Alex Asigno

Following on from the injuries Kevin Curtain sustained at Valencia, fellow Australian Steve Martin will ride as a replacement in the Yamaha World Supersport Team at this weekend’s Assen round. Martin has ridden for the DFX Honda Team for the first four rounds of the World Superbike Championship this season, but the team has since informed him that they are unable to give him the opportunity to ride in Assen. The Yamaha World Supersport Team has snapped up this highly experienced rider to maintain the pace and work alongside Broc Parkes while Kevin recovers from his injuries. Curtain suffered ripped muscles and a large cut in his right thigh when his bike hit him during a race incident at the Spanish round less than two weeks ago. He has certain limitations in muscle movement as well as hip pain and has flown home to Australia to rest and recover. It is hoped that he will be back with the Yamaha World Supersport Team at the next round at Monza on 13th May. Steve Martin has a proven track record with over ten years experience in the World Superbike Championship including 168 race starts, 3 pole positions and 5 podium finishes. He knows the Assen circuit well and is looking forward to a positive weekend at Assen. Steve says, “I can’t believe the way this all came about, but when Kevin also asked me personally to fill in for him I was in shock as it was the last phone call I was expecting. No one likes to fill in under these circumstances, especially when it’s one of your mates, but I will do the best job possible to help Kevin, Broc and the Yamaha World Supersport Team. I know the team and they are very professional so I’m sure they will make it as easy as possible for me in every way. Already from the small dealings I have had with them I feel more settled than I have all year.” Martin’s career highlights include winning the Australian Superbike Championship in 1999 and he has a wealth of experience across many types of manufacturers and championships. Prior to Pirelli becoming the single tyre supplier to the WSB/ WSS championships Steve had been a development rider for them for several years. With his versatile background Steve is expected to adapt swiftly to the Yamaha YZF-R6.

Yamaha Motocross Team's Josh Coppins continued his triumphant ways by winning the first moto for round three of the MX1 World Championship. He however finished runner up in the second moto and thus handing the win of Grand Prix of Portugal held at Agueda to Kevin Strijbos who finished behind Coppins in the first moto. A crowd of 18,000 gathered around the slopes of the popular layout to see Antonio Cairoli amass a healthy 44 point lead in the MX2 class standings with his third straight win and second double moto haul of the year. Brilliant and hot sunshine created a splendid but physically demanding terrain at the venue, around 100km south of Porto. The track was quick and with various lines but became rougher and even more testing towards the end of the day. Despite a painful groin after his exertions in Spain last week Coppins qualified fourth fastest in a very close timed practice session on Saturday that saw the top eight riders divided by less than one second. Marc de Reuver was four positions behind and the last of the quickest group. 30 year old Coppins however had a small spill that left him with a sore left foot. Series leader Coppins moved into second spot behind Kevin Strijbos in the first moto and stalked the Belgian for half of the race until picking his moment to move through. Strijbos remained with two-to-three seconds but Coppins was able to control the margin to take his third chequered flag in succession. The second heat saw a re-match as the pair clashed again. The New Zealander pushed his way past Strijbos again, but his rival was able to answer and broke away as Coppins started to feel the effects of his Saturday mishap. De Reuver struggled with a mediocre launch from the start gate in Moto one and then was working his way through the pack until reaching a limit to his stamina and losing the edge to his lap-times. He dropped back to fourteenth. The second outing saw a more positive performance from the Dutchman as he was attacking David Philippaerts for a possible fifth position when he caught his left foot in the ground and twisted his ankle, causing him to retire. Although not able to complete his hat-trick of Grand Prix wins, Coppins has nevertheless protected his lead in the World Championship standings which still stands at nineteen points ahead of Strijbos. De Reuver is currently thirteenth. Josh Coppins, Yamaha Motocross Team: "After Spain I had a small groin injury. I did not think it was anything special but after the first session I had a lot of pain. We worked on it and got it better but I could not ride how I wanted yesterday and because of this I had a crash and hurt my foot. I struggled on the track. No excuses though, Kevin was very strong in the second heat and deserved to win. We have started the season very well, better than I expected, with the new team, new bike and everything is going smoothly. I haven't lost points to anyone in any of the moto's so far and I know we need to keep on working like this. I know that I cannot win every GP but if I can minimise any points damage then this is also good. Marc de Reuver, Yamaha Motocross Team: "In the first heat I had a good start but the first few corners didn't go so well and a few guys passed me. I came back quite strong to eighth but then I just seemed to hit a wall and went backwards. I got away good in the second heat but it was tight in the first corner and I had to change my line. I was twelfth and made some good passes on the first laps and a few guys were making mistakes. I got behind Philippaerts and was feeling very strong. I was faster than him and attacked. I did not make it and then tried again but I put my foot down and twisted my ankle. That was it. It is very painful but luckily it is not broken." Carlo Rinaldo, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team: "We cannot win every time! Kevin was very good today and Josh was not 100%, no excuses, but his crash yesterday left him in some pain. Anyway he rode well and was just a little tired in the second moto because he had to comeback from a backward position a mediocre start. He has been smart to accept the second. Regarding Marc he is going through a bit of a difficult period because he is not fully fit. He faded a lot in the first moto but was riding better in the second until his twisted his left ankle. He was fighting hard until that point though and that is all we can ask of him." Circuit Length: 1600 Temp: 26 Crowd: 18000 Weather: Sunny 2007 GP of Agueda, Portugal 22/04/2007 Race 1 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 39'18.003 2 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'11.015 3 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'14.133 4 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'17.340 5 James Noble Honda GBR 0'40.774 6 Manuel Priem TM BEL 0'47.158 7 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'55.077 8 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 1'0.740 9 Mike Brown Honda USA 1'5.022 10 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 1'10.096 11 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 1'13.650 12 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 1'15.311 13 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 1'43.072 14 Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 1'52.308 15 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 1'58.513 16 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR -1 Laps 17 Julien Bill Kawasaki CHE -1 Laps 18 Julien Vanni Honda FRA -1 Laps 19 Cyrille Coulon Honda FRA -1 Laps 20 Paulo Goncalves Honda POR -1 Laps Race 2 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 39'43.882 2 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'20.114 3 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'32.151 4 Manuel Priem TM BEL 0'38.825 5 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'45.242 6 Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 0'48.725 7 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'52.165 8 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'56.399 9 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'57.586 10 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 0'58.844 11 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 1'3.520 12 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 1'24.369 13 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 1'29.884 14 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 1'36.430 15 Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 1'39.077 16 James Noble Honda GBR 1'52.062 17 Antoine Meo Honda FRA 2'4.903 18 Cyrille Coulon Honda FRA -1 Laps 19 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL -1 Laps 20 Paulo Goncalves Honda POR -1 Laps Rider Standings 22/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 144 2. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 125 3. Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 89 4. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 86 5. Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 84 6. Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 67 7. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 63 8. Mike Brown Honda USA 62 9. David Philippaerts KTM ITA 62 10. Manuel Priem TM BEL 61 11. James Noble Honda GBR 61 12. Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 61 13. Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 60 14. Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 51 15. Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 46 16. Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 35 17. Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 31 18. Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 29 19. Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 19 20. Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 17 Manufacturer Standings 22/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 144 2. Suzuki 129 3. KTM 117 4. Honda 91 5. Kawasaki 87 6. TM 61 7. Aprilia 2 RACE REPORT 22/04/2007 Cairoli achieves maximum score for the third time running MX2 series leader Antonio Cairoli overcame a heavy crash in the second moto to convincingly win his third successive Grand Prix on the YZ250F. The Sicilian started the weekend in comfortable form by dominating the first qualification heat for pole position and first entry into the start gate. As in Spain he had to recover from a start that left him just inside the top five and then faced a six second gap to MX2 world champion Pourcel. The 21 year old chased down the Frenchman and incredibly pulled through to seize the lead with five laps remaining. He made a mistake - by running wide into softer dirt - allowing Pourcel a second chance to attack, but Cairoli quickly made another rapid lap that pulled him clear for a second moto win in a row It was followed by a third win in Moto two. Pourcel again was leading but had a hefty fall only a few laps after Cairoli had also hit the ground. De Carli Team star rider lost control due to slight arm-pump affecting his riding. Pourcel hurt his right ankle and retired but 'Tony' remounted and quickly passed Pascal Leuret for another '25 points'. Cairoli's team-mate Matteo Bonini posted his best set of Grand Prix results to-date. The Italian was sixth and tenth for sixth overall. In the first moto he held third position for most of the 35 minutes and 2 laps distance but was relegated in the last three laps as he tired; unaccustomed to the speed of the GP leaders. With Cairoli's double win it was still a very positive weekend for Yamaha Team De Carli. Yamaha Team Ricci's Nicolas Aubin was seventh overall behind Bonini but claimed his best ever moto finish with second position trailing Cairoli in Moto two. The Frenchman might have made the podium but a self-imposed clutch problem (an error while trying to adjust the tension) while leading the opening race in the formative stages meant that he had to enter the pits to reverse the setting. He returned to the track but could only capture three points for eighteenth spot. His team-mate Kenneth Gundersen was dogged by two bad starts but rode hard to finish fifth overall with twelfth and fifth positions, making him the fourth and final Yamaha rider in the top ten. Davide Guarneri's injured ankle prevented him from competing in Portugal but the Italian is recuperating and undergoing rehab in a hope to be fit for his home Grand Prix in two weeks. Cairoli now heads the MX2 standings by a hefty forty-four points (six shy of a full Grand Prix) from Pourcel. Gundersen is currently sixth and Aubin seventh. Antonio Cairoli, Team Yamaha De Carli: "I am really happy to win this race; in 2005 I won both motos here and went on to take the championship. I have a big points lead now. My strategy today was good. I waited in the first part of the race and I knew that I had more speed than the other guys and pushed hard to win in the second half of the moto. I have been training on hard ground to get my starts better and the work helped today. I had a little problem with my arms in the second moto and I crashed because of this. Pourcel was a long way ahead but I believed that I could still catch him until I crashed, and then I was just looking at second. The bike had some damage and the handlebar was a little bit bent, but when I saw Pourcel crash I pushed again for the win and got rewarded." Kenneth Gundersen, Yamaha Team Ricci: "I was 26th through the first corner of the first moto. It was a terrible start. I came through to 12th and was working hard but could not get any higher. In the second race I also had a bad start and was in between 15th and 20th but I was strong right until the end and passed many riders in the last ten minutes. I was happy with that. I know that I am fit and when I can manage proper starts I will be right there." Nicolas Aubin, Yamaha Team Ricci "I am a bit disappointed because I made a mistake with the clutch and if it hadn't have been for this then I might have had a podium. I tried to make the setting softer during the race but turned it the other way by mistake and had to come into the pits. I then pushed really hard to get back in the points. I think I must have used a lot of energy because I was right at the front in the second moto but had to slow down to find my pace and then push on again. I am pleased with the second position, it is my best yet, but I think I will fixate the clutch adjustment so that I can't fiddle with it for the next Grand Prix!" Matteo Bonini, Team Yamaha De Carli: "In the first moto I made a good start and I tried to follow the lines and speed of Pourcel but three laps before the end I felt the pace and got tired. My season preparation has not been the best because of some problems, but today was a good moto for me which helps me to improve my championship position. In the second moto the bike wheelied off the start and I felt tired as the laps went on. Tenth was not so bad, this is the best result so far for me and I hope now it will only get better." Yamaha's motocross stars will now have a free weekend before venturing to southern Europe and the Grand Prix of Italy at the Mantova circuit; naturally the meeting will be an important one for the Rinaldi, De Carli and Ricci crews. Circuit Length: 1700 Temp: 27 Crowd: 18000 Weather: Sunny 2007 GP of Agueda, Portugal 22/04/2007 Race 1 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 39'42.522 2 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'3.906 3 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'34.945 4 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'36.231 5 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'37.315 6 Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 0'38.439 7 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'42.175 8 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 0'44.298 9 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 0'55.593 10 Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 1'5.788 11 Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 1'11.558 12 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 1'15.496 13 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'17.724 14 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 1'19.864 15 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 1'21.090 16 Jeremy Tarroux Yamaha FRA 1'35.178 17 Xavier Hernandez Yamaha ESP 1'39.655 18 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 1'46.044 19 Gregory Aranda Kawasaki FRA 1'47.928 20 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 1'48.989 Race 2 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 40'28.619 2 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 0'5.177 3 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 1'11.104 4 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 0'15.720 5 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 0'21.245 6 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'29.073 7 Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 0'32.641 8 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'42.419 9 Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 0'45.907 10 Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 0'52.424 11 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 0'57.183 12 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 0'59.482 13 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 1'6.100 14 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'11.044 15 Avis Wyatt KTM RSA 1'18.428 16 Jeremy Tarroux Yamaha FRA 1'39.575 17 Gregory Aranda Kawasaki FRA 1'41.297 18 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 1'44.148 19 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL -1 Laps 20 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL -2 Laps Rider Standings 22/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 147 2. Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 103 3. Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 98 4. Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 87 5. Tommy Searle KTM GBR 79 6. Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 75 7. Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 72 8. Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 69 9. Matti Seistola Honda FIN 61 10. Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 57 11. Erik Eggens Suzuki NED 54 12. Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 48 13. Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 47 14. Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 45 15. Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 41 16. Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 40 17. Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 33 18. Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 27 19. Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 23 20. Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 23 21. Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 23 Manufacturer Standings 22/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 147 2. Kawasaki 127 3. KTM 117 4. Honda 87 5. Suzuki 57

High hopes for Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards went unfulfilled today as the Fiat Yamaha Team riders, who started from first and second on the grid, were both victims of bad luck at Istanbul Park. The pair got a good start and were leading the pack into turn one before Edwards dropped back as he was unable to get enough heat into his tyre and Rossi made a mistake and ran wide at turn eleven. Disaster then struck for Edwards as he was hit from behind by another rider and sent tumbling into the gravel trap in a crash that involved four riders in total. Rossi meanwhile seemed to be going well and had fought back to second behind eventual winner Casey Stoner, before he suffered a serious rear tyre problem that forced him to roll off the gas and drop right back through the field. The Italian had to use all his talents to keep himself in the race and he eventually brought his Yamaha home in tenth position, taking what were a creditable six points under the circumstances. Rossi now drops to second place in the championship standings, ten points behind Stoner and 15 ahead of Dani Pedrosa, who was also involved in the first-lap crash. Edwards' unlucky non-finish, only the second in his Yamaha career, means he drops down to sixth. The Fiat Yamaha Team have a one-day test planned tomorrow although Edwards will wait until the morning to confirm if he will ride after badly bruising his knee when he was knocked down. Valentino Rossi Position: 10thTime: +18.999 "We are very disappointed today because we had high expectations for this race, but instead we had some unexpected problems with the tyre and it's been a disaster for us. Yesterday and this morning the same race tyre felt good but unfortunately today something happened to it after some laps and I couldn't fulfil the potential we had here. We don't know the reason yet for the problem but now Michelin are trying to understand what happened. I had a great start and was leading on the first lap, although I made a mistake at turn eleven when I ran wide and dropped to fifth. However at that stage my bike was working very well and I was able to fight back to second; I felt sure that I was going to have a good battle with Stoner! Sadly though, after ten or eleven laps, the tyre started to lose all grip and I had to slow right down because I was quite scared. It felt like there was a big problem with the tyre and I had to go very carefully just to finish. We were very unlucky today, we started first and second but Colin crashed when he was hit and then I had this problem. I'm also quite unhappy with Elias today because I think he was quite dangerous - more than once he passed me on the inside and then altered his line. This is not a correct way to race. We're all quite sad tonight but we have many more races so we will look forward now to China." Colin Edwards Position: DNFTime: "I got a great start but I had some problems getting heat into the rear tyre, which we were expecting at the start anyway. As a result I couldn't corner so well and I slipped right back on that first lap. Then Valentino ran off the track a bit at the fast right turn and I think everyone was checking up a bit and looking at him instead of thinking about the next corner! It seemed that everyone around me ran a bit wide into turn 12 but I braked normally and went underneath them when Jacque hit me from behind and I went down. I'm not badly hurt but my knee took a bit of a bang and it's swollen up quite a lot. It's pretty disappointing because we know my bike was working well and once I got some heat into the tyre it might have been a good race." Davide Brivio - Team Director "A very difficult and disappointing race for us! Colin