Alex Asigno

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd announces that it has concluded a two-year agreement with 250cc World Champion Jorge Lorenzo. The 20-year-old Spaniard will make his MotoGP debut in 2008 aboard a YZR-M1, with direct Factory support. Lorenzo, who won the 250 title in 2006, is currently leading the championship, after winning six out of the first ten races this season. "Yamaha has been watching Jorge's career with interest for some time and we are delighted that he will be joining our MotoGP line-up from next season” - commented Lin Jarvis, Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing. “We are sure that he will be a valuable asset for the future and we look forward to the commencement of his MotoGP career with Yamaha.” The exact structure of Yamaha’s team and rider organization is still under consideration at the present time. Further details, including Lorenzo’s team structure, will be announced in due course.

UFO Corse Yamaha rider Simone Albergoni claimed his second successive double podium result at a round of the '07 World Enduro Championship when the Italian claimed a runner-up and third place finish in the Enduro 1 class at the GP of USA, round five of the WEC series. Having stood on the podium twice at his home round of the championship in Italy Simone came agonisingly close to collecting his first win of the season on day one in Hancock when he placed just four seconds behind current Enduro 1 class leader Juha Salminen from Finland. With Albergoni finishing in second and third over the two days his Spanish team-mate Cristobal Guerrero didn't fair quite as well and placed in sixth and fifth while Yamaha France rider Marc Germain claimed fourth on day one and a well deserved second position on day two. The opening day of the GP of USA was one of, if not the, toughest day of the '07 WEC series held so far this season. With each of the event's three special tests run within the same time check all riders were given just four five-to-ten minute breaks during the gruelling seven hours of riding. With heavy rain prior to the event leaving many sections of the course and special tests extremely wet the rocky terrain ensured a physically demanding event. Despite the challenging conditions UFO Yamaha rider Simone Albergoni rose to the occasion and pushed six-time enduro world champion Juha Salminen harder than any rider has this season. Despite a steady start Albergoni upped his pace as the day progressed and in winning four of the six special tests came within four seconds of being the first rider to beat Salminen this season. Making few mistakes all day Albergoni finished comfortably ahead of third place rider Bartosz Oblucki from Poland. Narrowly missing out on a podium result Yamaha France rider Marc Germain placed fourth on day one, just over five seconds behind Oblucki. A rider that normally excels in slippery, grassy conditions Germain showed that despite the severity of the Hancock special tests he was 100 per cent focused on a podium result. Two places behind Germain in sixth Cristobal Guerrero saw his day spoiled by two costly mistakes in the rock littered extreme test. Having pushed Salminen hard on day one Simone Albergoni started day two determined to go one better and claim his first win of the '07 WEC season. But despite his best efforts it wasn't to be as Salminen upped his pace and placed comfortably ahead of the Italian. Looking assured of a second runner-up result Albergoni ran into trouble on the very last special test of the event when his chain derailed on the extreme test. Losing around 20 seconds Albergoni placed in third. Showing that his day one result was no fluke Yamaha France rider Marc Germain again rode well on day two and thanks in part to mistakes from some of his closest rivals claimed the runner-up spot behind Salminen. For UFO Yamaha rider Cristobal Guerrero day two brought with it more disappointing luck as the young Spaniard, like Albergoni, derailed his chain on the final extreme test, costing him considerable time and dropping him to fifth. Claiming sixth on day two having finished in seventh on day one was the UFO Corse Yamaha team's third rider Maurizio Micheluz. Simone Albergoni (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Second, Day 2 Third: "Day one was really good for me. Finishing second and really close to Salminen is my best result of the season so far - it's always good to finish so close to the rider leading the championship. I felt pretty good all day although the conditions were really difficult. The second day wasn't so good. I made some mistakes and on the third lap my chain came off on the extreme test, which cost me some time. Finally I finished third because Oblucki and Guerrero had some problems, so things ended pretty good for me with two podium results." Cristobal Guerrero (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Sixth, Day 2 Fifth: "I crashed twice on the extreme test on day one and only put in one good time on that test so it meant that I was pushing hard all day to make up for those mistakes. I ended up finishing in sixth, which wasn't so bad but not as good as I could have finished. The second day wasn't so good for me. It was possible to finish second but my chain came off on the last extreme test, which cost me a lot of time and ended my chances of second. I finished in fifth. All day things went well but then right at the end of the day it went bad. I guess that can happen some times." Crowd: 1500 Weather: Sunny 2007 Enduro 1 United States 23/07/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 47'30.200 2 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 0'4.140 3 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 0'38.640 4 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 0'44.000 5 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 0'49.660 6 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 0'52.040 7 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 1'32.590 8 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 3'53.400 9 Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 8'15.180 10 Juraj Dozsa KTM SVK 10'8.880 11 Steve Leivan Yamaha USA 15'2.330 Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 48'14.070 2 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 1'26.320 3 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 1'47.240 4 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 1'53.350 5 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 1'56.930 6 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 2'24.680 7 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 2'30.270 8 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 4'35.080 9 Juraj Dozsa KTM SVK 9'42.090 10 Kyle Nelson Honda USA 15'44.930 Rider Standings 21/07/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Juha Salminen KTM FIN 250 2. Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 182 3. Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 175 4. Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 170 5. Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 167 6. Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 163 7. Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 128 8. Mike Hartmann KTM GER 117 9. Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 79 10. Luca Cherubini TM ITA 59 11. Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 56 12. Juraj Dozsa KTM SVK 51 13. Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 50 14. Joan Jou Yamaha ESP 45 15. Damien Miquel Kawasaki FRA 40 Manufacturer Standings 21/07/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. KTM 250 2. Yamaha 204 3. Husqvarna 163 4. Honda 109 5. TM 65 6. Suzuki 59 7. Kawasaki 48 RACE REPORT 23/07/2007 Aubert holds on third position in championship despite crash in USA Hoping to make up for the disappointment of scoring no points on the second day of the fourth round of the '07 WEC series UFO Corse Yamaha team rider Johnny Aubert saw his chances of a podium finish on day one of the GP of USA ended when he crashed on the event's enduro test, squashing his right middle finger between his handlebars and one of the many rocks that littered the test. Losing two-and-a-half minutes due to his fall and injured finger Johnny continued but due to the time he'd lost was only able to place sixth - a good result considering the immediate and extensive swelling to his finger. Narrowly missing out on placing fifth, were it not for his crash Aubert would likely have placed as runner-up. On day two Aubert tried his best to match the pace of battling Finns Mika Ahola, who topped day one, and reigning class champion Samuli Aro. With the two setting a blistering pace Aubert opted to settle for third mid way through the day yet still placed comfortably ahead of fourth place finisher Valtteri Salonen. Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1 Sixth, Day 2 Third: "I crashed in the enduro test and squashed one of my fingers on my right hand between the handlebar and a rock, which was really painful and made things difficult for me on day one. I lost two and a half minutes in that one test, so that wasn't good at all. I still managed to finish in sixth, which considering how painful my finger was wasn't too bad. I really wanted to push as hard as I could on the second day, to try and make up for my disappointments on day one. But Ahola and Aro were too fast so there was no way I could win. Half way through the day I decided not to push too hard and to settle for third. I tried to push for a good result but things didn't quite go as well as I hoped they would this weekend." Crowd: 1500 Weather: Sunny 2007 Enduro 2 United States 23/07/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 46'4.960 2 Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 1'31.560 3 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 1'32.630 4 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 1'42.020 5 Mike Lafferty KTM USA 3'20.230 6 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 3'25.170 7 Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 3'29.750 8 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 3'30.150 9 Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 3'56.610 10 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 3'57.700 11 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 3'59.110 12 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 5'46.510 13 Aaron Kopp Christini USA 9'38.080 Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 47'4.870 2 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 0'3.450 3 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 1'19.310 4 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 2'40.620 5 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 2'42.540 6 Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 2'49.660 7 Mike Lafferty KTM USA 3'30.690 8 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 3'40.820 9 Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 3'58.600 10 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 4'1.580 11 Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 4'33.180 12 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 4'56.830 13 Justin Tucker Yamaha USA 15'33.540 14 Ryan Brown GasGas USA 23'50.040 15 Dan MC Caslin KTM USA 35'42.460 Rider Standings 21/07/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Mika Ahola Honda FIN 233 2. Samuli Aro KTM FIN 207 3. Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 187 4. Fabien Planet KTM FRA 162 5. Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 158 6. Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 114 7. Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 108 8. Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 105 9. Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 102 10. Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 101 11. Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 79 12. Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 71 13. Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 59 14. Patrick Caps GasGas BEL 51 15. Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 51 Manufacturer Standings 21/07/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 233 2. KTM 211 3. Yamaha 199 4. Aprilia 166 5. Husqvarna 115 6. HusaBerg 114 7. Beta 102 8. Suzuki 79 9. GasGas 60 10. Sherco 51 11. BMW 25 12. Kawasaki 15 13. TM 9 14. Christini 8

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards will contest his home Grand Prix at Laguna Seca this weekend in a one-off special livery, starting from first practice on Friday. The popular American is well known to his legion of fans, both on home shores and worldwide, as the ‘Texas Tornado' and this weekend's livery has been inspired by his famous nickname. The livery, which is Fiat Yamaha's second change of the season following the ‘Fiat 500' inspired bikes in Assen, represents a personal tribute to the two-time World Superbike champion and Edwards has been influential in the design process. "I'm really happy with the final result!" said the 33-year old Texan. "The finished article is exactly how I imagined and I think it's transmitting just the message we were after, mixing the idea of the tornado with the American flag. I'm always very proud to race in front of my home fans and I'm especially pleased to have something extra special to give them this weekend; I'd like to say a big thank you to Fiat for giving me the chance to do something different!" Edwards' bike will be unveiled today, Thursday 19th July, at 1700 local time in Pit Lane at the Laguna Seca circuit.

