title with Yamaha Motor Germany's Jörg Teuchert in 2000. Australian rider Curtain made a poor start in today's race, ending the first lap in fourth place but fighting his way through to second at the flag. After moving into second on lap four Curtain had something of a lonely race, six seconds behind race winner Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) but three ahead of third placed Katsuaki Fujiwara (Honda). In a good day for Yamaha Motor Germany, Broc Parkes came home fourth in what is only the third race for the latest model YZF-R6. With showers throughout the weekend limiting the amount of dry practice time both Yamaha's Australian riders failed to find a perfect set-up for what turned out to be a dry race. Having worked hard to move through the pack, Curtain found his rear tyre was unable to provide the grip needed to close down Charpentier and was forced to settle for what was his third second place of the season. Parkes meanwhile had a problem of brake fluid leaking onto his footpegs after the top of the rear brake cylinder was displaced by the rider's boot. Despite not affecting the performance of his machine, Parkes understandably rode cautiously as he was unaware of the source of the fluid. Yamaha's third-generation YZF-R6 was well represented in the race, with six machines in the top ten and several young riders catching the eye. Nineteen-year-old wild-card Jordi Torres equaled his fine qualifying position with fifth in the race, while fellow Spaniard Xavi Fores, 20, ran second in the early laps but faded to eighth at the flag. Yamaha Team Italia riders Massimo Roccoli and Gianluca Vizziello finished just behind Fores, ending the day ninth and tenth respectively. The race was led from lights to flag by world champion Charpentier to extend his lead over Curtain to 15 points in the championship. Parkes moves up to fourth in the points with three of the 13 races completed with Fores and Roccoli sharing fifth place alongside Yoann Tiberio (Honda). Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) "I didn't get the best of starts and by the time I made it through to second Sebastien had got away. I tried hard to catch him but I'd worked my rear tyre too hard and didn't have enough grip. I'm happy enough with the result though. Our bike is still developing and we lost a lot of set-up time here due to the rain. Fair play to Sebastien though, he was the best rider today and deserved to win. Hopefully we'll have a new specification engine at Monza, if not then by Silverstone, and Pirelli will be supplying a new front tyre which we have tested and works much better with our bike." Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) "I suppose I got some points today but I'm not that happy. I realised in the middle of the race that there was some fluid leaking onto the bike and I thought it was maybe oil from the rear shock. It turned out it was the cap that had come off the rear brake master cylinder, but it was always in the back of my mind that something could maybe go on the tyre, so I had to hold back a bit." Jordi Torres (Speed Moto) "I was very nervous at the start of the race and in the first corner a lot of riders passed me. I regained my concentration and started to pass a few other riders. At the end of the race my tyre was pretty much finished but I tried to control the situation I was in and scored fifth place. I am very pleased about that because this is my first race in this championship, which is run at a very high level." Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia) "I rode quite nervously in the opening laps but by lap five I had settled down and was able to make up some positions. With about five laps to go the bike seemed to be straining a bit and although I was still able to have a good battle with Fores I could not quite pass him. We definitely improved our set-up from yesterday and I am quite happy with the result, although I know we must still work harder." Gianluca Vizziello (Yamaha Team Italia) "I was having a good race in front of Massimo until close to the end, when I lost some grip at the front. I had a lot of front end slides and twice saved a crash on my knee. Massimo was able to pass on one of these moments and when I looked behind and saw no-one close I backed off and took a safe finish." Race classification WSS Round: 3 - Spain Circuit: Valencia Circuit Length: 4005 Lap Record: 1' 38.664 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever:  1' 38.664 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2006) Race: 23 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Charpentier Honda  FRA  38' 12.713  2   K. Curtain Yamaha  AUS  +6.537  3   K. Fujiwara Honda  JPN  +9.454  4   B. Parkes Yamaha  AUS  +11.750  5   J. Torres Yamaha  ESP  +15.964  6   R. Harms Honda  DNK  +17.007  7   Y. Tibero Honda  FRA  +19.548  8   X. Fores Yamaha  ESP  +22.400  9   M. Roccoli Yamaha  ITA  +22.513  10   G. Vizziello Yamaha  ITA  +24.708  11   B. Veneman Suzuki  NED  +25.317  12   J. Brookes Ducati  AUS  +27.194  13   W. De Angelis Honda  ITA  +31.740  14   T. Lauslehto Honda  FIN  +37.082  15   S. Le Grelle Honda  BEL  +41.951  Fastest Race Lap:   Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Charpentier Honda  FRA  1' 38.664  Championship standings WSS Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Sebastien Charpentier Honda  FRA 75  2   Kevin Curtain Yamaha  AUS 60  3   Robbin Harms Honda  DNK 31  4   Broc Parkes Yamaha  AUS 29  5   Massimo Roccoli Yamaha  ITA 22  6   Xavi Fores Yamaha  ESP 22  7   Yoann Tibero Honda  FRA 22  8   Johan Stigefelt Honda  SWE 20  9   Joshua Brookes Ducati  AUS 20  10   Kenan Sofuoglu Honda  TUR 16  11   Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda  JPN 16  12   Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha  ITA 16  13   Christian Zaiser Ducati  AUT 15  14   Jordi Torres Yamaha  ESP 11  15   Sebastien Le Grelle Honda  BEL 11  21   Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha  BEL 2  Manufacturers standings WSS Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Honda 75  2  Yamaha 60  3  Ducati 22  4  Kawasaki 8 5  Suzuki 5  FIM Superstock 1000 Cup: Corti eighth on Superstock 1000 debut Round: 1 - Spain Circuit: Valencia Date: 22 April 2006 Crowd: 42000 Temp: 20ºC Weather: Sunny European Superstock 600 champion Claudio Corti gave a good display on his first race in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup, finishing eighth on his Yamaha Team Italia YZF-R1 SP. Starting 12th on a circuit dampened by overnight rain, the 18-year-old Italian steadily worked his way through a field of more experienced riders, pipping local rider Alex Martinez (Kawasaki) across the line and almost catching South African superbike champion Sheridan Morais (Suzuki) and the battle for sixth place. After a thrilling race-long battle for the lead, it was Italian Alessandro Polita (Suzuki) who stood on the top step of the podium after a sometimes frantic battle with Spanish wild-card Ivan Silva (Kawasaki). Ayrton Badovini (MV Agusta) was third with Spaniard Enrique Rocamora the leading Yamaha rider, finishing fourth on his YZF-R1 SP. Claudio Corti (Yamaha Team Italia) "This has been a difficult race for me as we have found it difficult to get traction all weekend and I could not ride as well as I would like. When I consider this is my first time racing the R1 then this is not so bad, but I am still disappointed with the result. The next race is at Monza, which is my local track, and I am sure that if the team can make some progress then I can go for the win there."   Race classification FIM Superstock 1000 Cup Round: 1 - Spain Circuit: Valencia Circuit Length: 4005 Lap Record: 1' 39.034 (Massimo Roccoli, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever:  1' 39.034 (Massimo Roccoli, 2005) Race: 13 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   A. Polita Suzuki  ITA  22' 4.712  2   I. Silva Kawasaki  ESP  +0.303  3   A. Badovini MV Agusta  ITA  +3.751  4   E. Rocamora Yamaha  ESP  +5.418  5   L. Scassa MV Agusta  ITA  +5.729  6   D. Sacchetti Kawasaki  ITA  +9.290  7   S. Morais Suzuki  RSA  +9.409  8   C. Corti Yamaha  ITA  +10.143  9   A. Martinez Mas Kawasaki  ESP  +10.149  10   S. Saltarelli Kawasaki  ITA  +13.128  11   M. Baiocco Yamaha  ITA  +18.002  12   R. Cooper Honda  GBR  +25.076  13   D. Dell'omo Suzuki  ITA  +27.910  14   R. Chiarello Kawasaki  ITA  +29.890  15   I. Dionisi Yamaha  ITA  +29.983  Fastest Race Lap:   Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   A. Polita Suzuki  ITA  1' 39.789  FIM Superstock 1000 Cup championship standings Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Alessandro Polita Suzuki  ITA 25  2   Ivan Silva Kawasaki  ESP 20  3   Ayrton Badovini MV Agusta  ITA 16  4   Enrique Rocamora Yamaha  ESP 13  5   Luca Scassa MV Agusta  ITA 11  6   Denis Sacchetti Kawasaki  ITA 10  7   Sheridan Morais Suzuki  RSA 9  8   Claudio Corti Yamaha  ITA 8  9   Alex Martinez Mas Kawasaki  ESP 7  10   Simone Saltarelli Kawasaki  ITA 6  11   Matteo Baiocco Yamaha  ITA 5  12   Richard Cooper Honda  GBR 4  13   Danilo Dell'omo Suzuki  ITA 3  14   Riccardo Chiarello Kawasaki  ITA 2  15   Ilario Dionisi Yamaha  ITA
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