was very unlucky as he was hit from behind through no fault of his own and there was no way for him to avoid the crash. He has some bad bruising to his knee but we hope it's nothing too serious. Valentino made a mistake on lap one but he recovered well and it looked like he was set for a good race, but we had some problems with the tyre. We'd chosen the hardest and best tyre that we had available to us but it wasn't enough to fight with our competitors today. We now have to work with Michelin during tomorrow's test to understand why this happened and learn from the mistake. It was very hard for Valentino to keep going until the end in this situation but he didn't give up and took some valuable points; we're still second in the championship so let's move on from here and look forward to China." Turkish delight for Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team After a drama charged Grand Prix of Turkey the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team can leave Istanbul extremely satisfied as riders Makoto Tamada and Sylvain Guintoli scored more championship points finishing in 14th and 15th spots respectively. In what is shaping as the most intensely contested MotoGP Championship on record, both riders were extremely fortunate not to be involved in a spectacular opening lap crash that caused three riders to retire, as the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 pilots were forced to take evasive action to stay in the race. Losing vital seconds in the melee, both riders recovered composure rapidly to give chase to the quickly disappearing pack and with determined rides closed the gap to the leaders over the remainder of the race to finish just 30 seconds from a podium finish. Confirming the continuing development of both the new generation Dunlop tyres and the 800cc Yamaha's that have made their debut in the new look championship in 2007, both riders consistently lapped the 5.340km Istanbul Park circuit over a second quicker than last year. Makoto Tamada Position: 14thTime: +38.540 The race wasn't so bad for me after Jerez but I need to find more consistency in myself. I had a good tyre as in the first few laps I could push very hard. It then dropped off a little but then the consistency remained the same. In the first lap I lost a bit as I had to ride around a long way to avoid the bikes on the track. I rode very hard to try and make up the difference but this is where I think I used a bit of the rear tyre trying to catch up to everyone. During the race I had a good battle with Shinya Nakano and my teammate Sylvain so things are getting better but the tyre remained consistent in its level of grip. I am working well with the team as we get to know each other and I am getting more and more confidence with the Dunlop tyres after being on other makes of tyres for many years. I feel that with the improvements we are making with the bike and the help from Dunlop that our results will improve at every race, as long as there are not too many crashes in front of me! Sylvain Guintoli Position: 15thTime:+39.337 Overall it was a good weekend. After Qatar and Jerez where we did some testing, this track was completely new to me. In the first lap I had to do a bit of gardening to miss the accident in front of me on the first lap and I think I lost about 10 seconds so it was a race against the clock to come back to the pack. On the last lap I had passed Makoto but unfortunately braking at the end of the straight I hit a bit of footpeg from the big crash that was still on the track and I lost the front and nearly crashed. One point is good again, especially here where I thought it would be more difficult but I think I could've been closer to the front than 30 seconds except for missing the crash and that little incident on the last lap. We always knew we had a good front tyre and now we have found some new information to improve the front but especially the most important was the rear tyre. Dunlop has made some big improvements with the rear tyre as it was very consistent the entire race and allowed us to go much faster than last year as I have done faster lap times than Carlos Checa did last year in the dry. This weekend has given me a lot more confidence as I feel these tyres are much better than a lot of people think so I am hoping for a race soon where we can get everything to gel together. Herve Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Director I am reasonably satisfied with the result of the weekend as we are again in the points and towards the end of the race, we were quicker than a few riders in front of us and this proves that we are becoming more competitive at each race and that the new tyre rules are working. I am extremely happy with Sylvain and feel that if he wasn't involved in the first lap drama that he would have scored more points than the single one that he claimed. He came back strongly and was very consistent the entire race, competing together with Shinya Nakano and Carlos Checa. The most encouraging sign for us was that we were only 30 seconds from third place and this proves to me the improvement that is being made to the entire package as last year we struggled here and this year it is a lot better result for us We are staying here to test tomorrow and we have quite a few things to test especially in the tyre department. We have to keep it in perspective though as we are not going to climb ten steps at once but from the beginning of the season we are consistent and we are steadily improving. Circuit Length: 5378 Temp: 23 Weather: Dry 2007 MotoGP Turkey - Istanbul 22/04/2007 Race 1 - 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 42'2.850 2 Toni Elias Honda ESP 0'6.207 3 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 0'8.102 4 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 0'8.135 5 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'8.289 6 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0'10.186 7 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 0'10.239 8 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 0'14.734 9 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 0'16.042 10 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0'18.999 11 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 0'26.249 12 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 0'29.546 13 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 0'36.922 14 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 0'38.540 15 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 0'39.337 Rider Standings 22/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 61 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 51 3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 36 4. Toni Elias Honda ESP 35 5. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 30 6. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 26 7. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 26 8. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 25 9. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 23 10. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 21 11. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 20 12. Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 15 13. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 14 14. Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 12 15. Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 11 16. Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 4 19. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 3 Team Standings 22/04/2007 Pos. Team Points 1. Ducati Marlboro Team 81 2. FIAT Yamaha Team 77 3. Honda Gresini 65 4. Repsol Honda Team 62 5. Rizla Suzuki 44 6. Pramac D'Antin 37 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 15 8. Konica Minolta Honda 15 9. Honda LCR 14 10. Tech3 Yamaha 7 11. Team Roberts 3 Manufacturer Standings 22/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 61 2. Honda 56 3. Yamaha 51 4. Suzuki 30 5. Kawasaki 15 6. KR212V 3

Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards put themselves in the best possible starting positions for tomorrow's Grand Prix of Turkey with a one-two in today's Official Qualifying. Shaking off the mild set-up problems they had encountered on yesterday's dirty track, the pair worked steadily on fine-tuning their 800cc YZR-M1s throughout the majority of the hour-long session before posting the best flying laps on qualifying tyres to take the top two spots on the grid for tomorrow's 22-lap race. With the weather staying dry once again the grip on track was considerably better than yesterday and Rossi's eventual pole time of 1'52.795 was just inside the existing lap record, although still slightly slower than last year's pole time. The Italian moved into pole with eight minutes remaining after his first flying lap before consolidating his position with another even faster lap on his second qualifying tyre soon after. Rossi's second pole of the season and ninth consecutive front row start puts him in a strong position to challenge for a win at one of only three circuits on this year's calendar where he has yet to stand on top of the podium. Edwards' second qualifying lap of 1'52.944 was good enough for second position behind his team-mate and the American will start ahead of Dani Pedrosa, who mounted a strong challenge in the closing stages but finished 0.027 adrift of the American. Valentino Rossi Position: 1st Time: 1'52.795 Laps: 24 "I'm very happy to have a pole position at this track, which has never been one of my favourites! I've had some bad moments here in the past but this year it feels like a different track for me and I'm having great fun! My M1 is very competitive, a lot more fun to ride here than in the past and the new modifications we have for our engine have made an important difference to our overall performance. The team has done a great job because we had some problems yesterday but they've found some good solutions and now Colin and I are first and second. My tyres are working well and we've found the right front for tomorrow. We need to make a final decision about the rear in the morning. With the qualifying tyre my bike really flew and I was able to do a very good lap; I started my first lap a few minutes earlier than the others and then I knew that I could improve a little bit more with the second qualifying tyre. Anyway all three of us are very close on the front row so I think it's going to be a tight battle tomorrow. Let's hope for good weather and see what happens." Colin Edwards Position: 2nd Time: 1'52.944 Laps: 21 "Well after the problems we had yesterday I've got to say a massive thanks to my team. They looked at the issues, got out their protractors, did their maths and worked their magic like always! The Michelin qualifier really sticks like glue for us this year and I was able to really push it. I thought I was going to run into traffic at one point on my last lap but I just kept my head down and somehow came out the other side in front. It was definitely a mistake-free lap. As for tomorrow, we need to work a little bit on our race pace - two tenths would be good but three would be even better! I think we're losing it in T3 so we need to concentrate on that part of the track. We've moved onto a different front from the 'old faithful' we've been using so far this year because that one was a little bit too close to the limit here, but it's working really well so we just need to make a final decision on the