Yamaha Motocross Team's Joshua Coppins closed the second third of the 2007 FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship with runner-up position at a sun-soaked Monte Coralli circuit for the Grand Prix Citta di Faenza. The 30 year old New Zealander guided his works YZ450FM to a pair of second places in front of 29,000 spectators and under the heavy weight of near-40 degree temperatures to return to the podium at the second home event of the season for his Rinaldi team. Monte Coralli had been the subject of a dedicated facelift from the club in order to host their first premier class Grand Prix since the 1990s and the first event since the creation of the MX1 and MX2 categories in 2004. The track was dwarfed by a long and fast uphill drag from the start gate that was only interrupted by a narrow kink that made the section a perilous prospect. The course was typically Italian with rock-hard and sometimes dusty terrain constituting the fast and twisty layout. Coppins, who was fighting fit again after feeling weak in Sweden two weeks ago after suffering with flu, started slowly in the first moto but paced himself excellently. The New Zealander pulled through to second position from the lower half of the top ten and passed former team-mate Ken de Dycker on the last lap to take the runner-up slot behind runaway victor Sebastien Pourcel. It was one of the best performances of the day. In the second race the championship leader started better and gave chase to Pourcel. For most of the moto Coppins was alone and although he tried to close down the gap, the Frenchman was elusive. With title rival Ramon struggling down in eighth position Coppins not only participated in his ninth podium ceremony of the season but extended his advantage by 18 points over the Belgian Marc de Reuver was unable to compete after complications from the left shoulder he hurt in the heavy practice crash at the Grand Prix of Sweden two weeks ago. The Dutchman had medical checks prior to travelling to Italy that revealed no damage to the joint but lacked strength in his arm during the first free practice session at Faenza and was in no condition to lap at speed or consider the race. Coppins fronts the world championship by 107 points and with just five rounds and 250 points remaining. De Reuver is still fourteenth. The eleventh round will start an intense run of four meetings in five weeks as the World Championship hurries towards it climax. The Grand Prix of Czech Republic is next on July 29th and is followed by visits to Belgium, Ireland and the UK to complete the month of August. The final GP of the year will occur in Holland on the first weekend of September. Josh Coppins, Yamaha Motocross Team: "Every race I try to win and, like the team, I always do my best but if I cannot take the victory then I want to be on the podium and that's what I did this weekend. I didn't focus at the start of the first race and tried to do something different with my approach which was a mistake. It did not work and made it a hard race for me. I had to be patient and could not attack too hard as there was nowhere to pass, but I soon found some spots and I really pushed to get to the front. The second moto was more like normal but I had to pace myself a little bit. My worst race was Sweden two weeks ago and I lost eight points there but I recouped those and more today. For me it is all about the big picture. I still have some goals left this year and I want to win more but of course the championship is getting nearer." Marc de Reuver, Yamaha Motocross Team: "The crash from Sweden was really hard and it was not about the pain this weekend because I can handle that but on the downhills the muscle on the back of my shoulder had no power and I could not control the bike. We have made scans and everything but there was no problem. I have a plate in my neck and there is nothing wrong with that so I am a little bit lost as to where the trouble might be." Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team: "Marc could not ride because of too much pain with his left shoulder but Josh shone today. He had a fantastic ride in the first moto after a bad start and he came back very strong to second position. He was in the first three for the second moto and tried for some laps to catch Pourcel but was not close enough for a final attack. Second overall was very good though especially because the nearest guys to us in the championship had a bad day." Circuit Length: 0 Temp: 36 Crowd: 29000 Weather: Sunny 2007 GP of Faenza, Italy 15/07/2007 Race 1 - 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 38'56.573 2 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'3.639 3 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'7.226 4 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'9.356 5 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'14.101 6 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'16.277 7 Julien Bill Honda CHE 0'19.546 8 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'35.468 9 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'38.093 10 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'39.626 11 James Noble Honda GBR 0'41.143 12 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'41.448 13 Manuel Priem TM BEL 0'51.177 14 Alex Salvini Yamaha ITA 0'53.057 15 Christian Beggi Honda ITA 0'57.445 16 Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 1'1.776 17 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 1'5.955 18 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 1'14.056 19 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 1'18.509 20 Alessio Chiodi Aprilia ITA 1'27.852 Race 2 - 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 39'38.053 2 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'4.413 3 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'6.376 4 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'7.476 5 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'9.288 6 Julien Bill Honda CHE 0'10.745 7 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'25.927 8 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'29.295 9 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 0'35.660 10 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'42.629 11 James Noble Honda GBR 0'48.552 12 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 0'50.685 13 Manuel Priem TM BEL 0'58.123 14 Alex Salvini Yamaha ITA 1'4.748 15 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 1'8.429 16 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 1'14.034 17 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 1'17.080 18 Lauris Freibergs Yamaha LVA 1'18.687 19 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 1'21.247 20 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL 1'25.706 Rider Standings 15/07/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 445 2. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 338 3. Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 285 4. David Philippaerts KTM ITA 278 5. Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 272 6. Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 256 7. Mike Brown Honda USA 255 8. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 250 9. Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 240 10. Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 218 11. James Noble Honda GBR 195 12. Manuel Priem TM BEL 155 13. Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 152 14. Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 136 15. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 107 16. Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 102 17. Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 93 18. Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 84 19. Julien Bill Honda CHE 83 20. Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 65 Manufacturer Standings 15/07/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 445 2. Suzuki 385 3. Kawasaki 353 4. KTM 351 5. Honda 331 6. TM 155 7. Aprilia 9 RACE REPORT 15/07/2007 Cairoli runner-up at second home Grand Prix De Carli Yamaha's Antonio Cairoli had to settle for runner-up position in his second home Grand Prix of the season but still managed to put on a good show for his army of fans at the Monte Coralli circuit for the tenth round of fifteen in the MX2 World Championship. Unlike Mantova earlier in the year the series leader was unable to stamp his authority with dominance on a circuit that was quick and relatively simple compared to some of the more technical venues on the GP schedule. The conditions were also testing by the sheer intensity of the heat making Faenza the hottest event so far in 2007. Cairoli took the opportunity to ease himself into the first moto and let title rival Christophe Pourcel head the pack in the formative stages. Much to the delight of the crowd Cairoli started to cut the difference to the Frenchman at the midway point and took the lead without problems to register his seventh moto success from the last five meetings. The 21 year old was handicapped by an average start in the second race and had to find a way past rookie Gautier Paulin and Tyla Rattray to reach second place. The Sicilian then set about trying to catch Pourcel who had taken the holeshot and set a pace at the front as hot as the weather. Although he could chip away at the eight second margin Cairoli was unable to reproduce the great pursuits enacted in Portugal and France and accepted second place for the GP; tied on points with Pourcel but taking the second step of the rostrum due to the second moto ranking. Pourcel made a small piece of history by joining his brother Sebastien (winning MX1) as GP winners on the same day. Tyla Rattray completed the MX2 top three. Ricci Racing's Nicolas Aubin was twelfth overall and should have been higher after having an exciting race with Rattray in the first moto, going on to take fourth; one of his best moto classification of the season. The nineteen year old Frenchman had a problem with his goggles in the second sprint and misjudged a downhill approach with limited vision and crashed, ending his afternoon. He travels to the penultimate round of the French championship next week hoping to soon wrap up the series he currently leads. Team-mates Davide Guarneri and Kenneth Gundersen had 'up and down' experiences. Guarneri, fell on lap one of Moto1 and then later - despite a decent recovery into the points - could not avoid a fallen rider and went off the track. He had to restart and was far behind the field so retired to conserve some energy for Moto2. A decent start saw him circulating in fourth place but he held sixth by the chequered flag and took fourteenth overall. Gundersen qualified well and looked sprightly but had some problems with his rear brake that restricted his speed; he took eighteenth at the end of the day. Cairoli leads Pourcel by 102 points in the world championship and like fellow Yamaha compatriot Josh Coppins can begin counting down the ten motos, five GPs and 250 points left to play for. Aubin holds seventh and is eighteen points in front of Gundersen in eighth. The Grand Prix of Czech Republic at the Loket circuit represents round eleven on July 29th. Antonio Cairoli, De Carli Yamaha: "I am satisfied with this result because the home race is always quite difficult with so many people coming to watch and see me. I'm happy with the races because the championship still looks good; it was just a day when Christophe was too fast to catch. I took a lot of risks to get close to him but after a while I settled for second. The track was hard because it was not that technical and it was very fast. I lost a lot of time passing other riders to get to second place and by then he was too far and our speed was more or less the same. I enjoyed the first moto though and I knew I could wait and then increase the pace later in the race." Nicolas Aubin, Yamaha Team Ricci: "I am disappointed because I felt that I had a chance at the podium this weekend. I had a good start in the first moto and was right behind Rattray but lost my rhythm and could not get past him. I'm pleased with the start though because that has been a weak point, and I showed that in the second moto because I missed the gate drop! I was working to recover positions when I had a problem with my goggles. I took them off but had a load of earth come into my eyes and I missed my line going down to the lowest part of the track. I could not continue after the crash." Kenneth Gundersen,: Yamaha Team Ricci: "It was like Sweden with the rear brake playing up in both motos today so we need to work on that for the next race. The first fifteen minutes it is OK but then it starts and it is so difficult to ride. I finished and got some points but I am disappointed because the weekend started well and ended badly." Davide Guarneri,: Yamaha Team Ricci "I had a good reaction at the start but I crashed on the first lap of the first moto. I went back to sixteenth and from there I tried to fight and got up to tenth but Paulin crashed in front of me and to avoid him I had to go off the track. I did not go down but I lost a lot of time and decided to retire. In the second moto I started in the top five and had fourth position for a long time. I just ran out of strength at the end. My body could not cope with the temperatures. Despite this, the second race was quite go Circuit Length: 0 Temp: 38 Crowd: 29000 Weather: Sunny 2007 GP of Faenza, Italy 15/07/2007 Race 1 - 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 39'19.731 2 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'4.448 3 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'27.297 4 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 0'32.952 5 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'51.713 6 Marvin Musquin Kawasaki FRA 0'57.075 7 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 0'59.004 8 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 1'11.865 9 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 1'14.352 10 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 1'15.855 11 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 1'25.412 12 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'27.523 13 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'28.139 14 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'29.797 15 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 1'30.205 16 Jeremy Tarroux Yamaha FRA 1'41.211 17 Stephen Sword Kawasaki GBR 1'41.877 18 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 1'48.264 19 Gregory Aranda Kawasaki FRA 1'50.527 20 Carlos Campano Yamaha ESP -1 Laps Race 2 - 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 40'1.198 2 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 0'23.509 3 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'35.800 4 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'46.473 5 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'50.719 6 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 0'54.064 7 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 0'55.561 8 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 0'59.556 9 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 1'5.106 10 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 1'7.639 11 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 1'10.430 12 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 1'18.859 13 Gautier Paulin Honda FRA 1'20.951 14 Jeremy Tarroux Yamaha FRA 1'22.771 15 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'26.378 16 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'28.450 17 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 1'31.251 18 Marvin Musquin Kawasaki FRA -1 Laps 19 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL -1 Laps 20 Carlos Campano Yamaha ESP -1 Laps Rider Standings 15/07/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 486 2. Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 384 3. Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 358 4. Tommy Searle KTM GBR 311 5. Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 304 6. Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 245 7. Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 215 8. Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 197 9. Matti Seistola Honda FIN 182 10. Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 161 11. Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 152 12. Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 143 13. Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 136 14. Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 117 15. Rui Goncalves KTM POR 108 16. Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 97 17. Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 76 18. Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 74 19. Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 70 20. Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 69 22. Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 60 42. Carlos Campano Yamaha ESP 2 Manufacturer Standings 15/07/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 486 2. KTM 404 3. Kawasaki 401 4. Honda 310 5. Suzuki 172