WSB : Abe leads Yamahas in Valencia qualifying

Norick Abe had his best qualifying performance of the season, ending the day as the top Yamaha rider after setting the eighth fastest time in superpole. The former MotoGP star is reveling in a new specification engine provided by his Yamaha Motor France squad and has been up with the top riders all weekend. Fourth place in the pre-superpole practice session suggests that Abe should be at the sharp end in tomorrow's races. Yamaha Motor Italia riders Noriyuki Haga and Andrew Pitt will start from the third row in tomorrow's two 23-lap races in Valencia after setting the 10th and 11th fastest time in superpole. Both riders are finding grip levels at a premium on the Spanish track, which is not offering riders the same amount of traction they had at the official FGSport test at the venue several weeks ago. Despite running consistently strongly in race trim, Haga was unable to exploit the potential of his YZF-R1 in the one-lap superpole, struggling for rear end grip in a error-strewn lap. The Japanese star was unable to fully utilise the grip of his soft qualifying tyre and suffered a number of time sapping slides on his flying lap. While Haga lost five places from his position after the two one-hour sessions, Pitt dug deep to gain four places despite not completely eradicating the front-end handling problems that blighted him during Friday's session. The Australian rider survived a minor scare when he lost the front end in the preceding practice session, narrowly avoiding a crash by holding the bike up with his elbow. Yamaha Motor France's Shinichi Nakatomi found himself in the unfortunate situation of being one of the few riders to improve his time in the Saturday morning session but being shuffled back from his provisional grid position. The superbike rookie took over a tenth of a second from his best Friday lap time, but found himself dropped four places to 21st on the final grid as riders below him in the overnight standings found greater improvements. Lorenzo Alfonsi, standing in for the absent Sebastien Gimbert on the other Yamaha Motor France bike, will start from the back of the grid in his first race for the team. The former European superstock rider is not only having his first outing for the team, it is also his first race since suffering a serious injury at the end of last year. Pole position for tomorrow's races goes to world champion Troy Corser (Suzuki) with Troy Bayliss (Ducati), Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) and Steve Martin (Petronas) completing the front row. Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "The whole team is very motivated this weekend. For this race I have a new engine and it feels good, which is creating a good feeling in the team. There was more grip in the afternoon practice than in the superpole and it made the bike slide more easily on my time attack lap. I am happy with eighth. I am making very consistent laps and I hope that I can go and fight at the front tomorrow." Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "Of course, I am very disappointed to be starting 10th. After having a good test here earlier this month we are having traction problems this weekend. The superpole lap was not good. I made one mistake but also the rear traction was not as good as I had when I tried the qualifying tyre in the practice. The races will be very, very difficult for us but we will try to improve the bike overnight and work to get the best result possible." Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "I don't know if it's the rain we've been having or what it is but we just can't seem to get any grip this weekend. I'm lacking confidence in the front end. During the afternoon practice I had a big slide and ended up saving it on my elbow: the bike just went down and my elbow dug in and held me up. We made a lot of changes overnight but nothing seems to be making an improvement. Nori and I both seem to have the same problems and it's going to be a tough race for us tomorrow. The one thing we have on our side is that at least we are able to do consistent lap times over a race distance. Tonight though we will have a look to see what else we can try to make things better for the races."   Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "It was a shame we had the wet conditions in the morning as this meant I was unable to improve my time from yesterday. Tomorrow I will aim for a good start and try to get some points. I understand the Valencia track quite well now and I am pleased that we are all finding improvements with our bikes this weekend." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "After two tests in Valencia and Misano we felt that we had made a good step forward, only to come here and find that we are fighting for grip. We came to Valencia using the same settings we had at the test, although now Noriyuki cannot make the same lap times. Our bike seems to be very sensitive to changes in the conditions and tonight we will sit down to try and further understand the problems, although with the surface here in Valencia we might arrive tomorrow morning and find it has changed again." Martial Garcia (Team Manager - Yamaha Motor France) "Second row and top Yamaha is a good result for us. Norick is always very strong here and I am confident he can do some good races tomorrow. Shinichi is improving too but we must also remember that he is working as a development rider for Soqi suspension and this means that sometimes he is a little bit up and down in the sessions. Despite this he is a very consistent racer and I think that we can target some points for him tomorrow."    Round: 3 - Spain Circuit: Valencia Circuit Length: 4005 Lap Record: 1' 35.007 (Neil Hodgson, 2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 34.633 (Neil Hodgson, 2003) Date: 22 April 2006 Temp: 24ºC Session 2 :  Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat.  1st Qualifying  2nd Qualifying   Superpole  1  T. Corser  Suzuki  AUS   1' 34.920     1' 36.640     1' 34.992  2  T. Bayliss  Ducati  AUS   1' 34.963     1' 35.260     1' 35.175  3  L. Lanzi  Ducati  ITA   1' 35.999     1' 35.926     1' 35.203  4  S. Martin  Petronas  AUS   1' 35.653     1' 36.811     1' 35.255  5  F. Nieto  Kawasaki  ESP   1' 36.004     1' 36.211     1' 35.351  6  R. Laconi  Kawasaki  FRA   1' 36.161     1' 37.668     1' 35.410  7  C. Walker  Kawasaki  GBR   1' 36.428     1' 35.522     1' 35.452  8  N. Abe  Yamaha  JPN   1' 35.974     1' 37.257     1' 35.701  9  J. Toseland  Honda  GBR   1' 36.116     1' 36.571     1' 35.784  10  N. Haga  Yamaha  JPN   1' 35.658     1' 37.227     1' 36.115  11  A. Pitt  Yamaha  AUS   1' 36.262     1' 37.281     1' 36.214  12  Y. Kagayama  Suzuki  JPN   1' 35.670     1' 37.559     N/A  13  R. Xaus  Ducati  ESP   1' 35.721     N/A     1' 36.362  14  F. Foret  Suzuki  FRA   1' 36.026     1' 36.986     1' 36.502  15  R. Rolfo  Ducati  ITA   1' 36.848     1' 36.348     1' 36.786  16  A. Barros  Honda  BRA   1' 36.130     1' 37.040     1' 36.887  21  S. Nakatomi  Yamaha  JPN   1' 36.794     1' 36.659   WSS : Front row for Yamaha Motor Germany pair Round: 3 - Spain WSS Circuit: Valencia Date: 22 April 2006 Temp: 21ºC Weather: Sunny Yamaha Motor Germany riders Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes sped their YZF-R6s to the front row of tomorrow's world supersport race in Valencia. Curtain took advantage of the unexpectedly sunny conditions at the Spanish circuit to improve his time from Friday by almost one second to bag second place on the grid, behind world champion and current points leader Sebastien Charpentier (Honda).  The Yamaha Motor Germany squad worked hard overnight to change the set-up of the rapidly improving R6, giving Curtain confidence going into tomorrow's 23-lap race. The Australian has already taken second place finishes in each of the first two rounds and would dearly love to add to his three career wins in the class in tomorrow's race. Team-mate and fellow Australian Broc Parkes will start from fourth position, even though he was unable to better his Friday time in today's 45 minute final session. Like Curtain, he worked on finding a good race set-up and is happy with the way his machine is performing. Joining Charpentier, Curtain and Parkes on the front row is Japanese rider Katsuaki Fujiwara (Honda). Two other R6 riders made it to the top 10 in qualifying. Javi Fores and Jordi Torres, two privately entered Spanish riders, ended the day in fifth and 10th places respectively. Round: 3 - Spain WSS Circuit: Valencia Circuit Length: 4005 Lap Record: 1' 38.874 (Alessio Corradi, 2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 37.331 (Chris Vermeulen, 2003) Date: 22 April 2006 Temp: 21ºC Session 1 :  Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat.  1st Qualifying  2nd Qualifying  1  S. Charpentier  Honda  FRA   1' 36.913     1' 37.565   2  K. Curtain  Yamaha  AUS   1' 38.646     1' 37.698   3  K. Fujiwara  Honda  JPN   1' 38.141     1' 37.750   4  B. Parkes  Yamaha  AUS   1' 37.942     1' 38.201   5  X. Fores  Yamaha  ESP   1' 39.534     1' 38.385   6  R. Harms  Honda  DNK   1' 38.403     1' 38.672   7  B. Veneman  Suzuki  NED   1' 38.960     1' 38.448   8  K. Sofuoglu  Honda  TUR   1' 38.489     1' 39.240   9  Y. Tibero  Honda  FRA   1' 38.643     1' 39.122   10  J. Torres  Yamaha  ESP   1' 38.724     1' 38.716   11  K. Andersen  Suzuki  NOR   1' 39.216     1' 38.772   12  M. Roccoli  Yamaha  ITA   1' 39.672     1' 38.836   13  J. Stigefelt  Honda  SWE   1' 39.266     1' 38.971   14  C. Zaiser  Ducati  AUT   1' 39.003     1' 38.980   15  G. Vizziello  Yamaha  ITA   1' 39.137     N/A   16  W. De Angelis  Honda  ITA   1' 39.794     1' 39.216   18  K. Noyes  Yamaha  USA   1' 39.415     1' 39.412
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Haga hot in Valencia qualifying