rear. It's a great result for the team to have us both on the front row again so let's hope to make the most of it with a similar result tomorrow!" Davide Brivio - Team Director "Of course this is a great qualifying result for us and it's really good to be starting tomorrow's race like this. This year our bike is working very well and both Valentino and Colin are able to enjoy the qualifying in a way that they weren't always able to last year. Our bike seems to be in great shape for qualifying this season as is shown by the results - Valentino has been on the front row in all three races and Colin twice. The team have done a great job as usual as they had a few problems to fix after yesterday, so well done to them. Our situation for tomorrow's race isn't so bad either but it's very important to be starting in front as it's going to be a hard battle. We have a few things to check with both riders in the warm-up tomorrow and some fine-tuning to do, but we can definitely be competitive and fight until the end." 2007 MotoGP Turkey - Istanbul 21/04/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'52.795 2 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'52.944 3 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'52.971 4 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1'53.375 5 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 1'53.559 6 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 1'53.613 7 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 1'53.637 8 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 1'53.706 9 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1'53.771 10 Toni Elias Honda ESP 1'53.835 11 Olivier Jacque Kawasaki FRA 1'53.847 12 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 1'53.988 13 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 1'54.082 14 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 1'54.143 15 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 1'54.206 19 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 1'54.845

Valentino Rossi finished the first day of practice for the Grand Prix of Turkey in fourth position today, the top Michelin rider in the 19-strong MotoGP field at Istanbul Park. After heading the standings in this morning's practice, Colin Edwards struggled with front-end problems this afternoon and the American could only manage 15th in the combined standings. Although the sun shone all day, an overnight rainstorm and cool temperatures this morning meant the track was still wet for first practice and, although it had dried out somewhat by the afternoon, it remained quite dirty and the poor conditions meant that lap times were considerably slower than the existing lap record. Without any testing at this track this season, the team face a hard task to find the correct set-up and tyre combination before Sunday's 22 lap race and the tricky track conditions today complicated their task. After losing much of this morning's session to the wet track both crews worked hard throughout this afternoon's practice, which was interrupted by a red flag for a short time after Shinya Nakano fell. Team-mates Casey Stoner and Loris Capirossi topped the time sheets, whilst third spot ahead of Rossi went to John Hopkins. Valentino Rossi Position: 4thTime: 1'55.120Laps: 33 "The conditions today weren't ideal for us as the track was very, very dirty. However we're not in such a bad position in fourth and when you compare it to last year, when we had some serious problems here, things are much better and I can ride the bike very well, in fact I like the track a lot more with this bike! Stoner especially was very fast today and I think that tomorrow is going to be a hard battle for qualifying. We need to work on the tyres and the set-up but I am confident that we can improve things quite a bit more tomorrow. The Japanese engineers have been working very hard during the break and today we tried out some new modifications for our engine. My first impressions are that it's a definite improvement and we can go a little bit faster. It's not a big difference but it's very important, especially here at this track. Now let's see what we can do tomorrow." Colin Edwards Position: 15thTime: 1'56.320Laps: 28 "Strangely I felt more comfortable with the front end this morning, when the track was wet and even dirtier than it was this afternoon! Unfortunately we've got some problems to deal with in the front-end and we didn't quite get to the bottom of them today. This afternoon I stayed on the same front as we used this morning and we've been playing with the setting but at the moment it's not working great and I can't ride it how I want to. We need to look at both the setting and the tyre situation and make some adjustments in order to be in a position to challenge tomorrow. Apart from that the bike feels okay and I'm confident that once the team work their magic tonight, as they always do, things will be working good." Davide Brivio - Team Director "The conditions today weren't good because of the rain overnight and so we lost a lot of this morning's practice. Unfortunately the track remained quite dirty and so the lap times are quite a lot slower than the last couple of years. Anyway, we have to work in these conditions so the team have tried to make the best of it and we're trying to analyse the problems we've encountered today. This afternoon Colin was suffering more than Valentino and he has some set-up problems which we need to work through. Of course the tyres are also very important here because it's the first track that we've been to this year without testing and our choice is also limited by the new regulations. However Valentino was able to improve his set-up a bit this afternoon and hopefully we can do the same with them both tomorrow." Circuit Length: 5378 Temp: 18 Weather: Dry 2007 MotoGP Turkey - Istanbul 20/04/2007 Free Practice Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1'54.200 2 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 1'54.979 3 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 1'55.062 4 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'55.120 5 Toni Elias Honda ESP 1'55.158 6 Olivier Jacque Kawasaki FRA 1'55.158 7 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1'55.707 8 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 1'55.736 9 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'55.865 10 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 1'55.910 11 Kenny Roberts KR212V USA 1'56.071 12 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 1'56.225 13 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 1'56.233 14 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 1'56.312 15 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'56.320 17 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 1'56.923 19 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 1'57.245

The efforts of Joshua Coppins, Antonio Cairoli and Yves Demaria in the FIM MX1, MX2 and MX3 Championship respectively have ensured a fantastic start to the international off-road racing calendar for Yamaha; with the manufacturer leading the standings of each series and remaining unbeaten in the two Grand Prix run so far in MX1 and MX2. The Yamaha Motocross Team, reigning champions in the MX1 class, has extended their run of victories to 16 Grand Prix from the last 17 run over the past twelve months. New signing for 2007, Joshua Coppins, has gelled immediately with the YZ450FM and has won three of four motos in total, contested in Holland and Spain last weekend; climbing the top step of the overall rostrum on both occasions. The 30 year old New Zealander has shown an impressive rate of speed in sand and also muddy conditions at Bellpuig on Sunday, and is currently fulfilling many pre-season predictions that the Kiwi is number one favourite for the ’07 title. The Rinaldi-helmed crew are chasing their seventh championship this century and Team Manager Carlo is pleased with the progress thus far: “Josh was steady in the sand and stayed consistent in difficult conditions on Sunday; this was the best we could have expected from him. Josh believes in himself so much and is very motivated and focussed; we trust that we can have a very good season with him.” Coppins’ achievements on the eve of entering the third round of fifteen at the Agueda circuit for the Grand Prix of Portugal this weekend have only been matched by the flamboyant and incredibly popular Antonio Cairoli in the MX2 competition. The exciting Sicilian – steering the potent YZ250F for Team De Carli Yamaha – has also won three from four motos and is undefeated in terms of GP wins. The 21 year old has raised his career tally of successes to 12 with a dominant set of victories at Valkenswaard two weeks ago and then sensationally beating Christophe Pourcel by passing the Champion on the last lap in Spain. “I am really happy with how things have been going,” the 2005 World Champ commented, “and I want to try and continue in this way. I know I have to be consistent for the championship and not repeat the mistakes I made last year. I am in good shape and the team is working very hard; we are heading in a good direction.” With second and third positions captured in French and Italian Grand Prix events the MX3 series is currently being led by multi champion and reigning number one in the category Yves Demaria. The experienced French rider, who first gained the MX3 crown in 2004, is fielding adapted YZ450F machinery within his own team structure this season. He returns to the ‘blue’ fold after winning in 250cc Grand Prixs last century and the 2001 Motocross of Nations at Namur with the Yamaha brand. For 2007 the 35 year old is battling with some younger names such as Benjamin Coisy (victor in Italy) and main title rival Sven Breugelmans. “It is good to see some young faces in this ‘old’ championship,” he commented “They get the chance to re-establish themselves and it is positive for the series. I am leading the standings after two rounds and I don’t think I could ask for any more at the moment.” “The Yamaha is a good bike and it was only a case of sorting out some suspension settings at the start of the year. I think Breugelmans, Vehvilainen and Lozano will be my main competition for the rest of the season,” he added. “Off course I am delighted with the results of our riders in all the MX world-championships,” said Huub Forschelen, Off-road Racing Manager of Yamaha Motor Europe. “After consecutive titles in MX1 with one specific rider, I am happy that we can prove that it is not just the individual who makes this possible. Now we can show also that the perfect team organisation and engineering qualities of YRRD (Yamaha Rinaldi Research Development) are a substantial part of the success, which Josh is now continuing for us. The quality of YRRD racing parts are proven as well in the MX3 championship, where Yves is leading, as a privateer, with his YZ479F kit-equipped Yamaha. While, as well, Team De Carli show the high level that a good team can tune a YZ250F. It is a motivation for a rider like Tony to work with such a team and to continue his victory tour.” The MX1 and MX2 Grand Prix of Portugal takes place in the dark red soil of Agueda with practice commencing this Saturday. The World Championship then pauses for a week before heading for consecutive meetings in Italy and Germany. MX3 also continues this weekend with the Spanish Grand Prix occurring near Madrid at Talavera de la Reina.