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards rode a strong race in sweltering conditions today to take a best-ever Sachsenring finish of fourth, after starting from thirteenth on the grid for the German Grand Prix. Team-mate Valentino Rossi had a disappointing day as he slid out of the race early on when challenging for sixth position, in a race which was led from start to finish by Dani Pedrosa. In front of 101,083 fans and with temperatures touching 33 degrees, today's thirty-lap race looked like being a test of endurance - both for riders and tyres. Rossi started from sixth but dropped to eighth at the start, taking two laps to pass Alex Barros before finding himself in seventh behind Randy de Puniet on lap three. He soon made his move on the Frenchman and looked to be safely through but a small mistake proved costly and sent him tumbling into the gravel trap. Edwards meanwhile was making steady progress through the pack as he gained more and more confidence in his M1 and his Michelin tyres. On lap 24 he suddenly found himself within striking distance of Marco Melandri and Casey Stoner, passing them both on the next lap to take fourth. With a podium in his sights he set about trying to close the gap on Nicky Hayden but was not quite able to catch his fellow American, eventually crossing the line just under two tenths adrift. Rossi remains second in the championship but the gap to Stoner grows to 32 points, whilst Edwards consolidates seventh after taking 13 points today. Colin Edwards Position: 4thTime: +18.299 "The beginning of that race was pretty tough, I almost crashed out a few times and it felt like I almost had too much grip on the rear! As time went on though I started to feel better and better and when Hayden passed me back again it made me pretty determined to keep pushing. Suddenly I looked up and there were three of them in front of me and at that stage I felt like the podium was a possibility. Getting past Stoner and Melandri was fine but I couldn't quite get back to Hayden which was a pity. A podium would have been nice but, after yesterday's qualifying, I'm pretty happy with fourth; it's my best ever finish here by miles. It was an exhausting race and you don't realise till you cross the finish line how much strain thirty laps around here puts on the left side of your body - my shoulder's pretty sore now! I want to say a big thank you to Michelin, my team and Yamaha because they've had to work really hard this weekend to find a way to make things come together and they did a great job. We knew this morning that we'd found a good package and to finish fourth after starting thirteenth is great. We're heading for Laguna on a high!" Valentino Rossi Position: DNFTime: - "Unfortunately I made a mistake today and I want to say sorry to everyone - my team, Yamaha and of course all my fans. I lost some places at the start and had to wait a lap before I could start to push, but everything was feeling very good. Getting past de Puniet was hard because in the part of the track where it's best to overtake he was very fast. Finally I made my move and I made a great pass but I made a mistake and lost the front. I'm so disappointed because today our package was working very well and we missed the chance to make up a lot of points on Stoner. We know from Pedrosa and Colin's performance that the Michelin tyres worked well until the end and I'm sad that we weren't there to fight. Luckily Stoner was only fifth so the points situation is not as bad as it could have been. I'm very glad we only have seven days until the next race because right now I'm feeling quite bad, but very determined for America!" Davide Brivio - Team Director "Congratulations to Colin, it's a great result for him and it gives him and his team a lot of encouragement and confidence for his home race in Laguna Seca. Michelin did a good job this weekend and our tyres worked very well until the end. On the other side, it's a great disappointment with Valentino because we lost the chance to recover some points. However this is racing and we know that our package is working very well now and we will get the chance to try again in just one week's time. Today gives us double motivation for Laguna." Disappointing weekend for Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 In the extreme temperatures that engulfed the German Grand Prix held at the challenging Sachsenring circuit in the picturesque undulating hills in the east of Germany the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team proved to be a difficult weekend for team riders Sylvain Guintoli and Makoto Tamada. The weekend looked promising after MotoGP rookie Sylvain Guintoli claimed his best qualifying position of the year in ninth fastest position but unfortunately race day didn¹t reflect his progress. Sylvain failed to finish the race after a mishap during the opening lap of the race caused him to crash. His teammate Makoto Tamada also had a weekend to forget as he was never on the pace all weekend struggling to be comfortable to the bike to finish 13th. Makoto Tamada Position: 13thTime: +2 laps This was a very disappointing weekend for me as I never felt happy with the bike. I tried everything but I wasn¹t comfortable and I could never find a good rhythm. During the race nothing changed and I decided to pit to change a tyre to see if that would improve my confidence and make me push hard but still I didn¹t feel good in my riding. I have to think very hard about this weekend and hopefully use it to improve my feeling for next weekend in America. Sylvain Guintoli Position: DNFTime: - To say I¹m extremely disappointed is an understatement as I felt that I could¹ve done something very good this weekend after such a good qualifying. I got off the line well and pushed very hard dicing with Colin Edwards, which was very good for my confidence. At the end of the fourth lap when I was coming into the last corner I noticed that the engine revs dropped to be very low. This caused me to run wide onto the dirty part of the track and I lost the rear, which caused me to highside. All I can do now is put this behind me and hope to continue with some good progress next weekend at Laguna. Hervé Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Manager This weekend is a very big disappointment as we were hoping for quite a high result because last year here we had our best result when we finished just 17 seconds behind the winner. Also Sylvain scored his best qualifying result on Saturday when he was ninth fastest so to come away with these results is very hard to accept. We knew Sylvain was going to push hard as he was determined to make up for his bad starts he has had lately but it was not to be. Sachsenring is a very tight track and if you get offline here it can bite hard and unfortunately that is what happened to Sylvain. As for Makoto I don¹t know what happened as he was off the pace all weekend so it is very puzzling for everyone in the team as they put in so much work to give him the best package possible. Circuit Length: 3671 Temp: 33 Weather: Dry 2007 MotoGP Germany - Sachsenring 15/07/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 41'53.196 2 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 0'13.166 3 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 0'16.771 4 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'18.299 5 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 0'31.426 6 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'31.917 7 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0'33.395 8 Anthony West Kawasaki AUS 0'41.194 9 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 0'43.214 10 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 0'44.459 11 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1'1.894 12 Kurtis Roberts KR212V USA 1'10.721 13 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN -2 Laps 14 Carlos Checa Honda ESP -3 Laps Rider Standings 15/07/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 196 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 164 3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 144 4. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 103 5. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 97 6. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 93 7. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 88 8. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 77 9. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 73 10. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 69 11. Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 60 12. Toni Elias Honda ESP 49 13. Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 40 14. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 27 15. Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 25 16. Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 23 18. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 18 Team Standings 15/07/2007 Pos. Team Points 1. Ducati Marlboro Team 273 2. FIAT Yamaha Team 252 3. Repsol Honda Team 217 4. Rizla Suzuki 196 5. Honda Gresini 146 6. Pramac D'Antin 129 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 69 8. Tech3 Yamaha 41 9. Honda LCR 27 10. Konica Minolta Honda 25 11. Team Roberts 12 12. none 6 Manufacturer Standings 15/07/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 208 2. Yamaha 184 3. Honda 174 4. Suzuki 131 5. Kawasaki 64 6. KR212V 12

The Yamaha Motocross Team has agreed with the Italian star rider David Philippaerts to ride their factory YZ450FM in the MX1 world championship for 2008 and 2009. Next year David will race alongside present MX1 world championship leader Joshua Coppins to defend the Yamaha Motocross Team’s leading position in the premier motocross class, mixing Coppins’ vast MX1 GP winning experience with Philippaerts’ youthful aggression and future promise. Yamaha are still discussing with current Yamaha Motocross Team rider Marc de Reuver about the continuation of their relationship. Before his rise to GP stardom Philippaerts was racing with Yamaha machinery and the guidance of 1999 Yamaha MX500 world champion Andrea Bartolini, who now currently is test rider for the Yamaha Motocross Team. In 2004 David made his fulltime debut in the MX2 class finishing his first year 19th overall. The following year his progress was quick and impressive, winning his first GP in France (round nine), followed by a further win in South Africa. Last season David’s results further improved and he finished third overall, adding four more MX2 GP victories achieved in Bulgaria, Italy, UK and the Czech Republic to his tally. In 2007 Philippaerts made a very successful switch to MX1 and currently holds fourth position overall, the result of three GP podiums including one win at Teutschenthal, Germany Profile Name: David Philippaerts Date of Birth: 7 December 1983 Nationality: Italian Career highlights 2006: 3rd MX2 World Championship, 2nd Italian International Championship 2005: 4th MX2 World Championship 2004: 19th MX2 World Championship, Italian Champion 2003: Italian Champion 2002: 2nd Italian Championship, 3rd European 125 Championship 1993: Started racing