Noriyuki Haga was in fine form during qualifying for Sunday's third round of the Superbike World Championship, ending the day fourth on the timesheets. Having enjoyed successful tests at Valencia and Misano prior to this event, the Japanese star was able to take advantage of the Yamaha Motor Italia team's continuing development work to put his YZF-R1 to the head of the timesheets for much of the session, only to be displaced in the closing stages. Despite his provisional front row starting position, Haga and his team will work on improving rear tyre grip and endurance ahead of Sunday's two races. Haga's team-mate Andrew Pitt had a difficult first day in Valencia, struggling with set-up problems that saw him slide off at slow speed during the session. The Australian started the day with the settings used successfully during the recent Misano test, only to revert back to the tried and Valencia set-up with limited success. The former supersport world champion was perplexed by the lack of front end feeling offered by his machine and will work with his team on rectifying the situation ahead of tomorrow's final qualifying and superpole sessions. Despite his problems Pitt still ended the day in 14th position. Yamaha Motor France's Norick Abe had one of his best qualifying performances as a superbike rider. The Japanese star, who fought for a podium placing in Valencia last year, was using a new specification engine for the first time and topped the timesheets during the session, ending the day seventh. Team-mate Shinichi Nakatomi was another giving his best showing of the year, finishing the day in 17th. Provisional pole position was today taken by world champion Troy Corser (Suzuki), with championship leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) and Steve Martin (Petronas) making it a trio of Australians at the head of the leaderboard. With weather forecasts predicting a high chance of rain, today's positions could determine the qualifying positions for tomorrow's top 16 superpole session. Noriyuki Haga "Compared to the test here a few weeks ago the grip levels are very low. Our times are not so bad but we must work on making the rear tyre work better, so tonight we will sit with the team and plan some big changes for tomorrow. This is one of my favourite tracks so I hope that we can find the changes to allow us to fight for the lead over the race distance." Andrew Pitt "I've got a problem with the front end and that caused me to crash. We started today with the settings we used at the Misano test, but they just didn't work here. We went back to what we used at the test here last month but I was just losing the front end everywhere. It was bouncing up and down and I just couldn't push at all. We're going to have to sort it out tonight but I'm not getting down about it. We're not far off the pace and if we can sort this problem out then we should be right up there." Norick Abe "My team has worked very hard to improve the engine performance for this race. In the first two races our performances were not so good and at the two tests we had I tried out six or seven engine specifications that did not seem much different. For this race we have another new engine and it is a big improvement. On my time attack lap I came across many slow riders and I was not able to make a faster lap time. I am feeling very confident for the weekend and hope to continue our improvements tomorrow." Shinichi Nakatomi "It's my best qualifying so far and I am happy with the progress we have made. The times are very close and I will be doing my best to make the superpole tomorrow." Massimo Meregalli "It seems that there is some kind of problem on Andrew's bike because we used the settings from when we rode here earlier this month and it is just not right. We are looking at the problem now and will have it fixed for tomorrow. Noriyuki did a good job but we are still not satisfied, we need to work on improving the set-up and will try some different things for tomorrow." Martial Garcia "We have made some good improvements to the bike following the Misano test and our riders have responded with some good performances. I am also very pleased with the performance of our other regular rider Sebastien Gimbert. He is not here this weekend as he is competing at Le Mans with Yamaha GMT94 and has put them on pole position." Parkes second in supersport practice Broc Parkes ended today's first qualifying session for Sunday's third round of the Supersport World Championship in second position. On a circuit that offered little grip following heavy overnight rain the 24-year-old Australian's best lap of 1:37.942 was headed only by world champion Sebastien Charpentier (Honda). Parkes and his Yamaha Motor Germany team-mate Kevin Curtain arrived at the circuit using the settings found at their successful Valencia test earlier this month, only to find that they didn't work as well on the slippery circuit. Despite this the team worked to adapt the bike to the conditions, allowing Parkes to go over half a second quicker than his test time. Curtain ended the day seventh fastest with a lap time of 1:38.646 with 18-year-old Spanish wild-card Jordi Torres eighth on another YZF-R6. Final qualifying takes place tomorrow afternoon.
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Superbike World Championship: round three - Valencia

The Spanish round of the Superbike World Championship takes place at the Ricardo Tormo circuit on the outskirts of Valencia. The modern venue is well known to all the superbike riders, as it is a favourite location for winter testing and the host of the first official FG Sport test, held between round two at Phillip Island and this weekend's third round of the championship. Valencia is a tight and twisty circuit built with spectators in mind. Surrounded by grandstands, fans can see almost the entire circuit from their seat. The favourable winter weather conditions and modern facilities, including sprinkler systems to simulate wet conditions, mean that the circuit is in use throughout the year by everything from trucks to Formula One cars, MotoGP to national championship riders. Perhaps because of this, grip levels can be unpredictable, causing conditions to change by the hour and requiring constant adjustments to the set-up of the bike. Yamaha Motor Italia has been busy since the opening rounds of the series at Qatar and Australia, attending official tests at Valencia and Misano. Valencia was the venue for the first of those tests, ensuring that the Yamaha Motor Italia squad goes into this weekend's race with good settings for their YZF-R1 machines. Haga ended that test sixth overall, testing a whole range of chassis, suspension and electronics parts for his bike. Currently lying sixth in the championship, the Japanese ace was in sensational form in Qatar - finishing third in race two after crashing out of the opener while challenging for the lead on the last lap. Valencia is a favourite of Haga, who has won there in 2000 and 2004, and he is looking forward to this weekend's races. Team-mate Andrew Pitt is currently fifth in the championship. Finishing third in Qatar's opening race, Pitt has been the epitome of consistency with two fifth places also to his credit. The 2001 supersport world champion ended the Valencia test just a few places behind his team-mate, setting the eighth fastest time at the end of the three days. Like Haga, the Australian completed a comprehensive test programme and is confident he has found a good set-up for the weekend's race. With the first two rounds taking place seven weeks earlier, many people see the Valencia round as the 'real' start of the season. Having worked out of flight cases at the fly-away rounds in Qatar and Australia, the teams will have the added advantage of having their full accompaniment of trucks and hospitality units to help them settle in for the main European season. This year sees the championship take in a total of 13 rounds of two races each. Valencia marks the start of 10 European races, with the series due to end with a final flyaway round to South Africa, most likely at the Kyalami circuit, in October. Valencia also plays host to round three of the Supersport World Championship and the opening round of the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup. In supersport, Australian Kevin Curtain lies second in the championship having finished in that position in the opening two races of the season. In superstock, last year's 600cc champion Claudio Corti makes his debut in the 1000cc class as Yamaha looks to make it a hat-trick in the championship. The third-generation YZF-R1 has won the series every year since the bike was introduced for the 2004 season.
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Haga Third Fastest and Top Yamaha Rider At Misano

Noriyuki Haga was once more the fastest Yamaha qualifier at an official SBK test, and had he not found another rider in his path when running qualifying rubber in the final afternoon session, he may even have had the chance to improve his 1'33.870 best. Troy Bayliss (Ducati) was once more the rider leaving a test session with the fastest time, a new track record 1'33.317. Haga, who had tested new triple clamps and rear suspension linkages on his R1, decided not to continue in the very last moments of the two day test, thanks to the residue left on the track surface after an oil spill at the first corner. He thus had to rely on his best time from the morning session, rather than the final one. Haga's team-mate Andrew Pitt was a top ten rider on his R1, working steadily through revised engine mapping and also losing out on a final chance to set a faster time than his 1'34.469. Times in general were tight, with 14 riders covered by just over a single second, from second to 15th place. A strong ride in the final session from Sebastien Gimbert, on his Yamaha Motor France Ipone R1, put him 11th fastest, a particularly fine performance from a rider who had not ridden at Misano for 11 years. Norick Abe continued to find Misano a difficult challenge on his Yamaha Motor France Ipone R1, with his efforts to go faster often met by stubborn resistance on the tight and twist Misano layout. World Superbike rookie Shinichi Nakatomi was 20th out of 27 riders at Misano, during his first visit to the Italian circuit, which forms the venue for round six of the championships on 25 June. Noriyuki Haga - Yamaha Motor Italia "The balance of the bike was good today and I decided to test a soft tyre. I found Kagayama in front of me but without that happening I think I could have set a lap time closer to Bayliss. When the circuit got covered in oil and then cement dust we decided to stop, so I could not use a soft tyre in the afternoon session." Andrew Pitt - Yamaha Motor Italia "It would have been nice to be further up the list but I just didn't put it together on a qualifying tyre. On race tyres the bike was good and we improved it a lot. The bike is much the same as Valencia, which is a good thing. We don't need to change it much now, which is what we've been looking for for a while. We tuned in the electronics a bit more, to make it even easier to open the throttle earlier. It was all pretty good." Sebastien Gimbert - Yamaha Motor France "All the team worked very hard and the bike was very good compared to the races in Qatar and Australia. For me it was not so hard to get the bike working well here and set some fast times around the circuit. I am very content with the progress and the good work we have all made." Norick Abe - Yamaha Motor France "We tried out many things. Last year I raced here and it was the first time for me. It was the worst race of the year, and this time it still felt no good. So maybe I don't like this track. Step-by-step we did better than before, but compared to most other riders it was not so good. Despite that, I think we are two seconds better than last year. The tyres are much better than last year as well. But I would like to forget this Misano test and just get to Valencia." Shinichi Nakatomi - Yamaha Motor France "I have never been here before so it was important to test and make a race set-up for when we come back in June. It is a very different track, with three fast left hand corners onto the back straight. We worked a lot, and I did 162 laps to learn the circuit better."  Massimo Meregalli - Team Coordinator Yamaha Motor Italia "We had a plan and we got all out work done, the only thing we could not do was to go out at the end on soft tyres, because of the dust on the track. But the test was good. The only question mark we have now is the temperature of the track when we return for the race in June. We hope that for the race the bike's performance, which was very good here, is the same." OFFICIAL SBK TESTS WSB: Circuit: Misano Adriatico Circuit Length: 4.060km Temp: 16ºC Weather: Sunny Lap Record: 1' 34.913 (Troy Bayliss, 2002) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 33.317 (Troy Bayliss, 2006) Date: 12-13 April 2006 Classification: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 1 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 1' 33.317 2 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 1' 33.824 3 N. Haga Yamaha JPN 1' 33.870 4 L. Lanzi Ducati ITA 1' 33.933 5 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR 1' 33.984 6 R. Laconi Kawasaki ITA 1' 34.085 7 F. Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1' 34.181 8 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1' 34.266 9 R. Xaus Ducati ESP 1' 34.315 10 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 1' 34.469 11 S. Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1' 34.618 12 F. Foret Suzuki FRA 1' 34.660 13 A. Barros Honda BRA 1' 34.683 14 M. Fabrizio Honda ITA 1' 34.852 15 S. Martin Petronas AUS 1' 34.862 19 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 1' 35.574 20 S. Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1' 35.684 Parkes quickest ever at Misano Misano Adriatico, Italy 13/4/2006 Yamaha Motor Germany rider Broc Parkes finished the second official test of the 2006 WSS season at the top of the timing sheets, with a new Supersport circuit record of 1'36.411 to his credit. His team-mate Kevin Curtain was fourth quickest, having set his fastest lap on the first day of testing, concentrating most of his efforts on machine set-up in preparation for the Misano WSS race in June. In addition to the regular set-up work on the all-new R6 machine carried out by the team, new and existing specifications of Pirelli control tyres were worked through by both Yamaha Motor Germany riders, with Parkes pleased to see the return of his favourite front tyre at this test. Yamaha Team Italia rider Gianluca Vizziello was an impressive third fastest overall, his best of 1'36.892 set in the very last of four Supersport sessions. He was one of three riders under the previous circuit best of former Yamaha rider Simone Sanna during the last session of the Misano test. Christian Zaiser (Ducati) was second fastest, with Vizziello's team-mate, Massimo Roccoli, sixth. Broc Parkes - Yamaha Motor Germany "On top today and happy. The bike was awesome. The main difference for me today was the front tyre, that and getting to know the bike a lot better. At the end of last year we had a particular front tyre that I really liked but for some reason it was not in the allocation for the first races, but for me, as soon as I get it, I can go. This is also a pretty enjoyable track to ride around." Kevin Curtain - Yamaha Motor Germany "This was a very good test for us, and we made the bike a lot better than it was last time we rode. We worked through heaps of stuff on the bike and a whole lot of front and rear tyres. There are no prizes for pole position at a test so I am not bothered about setting the fastest time. The main thing was improving the whole package, and we did that." Gianluca Vizziello - Yamaha Team Italia "Today's performance was the result of some very good development work. At the first two races of the year we had not had the bikes for very long, so most of the engine work was done just before the Valencia tests. Then is Spain we must have tried about ten different settings on the suspension, to find the best. We have put all the best parts together now and the bike was great at this test. I like Misano very much and the whole team did a very good job." Official Misano Test WSS Circuit: Misano Adriatico Circuit Length: 4.060km Lap Record: 1' 37.924 (Katsuaki Fujiwara, 2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 36.411 (Broc Parkes, 2006) Date: 12 - 13 April 2006 Temp: 16ºC Classification: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Best Time 1 B. Parkes Yamaha AUS 1' 36.411 2 C. Zaiser Ducati AUT 1' 36'507 3 G. Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1' 36.892 4 K. Curtain Yamaha AUS 1' 36.927 5 K. Fujiwara Honda JPN 1'37.339 6 M. Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1' 37.372 7 G. Nannelli Ducati ITA 1' 37'483 8 Y. Tibero Honda FRA 1' 37.682 9 D. Checa Yamaha FRA 1'37.745 10 A. Aldrovandi Honda ITA 1'38.238 11 M. Sanchini Yamaha ITA 1' 38.433 12 G. Leblanc Honda FRA 1'38.553 13 S. Chambon Kawasaki FRA 1'38.719 14 J. Brookes Ducati AUS 1'38.756 15 T. Tunstall Hoinda GBR 1'38.775 16 M. Berger Kawasaki FRA 1' 39.214 17 M. Praia Honda POR 1'39.385 18 L. Nedog Ducati SLO 1'39.585
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