The Grand Prix of Spain at a sunny Bellpuig circuit in Catalunya for the second round of the FIM Motocross World Championship has been a memorable day for Yamaha with Josh Coppins winning both motos in the MX1 class, for his second consecutive success with the YZ450FM. Antonio Cairoli won a thrilling duel with World Champ Christophe Pourcel on the last lap of the second MX2 moto to seal his second GP victory in a row, watched by an appreciative 22,300 crowd. The 2007 campaign is only two events old but already Yamaha remain unbeaten thanks to the talents of the New Zealander and Sicilian respectively. The weather could not have been more varied in the north-east of the country. The huge swing from dark clouds and never-ending rain on Saturday to the sunny skies and high temperatures on Sunday afternoon caused the track to change from a swamp to a rutted and very bumpy prospect that made overtaking tricky because of the emphasis on a single line. For the first time this millennium the Saturday programme was cancelled due to heavy rain fall. The riders were forced to use what is normally the warm-up period before the Grand Prix motos Sunday morning as a make-shift qualification period. Coppins started reasonably well in both motos. The 30 year old, who had been working on his set-up and speed for hard-pack tracks in Italy over the Easter holiday, steered past Mike Brown in the formative stages and began to pull away. He won by almost twenty seconds and repeated the authoritative performance in the second race, taking his third chequered flag from four motos, by more than twelve seconds over runner up Max Nagl. His team-mate Marc de Reuver did not enjoy similar fortune. The Dutchman was hindered around the first corner in both heats so that he was unable to penetrate the leading elite. The 24 year old's speed varied on the demanding terrain as he also had to battle hard to gain ground; finishing with fourteenth and tenth for tenth overall Josh Coppins, Yamaha Motocross Team: "We were here in 2004 and I remember the first race was really bad but by the second the track was pretty good, so I knew that if the sun came out it would turn around. I have proved before that I am quite good in all kinds of conditions. I was already feeling comfortable on the Yamaha on hard-pack compared to the sand prior to this race. I knew that we had a good set-up on the bike so I was looking forward to coming here and believed that we had a chance to make a good race. My starts haven't been that great so far but I am lucky that the bike is so strong. I wheelied on the first and let the clutch go too soon with the second; as soon as I hit third gear though the bike just pulled me to the front." Marc de Reuver, Yamaha Motocross Team: "Things did not work out very well for me today. My starts were not great. I touched Nagl on the start-straight of the first moto and that put me right at the back. I tried to get some rhythm going and passing was difficult but it was hard and I felt tired on the bike. I just want to look ahead to next week now." Carlo Rinaldo, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team: "It was a very good day for Josh and Yamaha of course. He made almost a perfect race; good starts but also a very fast pace and no mistakes. Normally in these conditions we have seen Josh a little bit tense and aggressive but today he looked very comfortable on this track. We worked a little bit on the bike before this race and it looked like he appreciated it. Regarding Marc I am a little bit sad and disappointed, for him just as much as us, because it looks like everything should be going well. He is fit and feeling fast on the bike but his starts were not good and the lap-times were very inconsistent. But let's keep working and see what will happen next week!" Circuit Length: 1630 Temp: 21 Crowd: 22300 Weather: Sunny 2007 GP of Bellpuig, Spain 15/04/2007 Race 1 - 19 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 39'57.248 2 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'19.883 3 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'21.435 4 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'21.725 5 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 0'44.270 6 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'49.611 7 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 0'49.902 8 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 1'7.432 9 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 1'12.523 10 James Noble Honda GBR 1'13.428 11 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 1'38.226 12 Mike Brown Honda USA 1'38.593 13 Cyrille Coulon Honda FRA 1'44.872 14 Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 1'57.837 15 Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 2'3.472 16 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 2'7.343 17 Alex Salvini Yamaha ITA 2'9.197 18 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 2'14.936 19 Alessio Chiodi Aprilia ITA -1 Laps 20 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR -1 Laps Race 2 - 19 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 40'24.251 2 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 0'12.485 3 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'14.452 4 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'18.369 5 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'22.157 6 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'30.563 7 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'43.111 8 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'47.783 9 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'51.842 10 Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 0'54.262 11 Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 0'55.910 12 Manuel Priem TM BEL 1'2.144 13 Mike Brown Honda USA 1'32.637 14 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 1'35.421 15 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 1'36.557 16 James Noble Honda GBR 1'38.467 17 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 1'43.971 18 Julien Bill Kawasaki CHE -1 Laps 19 Scott Columb Suzuki NZL -1 Laps 20 Christian Beggi Honda ITA -1 Laps Rider Standings 15/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 97 2. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 78 3. Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 74 4. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 63 5. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 63 6. Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 61 7. Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 53 8. Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 43 9. James Noble Honda GBR 40 10. Mike Brown Honda USA 36 11. Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 36 12. Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 29 13. Manuel Priem TM BEL 28 14. Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 27 15. David Philippaerts KTM ITA 26 16. Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 21 17. Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 16 18. Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 16 19. Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 13 20. Antoine Meo Honda FRA 10 Manufacturer Standings 15/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 97 2. Suzuki 82 3. KTM 81 4. Honda 61 5. Kawasaki 49 6. TM 28 7. Aprilia 2 RACE REPORT 15/04/2007 Cairoli beats Pourcel to win the Spanish GP In MX2 Antonio Cairoli buried the bad memories of his DNF at the 2006 Spanish round at Bellpuig with an inspiring chase of Christophe Pourcel that had the crowd cheering his efforts. In both races the 2005 World Champion experimented with different trajectories in order to shrink large margins to the escaping Pourcel. He challenged the Frenchman on the last lap of Moto one but made a mistake and opted for second place several corners before the flag. In the second race he caught up some fifteen seconds to the Kawasaki rider and gunned his YZ250F to make his three best laps of the race in the last three circulations to push his way into the lead. His emphatic celebrations - he dropped his machine and stood on it to wave and acknowledge the spectators - after the finish line showed just how much the achievement meant to him. > Yamaha Team Ricci's Kenneth Gundersen could only secure thirteenth overall after two horrendous starts that left the Norwegian with a lot of hard work to get near the top ten. The former 125cc Grand Prix winner was twelfth and fourteen and now sits sixth in the World Championship standings. His team-mate Nicolas Aubin showed some promising speed by running in the top five of both motos. The Frenchman unfortunately was unable to score any points due to a clutch problem in the first moto but took a decent fifth place in race two after losing second due to a small crash. The third member of the Ricci crew, Davide Guarneri, attempted to return to World Championship action but could only manage a handful of laps in the first moto. The Italian has a strained ligament and a small fracture in the ankle he damaged while competing in his domestic series in March. The joint swelled considerably and he was unable to make the second moto. He is now a doubt for the Portuguese round next week, opting instead for more recovery time prior to the Italian Grand Prix in May. Antonio Cairoli, Team Yamaha De Carli: "I am really happy with this race. I felt good on this track this year, we have never won the GP here before. I did not start well in the first heat but I worked hard and narrowed the gap to Christophe. I had a little bit of arm-pump and after I passed him he had some slightly better lines than me and got me back. I did not want to make a mistake so I settled for second. The track in the second moto was easier because there were more lines for us and passing was less complicated. I felt quicker than the first race so when I started slowly again I could work on Christophe's lead again; I made a very good pass on the last lap. Last year I feel that I lost my Championship here because I threw away many points to Christophe by not finishing one moto. This year I did not want to make any mistakes. I did push very hard in the second race though because I wanted the win and it was right there. I made some good laps at the end, my condition is at a high level now. Claudio (De Carli, Team Manager) gave me the cost for some damage caused when I was chearing and made a little dance standing on the bike to celebrate the victory!" Kenneth Gundersen, Yamaha Team Ricci: "In the first moto I started almost last and came up to twelfth by the end. I was out of the gate OK but ran wide into the thick mud and almost got stuck. The track was virtually only one-line and when you get stuck behind a slower rider it was so difficult to pass; you lose your rhythm all the time. It was the same in the second heat and I had to work my way up. I hit someone on the straight and this put me right at the back. I feel good and strong on the bike I just hope that soon I can get away with the guys at the front who I want to race with." Nicolas Aubin, Yamaha Team Ricci: "The goal was to be twice in top five and without the problem in the first race I believed it would have been possible. The clutch was going and I had to work a lot with it; but in the end it was finished. I started the second race well and was settling into my own pace in second when I made a small mistake and lost the front wheel going around a corner. Luckily the bike was still running but I lost my rhythm after that and went back a few places. Physically I am feeling fit and today was not too bad as I feel my speed is really coming along." Most of the teams and riders were in no rush to leave Sunday evening. The Grand Prix of Portugal will occur next weekend and means a journey east for the paddock across Spain to Agueda, just south of Porto, for the third race of fifteen on the '07 schedule. Circuit Length: 1630 Temp: 21 Crowd: 22300 Weather: Sunny 2007 GP of Bellpuig, Spain 15/04/2007 Race 1 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 41'28.206 2 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 0'0.921 3 Erik Eggens Suzuki NED 0'53.809 4 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 1'3.739 5 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 1'27.248 6 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 1'33.414 7 Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 1'40.890 8 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 1'48.657 9 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 1'49.025 10 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'55.072 11 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 