In 2007 Yamaha is enjoying again a very successful world championship motocross season. Joshua Coppins controls the MX1 class with a healthy 89 points margin halfway though the year, while Antonio Cairoli is in a league of his own ruling over the MX2 opposition with eight GP wins out of the nine rounds contested sofar. Although Cairoli will stay in the small capacity class for 2008, Yamaha is already grooming the next ‘blue’ generation for GP success and therefore are pleased to announce that Frenchman Nicolas Aubin has signed for two more years, while his teammate Davide Guarneri has also extended his Yamaha Team Ricci contract for 2008. Since the motocross world turned to four stroke machinery Yamaha’s blue machines have been favorite with many top GP riders and the competitiveness of the YZ’s have given Yamaha an edge into retaining some of the hottest GP talents. Nicolas Aubin certainly is a member of that small group of potential winners and despite his young age of 19 he is already contesting his third season in the MX2 class, with 2007 being his breakthrough season. He came very close to victory when he finished runner up in the second moto of the Portguese GP in Agueda and currently holds seventh position in the standings. At first glance some of Davide Guarneri’s past results might not categorize him in that same group of potential title contenders. Yet Davide has already tasted GP success when he won the second moto of the European GP held at Teutschenthal in 2005. The following year further progression was on the cards, but due to a virus infection Davide missed most of the second part of 2006. This season he missed the first three rounds due to an ankle injury, but since then Guarneri has come good, showing better finishes round after round. His speed now is on par with Cairoli’s top challengers which will see him hopefully enter the top 10 of the standings soon. Yamaha Team Ricci owner Ilario Ricci has been an important partner in Yamaha’s GP motocross efforts and he is obviously very content being able to continue with these riders; “Nicolas Aubin has proven this year to be even quicker then many expected. We started with him only this year and were not sure what level he could reach. I believe he exceeded expectations and he has proved his podium potential already. I'm very happy that he wants to ride with us for the next two seasons. Davide Guarneri is going into his fourth year with us for 2008. For years he has been one of Italy’s big talents, but his progress has been hampered with some injuries. However he has made a very strong comeback, recently finishing in and close to the top five. With these two high-potential youngsters on the improved 2008 YZ250F with YRRD (Yamaha Rinaldi R and D) performance parts we have a strong base for further improvement." Yamaha Motor Europe’s racing division manager Laurens Klein Koerkamp shares Ricci’s buoyant mood for the future; “With Cairoli being the unrivalled number one in MX2 today, there will come a moment where he needs to find a new challenge in MX1. So we are working to prepare the next generation of riders who can potentially take over from Antonio. We believe Aubin and Guarneri are two of such riders that have the capacity to keep Yamaha at the top of the charts. It is great also that we can work towards this goal with both the French and Italian Yamaha distributors who represent us in the two biggest off road markets in Europe”.

Following on from a productive test session at Brno two weeks ago, the Yamaha Superbike and Supersport teams both headed to Italy this weekend for another test session, this time at Vallelunga. This circuit is new on the championship calendar for 2007 and is located just north of Rome. Built in 1959, the track was originally a sand mile oval. The most recent track alteration was in 2004 when it was extended by one kilometre to reach a total length of 4.11km. The main objective of this weekend’s test was for all riders to familiarise themselves with the circuit and, working with Pirelli, find the right tyres ahead of the race there in September. Both Haga and Corser put in a large number of laps over the two-day session in very hot conditions, laying down 120 and 106 laps respectively in order to get the most data and find the best set-up for the unknown circuit. Haga faired best on day one, taking third slot with a best time of 1’37.535 while Corser was only 0.2 seconds behind his team mate in fifth. The second day saw the best lap times of the day set in the cooler morning practice session before the track temperature soared towards 50°C. Corser took a second of his previous day’s best time and claimed third overall behind Xaus and Bayliss. Haga also managed to improve his best time but focused more on long runs than setting fast times. He ended the day in seventh with a 1’37.506 even though he is still suffering with some wrist pain since his race incident with Biaggi at Misano last month. The Yamaha World Supersport Team ran a two-man team during this weekend’s test, with the Australian Supersport rider Jason O’Halloran riding alongside permanent rider Broc Parkes. Jason O’Halloran is only 19 and is riding an R6 in the Australian Supersport Championship where he is currently lying in second place, six points behind the leader, with only one round to go. The objective for Jason and the team was to get an understanding of his set-up and riding skills as well as gather quality feedback on the YZF-R6. Parkes put a strong performance over the weekend to take third overall with 109 laps. His best time of the whole test came in the final fourth session when he put in a 1’40.032, showing the improvement the team had made over the duration of the weekend. O’Halloran showed determination, putting in 118 laps during the weekend to finish 13th overall, although his ideal times showed that he would have been higher up the board if he hadn’t been held up on one of his fastest laps. Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “We tried everything we wanted to and have found a good set-up for here as well as some extra things like better wheelie control to help us at Brno later this month. I’m reasonably happy with my lap times. The high track temperature this afternoon made it interesting – it was about 50 degrees - and the sunshine made the track quite blistering for the tyres but I feel we found a good set-up for both cool and warm conditions. The layout of Vallelunga is quite technical, which I like though it is a bit bumpy in places. It’s actually a bit of a strange layout with the first half being quite fast, while the second half is slow. It takes some getting used to and is quite challenging for the right set-up. I’m happy with what we’ve achieved here, though.” Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “Today’s result was not as good as I would’ve liked, but I’m happy with the set-up information we got from the test. I did a few long runs and we started with the Brno setting, which we didn’t change much over the period of the test. I quite like the circuit; it is very tricky because of the combination of banking and blind corners but that makes it good fun! I am still suffering with a bit of pain in my wrist, which is annoying and I’m keen to let it rest now before the Brno race in a couple of weeks.” Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “Both Troy and Nori have put in a lot of laps this weekend. Nori did several long runs and focused more on finding the right race tyre. He seems to be happy with his set-up now despite having some pain in his wrist towards the end of the day. We still managed to test everything we wanted. Troy did his best time on race rubber and was very happy with result. This weekend he has focused on trying different set-ups and is happy overall. We are almost there now and the whole team is very positive and confident; we are now full of enthusiasm and ready to fight at Brno.” Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport Team) “It has been a couple of good days testing. On the first day we found some speed quickly but today it was harder to make as much improvement, but I think we did well in the end. The Honda’s good here but we just kept at it and got some useful data on chassis side. We just now need to put it all together for the next race at Brno. The conditions were hot and pretty much what we wanted as it’s given us a good indication of what it’ll be like for the race. The circuit is technical, that’s for sure but I think we’ll go well here, come the race.” Jason O’Halloran (Yamaha World Supersport) “This weekend has been tough; I had a track, a bike and different tyres to learn but I think I came to terms with it all very quickly and am pleased with my progress. The team is very professional and everyone has been great at helping me find my feet this weekend. Over the course of the weekend we’ve made steps forward; I put in a long run today and it felt good, even though I still am not fully used to the tyres. In the Australian Supersport series there are only two or three guys consistently fast but in this championship everyone is fast. You need to be fast and good at every turn every lap which is tough. The circuit was enjoyable to ride with some fast sections. It’s very technical though; one small mistake could cost a lot of lap time.” Terrell Thien (Team Manager, Yamaha World Supersport Team) “We’ve had a couple of good days here. We tested with Jason who proved to have lots of talent and is very professional despite his youthful age. He is keen to learn, which is always good, and I think he found it a valuable experience working in a world level team. He put in a good number of laps on the first day and provided us with some good data. He definitely has a promising future. Broc also had a very good test this weekend. He focused on tyre testing and put in a few long runs. He wasn’t worried so much about setting the fastest lap; he was more concerned about finding the right set-up, which he did. The fast lap came with it, which is a very good sign. Broc was very consistent over the two days and I’m very pleased with his test. Overall, I am very pleased with how the weekend has gone. The track itself is tricky but that makes it a good challenge for us. It has been a good proving ground for the run up to the race.” WSB Fastest Times 1. Xaus: 1'36.382 2. Bayliss: 1'36.556 3. Corser: 1'36.731 4. Toseland: 1'36.783 5. Biaggi: 1'37.440 6. Laconi: 1'37.455 7. Haga: 1'37.506 8. Rolfo: 1'37.647 9. Kagayama: 1'37.655 10. Fabrizio: 1’37.817 WSS Fastest Times 1. Brookes: 1'39.550 2. Sofuoglu: 1'39.818 3. Parkes: 1'40.032 4. Alfonsi: 1'40.262 5. Charpentier: 1'40.262 6. Fujiwara: 1'40.275 7. Roccoli: 1'40.610 8. Jones: 1'40.714 9. Foret: 1’40.837 10. Riba: 1'40.951 11. Fores: 1’41.010 12. Vizziello: 1’41.041 13. O’Halloran: 1’41.283