MX1 : 89 and counting for Everts after further fiesta in Spain

The Grand Prix of Spain at Bellpuig has turned out to another positive meeting for the Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross team and the YZ450FM motorcycle. Stefan Everts won the second MX1 moto to claim his 89th career victory and also seize control of the current World Championship standings while Cedric Melotte produced a hard-earned seventh position overall without having too much luck. After a cold and blustery opening Grand Prix of the season two weeks ago at Zolder in Belgium the hot Spanish sunshine was a welcome sight for the teams and riders as they rolled into the paddock for the second round of fifteen in the 2006 MX1 World Championship. The good weather - combined with the Easter holidays - also drew out the fans as 26, 200 defied the plumes of dust that emanated from the dry, hard and rough terrain. Stefan Everts was denied his second pole position by just a tenth of a second on Saturday afternoon by Tanel Leok, and over the course of the two Grand Prix motos of 35 minutes and two laps today the Kawasaki rider again plagued the World Champion. Everts led for eight of the 21 circulations before a mistake coming out of the old whoops section at slow speed saw the Belgian drop to fifth place and give the race to Leok and his pursuer Kevin Strijbos who would prove superior to the flag. Everts composed himself to fight back to fourth, but committed several mistakes in his challenge to Jonathan Barragan and could only secure third place with less than two laps to go. Cedric Melotte rode a good race to tenth after getting stuck in the gate and entering the first corner in last position. The Belgian had a difficult time clawing his way through the field on a course that was not easy for overtaking. He moved past Antti Pyrhonen for tenth, three laps before the chequered flag. Everts blasted back in convincing fashion in the second moto. The 33 year old, wearing his distinctive blue Acerbis livery, led from the first lap until the last and withstood brief pressure from Leok to complete a vintage performance. Stefan has won 50% of the races so far this campaign and now heads the Championship standings by ten points from his Kawasaki-mounted rival. Melotte was fourth over the line in a truer showing of his abilities later in the afternoon. He had been holding third on the YZ450FM, but the energy expelled during his first come-back race began to tell and Steve Ramon was able to relegate him to fourth. The team now face a relatively short trip east across Spain and down to Agueda, some 100km south of Porto, for the Grand Prix of Portugal next weekend. Stefan Everts: "Every time I wear my white kit in the first moto I am riding tense! I felt more relaxed before the race than I did in Zolder and then had a good start so it seemed to be going well but I found that I wasn't comfortable out there. I made a stupid mistake but could then come back to third after a hard fight with Barragan; it was hard to pass him because there were not many lines on the track. Third was good because I knew it gave me more chance of taking the overall. The second moto was much better and the Yamaha worked really well this weekend. I was very satisfied with our performance and we didn't change anything apart from altering the gearing in practice. We tried another tyre also but I ended up using the same model." Cedric Melotte: "The weekend did not start well because I could not get a good lap-time yesterday. I was very disappointed with 22nd but I focussed on making a decent race today. I hit the gate at the start of the first moto and I don't know if it was my fault or the mechanism. Anyway I pushed and came back from last to tenth. In the second race I started better and was third for about half the race but then I slowed down as I got a little bit tired; the first heat was hard. Ramon came through but I kept my rhythm and it was not a bad moto." Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager: "It is another win for us but as usual it is never that easy! Stefan struggled in the first moto and looked tense. Leok was putting on the pressure and Stefan made a silly crash. He came back well but was still making some mistakes. He eventually could pass Barragan for a very important third position and we were satisfied because his main rivals had been so-so. The second race was typical of Stefan. A good start and he made his own rhythm; nobody could catch him and it was perfect. Cedric was very unlucky with the gate. We asked to see the TV replay and it is hard to tell if the gate did not work or it was his mistake so we could not make a protest. Anyway he came back with a lot of determination to tenth. That was good for him because he needs to be in competition with the other guys and return to his true level. His speed was good in the last moto and he showed that he can run at the front. It is understandable that he faded a little because of the effort from the first heat."     Race classification MX1 Round: 2 - 2006 GP of Bellpuig, Spain Circuit: Bellpuig Race 1: 21 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   K. Strijbos Suzuki  BEL  39' 17.220  2   T. Leok Kawasaki  EST  +9.438  3   S. Everts Yamaha  BEL  +12.955  4   J. Barragan KTM  ESP  +16.056  5   K. De Dycker Honda  BEL  +20.073  6   S. Ramon Suzuki  BEL  +23.507  7   S. Tortelli KTM  FRA  +51.134  8   J. Bill Yamaha  GBR  +53.844  9   J. Noble Honda  GBR  +1' 5.714  10   C. Melotte Yamaha  BEL  +1' 12.991  11   P. Leuret  Honda  FRA  +1' 14.711  12   A. Pyrhonen TM  FIN  +1' 16.824  13   M. Priem Yamaha  BEL  +1' 20.718  14   D. Theybers Suzuki  BEL  +1' 22.823  15   J. Lindhe KTM  SWE  +1' 28.458  16   J. Garcia Vico Honda  ESP  +1' 29.712  17   A. Salvini Suzuki  ITA  +1' 32.892  18   M. Hucklebridge Kawasaki  GBR  +1' 34.596  19   M. Van Daele Honda  BEL  +1' 47.099  20   A. Lozano KTM  ESP  +1 lap(s)  Race 2: 22 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Everts Yamaha  BEL  40' 30.007  2   T. Leok Kawasaki  EST  +17.460  3   S. Ramon Suzuki  BEL  +22.900  4   C. Melotte Yamaha  BEL  +39.465  5   S. Tortelli KTM  FRA  +46.185  6   K. De Dycker Honda  BEL  +55.033  7   J. Barragan KTM  ESP  +1' 0.680  8   M. Priem Yamaha  BEL  +1' 4.048  9   P. Leuret  Honda  FRA  +1' 9.278  10   B. Jorgensen Honda  DNK  +1' 12.796  11   J. Garcia Vico Honda  ESP  +1' 28.469  12   J. Bill Yamaha  GBR  +1' 31.381  13   M. Van Daele Honda  BEL  +1' 33.111  14   A. Bobkovs Honda  LVA  +1' 35.481  15   D. Theybers Suzuki  BEL  +1' 36.685  16   A. Pyrhonen TM  FIN  +1' 37.850  17   M. Hucklebridge Kawasaki  GBR  +1' 39.607  18   J. Noble Honda  GBR  +1' 52.646  19   K. Strijbos Suzuki  BEL  +1 lap(s)  20   A. Lozano KTM  ESP  +1 lap(s)  Championship standings MX1 Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Stefan Everts Yamaha  BEL 92  2   Tanel Leok Kawasaki  EST 82  3   Sebastien Tortelli KTM  FRA 77  4   Steve Ramon Suzuki  BEL 69  5   Ken De Dycker Honda  BEL 61  6   Kevin Strijbos Suzuki  BEL 60  7   Jonathan Barragan KTM  ESP 59  8   Cedric Melotte Yamaha  BEL 54  9   Pascal Leuret  Honda  FRA 47  10   Manuel Priem Yamaha  BEL 30  11   James Noble Honda  GBR 29  12   Antti Pyrhonen TM  FIN 28  13   Stephen Sword Kawasaki  GBR 26  14   Javier Garcia Vico Honda  ESP 25  15   Marvin Van Daele Honda  BEL 22  16   Julien Bill Yamaha  GBR 22  17   Danny Theybers Suzuki  BEL 19  18   Brian Jorgensen Honda  DNK 19  19   Bas Verhoeven Kawasaki  NED 14  20   Mark Hucklebridge Kawasaki  GBR 12    Manufacturers standings MX1   Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Yamaha 50  2  Kawasaki 42  3  KTM 40  4  Suzuki 38  5  Honda 31  6  TM 9    MX2 : Mackenzie walks the podium in Spain after dramatic Grand Prix Round: 2 - 2006 GP of Bellpuig, Spain Circuit: Bellpuig Date: 16 April 2006 Crowd: 26200 Temp: 22ºC Weather: Sunny Bike it Yamaha Dixon Racing's Billy Mackenzie gained his first podium of the season this afternoon at a warm and sun-kissed Bellpuig circuit in Cataluyna. The steep inclines of the hard and short track that despite constant watering proved to be dry, dusty and very rough with the formation of unforgiving ruts and numerous braking bumps. It was not easy to overtake. Excessive watering to help the terrain cope with all four motos meant that the initial race of the day, MX2 moto1, was a particularly slimy affair. The two MX2 motos of 35 minutes and 2 laps duration threw up two different sets of results. Yamaha managed to own the chequered flag in both races thanks to the resurgent Kenneth Gundersen