2'0.526 12 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 2'10.942 13 Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 2'14.454 14 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 2'16.461 15 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 2'17.818 16 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 2'20.120 17 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 2'33.960 18 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA -1 Laps 19 Rui Goncalves KTM POR -1 Laps 20 Gert Krestinov KTM EST -1 Laps Race 2 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 40'54.529 2 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'0.884 3 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'37.726 4 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'41.313 5 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 0'45.718 6 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'53.814 7 Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 1'12.971 8 Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 1'20.316 9 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 1'22.680 10 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'28.111 11 Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 1'32.745 12 Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 1'36.647 13 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 1'49.494 14 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 1'52.344 15 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 2'3.490 16 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 2'7.461 17 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 2'13.093 18 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA -1 Laps 19 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR -1 Laps 20 Rui Goncalves KTM POR -1 Laps Rider Standings 15/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 97 2. Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 82 3. Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 81 4. Erik Eggens Suzuki NED 54 5. Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 53 6. Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 50 7. Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 48 8. Tommy Searle KTM GBR 44 9. Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 44 10. Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 41 11. Matti Seistola Honda FIN 39 12. Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 34 13. Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 26 14. Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 25 15. Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 25 16. Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 22 17. Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 21 18. Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 19 19. Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 14 20. Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 12 Manufacturer Standings 15/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 97 2. Kawasaki 87 3. KTM 82 4. Suzuki 56 5. Honda 53

Noriyuki Haga brought 36 more points and two podiums home for Yamaha in today's World Superbike Championship round at Valencia. Having battled to find the right set-up all weekend, Haga went out today and claimed second in race one, with Corser in fourth. He then had an excellent second race, finishing in third after a race-long battle with James Toseland. In race one Corser made a good start and took the lead by the first turn until lap six when it became evident that he had a grip problem. He maintained as much pace as he could though, to stay in the four-way battle for top spot between Xaus, Haga, Bayliss and himself. Eventually Haga and Xaus dropped Bayliss and Corser and continued the battle, with Haga taking the fastest lap on lap eight before taking the race lead. Corser and Bayliss fought for third place until Bayliss broke free to re-join the top two runners. A close race with Xaus, Haga and Bayliss saw all three of them dice for position but Xaus managed to take the win, with Haga second and Bayliss third. Corser held on to fourth with a decent margin back to Toseland in fifth. In race two Nitro Nori, lived up to his name getting the hole-shot off the line to take the lead. Corser made a good start as well to follow up in second, with Xaus and Toseland again close behind. By the end of lap one Toseland and Xaus had both passed Corser and by the end of lap three Bayliss had managed the same move, pushing Troy back to fifth. Ruben Xaus made it past Haga on lap four and Toseland and Haga touched fairings as the Honda rider also squeezed through. For the next ten laps all three riders swapped places at almost every turn until Bayliss ran briefly into the gravel after hitting the white line and dropping down to sixth. Haga and Toseland continued to fight for the win, with Noriyuki leading again from lap 19 until a mistake let James through on the penultimate lap. Team Yamaha YZF rider, Shinichi Nakatomi, had a disappointing weekend after retiring in race one with tyre problems and finishing 16th in race two. The team has really felt the lack of winter testing this weekend, coupled with Nakatomi's lack of confidence with wet weather riding. Noriyuki Haga (3rd - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "In race two I had a good start, getting the hole-shot from the start line into first place. During the race I was looking for a good pace - I was not concerned if someone came past me, I was watching them (Xaus and Toseland). But they weren't carrying the same speed as me, and slowed down the pace. I was fighting side by side with Toseland but also looking to save my rear tyre to push in the last five laps. During the last two laps I had a good fight with Toseland for first place, and when I was planning to overtake James at the last corner I was not expecting Biaggi to be there, which prevented me from passing. For me, today was good but not perfect." Troy Corser (9th - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "In race one I had a problem with our mapping choice, which is why I couldn't keep the pace with the front runners. But in race two the problem was different. I had exactly the same tyre as I had in race one, but I had absolutely no grip. I don't know why. I just can't believe my result today." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "Troy's tyre problem aside, this was a positive weekend for me. We got some good points especially closing the gap to Biaggi and Suzuki in the Manufacturers' standings. The progress we saw in Donington, we saw again here. Nori rode very well, he lead 14 of 23 laps in the second race, always very focused. Two podiums is an excellent step towards our goal - the Championship. Unfortunately Troy had tyre problems in race two. His rear tyre didn't seem to work very well, giving him no grip at all. Otherwise, we are sure he would have been on the podium today. I am sure he will be up there in Assen. I'm looking forward to the next race, we are confident in good results there." Shinichi Nakatomi (18th - Team Yamaha YZF) "Race one was bad for me, we needed more test time to find the right tyre but we did not have it so made a wrong choice. Race two was not a good result, but it was better than race one at least. At least I know where we need to make improvements now. This weekend has been tough, I hope Assen is better." Martial Garcia (Team Coordinator - Team YZF Yamaha) "In race one, we made the wrong tyre choice, which was too soft and had finished after only five laps. The tyre we chose for race two was much better, but it is just unfortunate we couldn't get into the points even with our improved lap times. We are paying for the lack of winter testing before this season. For Assen we hope for good weather and for Nakatomi to improve his confidence in riding in the wet." Circuit Length: 4005 Temp: 17 Crowd: 39,000 Weather: Cloudy 2007 WSB Valencia 15/04/2007 Race 1 - 23 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 37'14.606 2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 0'1.997 3 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 0'6.330 4 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 0'8.780 5 James Toseland Honda GBR 0'17.040 6 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'24.272 7 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 0'25.822 8 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 0'26.087 9 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 0'28.778 10 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 0'32.754 11 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 0'37.084 12 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 0'37.141 13 Giovanni Bussei Honda ITA 0'37.563 14 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0'38.544 15 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 0'53.049 Race 2 - 23 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 James Toseland Honda GBR 37'35.825 2 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 0'0.287 3 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 0'0.375 4 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 0'6.637 5 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'7.991 6 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 0'10.210 7 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 0'10.861 8 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 0'14.366 9 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 0'15.511 10 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 0'19.716 11 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 0'25.287 12 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 0'26.437 13 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 0'34.992 14 Carmelo Morales Yamaha ESP 0'39.987 15 Giovanni Bussei Honda ITA 0'42.445 16 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 0'43.467 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'35.746 Rider Standings 15/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. James Toseland Honda GBR 151 2. Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 138 3. Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 124 4. Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 101 5. Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 90 6. Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 87 7. Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 83 8. Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 55 9. Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 46 10. Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 37 11. Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 33 12. Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 32 13. Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 30 14. Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 27 15. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 25 18. Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 12 Manufacturer Standings 15/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 160 2. Suzuki 138 3. Yamaha 134 4. Ducati 132 5. Kawasaki 53 RACE REPORT 15/04/2007 Parkes brings it home in sixth, Curtain crashes out Broc Parkes rode through the pain barrier today at Valencia to bring his R6 home in fifth place despite his recent collar bone injury. His team mate, Kevin Curtain, was not so fortunate, crashing out of the race on lap nine whilst battling for first place. The wet conditions that had plagued much of the weekend's track sessions had cleared going into the Supersport race. With this in mind, both riders were confident of a good ride in the fourth round of the World Supersport Championship today but in the end they were to have quite different results. Kevin got off a good start and maintained his third place, moving quickly up to second on lap two. Feeling comfortable with the bike and track conditions, he was able to put in a determined ride and was in a four-way battle for first place with Sofuoglu (Honda), Pitt (Honda) and Riba (Kawasaki). On lap five Kevin, showing no sign of discomfort from his broken collar bone, took the lead and temporarily set a new lap record. The battle continued until, on lap nine, Curtain and Riba collided catching Riba's brake lever and taking both riders out as well as Fujiwara Parkes' race also got off to a good start with him climbing up to eighth place from his start position of 11th. His injuries though, pampered him throughout the race, with him straining to change direction in the twisty middle section of the circuit. He moved up to fourth position as a result of Curtain and Riba's accident and then found himself embroiled in the middle pack of riders for the remainder of the race. He fought on and finished the race in a very credible fifth position, considering the short recovery period he has had since Donington. Massimo Roccoli, riding in the Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni squad, found himself alongside Parkes for much of the race, with the two riders swapping positions throughout. The dry conditions suited Roccoli's style more than the rain and he was able to much improve his start 16th start position to eventually finish in a solid seventh slot. Following his crash Curtain was taken to hospital where it was confirmed that his collar bone injury has not been made worse. A long 20cm cut deep into his thigh, caused by his foot peg, has had to be stitched - it was close to an artery but missed it. Following Curtain and Riba's collision the remaining to riders went on with Sofuoglu finishing in the top spot and ex-Yamaha WSB rider Pitt putting a good performance for second. Rounding up the podium positions was Nannelli (Ducati) who had a good fight with Pitt for second place and narrowly missed out. Broc Parkes (5th - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I was sore for sure during that race and when the pace picked up I had trouble keeping up because I couldn't change direction so easily due to my shoulder. I had a pack of riders around me for much of the race, which I didn't like as it would have been so easy to collide with one of them, like Kevin did. I'd rather have been in front of them, but I couldn't get past. At least I got some points, which I am happy about and kept it upright this weekend." Massimo Roccoli (7th - Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) "I had a good start and jumped to sixth position. I was riding with the leading group and after a very difficult practice, I am pleased with my final result. I took some points and have saved the weekend." Circuit Length: 4005 Temp: 19 Crowd: 39,000 Weather: Cloudy 2007 WSS Valencia 15/04/2007 Race 1 - 23 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 38'8.523 2 Andrew Pitt Honda AUS 0'4.911 3 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 0'5.200 4 Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 0'5.619 5 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 0'12.776 6 David Salom Yamaha ESP 0'14.913 7 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 0'15.178 8 Joan Lascorz Honda ESP 0'25.356 9 Vesa Kallio Suzuki FIN 0'28.454 10 Craig Jones Honda GBR 0'29.885 11 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 0'30.422 12 Davide Giugliano Kawasaki ITA 0'30.810 13 Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 0'31.204 14 David Checa Yamaha ESP 0'35.273 15 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 0'37.610 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 1'37.570 Rider Standings 15/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 95 2. Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 51 3. Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 43 4. Robbin Harms Honda DNK 39 5. Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 30 6. Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 27 7. Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 26 8. Craig Jones Honda GBR 25 9. Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 25 10. Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 22 11. Andrew Pitt Honda AUS 20 12. Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 17 13. Yoann Tiberio Honda FRA 15 14. Davide Giugliano Kawasaki ITA 14 15. Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 13 20. Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 10 21. David Checa Yamaha ESP 9 22. Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 9 Manufacturer Standings 15/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 95 2. Kawasaki 61 3. Yamaha 55 4. Ducati 30 5. Suzuki 24 RACE REPORT 15/04/2007 New boy Pirro shows his potential with a second place Rookie Superstock rider Michele Pirro showed his race-winning potential today with a superb ride over a challenging two-part race to take second place. In contrast, team mate Corti had a difficult weekend, eventually finishing in 11th place. This result doesn't do credit to the actual first he got in the second half of the race - a bad first heat brought his overall finishing position down. At the initial race start, Pirro got a good start to take the lead from his second qualifying place. He then proceeded to pull out a lead of almost six seconds by lap three before the rest of the pack regained their composure to attach back. British rider Mark Aitchison (Suzuki) took the lead on lap six but then the race was red flagged after Badovini (MV Augusta) crashed. The race was re-started with a five-lap sprint to the chequered flag. Pirro once again got a good start, taking the lead briefly before Yamaha-shod rider Baiocco passed him. Corti came back from his first heat difficulties in the re-start to show the fighting spirit that got him second place in the 2006 Superstock Championship. A close battle ensued with van Keymeulen, Corti, Aitchison and Baiocco for the lead with Corti succeeding while van Keymeulen crashed out of second on the penultimate lap. The final aggregate result, taking into account the re-start, put Aitchison in first place; Pirro in second and Canepa in third. Michele Pirro (2nd - Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) "I had no grip at the front with my front tyre destroyed. I tried to keep hold of first place but it was impossible. I am satisfied though, because my second position has put me back in the fight for the championship." Claudio Corti (3rd - Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) "My big problem was the first start. I took a big risk and almost crashed at one point losing position. I had no such problems in the second heat though and I am pleased to have grabbed some points today." Circuit Length: 4005 Temp: 16 Crowd: 39,000 Weather: Changeable 2007 Superstock Valencia 15/04/2007 Race 1 - 10 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mark Aitchison Suzuki AUS 18'4.561 2 Michele Pirro Yamaha ITA 0'0.566 3 Nicolo Canepa Ducati ITA 0'8.556 4 Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 0'12.741 5 Ilario Dionisi Suzuki ITA 0'13.883 6 Xavier Simeon Suzuki BEL 0'14.606 7 Rene Mahr Yamaha GER 0'15.604 8 Matej Smrz Honda CZE 0'23.290 9 Cederic Tangre Yamaha FRA 0'25.773 10 Marko Jerman Suzuki SVK 0'26.178 11 Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 0'26.428 12 Denis Sacchetti MV Agusta ITA 0'29.667 13 Sheridan Morais Ducati RSA 0'33.732 14 Marko Rohtlaan Honda EST 0'34.541 15 Arne Tode Honda GER 0'41.693 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Ayrton Badovini MV Agusta ITA 1'38.369 Rider Standings 15/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Nicolo Canepa Ducati ITA 41 2. Mark Aitchison Suzuki AUS 38 3. Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 25 4. Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 24 5. Ilario Dionisi Suzuki ITA 21 6. Michele Pirro Yamaha ITA 20 7. Xavier Simeon Suzuki BEL 19 8. Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha BEL 16 9. Rene Mahr Yamaha GER 15 10. Marko Jerman Suzuki SVK 11 11. Sheridan Morais Ducati RSA 10 12. Arne Tode Honda GER 9 13. Cederic Tangre Yamaha FRA 9 14. Matej Smrz Honda CZE 8 15. Marko Rohtlaan Honda EST 5 Manufacturer Standings 15/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 41 2. Yamaha 40 3. Suzuki 38 4. Honda 16 5. MV Agusta 4

The enchanting city of Istanbul opens its gates to the MotoGP World Championship for the third time next weekend as the new 800cc era enters a third chapter shrouded in mystery. Unlike the opening two rounds at Losail and Jerez, the Fiat Yamaha Team and their rivals will be racing at a circuit where they have no pre-season testing experience with this year's machines. Not only will they have to set the bikes up from scratch but new regulations limiting the number of tyres each rider can use over the course of the weekend also come thundering into the equation. Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards will each have just seventeen rear tyres and fourteen fronts at their disposal throughout the four hour-long official practice sessions, 25-minute warm-up and 22-lap race. A variety of different compounds will be available, based on Michelin's assessment of the characteristics of the spectacular 5.378 kilometre track and data gathered during tests following the Grand Prix at Jerez, but the rubber manufacturers will not be allowed to alter each rider's allocation after 5pm on Thursday evening. The battle against the clock will start on Friday morning, when the riders and their engineers will work methodically through the available tyre options and adjust their bike set-up to the best available choice. Their job will not be made any easier by the demanding nature of the circuit, which features fourteen turns - eight lefts and six rights - several of which are based on famous bends at other circuits, such as the 'Senna Esses' at Sao Paolo, the 'Spoon Curve' at Suzuka and the 'Eau Rouge' at Spa. Like Phillip Island and Laguna Seca, it also has the unusual characteristic of running anti-clockwise. The challenge is further enhanced by dramatic changes in elevation, with the track built on four different ground levels, and the fastest corner in MotoGP - a 270km/h bend that the riders may even take with the throttle wide open in sixth gear on the new 800cc machines. That hair-raising turn eleven is followed by three ultra-slow chicanes, calling for a balanced set-up that provides front-end confidence as well as the rear-end stability required to cope with the high-speed changes of direction. A run of six different winners from the last six MotoGP races makes this weekend's proceedings even harder to predict but both Rossi and Edwards are confident of maintaining their strong early season form. After two rounds Rossi defends a World Championship lead of nine points over Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, with Edwards another ten points further back in fourth place. The Italian's victory at Jerez was his 46th of the four-stroke MotoGP era and made him the first man to win on three different capacity machines in the premier-class; 500cc, 990cc and 800cc. Valentino Rossi - "Putting the record straight" Istanbul Park is one of only three circuits on the current calendar where Valentino Rossi has yet to take victory in the premier-class of MotoGP, the others being Laguna Seca in the USA and Misano in Italy, which will this year host a Grand Prix for the first time since 1993. It is a figure the 28-year-old is looking to reduce as he aims for his first back-to-back victories since Mugello and Catalunya last year." "The next two races, Turkey and China, are ones that I don't like so much and I have never won at Istanbul, but it's a great circuit with some very fast corners," says Rossi. "If the bike works well then it will be great fun I think. Last year I made an error early in the race and it cost me the chance for a podium, but I won't be making the same mistake this year! We are leading the championship but it's a long season and we have to aim to get on the podium at every race." "The difficult thing over the next two races is going to be horsepower, because both Istanbul and Shanghai have very long straights. We tried some new things at the Jerez test to improve this and I know that Yamaha have been working very hard in Japan so hopefully we will have a little bit of improvement in this area when we get to Turkey. The other question is for the tyres, because it's the first time this season that we're going to be racing at a track that we haven't tested at. With the new restrictions it's going to be very important to make the right choices and also we don't know what the weather will do." Colin Edwards - "We're counting on Michelin" Colin Edwards heads to Turkey brimming with confidence after his return to the podium in Spain three weeks ago. Third place at Jerez was the Texan's first rostrum finish since the Grand Prix of China almost one year ago and, after relaxing at home during the extended Easter break, Edwards is determined to make sure the team don't have to wait that long for his next visit to those hallowed steps. "It's been good to have some time at home, relaxing and in the knowledge that we did well in Jerez," reflects Edwards. "Now it's time to get back to work and prove that wasn't a fluke by getting amongst the champagne again in Turkey. It's definitely not one of my favourite tracks and it was a really hard race for us last year, but we had a lot of problems then