Yamaha Motocross Team Josh Coppins missed the podium for the first time in the 2007 FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship as the New Zealander finished fifth overall at a cloudy and cool Uddevalla, 100kms north of Gothenburg, for the Grand Prix of Sweden. The ninth round of fifteen in the GP series was however noticeable for Antonio Cairoli's eighth success in the MX2 class and a quite remarkable performance from the De Carli Yamaha rider in the opening moto. The circuit several kilometres outside the town of Uddevalla has been a World Championship regular since the start of the century - in fact one of only two venues to remain ever-present on the FIM calendar from the turn of the millennium. The layout had been reversed from the 2006 edition and a new start and first corner, along with a repositioned pit-lane, was in place for the '07 event. The track offered its usual winding and tight test and the terrain was softer thanks to large amounts of sand being mixed with the mud and incessant rainfall in the build-up to the Grand Prix. The giant rocky hill overlooking the facility gave ample viewing opportunities to the 28,900 crowd who scaled the inclines. Coppins had taken sixth position in Timed Practice on Saturday and did not push for a fast lap and risk a crash on a surface that was far wetter and slipperier than the races on Sunday. The New Zealander made a safe first moto by obtaining a slot inside the top five and setting a reel of consistent laps to plant himself in the front group. He was strong at the end to pass title rival Steve Ramon for fourth place. The 30 year old, who had been suffering with flu during the week, again struggled to hit the same lap-times as the leaders in the second outing and dropped to eighth at one stage before rallying back to sixth position. The day was an exercise of caution for the championship pace-setter on the YZ450FM and his fifth place overall was a steady result on a track that was hard for overtaking. Coppins still holds an impressive 89 point lead over Ramon who was runner-up to debut winner Ken de Dycker. Josh's advantage constitutes more than three motos and almost two Grand Prix with just six rounds remaining. He had five wins, one second position and two third places prior to Sweden. Marc de Reuver's weekend was curtailed on Saturday when the Dutchman crashed in the free practice and injured his left arm, received a blow to the head and was also winded. The luckless 24 year old needed to be taken to the medical centre but bravely tried to qualify later in the afternoon. However he was forced to park the YZ450-FM after attempting one lap in Timed Practice and was in no condition to continue. De Reuver is fourteenth in the standings The Yamaha Motocross Team will now look ahead to their second home Grand Prix of the season as round ten of the series heads to the Faenza circuit near Riminy, Italy in two weeks time. July's schedule also sees a trip to the Czech Republic at the end of the month. Josh Coppins, Yamaha Motocross Team: "It wasn't a good day; in fact it was a bad day at the office. I just did not 'feel it' out there, and in the end just had to do the best that I could. I knew from Saturday that I did not have the speed. No excuses today, I was not able to go with the leaders and I know I have some work to do. I wanted to keep on the podium all year and I knew that would be tough but we will come back strong for Faenza." Marc de Reuver, Yamaha Motocross Team: "There is not much to say. I had a crash in practice and caught my arm and it is pretty badly bruised. I wanted to have a go at qualifying for the GP but I did one lap and could not handle the bike like I wanted and making any fast laps would have been impossible. It is another disappointment and I can only hope my luck changes very soon." Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team: "It was a disappointing weekend. Marc had a very bad crash in the first few laps of practice. Luckily it was nothing serious but the effects meant that he could not ride. He tried in the qualifying but the pain was too much. Tomorrow (Monday) we will make a check-up with him but things seem to be OK. Josh just had a bad day. Physically he was not perfect because of some flu a few days ago and this race was quite tough. He couldn't do any better. However I think losing sometimes can have a positive effect." Circuit Length: 1750 Temp: 20 Crowd: 28900 Weather: Dry 2007 GP of Uddevalla, Sweden 01/07/2007 Race 1 - 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 38'46.205 2 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'6.373 3 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'8.022 4 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'10.482 5 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'11.402 6 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'32.766 7 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'42.135 8 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'43.561 9 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'44.659 10 James Noble Honda GBR 0'58.917 11 Mike Brown Honda USA 1'1.365 12 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 1'2.552 13 Julien Bill Honda CHE 1'12.998 14 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 1'21.006 15 Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 1'21.692 16 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 1'42.173 17 Manuel Priem TM BEL -1 Laps 18 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST -1 Laps 19 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL -1 Laps 20 Alex Salvini Yamaha ITA -1 Laps Race 2 - 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 39'17.093 2 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'5.236 3 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'7.610 4 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'11.930 5 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'12.878 6 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'26.948 7 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'35.137 8 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'41.722 9 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 0'44.900 10 James Noble Honda GBR 0'59.937 11 Manuel Priem TM BEL 1'2.213 12 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 1'3.631 13 Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 1'27.710 14 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 1'48.860 15 Alex Salvini Yamaha ITA -1 Laps 16 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL -1 Laps 17 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL -1 Laps 18 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL -1 Laps 19 Loic Leonce Yamaha FRA -1 Laps 20 Alessio Chiodi Aprilia ITA -1 Laps Rider Standings 01/07/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 401 2. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 312 3. David Philippaerts KTM ITA 257 4. Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 240 5. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 235 6. Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 235 7. Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 225 8. Mike Brown Honda USA 219 9. Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 217 10. Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 186 11. James Noble Honda GBR 175 12. Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 141 13. Manuel Priem TM BEL 139 14. Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 136 15. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 107 16. Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 100 17. Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 77 18. Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 76 19. Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 61 20. Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 61 Manufacturer Standings 01/07/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 401 2. Suzuki 359 3. KTM 319 4. Kawasaki 303 5. Honda 293 6. TM 139 7. Aprilia 8 RACE REPORT 01/07/2007 Sensational Cairoli wins in Sweden De Carli Yamaha's Antonio Cairoli again displayed his phenomenal level of confidence and speed in the 2007 FIM MX2 World Championship by taking pole position with his eighth qualification heat win on Saturday, followed with second and first for his fifteenth moto victory of the season from eighteen and eighth overall GP success, not to mention a pair of fastest laps on Sunday. The Grand Prix of Sweden at a cloudy but warm Uddevalla circuit was the ninth round of the series and belonged to the Sicilian after an impressive show. In the wake of scoring a double victory at the fast and hard-pack Sevlievo track two weeks ago Cairoli again proved his versatility and excellent form on the softer and more technical Swedish mud. The Sicilian participated in one of the closest climaxes in modern times when he finished second to David Philippaerts in the first moto by just 100th of a second in 2006 and almost repeated the result with the best performance of the day in the opening race today. The 21 year old surprisingly hit the ground on the first corner alongside Tyla Rattray and had to restart in last position. The following thirty minutes witnessed a comprehensive demonstration of aggressive riding as Cairoli used all his talent and ability to switch lines and find overtaking places that nobody else had seen. He rose to second position entering the last ten minutes of the moto and closed down a gap of nearly ten seconds to leader Searle to get close by the last lap. He just ran out of time to draw alongside the British rider but his flight through the MX2 collective won the De Carli Yamaha racer yet even more admirers. Uddevalla was again using a reversed format for the second year in succession and although overtaking was far from easy on the undulating terrain the course was altogether slower and demanded more precision from the riders compared to the last outings in France and Bulgaria. Cairoli made amends for the drama of Moto1 by grabbing the lead on the first circulation and drawing away from his pursuers after lunch. He then controlled the race and kept Christophe Pourcel and Rattray at a safe distance. Searle was second overall and German Marcus Schiffer made a debut appearance on the podium with third place. With Pourcel only classifying in fourth Cairoli was able to extend his lead in the championship to more than 100 points for the first time this season. His margin of 102 now means an advantage of more than two Grand Prix with just six left to run. Yamaha Ricci Racing's Kenneth Gundersen returned to the leader's circle after a hefty absence and he had his many Norwegian fans in the crowd animated by fronting the first half of Moto1. Although he could not stretch his pace until the chequered flag - losing positions to Searle and Cairoli - the 25 year old could nevertheless equalled his best finish of the season with third place. Sadly the former 125cc and 250cc GP winner was unable to start the second moto. He had endured a virus during the week that caused severe stomach upsets and was vomiting continuously in the break between the races. He had to go to the medical centre where he was attached to a drip and was unable to make the start line for Moto2. Team-mate Davide Guarneri was the second highest Yamaha rider with fifth position even though the Italian also had stomach cramps in the second moto. Guarneri led the first qualification heat and should have won if it wasn't for a small crash that relegated him to sixth. He obtained sixth and tenth in the two GP motos and continues to get faster and fitter with each passing meeting after recovering from an ankle injury. Bike it Yamaha Dixon's Carl Nunn was tenth overall with thirteenth and eighth positions. The British Champion was as high as fourth in the second moto but is missing an extra edge to his smooth riding to break the top five. Nicolas Aubin was at a disadvantage after a spill in his qualification heat meant that he had to enter the gate down in 25th and through the Last Chance session. The French youngster could not get comfortable on the track and admitted that a crash while practicing on an MX1 machine before the Bulgarian GP gave him continued problems with a stiff back and shoulders. He was twentieth and thirteenth for nineteenth overall and fell off in Moto1. Cairoli's team-mate Matteo Bonini was unable to attend the Grand Prix in the wake of the ankle ailment he sustained prior to the round in Bulgaria two weeks ago. The Italian is hoping to be fit for his second home event in a fortnight. Stylish third member of the team Alessandro Lupino could not make the qualification cut on a technically difficult track on Saturday. Bike it Yamaha Dixon's Carlos Campano was another non-qualified rider after a fall on Saturday ripped the seven stitches from his elbow; a wound picked up in Bulgaria. Antonio Cairoli, De Carli Yamaha: "I had a bad start in the first moto and my line was closed off on the inside. I think I touched with Tyla and lost the front wheel. It is difficult to overtake here but I managed to pass fifteen riders on the first lap and it is a bit strange but I don't remember much of that now! I think I just went as hard and as fast as I could until I had some space in front of me. It then took me a bit of time to get through on Leuret and I just went for the next rider in front after that. I thought I could catch Tommy for the win but two laps before the end I made a small mistake. It was probably my best moto of the year though because that was the first time that I had a bad start and I was very satisfied with how I got on. It was not really that fun because I had to take a lot of risks! In the second one I passed Seistola on the first lap and could do my race. I am still working heat by heat and GP by GP. I am far ahead of Christophe now but I am just focussing on myself." Kenneth Gundersen, Yamaha Ricci Racing: "I am so disappointed that I could not make a podium today. I felt good and fast on the track. I knew I could be up there with Cairoli and Tyla but I have been suffering with my stomach and some kind of virus because I had diarrhoea for four days. I did all I could in that first moto and then could not stop being sick in the break. I have been told to take a complete rest for ten days now and I will make some blood tests tomorrow to see what the problem is." Davide Guarneri, Yamaha Ricci Racing: "When I had to stop for the injury I lost some speed and race fitness and now I am training a lot for this in Italy. I am getting quite consistent and every race I am finishing in the top ten. I felt good yesterday but crashed on the last lap. In the first moto I started badly but pushed hard and had a really good pace, close to the times of the top three apart from Cairoli. I had some stomach pain like Kenneth before the second moto so I am happy that I could finish the race in the top ten again. I am progressing every week and I feel that the podium could soon be a possibility." Nicolas Aubin, Yamaha Ricci Racing: "I am disappointed because this is my worst race of the season. I have been struggling with sore shoulders and my bad position on the gate did not help me today. I did not start well and was not able to find good lines or a rhythm. I crashed after the whoops in the first moto and the second was not much better. I just want to forget this GP and move onwards." Carl Nunn, Bike it Yamaha Dixon Racing: "Something is not happening. I think I am riding well, but obviously I am not and that means there is a problem somewhere. It is not physical because I don't feel tired so it must be mental. Each week I keep thinking the results are going to get better but they don't. I am not moving any further forward and it is disappointing really. Last weekend when I won in the British championship it was good but not the same feeling as I have had in the past." Circuit Length: 1750 Temp: 23 Crowd: 28900 Weather: Dry 2007 GP of Uddevalla, Sweden 01/07/2007 Race 1 - 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 39'12.533 2 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 0'2.840 3 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 0'30.446 4 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'50.850 5 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 0'54.071 6 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 0'54.926 7 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 0'55.809 8 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 1'4.261 9 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'5.570 10 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 1'11.889 11 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'13.440 12 Avis Wyatt KTM RSA 1'14.713 13 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'16.022 14 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 1'19.363 15 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 1'26.450 16 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 1'37.272 17 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 1'41.038 18 Tom Soderstrom Yamaha SWE -1 Laps 19 Jake Nicholls Suzuki GBR -1 Laps 20 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA -1 Laps Race 2 - 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 39'26.334 2 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'23.434 3 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'35.693 4 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'38.502 5 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'44.576 6 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 0'52.409 7 Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 0'55.133 8 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 0'56.943 9 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 0'58.578 10 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 1'5.478 11 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 1'8.499 12 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 1'9.741 13 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 1'22.699 14 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 1'27.069 15 Avis Wyatt KTM RSA 1'28.254 16 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'30.972 17 Shannon Terreblanche KTM RSA -1 Laps 18 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL -1 Laps 19 Jake Nicholls Suzuki GBR -1 Laps 20 Rob van Vijfeijken KTM NED -1 Laps Rider Standings 01/07/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 439 2. Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 337 3. Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 318 4. Tommy Searle KTM GBR 285 5. Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 270 6. Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 224 7. Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 197 8. Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 188 9. Matti Seistola Honda FIN 160 10. Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 146 11. Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 131 12. Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 128 13. Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 121 14. Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 99 15. Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 94 16. Rui Goncalves KTM POR 81 17. Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 76 18. Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 70 19. Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 67 20. Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 67 21. Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 60 Manufacturer Standings 01/07/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 439 2. KTM 364 3. Kawasaki 354 4. Honda 276 5. Suzuki 156