and a flying Antonio Cairoli respectively but it was Mackenzie with an eighth place and a third position in the second sprint that got to spray the champagne and walk the rostrum. Ricci Racing's Gundersen was again a proactive force in the MX2 field after scoring an emotional top-three finish at Zolder two weeks ago in the wake of more than a year with injury problems. The Norwegian started in third place and soon moved past his team-mate Alessio Chiodi for his first moto victory since 2002, claiming the chequered flag by three seconds from 'Chicco'. Defending World Champion Cairoli was on impressive form during the first qualification heat yesterday as he holeshotted and escaped from the pursuing pack; earning Pole Position. The young Italian hoped for more of the same in the first race but a crash on a slow tight left hander and problems getting re-started meant he fell out of the top twenty and one lap behind the leaders. Mackenzie set his best time on the penultimate lap after earlier making a strong move on Luigi Seguy to take eighth position, however the Scot, who won his debut GP moto here in 2005, was too far behind Carl Nunn in seventh to scale the classification further. The 13 points he bagged would later prove vital in an exciting climax to the day's racing. Gundersen was immediately ruled out of the possibility of a double race win when he fell on the first lap of Moto2. De Carli Yamaha representative Cairoli had already taken the holeshot and proceeded to re-enact his Saturday performance, fuelled by the frustration of his opening race faux pas. Eventual winner Tyla Rattray gave chase but was not able to get within touching distance. Mackenzie meanwhile had held onto the back of the leaders after a better jump from the gate but soon had his hands full deflecting the attentions of Rui Goncalves. The 22 year old needed third place to confirm his podium while also requiring JK Racing's Luigi Seguy to keep Chiodi away from ninth position, which the Frenchman managed to accomplish. The outcome of the top three went down to a nail-biting last lap with both duels extremely close. Finally the race order did not change and Mackenzie was again able to celebrate in front of Spanish on-lookers thanks to his better race position although he was tied on points with Chiodi. Gundersen spent the entire race trying to catch the riders ahead and squeezed into 19th spot. He remains Yamaha's top rider in the young World Championship standings, holding third place, 19 points behind Rattray. Cairoli, Chiodi and Mackenzie are also in the top ten. His team-mate Davide Guarneri was 8th after having earlier retired after a crash. Cairoli's team-mate Mateo Bonini was unable to compete after breaking his right wrist in a Belgian Championship meeting last weekend. The Italian underwent surgery this week and the team will have a better idea in terms of his racing return once the cast is removed in a fortnight and his rehab begins. Billy Mackenzie, Bike it Dixon Yamaha: "To be honest I was expecting a little bit more from myself this weekend. I have been feeling comfortable riding but I know I am still not close to how fast I can go. The guys at the front are quick but there is a lot more to come and I will keep on improving. We have had a few problems at the start of the year but we must build from here. This is the start of the podiums and I want to try to get on the podium steps as much as I can for the rest of the season." Antonio Cairoli, De Carli Yamaha: "I crashed after five laps and I could not start again quickly because the bike was caught in the green fence and I lost one lap there and also many points. I was faster than De Reuver and Rattray but stopped after the crash because I was so far behind. For the second heat I really wanted to win and started very well. The battle between Tyla and I was nice and it was good to come back and win. I am happy with my condition and the speed." Alessio Chiodi, Ricci Racing: "I made a mistake at the start of the second moto and touched Philippaerts out of the gate. I think I was around 15th on the first lap but it was so difficult to pass and it wasn't a good race for me. I tried my best but there was only one line and it was hard to get Seguy at the end. The result is better than Zolder for sure because I was sick there. The first moto today was good because my riding, my condition and the bike were all working well." Kenneth Gundersen, Ricci Racing: "The first race was perfect. I had a good start, passed Chiodi and controlled it the whole way. It was a great feeling to finish first again. In the second race De Reuver cut my line at the start and I was down somewhere between 15th and 20th but then I crashed on the first lap and twisted my knee. After that I rode just to try and get as many points as I can. It is the same knee that I injured last year but it is not a big problem." Claudio De Carli, Team Manager De Carli Racing: "Matteo (Bonini) has been really unlucky. He was injured in the Italian Championship and went to Zolder just to get back on the bike and to start to find his speed again. After Zolder we decided to also compete at Neeroeteren because he was getting better and needed more race time. At the start of the third moto a rider crashed in front of him and he had nowhere to go. He hit the fallen bike very hard and broke his right wrist. He had an operation the day after and now is in a cast that has to remain there for two weeks. He will then have to start a period of rehabilitation to be back as soon as possible."     Race classification MX2 Round: 2 - 2006 GP of Bellpuig, Spain Circuit: Bellpuig Race 1: 20 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   K. Gundersen Yamaha  SWE  39' 37.723  2   A. Chiodi Yamaha  ITA  +2.922  3   M. De Reuver KTM  NED  +4.024  4   C. Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA  +4.921  5   T. Rattray KTM  RSA  +27.297  6   S. Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA  +40.304  7   C. Nunn KTM  GBR  +44.649  8   B. MacKenzie Yamaha  GBR  +48.882  9   L. Seguy Yamaha  FRA  +50.174  10   D. Philippaerts KTM  ITA  +53.063  11   T. Searle Kawasaki  GBR  +1' 10.497  12   M. Seistola Honda  FIN  +1' 12.233  13   P. Caps Honda  BEL  +1' 14.934  14   M. Schiffer KTM  GER  +1' 17.817  15   J. Dougan Honda  GBR  +1' 20.836  16   A. Boissière Yamaha  FRA  +1' 21.367  17   X. Boog Yamaha  FRA  +1' 37.420  18   M. Monni KTM  ITA  +1' 38.361  19   A. Meo Honda  FRA  +1' 42.706  20   X. Hernandez Yamaha  ESP  +2' 4.111  Race 2: 21 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   A. Cairoli Yamaha  ITA  39' 3.713  2   T. Rattray KTM  RSA  +2.722  3   B. MacKenzie Yamaha  GBR  +31.055  4   R. Goncalves KTM  POR  +31.665  5   M. De Reuver KTM  NED  +46.951  6   D. Philippaerts KTM  ITA  +50.148  7   C. Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA  +51.227  8   D. Guarneri Yamaha  ITA  +1' 0.608  9   L. Seguy Yamaha  FRA  +1' 1.271  10   A. Chiodi Yamaha  ITA  +1' 3.247  11   G. Swanepoel Kawasaki  RSA  +1' 9.648  12   C. Nunn KTM  GBR  +1' 16.081  13   P. Caps Honda  BEL  +1' 24.348  14   P A. Renet Honda  FRA  +1' 32.019  15   N. Aubin Kawasaki  FRA  +1' 47.976  16   M. Monni KTM  ITA  +1' 55.744  17   X. Boog Yamaha  FRA  +2' 0.651  18   A. Boissière Yamaha  FRA  +1 lap(s)  19   K. Gundersen Yamaha  SWE  +1 lap(s)  20   X. Hernandez Yamaha  ESP  +1 lap(s)  Championship standings MX2   Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Tyla Rattray KTM  RSA 83  2   Marc De Reuver KTM  NED 74  3   Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA 64  4   Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha  SWE 64  5   David Philippaerts KTM  ITA 59  6   Antonio Cairoli Yamaha  ITA 53  7   Alessio Chiodi Yamaha  ITA 48  8   Carl Nunn KTM  GBR 47  9   Billy MacKenzie Yamaha  GBR 45  10   Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki  FRA 44  11   Rui Goncalves KTM  POR 42  12   Davide Guarneri Yamaha  ITA 32  13   Luigi Seguy Yamaha  FRA 32  14   Tommy Searle Kawasaki  GBR 32  15   Patrick Caps Honda  BEL 28  16   Antoine Meo Honda  FRA 27  17   Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki  RSA 15  18   Pierre-Alexandre Renet Honda  FRA 14  19   Aigar Leok Yamaha  EST 13  20   Matti Seistola Honda  FIN 13  23   Anthony Boissière Yamaha  FRA 8  28   Xavier Hernandez Yamaha  ESP 2  Manufacturers standings MX2 Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  KTM 50  2  Yamaha 40  3  Kawasaki 32  4  Honda 22
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Work continues for Camel Yamaha Team in Doha

Following Valentino Rossi's hard-fought victory in yesterday's Grand Prix of Qatar, the Italian was back out on track today alongside his Camel Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards for a one-day test today. Despite Rossi's win, the team still saw remnants of their vibration problem arise during the weekend and today's test was aimed once again at working to understand and finally eliminate this problem from the 2006 YZR-M1. As at the last one-day test in Jerez, Valentino Rossi completed a few laps on the 2005 M1 in order to compare its performance with the current bike and gather more information. Besides this Rossi and Edwards, who completed 58 and 66 laps respectively, spent the day trying out various different settings and both riders made some encouraging improvements with some consistently fast lap times. Just a small group of MotoGP riders stayed on to test alongside the Yamaha riders and the fastest unofficial lap was set by Marco Melandri (Honda) in a time of 1'55.95. Rossi was second quickest with a lap of 1'56.25 and Edwards third in a time of 1'56.35. The MotoGP paddock now has a two and a half week break before the third Grand Prix of the season in Istanbul commences on April 28th. Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "It's always quite hard to get up early and go testing the morning after a victory, but today was really important for us and the riders; the whole team has worked hard all day and made the most of the time we had available. In truth we still haven't completely solved our problem, but we've been able to gather a lot more important information and now we have to use this in the best possible way between now and Istanbul. We've definitely made some big improvements today, for both riders. We've tried many different settings which have made the problem much less critical, allowing the riders to ride the bike at a better level. Valentino was obviously able to win yesterday and in the race the problems virtually disappeared, but we knew that they were still there and today we managed to make some good steps forward. Colin had a difficult race and this test has been really important for him; he's finished the day in a much better situation. "Valentino once again tested the 2005 bike so we could make some comparisons. We know that with this bike the situation is different and we don't have vibration, but we also know that the 2006 bike is better in most other ways and has more potential. We also tested a qualifying tyre today as this was when the problem was at its worst during the race weekend, so this was interesting also. Overall it's been a good day for us and hopefully Yamaha can use all this information to our advantage so that we are ready to fight with both riders at the front in Turkey." Unofficial Lap Times: 1. Marco Melandri (ITA) Fortuna Honda, 1'55.95 2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Camel Yamaha Team, 1'56.25 3. Colin Edwards (USA) Camel Yamaha Team, 1'56.35 4. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team, 1'56.36 5. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Ducati Marlboro Team, 1'56.61 6. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team,1'56.77 7. Toni Elias (SPA) Fortuna Honda, 1'56.86
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Rossi bounces back with Qatar victory

Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi returned to the top step of the podium after a stunning ride in today's Grand Prix of Qatar. Rossi's 54th career MotoGP victory was sealed with a perfectly timed run in the second half of the race, passing early leader Casey Stoner (Honda) on lap 10 of 22 and holding off a late attack from Nicky Hayden (Honda) and Loris Capirossi (Ducati), who completed the podium. The win brings Rossi's premier-class tally level with that of Mick Doohan, with only the legendary Giacomo Agostini now ahead of him on 68 victories. Colin Edwards endured a difficult afternoon after front-end problems that appeared throughout the weekend returned to haunt him in the race. The American started from eighth on the grid and made a good start, moving up to sixth place by lap five, but he was unable to maintain the fast and consistent pace he showed in practice and he eventually dropped to ninth. Rossi's victory moves him up to fourth in the championship, fourteen points behind early leader Capirossi after two rounds of seventeen. Valentino Rossi - 1st; 43'22.229 "That was a great race - it was hard but that is what made it such fun. My M1 worked really well today - as the race went on the grip went down and the vibration completely disappeared, so I was able to go fast at the end. Also I set the fastest lap of the race on lap three, so this shows how well my M1 was working. This win is important for the championship but even more so from a mental point of view for me and the team. It was windy but the grip was good and I was able to chase Stoner, who was very fast at the start. When his tyres went down I was able to pass him and I thought I could escape but Nicky stayed with me. Then I looked back and saw Loris was coming too so I began to get worried about the last few laps. Anyway, I pushed hard and managed to hold on. It is great to be level with Mick Doohan, now only Giacomo Agostini is ahead of me. Records are not the most important thing but they are always nice! This feels like the start of the championship for me. Jerez was a nightmare but here we woke up! Big thanks to Jeremy and all the guys because they stayed focused during a difficult time and this is their reward." Colin Edwards - 9th; 43'45.149 (+22.920) "I made a good start and over the first five laps I felt fine - the bike was good and I was able to ride aggressively. I thought: 'okay, let's go for it.' Then on lap six I lost the front three times in a row and I almost crashed on each one of them. I thought it was a bit early in the race for that to happen so I pushed on and got going again but the front kept going and I had to ride slower and slower. In the practice simulation I ran a 1'57.2 on my last lap but in the race it was three seconds slower so clearly something is not right. Thankfully we have a test tomorrow to find out what it was and make sure that we are in better shape for Turkey." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "This is a great day for us because we have been going through a difficult patch so to come out of it with a win is fantastic. It is a credit to the team because they have remained determined throughout the problems and never lost their focus. On Colin's side we have to keep this focus because he had some problems today and we want to bring both Yamahas to the top. We have work to do but we made up some important points in the championship today and this victory gives us even more motivation to continue in the same way at Istanbul." Improved performance brings smiles to Tech 3 Yamaha Team The improvement of the Tech 3 Yamaha Team continued at a wind-swept Losail International Circuit in Qatar today, with an encouraging performance from both riders the exact tonic needed to boost confidence in the team for the long season ahead. Battling very challenging and treacherous riding conditions, with gales sweeping off the surrounding desert, Tech 3 team-mates Carlos Checa and James Ellison finished 12th and 13th respectively. Ellison gained an added bonus as he claimed his first championship points of the year, while Checa fought a hard race despite still suffering the effects of injuries suffered in crashes during the opening Grand Prix in Spain two weeks ago. Results could have been even better for the Tech 3 Yamaha Team except for a first lap incident when both riders were baulked after Randy De Puniet (Kawasaki) crashed in front of them. The incident forced them to the rear of the field, but hard riding for the entire 22 laps saw them fight their way through a number of opponents. Team Director Herve Poncharal was delighted with the results, considering the conditions and the first lap incident that hampered progress in the race, which was won by fellow Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi. Carlos Checa - 12th; 44'11.474 (+49.245) "I am very happy with the performance of the Yamaha and the Dunlop tyres today. That is very encouraging for myself and the team but at the moment I am not fit enough to ride the bike and the tyres to the level that I would like. My shoulder is a little better today but in two weeks I will be so much fitter. The severe wind also made it harder to ride than I had anticipated. The team continues to improve everything about the bike and I am confident that after rest and physiotherapy I will be in much better shape to battle the way I desire in the races ahead." James Ellison - 13th; 44'23.698 (+1'01.469) "I am very, very happy. We both got held up on the first lap when another rider crashed in front of us and without this I think the result could have been even better. I am feeling really comfortable on the bike now and pushed very hard throughout the race. I made up two seconds in one lap but then I got stuck behind Tamada and couldn't get past him for quite a while. The tyres held up perfectly for the 22 laps and were exactly the same at the finish as at the start and that is very encouraging. We got some points to start the season with and if I keep progressing like I am doing there will be even better results coming in the near future." Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "Altogether we had a good weekend. The entire package - the bike and tyres - worked really well, going the whole distance. I think considering the severe winds and the problems that Carlos is having we had very encouraging results. Carlos fully-fit will deliver the promise he showed in winter testing while James is getting better every time he rides the bike. After De Puniet crashed it made it difficult for the results we wanted, but both James and Carlos fought through to the end like the determined and courageous riders they are. I'm very satisfied with the results and how much everything has improved since our test here in February. We will be testing here tomorrow with James only as Carlos will return home to make a full recovery and be fit for the next Grand Prix in Turkey in three weeks."
 
Race classification MotoGP Round: 2 - 2006 MotoGP Qatar Circuit: Losail Circuit Circuit Length: 5380 Lap Record: 1' 57.305 (Valentino Rossi, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 57.305 (Valentino Rossi, 2006) Race: 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 43' 22.229 2 N. Hayden Honda USA +0.900 3 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA +1.494 4 S. Gibernau Ducati ESP +4.638 5 C. Stoner Honda AUS +7.575 6 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP +10.820 7 M. Melandri Honda ITA +11.784 8 T. Elias Honda ESP +19.481 9 C. Edwards Yamaha USA +22.920 10 K. Roberts Team Roberts KR USA +34.286 11 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN +35.316 12 C. Checa Yamaha ESP +49.245 13 J. Ellison Yamaha GBR +1' 1.469 14 M. Tamada Honda JPN +1' 10.778 15 A. Hofmann Ducati GER +1' 22.051 16 J. Cardoso Ducati ESP +1' 33.818 Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 1' 57.305 Championship standings MotoGP Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 41 2 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 36 3 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 30 4 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 27 5 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 21 6 Toni Elias Honda ESP 21 7 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 20 8 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 14 9 Kenny Roberts Team Roberts KR USA 14 10 Sete Gibernau Ducati ESP 13 11 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 12 12 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 8 13 Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 7 14 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 7 15 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 4 16 James Ellison Yamaha GBR 3 Manufacturers standings MotoGP Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Ducati 41 2 Honda 40 3 Yamaha 30 4 Team Roberts KR 14 4 Kawasaki 14 5 Suzuki 7 Team standings MotoGP Pos. Team Points 1 Repsol Honda Team 66 2 Ducati Marlboro Team 54 3 Fortuna Honda Team 41 4 Camel Yamaha Team 39 5 Honda LCR 21 6 Team Roberts KR 14 7 Kawasaki Racing Team 14 8 Rizla Suzuki 11 9 Tech3 Yamaha 10 10 Konica Minolta Honda 8 11 Pramac D'Antin 2 Race classification GP250 Round: 2 - 2006 Qatar GP250 Circuit: Losail Circuit Circuit Length: 5380 Lap Record: 2' 3.015 (Alex de Angelis, 2004) Fastest Lap Ever: 2' 2.154 (Jorge Lorenzo, 2005) Race: 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 J. Lorenzo Aprilia ESP 41' 29.946 2 A. Dovizioso Honda ITA +0.077 3 R. Locatelli Aprilia ITA +19.364 4 H. Barbera Aprilia ESP +19.398 5 H. Aoyama KTM JPN +24.051 6 S. Guintoli Aprilia FRA +28.695 7 S. Porto Honda ARG +33.255 8 M. Simoncelli Gilera ITA +34.214 9 Y. Takahashi Honda JPN +34.406 10 J. Smrz Aprilia CZE +34.419 11 M. Cardenas Honda COL +49.121 12 A. Ballerini Aprilia ITA +1' 0.069 13 S. Aoyama Honda JPN +1' 0.633 14 M. Poggiali KTM SMR +1' 4.619 15 D. Heidolf Aprilia GER +1' 12.332 16 A. Vincent Honda FRA +1' 13.128 17 C. Davies Aprilia GBR +1' 44.684 18 L. Morelli Aprilia ITA +1' 59.950 19 M. Danese Aprilia ITA +1 lap(s) 20 A. Palumbo Aprilia ITA +1 lap(s) Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 A. Dovizioso Honda ITA 2' 3.246 Championship standings GP250 Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Jorge Lorenzo Aprilia ESP 50 2 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 36 3 Roberto Locatelli Aprilia ITA 25 4 Hector Barbera Aprilia ESP 24 5 Hiroshi Aoyama KTM JPN 21 6 Alex de Angelis Aprilia SMR 20 7 Yuki Takahashi Honda JPN 20 8 Sylvain Guintoli Aprilia FRA 17 9 Martin Cardenas Honda COL 13 10 Sebastian Porto Honda ARG 9 11 Marco Simoncelli Gilera ITA 8 12 Manuel Poggiali KTM SMR 7 13 Jakub Smrz Aprilia CZE 6 14 Arnaud Vincent Honda FRA 6 15 Arturo Tizon Honda ESP 4 Manufacturers standings GP250 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Aprilia 50 2 Honda 36 3 KTM 21
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Camel Yamaha riders riders make progress ahead of desert test

Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards improved the setting of their Yamaha M1 machines for tomorrow's Grand Prix of Qatar despite struggling for a fast single lap in this afternoon's qualifying practice. Whilst both riders again demonstrated encouraging pace on race rubber, the improved rear grip offered by the qualifying tyre at the end of the session exaggerated the remaining traces of vibration problems and prevented them from mounting a serious challenge for a front row start.  Rossi was the quickest of the pair, clocking the sixth fastest time to seal a slot on the second row of the grid. Edwards, meanwhile, was just over a tenth of a second outside the time set by his team-mate and will start from two places behind him in tomorrow's 22-lap race, which starts at 15h local time (14h CET). Leading the way from pole position will be Australian youngster Casey Stoner (Honda), who produced a record lap of 1'55.683 to surprise the rest of the field in only his second MotoGP appearance. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) and Toni Elias (Honda) complete the front row. Valentino Rossi (6th, 1'56.076, 25 laps) "The problem is that when the grip comes up we push more and the vibration comes back, so today we couldn't use the full potential of the qualifying tyre and I am only sixth. Anyway my race rhythm is not so bad and there are many riders close together, so I think it will be a good battle tomorrow. I am very surprised by Stoner and I would like to give him my sincere congratulations. He has been very fast all weekend and he used the qualifying tyre to 100%, even better than Loris, who has a lot of experience. Loris is in good shape again but I think the guys to beat are the young riders - Stoner, Elias and Pedrosa. Tomorrow we will see, but it should be interesting!" Colin Edwards (8th, 1'56.230, 22 laps) "We've definitely made the bike better since yesterday and even from this morning. We're still struggling with a little bit of vibration but the problem is continually reducing and I think we're on to something with the setting. We'll make a few small changes in the morning but it's a fine line between what could work and what definitely doesn't work so we have to be careful not to go backwards. My race pace is okay but I'm not going to lie - it was hard work. If the other guys were doing 1'57s I'd be delighted but I think we'll have hold it in the 1'56 mark during the race to come out with a top result. It's going to be tough but if we can make a small step in the morning we'll be ready." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha team Director "We have had fewer problems here than we had in Jerez but the situation is still not perfect. The qualifying session did not go so well for us but both riders have a decent race pace and I think they are in good shape for tomorrow. It will be hard because no doubt the young riders will push hard from the start. It will be a close battle at the front but I think we can be a part of it."  Positive progression for Tech 3 Yamaha Team Good progress continued today for the Tech 3 Yamaha Team at the tight and physically demanding Losail International Circuit in Qatar. Riders Carlos Checa and James Ellison improved their race setup and this was reflected in the lap times as the gap to the leading teams was lessened considerably. Both riders completed the one hour qualifying session on the ever-improving Dunlop race tyres; the team decided against using qualifying tyres as they looked to gain an improved race setup and increase their confidence ahead of a long and demanding race tomorrow. Checa is still feeling the effects of two crashes at Jerez less than a fortnight ago and was unable to ride at his full potential, qualifying in 14th position, whilst Ellison will start from 17th tomorrow. However Team Director Herve Poncharal was happy with the improved performance and hopes for a positive race for both riders.
Carlos Checa (14th, 1'57.299, 22 laps) "We've made some good improvements with the bike and tyres and I have found a race setup that is pretty close to what I desire, but I am still not strong enough with my left arm and that is very important at a track like this. I know in myself that I would be a lot further up the field if I did not have this limitation. It is especially hard on my left side when I am cornering and trying to move around on the bike; I am not as strong as I should be. I don't like riding like this as I am a fighter and want to be at the front, as we showed we can be in winter testing. Anyway we will do our best tomorrow and hopefully we can run a good race despite my problems." James Ellison (17th. 1'58.591, 20 laps) "We're improving all the time and that is the main thing; to move forward every time I get on the bike. I am a lot closer to Carlos and truthfully this is the best session I have had on the bike. I am very happy. We didn't use qualifiers today as we were concentrating on the race set-up and we have found a good tyre that we think will last. We did some consistent times so I am confident that we can finish well, as today I could stick with the other riders I was following. This is the first weekend that we have made big changes to the bike and we've made some good ones. We have moved the handlebars and adjusted my seating for the first time. Moving the 'bars has made a big improvement when exiting the corners, because now I can get over the front of the bike more and feel that I have more control of it." Herve Poncharal - Tech 3 Yamaha Team Director "It has been a positive result for us today. I am happy with the results; it was a choice not to use qualifying tyres as this can give false hope. My main concern is obviously for Carlos and his shoulder. He hasn't recovered from the two big crashes he had at Jerez and is lacking a lot of strength in his left side to be able to control the bike, especially in the many changes of direction around this track. James is improving every time he rides the bike and I can't ask for more than that. This year the target is to provide as much feedback to develop the Dunlop tyres and at every race get closer to the front and we hope we can take another step tomorrow."    Round: 2 - 2006 MotoGP Qatar Circuit: Losail Circuit Circuit Length: 5380 Lap Record: 1' 57.903 (Nicky Hayden, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 55.683 (Casey Stoner, 2006) Date: 7 April 2006 Temp: 32ºC Session 1 :  Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat.  1st Qualifying 1  C. Stoner  Honda  AUS   1' 55.638   2  L. Capirossi  Ducati  ITA   1' 55.721   3  T. Elias  Honda  ESP   1' 55.735   4  N. Hayden  Honda  USA   1' 55.793   5  D. Pedrosa  Honda  ESP   1' 56.008   6  V. Rossi  Yamaha  ITA   1' 56.076   7  S. Gibernau  Ducati  ESP   1' 56.177   8  C. Edwards  Yamaha  USA   1' 56.230   9  S. Nakano  Kawasaki  JPN   1' 56.237   10  K. Roberts  Team Roberts KR  USA   1' 56.272   11  C. Vermeulen  Suzuki  AUS   1' 56.356   12  M. Melandri  Honda  ITA   1' 56.822   13  J. Hopkins  Suzuki  USA   1' 56.981   14  C. Checa  Yamaha  ESP   1' 57.299   15  R. De Puniet  Kawasaki  FRA   1' 57.822   16  M. Tamada  Honda  JPN   1' 57.891   17  J. Ellison  Yamaha  GBR   1' 58.674
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