Yamaha's win with Valentino Rossi in the 2007 Dutch TT at Assen is cause for a double celebration for the Factory, as it is also its 150th win in the premier-class of World Championship motorcycle racing. Yamaha Motor Company is only the second manufacturer in the history of the sport to pass the milestone of 150 wins, which it has achieved in 46 years since it began racing on the international stage in 1961. Yamaha's very first premier-class victory came with British rider Chas Mortimer, in Barcelona at the final race of the 1972 series aboard a 353cc twin-cylinder two-stroke Yamaha. Since then, Yamaha has won premier-class Grands Prix in every season bar two and has taken a total of eleven manufacturers' and twelve riders' titles during the process.

Valentino Rossi put in one of the outstanding performances of his career aboard his one-off liveried 'Cinquecento' Fiat Yamaha at the Dutch TT today, taking a superb victory from 11th on the grid. His third win of the season is also Yamaha's 150th in total in the premier class of Grand Prix racing. Colin Edwards' was unable to match the outstanding performance of his team-mate today but nonetheless rode a solid race to finish in his grid position of sixth. After difficulties in yesterday's wet qualifying Rossi was left with a mountain to climb today and, with championship rival Casey Stoner starting from the front row, there was no room for error from the Italian. Rossi made up little ground at the start but after the first couple of laps he found his rhythm and began a spectacular charge to the front, passing rider after rider with a series of bold moves and eventually making his way up to second behind Stoner by lap 12 of 26, setting a string of fastest laps on the way. The seven-time world champion was then faced with the task of closing a gap of almost two seconds to the championship leader but within just a few laps he had done just that and moved to within striking distance of the lead. It was no easy job to pass the Australian however and he made several unsuccessful attempts before finally making a pass stick through the chicane with three laps remaining, eventually crossing the line 1.909 seconds clear. Edwards meanwhile was unable to capitalise on his fast race pace and, although he was lapping at a similar pace to the front runners throughout, he was unable to close the gap after being caught in traffic at the start. Rossi's maximum-points haul today closes the gap to Stoner at the top of the standings to 21 points, whilst Edwards' ten points see him hold onto seventh at the half-way point of the season. Valentino Rossi - 1st 42'37.1497 "This was an incredible race. I think maybe one of the top five of my career! Clearly starting from 11th is quite lucky for us because I've won a few times from that position, including last year at Sachsenring. Last night I didn't sleep so well and I couldn't have imagined that the race could turn out like this, in fact I was really a little bit worried after the qualifying and didn't know what to expect today! Once I got going though I saw that I had a great pace and so I just rode as hard as I could to get past everyone because I knew then that I could come back to Casey. When I finally got there I was quite tired, as were my tyres, plus he was riding very well and it was hard to overtake him, but my M1 worked brilliantly today and in the last few laps I was able to go past and win. I have to say a big thank you to Michelin and to my team, because today our package was brilliant and I was able to ride at the maximum. I'm so happy to win here in Assen, it's a special place for me and this is a great emotion! It was nice to have a special livery here as well, in the past I haven't been so lucky with new liveries but hopefully today has turned that around! Congratulations to Yamaha for 150 wins, I am glad that we could celebrate like this!" Colin Edwards - 6th +15.139 "My start wasn't too bad but I got tangled up in a bit of a jumble through the first couple of laps and Pedrosa passed me. Once I got myself sorted I set off with Melandri and Vermeulen in my sights and I thought I'd be able to get past them relatively easily because my pace was pretty good, but I couldn't quite get close enough for a few laps. Eventually I got through them both and really got my head down; I was lapping faster than I have been all weekend and actually at one stage I thought the podium was a possibility. I was pushing pretty hard to be honest and I had a couple of close moments but I didn't want to settle for sixth. Things were going okay until there was a stage of the race when things started to feel not quite 100% and I had to slack off a little. Towards the end I started to catch Hopkins again and started to get back to a good pace but unfortunately by then he'd pulled a couple of seconds from me and I just ran out of time. Congratulations to Valentino, he rode an incredible race today." Davide Brivio - Team Director "This was a fantastic race with which to celebrate Yamaha's 150th win and we couldn't have dreamed of a better race than this after yesterday's qualifying. Valentino was incredible once again and he rode a truly amazing race. The package we had today, with the bike and the tyres working so well, gave Valentino the chance to ride at the maximum so we have to say a big thank you to Michelin, Yamaha and the whole team. It was a great emotion for everyone to watch Valentino ride like this today. Colin also did a good race and he had a fast pace throughout, although unfortunately he wasn't able to close the gap to the front. He was doing similar times to the leaders though so this is encouraging for the next races. It's going to be a hard fight for the rest of year but we have a lot of motivation. It's been a fun story with Fiat this weekend as well with our special livery and it's definitely a great start to the story of the new Fiat 500!" Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 in dynamic dogfight The Dutch TT at Assen in the north of the Netherlands provided a dynamic spectacle for the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team as riders Makoto Tamada and Sylvain Guintoli were involved in a titanic dog fight with up to six riders for a top 10 finish in an enthralling race won by fellow Yamaha rider, Valentino Rossi in front of over 91,000 fans. It appeared quite possible that both riders may have been able to provide the team with its best result of the 2007 MotoGP World Championship but in the end Tamada had to settle for 13th position while rookie MotoGP rider Guintoli brought his Yamaha M1 home in 14th place in another point scoring finish. Makoto Tamada - 13th +54.068 That was certainly a lot better race than last weekend and I am pretty happy with how it all happened but I really think we could've had a better result. I got a very good start and the bike and tyres felt really good for the first eight or ten laps and we were able to battle with a big group for seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth but then I lost some grip on the right hand side of the front tyre. The left side was fine but I couldn't push as hard as I wanted to. The rear tyre was also good throughout the race but it is a little strange because I've never had any trouble with the front tyre before. Anyway we know now that we are getting closer so we want some better results from now on. Sylvain Guintoli - 14th +57.718 It is still not the result I am wanting but at least we were closer than last week. I wasn't feeling too confident at the start and lost a bit of ground but then I was able to push and make some ground on the big bunch of riders in front of me with Melandri, West, Hofmann, Checa and Tamada. Everything seemed to be going well and I could keep a good pace with them but towards the end I was struggling a bit as the performance of the rear tyre dropped off. I thought I may be able to pass a few riders and I was faster than Makoto and could've passed him but with about three or four laps to go I had to ease off to make sure I brought it home. Hervé Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Manager We were happy to see the sun this morning as we are struggling in the wet but this race has shown that Dunlop have been working hard on development and this is good to see. In the first laps we were strong and it was very satisfying for everyone to see Makoto and Sylvain battling with a big group of riders and putting in faster laps than them but unfortunately in the last laps we couldn't maintain the pace and had to settle for the positions we finished. It was also good to be with other factory bikes for over two-thirds of the race but still it's very frustrating to see them go away at the end. These last two races have been good for Dunlop because they now have a lot of information for wet and dry conditions and we are confident we can make even more progress. Also I would like to offer congratulations to Valentino, Yamaha and the Fiat Yamaha Team for their performance today. It's great to see Yamaha on the top spot again. Circuit Length: 4555 Temp: 21 Crowd: 91000 Weather: Dry 2007 MotoGP Netherlands - Assen 30/06/2007 Race 1 - 26 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 42'37.149 2 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 0'1.909 3 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 0'6.077 4 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0'10.465 5 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0'13.138 6 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'15.139 7 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 0'36.075 8 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 0'41.768 9 Anthony West Kawasaki AUS 0'43.605 10 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'43.796 11 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 0'43.826 12 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 0'47.896 13 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 0'54.068 14 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 0'57.718 15 Kurtis Roberts KR212V USA 1'28.637 Rider Standings 30/06/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 185 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 164 3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 119 4. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 94 5. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 88 6. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 87 7. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 75 8. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 69 9. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 57 10. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 57 11. Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 53 12. Toni Elias Honda ESP 49 13. Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 40 14. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 25 15. Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 25 16. Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 20 17. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 18 Team Standings 30/06/2007 Pos. Team Points 1. Ducati Marlboro Team 242 2. FIAT Yamaha Team 239 3. Rizla Suzuki 182 4. Repsol Honda Team 176 5. Honda Gresini 136 6. Pramac D'Antin 122 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 61 8. Tech3 Yamaha 38 9. Konica Minolta Honda 25 10. Honda LCR 25 11. Team Roberts 8 Manufacturer Standings 30/06/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 188 2. Yamaha 171 3. Honda 149 4. Suzuki 122 5. Kawasaki 56 6. KR212V