Crucial preparations begin for Camel Yamaha riders in Qatar

Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards began key set-up work on their Yamaha YZR-M1 machines for the Grand Prix of Qatar in relatively mild temperatures of 27ºC today. After excelling at this track in pre-season tests the riders were keen to gauge the bike's performance against the other main contenders in the MotoGP class and after two intense free practice sessions they ended the day in optimistic moods about their chances for Saturday's race.  Following on from a disappointing first race of the season in Jerez two weeks ago, where both Rossi and Edwards suffered from vibration problems when cornering, the Italian and the American confirmed that the issue was not as severe at this circuit. Edwards spent much of the afternoon session at the top of the time sheets as he set an impressive and consistent pace before eventually dropping to fourth place - two places ahead of Rossi. The fastest lap of the day was recorded by Kenny Roberts Junior (Honda KR) in a time of 1'56.905, just ahead of Casey Stoner and Marco Melandri (both Honda). Colin Edwards (4th, 1'57.024, 28 laps) "Everything is much better today and I've been able to do some good laps, so it's certainly a better start than we made in Jerez! Although it's much less, the vibration hasn't completely gone and we have a couple of other issues that we need to work on in order to be completely ready to push at the limit. I was able to set a decent pace and knock out some consistent laps with the current setting on the bike but we definitely still have a few things to work out. I've gone well at this track since the first day I came here and it really helps to have tested here recently, but we need to take this extra step before I can be truly confident about my chances on Saturday." Valentino Rossi (6th, 1'57.141, 41 laps) "We knew from the tests that the bike worked much better at this track and that was the case today. The vibration is not so much and only in a couple of corners, but we can control it. Now we can work more normally, concentrating on setting-up the bike in order to go faster, rather than thinking all the time about the vibration. We still have all day tomorrow to make some small improvements and I think we can be fast in the race on Saturday, as we were last year. There are some very fast riders at the front and we are all very close together. It seems the other guys were ready to push hard from the very beginning and they are full of motivation so it will be a hard battle. Jerez was also a hard battle for me but I hope Saturday will be a different kind!" Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "It is still quite early but at the moment it looks like we might have a normal weekend! Both riders have a good pace and between them they completed many laps today, gathering some important information to work on the setting of the bike tomorrow. We still have to improve though and it will be important to keep up with the steps made by our competitors. Things appear better than they were at Jerez but we'll wait until tomorrow to get a better idea." Rounding up the first day with riders in 11th and 17th position, Tech3 Yamaha Team is trying to work towards better results for the race weekend. With Carlos Checa suffering from physical problems during free practice session and James Ellison making positive progression with the set up of his bike, both riders have spend significant time on testing different sets of new tyres. Although lap times where less fast compared to the Qatar pre-season test, team director Herve Poncharal remains positive. Carlos Checa (11th, 1'57.992) "Since my crash in Jerez I have been suffering from some pain in my left arm and I have lost some feeling. Some days it's better than others; yesterday it hurt a lot but today it's a little bit better. Unfortunately though it's affecting my ability to ride and I can't get into the corners properly. I am being treated by a physiotherapist and I hope that it will get better quickly. "We've tested five or six tyres today and we've found one that we think can be good for the race, so we're quite pleased. We've found a good base setting for the bike and today we've done some good work on the set-up, so in this department things are looking quite positive. The main factor is the pain in my arm so I hope that this will get better again tomorrow." James Ellison (17th. 1'59.620) "We've made a better start than in Jerez and we've found a good direction with the tyres. We tried a new profile and it's working really well so that's good. We left it on for the afternoon and I did some good, consistent laps so I am quite pleased. I did a run of 12 laps and the last one was the fastest, which bodes well for the longevity of the tyre. The bike feels good and I don't have any chatter. We've made some changes to the set-up and especially the position of the seat, so it 'fits' me better now and this is making a difference. I know I am still near to the bottom but I am feeling good here so I hope we can make some steps forward tomorrow." Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "Today we have mixed feelings because we expected a lot from here after such a good test. Carlos is suffering from some pain in his arm, maybe a trapped nerve, and so he is lacking power and feeling. This afternoon was better so hopefully tomorrow once again it will improve. We're slower than we were at the tests so this is not good, but hopefully we can get back on track tomorrow. James I am really happy about, he is much closer and I think he is feeling better all round. He spent some time at our workshop after Jerez and I hope that this has helped him to be better prepared for this second race."    Round: 2 - 2006 MotoGP Qatar Circuit: Losail Circuit Circuit Length: 5380 Lap Record: 1' 57.903 (Nicky Hayden, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 56.917 (Loris Capirossi, 2005) Date: 6 April 2006 Temp: 27ºC Free Practice :  Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat.  Free Practice  1  K. Roberts  Team Roberts KR  USA   1' 56.905   2  C. Stoner  Honda  AUS   1' 56.911   3  M. Melandri  Honda  ITA   1' 57.010   4  C. Edwards  Yamaha  USA   1' 57.024   5  L. Capirossi  Ducati  ITA   1' 57.031   6  V. Rossi  Yamaha  ITA   1' 57.141   7  D. Pedrosa  Honda  ESP   1' 57.360   8  T. Elias  Honda  ESP   1' 57.392   9  N. Hayden  Honda  USA   1' 57.452   10  S. Gibernau  Ducati  ESP   1' 57.569   11  C. Checa  Yamaha  ESP   1' 57.992   12  C. Vermeulen  Suzuki  AUS   1' 58.783   13  S. Nakano  Kawasaki  JPN   1' 58.786   14  J. Hopkins  Suzuki  USA   1' 58.892   15  A. Hofmann  Ducati  GER   1' 59.245   16  M. Tamada  Honda  JPN   1' 59.609   17  J. Ellison  Yamaha  GBR   1' 59.620
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno

MotoGP Rnd 2 Qatar Preview

The Camel Yamaha Team move on to the Middle East next weekend with the objective of making up for lost points and pride following a disappointing start to the season in the opening round at Jerez. The Grand Prix of Qatar represents the ideal opportunity of a reprieve, with Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards having performed well in pre-season testing at the Losail International Circuit in February. A further day of testing following the Jerez race provided the team with another opportunity to work on the vibration problems that hampered the riders in Jerez, and the day produced some positive results. Such problems were at a minimum when the team tested at Qatar in February, so Yamaha is hopeful of starting out positively for the second race of the season. Based on the outskirts of the capital city of Doha, Losail hosted the MotoGP World Championship for the first time in 2004 after an incredible round-the-clock project that took a little over a year to complete, with an investment of around $58 million USD and 1,000 full-time workers. During its short history the event has brought famous results for both Camel Yamaha Team riders, with Edwards storming to second place in the inaugural race and Rossi clinching victory after an exciting battle with Marco Melandri last year. Having been held in October for the past two seasons, it was expected that this year's spring race would see slightly cooler conditions but, with early weather forecasts predicting ambient temperatures of around 30ºC, it promises to be an equally gruelling weekend for the riders. As usual the Grand Prix will be held on Saturday as opposed to Sunday and the MotoGP race will start one hour later than normal at 1500h local time, in order to coincide with its regular CET slot of 1400h. Valentino Rossi: Getting back on track Valentino Rossi can't wait to get back to action this weekend after the anti-climax of his worst ever premier-class finish at Jerez. After being brought down by another rider at the first corner, Rossi was denied the chance to defend a record of five consecutive first round wins in the MotoGP class, but knows that the best way to make up for it is to bounce back with a good result in Qatar. "After a bad start to the season, I am looking forward to going to Qatar and erasing the bad memories!" said Rossi. "Our bike worked really well when we went to Qatar for pre-season testing, so we hope that this will be the case again. It's true that we also had a tiny bit of vibration there, but it was only in a couple of places and it was quite manageable. Anyway our bike was very fast in Qatar from the first day, so this is a good sign. "Last year my victory in Qatar was probably the most exciting race of the season for me, the whole race was at ridden at the maximum and I had a great, great battle with Melandri. I hope that we can have another good race this year, and of course I hope that I can win again and get our championship defence 'back on track!' Qatar is a hard race and very tiring because of the heat, but it's a great track and I enjoy riding there." Colin Edwards: Onwards and upwards Colin Edwards also has plenty of reasons to look forward to Qatar after riding himself into a spin with the set-up problems at Jerez. The Texan Tornado is keen to get back to a track where the YZR-M1 excelled during pre-season tests and says he expects to return to the personal form that saw him drive away with a new car after setting the fastest time at the Official Tests in Barcelona in early March. "To be honest I couldn't wait to get out of Jerez on Monday evening, it was a nightmare weekend for us really," said Edwards, who has finished in the points at every race since that second place at Qatar in 2004 - a run of 21 consecutive top fifteen finishes. "Things didn't work from the start and our luck couldn't have been worse in the race but it's time to turn the page now. I've got belief in the bike and the team and I know we can turn it around in Qatar. I only have to look across the garage at Valentino to know it is not my riding that is at fault so personally my confidence is still at a premium and I feel ready to ride to the best of my ability. "Losail is a very smooth circuit, with slight camber changes, where you have to keep a good line and a nice flow to your riding. The grip has obviously got better over the past couple of years but you still have to be careful about getting off line when overtaking because of the sand that blows onto the track. It's a pretty nice circuit considering it's in the middle of the desert!" Davide Brivio: We will bounce back Camel Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio says the team's morale has not been dented by events at Jerez last week and stresses that their only focus now is on turning their fortunes around in Qatar. The extra day of testing in Spain provided a welcome chance to gather extra data that Brivio believes will provide vital set-up alternatives when the track action gets underway on Thursday morning. "The test on Monday was very useful," says Brivio. "We made a slight improvement to the set-up but more than that we were able to gather information that will be useful for us to start with in Qatar. We go there with a couple of different options. One is to use the base setting we found in the pre-season tests, although we missed many of the other teams then so it will be interesting to compare the performance of our competitors on Friday morning. The other is to try the different settings we found at Jerez as a solution to the chatter. "We know it will be another tough weekend for the team but the morale is still very good. Of course it was a shame to lose so many points in the first race but we are not feeling sad about that now, only focused on the job we have to do. We are keeping our heads down and working hard, studying the data until we find a solution and we will continue to do that every weekend until we are back on top. The mood is optimistic and we are confident that when this problem is solved we can fight to be at the top of the points standings." Technically speaking: Matteo Flamigni on Qatar Following the recent problems at Jerez, data gathered at pre-season tests and during last year's race in Qatar will be even more crucial than usual this weekend. The 5.4 kilometre track features sixteen corners, ten to the right and six to the left, with a series of fast sweeping sections and several hard braking areas which are unique to any other circuit in the world. "Qatar is a difficult track because you have some very slow corners which come immediately after a change of direction," explains Matteo Flamigni, Valentino Rossi's Data Engineer. "At most circuits the hard braking follows a long straight but at Qatar this happens only once. For example, turn six is a tight hairpin that comes with a quick right-left change under braking, so the bike needs to be very stable but also very agile for a good performance in that section. "The most important section for set-up is probably the three fast rights at the end. You need good stability at maximum lean angle so that the rider feels confident enough to open the throttle, because this is where he can make up the most time. At Jerez the final two fast rights before the last hairpin are very similar and I could see on the data that Valentino did not have the confidence to open the throttle there in the way he had done the previous season. At Qatar we will have to find this compromise between stability on the brakes and stability at maximum lean angle so that our riders can perform to their full potential." Valentino Rossi: Information Age: 27 Lives: London, UK Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 GP victories: 81 (42 x MotoGP, 13 x 500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 158 (66 x MotoGP, 32 x 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: 50 x MotoGP World Championships - 2 World Superbike Qatar Lap Record: Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2005 - 1'57.903 Qatar Best Lap: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2005 - 1'56.917 2005 Results: 1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 43.33.759 2. Marco Melandri (Honda) +1.670 3. Nicky Hayden (Honda) +5.336 4. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +14.737
Alex Asigno
Alex Asigno