Both the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team and Yamaha World Supersport Team found success in testing this week at the Czech circuit of Brno. The teams participated in an official two-day test in their role as development teams for FGSport, along with a selection of other teams. Brno is a naturally rising and falling circuit and is very popular with all riders, making it the perfect place for the Yamaha teams to do tyre testing with Pirelli prior to the next race, which is at Brno in three weeks time. Haga had a good round at this track in 2006, taking the Superpole and Best Race Lap records there and his team mate, Corser, has also had a good relationship with the Czech circuit, taking three wins there to date as well as achieving pole twice. The main objective of the test was to try out a variety of tyres as well as find the right set-up for the up coming race. Despite damp, blustery and unseasonably cool conditions, Haga proved fastest on day one, setting a lap time of 2’01.0, which was 1.5 second faster than his best lap in 2006. Corser finished the day fifth fastest with a best time of 2’02.3. Day two saw all riders put in a good number of laps on both qualifying and race tyres despite the temperature barely reaching 20°C, a good ten degrees lower than normally found at Brno at this time of year. Corser and Kagayama set the equal fastest time of the test overall, with them both achieving a 2’00.4 on qualifying and race tyres. Haga opted not to use qualifiers though, and finished the day early as his wrist started to ache following his crash at Misano. In addition to the Superbike teams, the Supersport teams were also out in force. Last year proved a good race for the Yamaha World Supersport Team at this circuit, with Curtain and Parkes finishing first and second respectively. Positive after taking second at the last race in Misano, Parkes went fastest on day one ahead of Sofuoglu. On day two he took almost a second off his best time to finish third fastest overall. Following West’s departure, Steve Martin re-joined the team this week to help out at the test. Martin has already ridden the 2007 YZF-R6 this season when he stood in for Curtain at Assen in April so it took him no time at all to get to grips with the bike again. He went fourth fastest overall, ending up only 0.2 seconds behinds Parkes. Both teams will test at Vallelunga, Italy, on 7-8 July prior to returning to Brno on 22nd July for the ninth race of the 2007 season. Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “This has been a good opportunity to test a lot of different tyre compounds as well as various suspension settings. Overall, I’d say it’s been a positive test for me; my lap times have been quicker than last year’s race or qualifying times. It’s been good preparation for the race, although it’s a shame about the wet and blustery conditions on day one. The lower temperatures also caused some issues as the tyres that had been brought for the test are designed for the more usual hotter temperatures at Brno.” Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “We’ve been concentrating just on tyre testing with Pirelli. The problem was that the track temperature has been much lower than usual so we couldn’t test in race conditions. The data we’ve got may or may not prove useful in the race, we will have to wait and see in a few weeks. The bike set-up is good, though, and we have another opportunity for testing in two weeks time. As well as the weather hampering testing, my wrist is still sore from the Misano crash. It has only been ten days since the race and I reckon it is 80% recovered but it still hurts towards the end of the day. This has prevented me from riding to my full potential but I am confident it will be 100% repaired by the next race.” Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “I’m 99% certain that the weather conditions we’ve had here this week are not what we will have here in three weeks for the race! Therefore, most of what we’ve done and achieved will change when it comes to the race weekend. What we did find, though, has given us confidence and shown our potential at this circuit. Nori is still having some problems with his wrist and finished early because of the pain, but he has been focused throughout practice and found a good set-up and rear tyre for hotter conditions as well as setting some good lap times. Troy has also posted some good times and, most importantly he has found a good set-up and rear tyre. He also tested some chassis solutions and has been quite satisfied with how it’s gone. The competitiveness of the team is now so good and we are at the top of our game in all conditions and circuits. The team and riders have all worked hard to achieve this.” Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport Team) “We’ve tested lots of race parts, including chassis components and tyres and I’ve had both bikes going full-time with totally different set-ups to try and find the best one for the race. It’s gone well, though and I’m confident for the race.” Steve Martin (Yamaha World Supersport Team) “The test has gone okay for me and, I hope, the team. I haven’t ridden a bike for a couple of months now so it was good to get back on one. Getting back on the R6 wasn’t too hard, having ridden it for the Yamaha team back in April. It was just a case of getting back up to speed. We’ve been testing a selection of different tyre compounds and brake solutions and I think we’ve made some good progress. It’s been good to be here with the team and I’m glad I’ve been able to help them out these past two days.” Terrell Thien (Team Manager, Yamaha World Supersport Team) “The test has been good for us. The weather has been cool and I’m not sure how much the data we’ve gathered will help us choose tyres for the race weekend as the Pirelli’s are known for being very temperature sensitive. We’ve tested various parts, brake systems and shocks as well as chassis positions and had some good results. We’re happy that Steven has agreed to work with us just for this test. I feel that the team work has been excellent and everyone’s worked well together. Overall, it’s been a good test for us.” WSB Fastest Times Kagayama: 2’00.4 (race); 2’00.4 (qualifier) Corser: 2’00.4 (race); 2’00.4 (qualifier) Haga: 2’00.8 (race) Toseland: 2’00.9 (race); 2’00.3 (qualifier) Lanzi: 2’01.0 (race); 2’00.4 (qualifier) Bayliss: 2’01.1 (race); 2’00.2 (qualifier) Biaggi: 2’01.2 (race) Nieto: 2’01.6 (race); 2’00.8 (qualifier) Rolfo: 2’01.7 (race); 2’01.4 (qualifier) Laconi: 2’01.8 (race) WSS Fastest Times Charpentier: 2’04.1 Sofuoglu: 2’04.1 Parkes: 2’04.4 Martin: 2’05.2 Kallio: 2’05.5 Veneman: 2’05.5 Foret: 2’05.6 Riba: 2’05.9

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

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards finished second in the British Grand Prix at Donington Park today, taking his second podium of the season after a fighting ride from pole position. His team-mate Valentino Rossi was disappointed to finish fourth but nonetheless managed to set another record in the process, overtaking Mick Doohan to take the title of most prolific points-scorer ever in the premier class, with a total of 2,303 points. After a brief respite yesterday the British weather closed in again and the race was declared wet, although the rain failed to deter the 84,785 fans who had turned out to see their adopted heroes in action. Edwards, starting from pole for the second time this season, got a fantastic start and held the lead; whilst Rossi was edged out by Dani Pedrosa and was third into turn one. Pedrosa found his way past Edwards on the first lap but the Texan stayed on his tail and was able to take the lead again on lap five. For the next ten laps things looked promising as Edwards held the lead over Casey Stoner, who had risen to second from seventh on the grid. However as the rain stopped and a dry-line appeared Edwards began to struggle with grip and Stoner came through. Despite keeping up a fairly consistent pace until the end, Edwards was powerless to stay with the Australian and eventually crossed the line 11.768 seconds behind the championship leader. Rossi meanwhile had a somewhat more eventful race, finding himself as far down as eighth at one point and making a small foray off-track on lap eleven. After fighting back through the order he looked like holding onto the last podium place behind Edwards, but with four laps to go Chris Vermeulen passed him and he was relegated to fourth. Today's race sees the gap from Stoner to Rossi stretched to 26 points, whilst Edwards' haul of twenty points moves him three places up the order to seventh. Colin Edwards - Position: 2ndTime: +11.768 "We had good race! I had a great start, better than any of my practice ones during the weekend, and then I just got my head down and kept pushing lap after lap. My bike was feeling good in the wet but then it started to dry out. I started braking a bit harder and feeling more confident, but then the front locked once into the chicane which gave me a bit of a scare. Then at the next corner, down at the hairpin, I locked it again, ran wide and Casey came through. After that I tried everything but I couldn't stay with him and it was clear that I didn't have the grip he had. It was pretty tough, but then I guess it was tough for everyone! You could see the dry line forming and rain tyres with a dry track don't work well! I just had to pay attention and take care not to spin it too much, using half throttle instead of spinning it up. Anyway, we did the best we could today and it feels good to be back on the podium, so a big thanks to all my guys. We've made a lot of progress this weekend and now we'll carry the momentum on to Assen next week! Hats off to Casey too, he did a great job today." Valentino Rossi - Position: 4thTime: +21.827 "Unfortunately today the conditions were not good for us at all and we had a lot of problems. In the full dry we would have been at our strongest, in full wet we would have been also quite good, but with a drying track like this we struggled a lot. I made a mistake and ran off the track when I was going the best I went during the whole race and then as the track began to dry I had less and less grip; it seems that this year, when the conditions aren't perfect, we suffer a lot. I had to go very carefully just to be able to finish and, because we were riding with a wet tyre on a dry track, my tyre was destroyed by the end. Colin did a great job in difficult circumstances so congratulations to him. We've had a very long meeting tonight and now we have to try to improve the situation for Assen." Davide Brivio - Team Director "We're very happy for Colin to be back on the podium, he did a great job all weekend so well done to him. Now he has found his confidence again and hopefully he can carry on like this. For Valentino it was a very difficult race and he had quite a lot of problems in the difficult conditions. We have some work to do but Colin's result is very encouraging for the whole team and now we go straight to Assen to have the chance to make up for this weekend with Valentino. We'll keep working as hard as we can and hopefully we can get back to our best very quickly." Disappointing weekend in Donington for Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team In weather conditions more akin to the middle of winter, the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 had its most disappointing weekend of the 2007 MotoGP season. On a circuit that offers very little grip, the elements did all they could to make the weekend worse with a track temperature that hovered around 20 degrees Celcius with persistent rain present throughout most of the weekend. While the overall result may be extremely hard to swallow for the team, riders Makoto Tamada and Sylvain Guintoli were able to provide the Dunlop engineers with plenty of information that will be utilised for the future. The team will now regroup and head to the legendary Assen circuit in Holland as the championship reaches the halfway point of the season. Makoto Tamada - Position: 15thTime: +2 laps That was a very difficult race and weekend for me. I could not apply the power too hard as on the exit of every corner I was having some very big slides from the rear plus when I was trying to brake for the corners I had no feeling in the front and so in these very bad conditions it was impossible to do anything better Sylvain Guintoli - Position: 16thTime: +2 laps I am extremely disappointed with this weekend as I thought we could get a better result especially seeing it was my birthday today but with the weather it was not going to happen. I couldn't push too hard or actually fight with anybody in front of me as I was too busy looking behind me to see when the leaders would catch me. I had no grip and as soon as I tried to go faster I nearly crashed everytime so I decided to ride to finish the race. I crashed in practice at over 200km/h and I didn't feel like doing that again. I was also getting a lot of wheelspin so I had to change gears while still in the midrange of the powerband. I am disappointed that I failed to score any points as I have in every other race so now we have to put this behind us and hope for better weather in Holland next week Herve Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Manager This has been a very frustrating weekend. We came here expecting a good result in the dry but unfortunately it rained and we were nowhere. The only positive we can take out of this weekend is that our riders did a lot of laps in the wet so both our riders could give a lot of feedback to the Dunlop engineers to improve the wet weather tyres as we are so far behind Hopefully the sun will shine on us in Holland as we have made good progress in the dry and we can continue that improvement next weekend. Circuit Length: 4023 Weather: Changeable 2007 MotoGP Great Britain - Donington Park 24/06/2007 Race 1 - 30 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 51'40.739 2 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'11.768 3 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 0'15.678 4 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0'21.827 5 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0'35.518 6 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 0'36.474 7 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 0'38.094 8 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0'38.992 9 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 0'39.239 10 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 1'1.526 11 Anthony West Kawasaki AUS 1'6.486 12 Toni Elias Honda ESP 1'34.074 13 Kurtis Roberts KR212V USA -1 Laps 14 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN -1 Laps 15 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN -2 Laps 16 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA -2 Laps Rider Standings 24/06/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 165 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 139 3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 106 4. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 88 5. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 83 6. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 81 7. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 65 8. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 60 9. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 57 10. Toni Elias Honda ESP 49 11. Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 45 12. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 41 13. Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 40 14. Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 21 15. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 20 16. Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 17 17. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 16 Team Standings 24/06/2007 Pos. Team Points 1. Ducati Marlboro Team 222 2. FIAT Yamaha Team 204 3. Rizla Suzuki 171 4. Repsol Honda Team 147 5. Honda Gresini 130 6. Pramac D'Antin 105 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 54 8. Tech3 Yamaha 33 9. Konica Minolta Honda 21 10. Honda LCR 20 11. Team Roberts 7 Manufacturer Standings 24/06/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 168 2. Yamaha 146 3. Honda 133 4. Suzuki 111 5. Kawasaki 49 6. KR212V 7

Yamaha Motor Europe has agreed to release Anthony West, at his request, from riding the R6 in the remaining races of the 2007 Supersport World Championship. West has been offered a chance to ride in MotoGP for the rest of the season for a competitor brand and has accepted a financial compensation agreement with Yamaha to terminate his current contract. West was hired by Yamaha to replace Kevin Curtain, who is currently out injured following an accident at the Valencia round back in April. Swapping his GP250 two-stroke machine for a 600 stock based four-stroke West showed his capability very quickly, finishing third in his first race at Monza. West was initially contracted only to ride for the Yamaha World Supersport Team in the Monza event. But, after it was confirmed that Curtain's recovery period was going to be longer than originally anticipated, Yamaha and West extended the one-event agreement to the remainder of the season. He went on to win the Supersport race at Silverstone and also won at last weekend’s round in Misano, reconfirming the championship potential of the R6. Anthony West "It's such a strange feeling, making this decision. Yamaha gave me a fantastic chance to show my potential on the R6. It’s thanks to this ride that I feel I've got my career back on track. To leave Yamaha now is sad but it's such a great chance for me to follow my dream to go to MotoGP. Yamaha didn't want to block this chance for me; I’m grateful they believed in me and gave me the chance to prove myself. I want to add that I’m really sorry to the supersport team guys and I’d like to thank them for all their hard work and support. The crew have been great and the bike was fast from the first minute I sat on it. I’ve not been used to such a professional team and they really made me feel at home. The financial compensation I’ve got to pay is severe but I've got the chance to show what I can do on a MotoGP bike and I hope it's worth it. It was important for me to be released from the team by mutual agreement; I'm still young and Yamaha is a good company and, who knows, maybe at some point in my career we can work together again." Laurens Klein Koerkamp, Racing Manager, Yamaha Motor Europe “We are obviously disappointed by releasing a winning rider from his contract, which is not our normal conduct! But rather then going to court we have been able to find a financial settlement; a solution we can only accept because Anthony was a replacement rider drafted in during the season and only had a theoretical chance to win the championship. Nevertheless, we deeply regret his decision, which leaves the team disappointed. All the same, Anthony is a good rider and I wish him all the best in pursuing his dream. We are currently working to replace him and have plenty of time before the next race." The ninth round is at Brno in the Czech Republic on 22nd July, with two Yamaha World Supersport Team tests planned prior to that.

Troy Corser recently got the chance to compare the new 2007 YZF-R1 to his own Yamaha Motor Italia WSB bike and was pleasantly surprised by his findings. The two-time World Superbike Champion was attending an exclusive event for a selection of VIP Yamaha guests when he grabbed the opportunity to try the R1 and the R6 for size. The two-day event took place at the Valencia circuit, which is familiar to Corser as it features on the World Superbike calendar, and gave selected riders from around Europe the opportunity to ride the track with tuition provided for free. “With the R1 I was really surprised how much power there is on the standard bike; there’s plenty enough there to get the front wheel up in first, second and third without trying!” said Corser. “I was in Valencia to meet some Yamaha competition winners when the chance came up to do some demonstration laps at the circuit so, naturally, I grabbed the chance. I took the R1 out first and was surprised by the strength of the engine; it’s quite something for a stock road bike! I’ve not ridden the standard version before but it felt very comfortable with quite a neutral position. This will make it quite roomy even for the larger rider. The handlebars are higher than on my race bike which I’m sure will make it better for longer distance riding.” The YZF-R1 first appeared on roads around the world at the end of 1997. Billed as a ‘no compromise’ machine for road riders, the R1 takes a lot of cues from the race machine that Corser is more familiar with. The updated version for 2007 even includes fly-by-wire throttle, a re-designed delta-box frame and sleek new styling amongst other modifications. Corser’s racing version of the R1 features different engine components, exhaust, brakes and suspension but all this is bolted onto a similar chassis to the road-going version. Corser certainly seemed impressed, “I can see why these bikes are so popular.” Corser’s last ride on a 600cc bike was over fifteen years ago when he raced a Yamaha back in Australia. After a few laps on the R1 Troy then jumped on the latest incarnation of the YZF-R6 to see how much it had changed. “I can’t believe how much it has changed! It is smaller than the R1 but just as much fun. The power delivery is softer than on the R1 but it revs really high, much higher than the R1, which makes for good amounts of fun on the track or the road,” Corser said after his first ride of the R6. “To be honest the chassis on the R6 feels pretty close to the chassis on my race bike and it handles well. Overall it’s an impressive little package.” The 2007 YZF-R6, like its big brother, comes packed with racing DNA and includes many of the features found on the R1.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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