and things are very different this year. We know we're going to lack a bit on the straights but we also know that our bike is working pretty well and hopefully we can make up time in other parts. "Obviously everyone's going to be talking about the tyre factor in Istanbul but we're all in the same boat. Nobody has tested there so everyone's going to have to take some risks with their tyre choices. Basically we've just got to trust Michelin - we thought we were in trouble in Jerez but they were confident they had 'the' tyre and they were right. They know what they're doing so hopefully everything will be ok!" Davide Brivio - "Let's stay on the attack" With the Fiat Yamaha Team leading both the individual and team World Championship standings after two rounds, Team Manager Davide Brivio is backing his team to keep on the front foot in Turkey. With the long straights of Shanghai sure to provide a stern challenge for the nimble YZR-M1, Brivio has highlighted the need to get another solid pair of results in the bag before the long trip East." "We head to Turkey looking to attack because China might be difficult for us and we may have to defend more," conceded Brivio. "Of course the big challenge for everybody this weekend is about finding a set-up quickly and making the right choice with the tyres. Istanbul has not been a good track for Yamaha and the cold conditions won't help either, but we have a team of very shrewd engineers and a fantastic relationship with Michelin so we are in a good position to make the difference." "Even though we haven't tested at Istanbul we have gathered data at a lot of varied tracks during the winter and the bike has worked fairly well everywhere, which is crucially important when it comes to making a consistent challenge for a World Championship. It is still early in the season but the new M1 seems to have a solid base, so we'll see on the Friday what we need to work on. Both our riders are very motivated after their excellent results in Jerez so we are looking forward to another strong challenge from them this weekend." Valentino Rossi: Information Age: 28 Lives: London, UK Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 GP victories: 85 (59 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 176 (116 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) Pole positions: 46 World Championships: 7 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP) Colin Edwards: Information Age: 33 Lives: Conroe, Texas Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 First GP: Japón, 2003 (MotoGP) GP starts: 68 x MotoGP World Championships: 2 World Superbike Istanbul : Lap Record D. Pedrosa (Honda) 2006, 1'59.318 Istanbul : Best Lap S. Gibernau (Honda) 2005, 1'52.334 Grand Prix Results: Istanbul 2006 1. M. Melandri (Honda) 41'54.065 2. C. Stoner (Honda) +0.200 3. N. Hayden (Honda) +5.458 4. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha +6.209 9. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha +22.847

The challenging weather that started on Friday continued throughout today, making riding conditions very difficult and slippery. A damp qualifying session this morning was followed by a wet Superpole, in which the top 16 riders go out at the same time for a maximum of 12 laps during a 50 minute session. Corser felt happier with engine changes that had been made overnight following on from yesterday's initial qualifying session. These changes included trying some of the settings that had been used at Donington two weeks previously. Haga focused on continuing to find the right wet set-up. Overall, the wet conditions meant that everyone's lap times were slower, with no one improving on their best times from yesterday. Track conditions did not improve at all for Superpole this afternoon, with sunshine but no dry line anywhere on the circuit. Corser had a good start to the session moving up to third position from yesterday's provisional start position of sixth. With such wet conditions, he then waited to see the progress of other riders. Honda rider Joshua Brookes took third position on a flying lap, forcing Corser to try and reclaim it. Unfortunately, conditions were too slippery and he was unable to succeed and so will start from fourth tomorrow. Haga was one of the many to struggle with grip throughout the 50 minute session and moved down to ninth from fourth. He managed a flying lap with less than three minutes to go to take seventh place Kagayama. Team Yamaha YZF rider, Nakatomi, continued to try and improve with his confidence in the wet weather today. Having achieved a best qualifying position of 18th in this yesterday's qualifying, he then spent today's track time doing lots of laps to build up his confidence. The team is also trying various new engine and chassis parts this weekend, so focused on putting in as much track time as possible to maximize the best opportunity from these new parts. Tomorrow's world superbike races will start with Bayliss (Ducati) in pole position after an impressive day's riding. Local rider Ruben Xaus (Ducati) will start in second and Joshua Brookes (Honda) lies in third. Troy Corser (4th - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "This morning we went back to the Donington set-up and that seemed to help. The engine and bike are working well and we have made some changes to the rear suspension set-up during the day. Unfortunately, none of these changes have given us the extra grip that they normally would, and that we need. It's partly the geometry of the bike but we still have more work to do. My objective for tomorrow is to stay upright, especially if the track is as slippery as it was today." Noriyuki Haga (7th - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "Today I tried some rain settings but I have not yet found the best set-up for this possibility - we still need to work on the best rear tyre option as I can find good grip but no tyre life, or good tyre life but no grip. I am happy with a second row qualifying position and that I didn't crash today in the wet! Today's conditions were unbelievable with no grip anywhere. Tomorrow I will push hard for a podium finish at the very least, whatever the weather." Shinichi Nakatomi (18th - Team Yamaha YZF) "I really don't like the rain after a nasty incident I had last year, when I lost a lot of confidence. But, we had some success today finding a good set-up for the race. Tomorrow, I am hoping for dry weather though, and I want to finish in the points at the very least." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "This is our first time in the rain here at Valencia with the new R1, so we have been concentrating on preparing the bike as good as possible. Unfortunately, we haven't found the best set-up yet so tonight we will check all the data and see what we can improve for tomorrow. I am very pleased with the front row position for Troy and the second row is fine for Nori, who has a history of making good starts." Circuit Length: 4005 Temp: 24 Weather: Changeable 2007 WSB Valencia 14/04/2007 Superpole Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'51.982 2 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'52.085 3 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 1'52.199 4 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'52.733 5 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'52.801 6 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'52.942 7 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'52.961 8 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'53.634 9 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'53.750 10 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'54.108 11 Giovanni Bussei Honda ITA 1'54.972 12 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'55.196 13 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'55.965 14 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'56.275 15 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'56.332 Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Nat. QUAL I QUAL II 1 Troy Bayliss AUS 1'34.599 1'53.576 2 Ruben Xaus ESP 1'35.023 9999'0.000 3 James Toseland GBR 1'35.147 1'53.408 4 Noriyuki Haga JPN 1'35.440 1'52.866 5 Max Biaggi ITA 1'35.453 1'55.306 6 Troy Corser AUS 1'35.483 1'52.425 7 Lorenzo Lanzi ITA 1'35.709 1'53.804 8 Max Neukirchner GER 1'35.767 1'53.334 9 Fonsi Nieto ESP 1'35.804 1'55.209 10 Karl Muggeridge AUS 1'35.814 1'53.786 11 Joshua Brookes AUS 1'35.856 1'51.638 12 Yukio Kagayama JPN 1'36.012 1'55.330 13 Giovanni Bussei ITA 1'36.016 1'55.000 14 Carmelo Morales ESP 1'36.032 9999'0.000 15 Michel Fabrizio ITA 1'36.094 1'54.298 16 Shinichi Nakatomi JPN 1'36.755 1'58.322 QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 14/04/2007 Curtain confirms his third place in qualifying Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes played it sensible today as wet weather made the track slippery and riding conditions difficult. As a result of the rain, today's lap times were slower than during the first qualifying session yesterday and therefore there were no changes from yesterday's provisional qualifying positions. Kevin will start tomorrow in third place on the grid, while Broc will start from 11th. Data gathered during testing last month allowed both riders to be cautious and not push too much today. Not wanting to risk a crash on top of his collar bone injury, Curtain sat out this morning's free practice session. With conditions no better in the afternoon, he didn't take part in the weekend's second qualifying session either. Under championship regulations he is entitled to do this as he had already qualified within 107% of the fastest time set this weekend. And, with lap times almost 30 seconds slower than Friday, there was little risk of him being knocked off third spot. With high chances of rain tomorrow, Parkes was keen to get a wet set-up though, so he participated in both practice and qualifying today. Athough knowing he would not be able to improve his best time from yesterday due to the weather conditions, he was keen to try and find a good set-up and get some confidence in the bike and track conditions. Massimo Roccoli was unable to improve his qualifying position of 16th today, due to the worsening weather conditions. The Yamaha Italia rider made the most of the two sessions, though, to concentrate on improving his mental state and finding the best wet set-up. With no change to the gird from yesterday's qualifying positions, Sofuoglu (Honda) will start in pole position and Japanese rider Fujiwara (Honda) will start in second. Curtain maintains his third start position for the race. Kevin Curtain (3rd - 1'37.885 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "Sitting out of today's sessions was hard but it was the right thing for me to do. It has given me an extra day's recovery - and on such a short term every day counts. A broken collar bone isn't a simple injury - any kind of crash at this stage could cause a lot of problems and it just wasn't worth the risk today, especially as I got such a good qualifying position yesterday. If it rains tomorrow I will have to go out in the morning though, as I need to check my rain set-up. Tomorrow is when we will take more risks than so far this weekend - race day is what counts." Broc Parkes (11th - 1'38.681 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "It was like riding on ice out there and far too tough for us to find a good wet set-up. It was really difficult and risky with lots of people crashing - I'm just glad I wasn't one of them. I still haven't found the right race set-up though - what with the rain and my collar bone - so I will just have to go out tomorrow morning to find it out before the race." Massimo Roccoli (16th - 1'39.016 - Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) "The fourth row is not a good position to start in - we tried to improve on this today but it was not possible with the weather conditions. I was very fast here at the Pirelli tyre test in March so I am hoping to be able to regain some of the mental and technical condition I had then for tomorrow's race. I just hope it is dry tomorrow!" Circuit Length: 4005 Temp: 16 Weather: Wet 2007 WSS Valencia 14/04/2007 Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Nat. QUAL I QUAL II 1 Kenan Sofuoglu TUR 1'37.521 2'5.339 2 Katsuaki Fujiwara JPN 1'37.729 2'6.995 3 Kevin Curtain AUS 1'37.885 n/a 4 Pere Riba ESP 1'38.095 2'2.363 5 Andrew Pitt AUS 1'38.478 2'2.845 6 Fabien Foret FRA 1'38.524 2'11.158 7 Barry Veneman NED 1'38.532 2'5.999 8 Gianluca Nannelli ITA 1'38.564 2'4.356 9 Robbin Harms DNK 1'38.568 n/a 10 Joan Lascorz ESP 1'38.649 2'2.138 11 Broc Parkes AUS 1'38.681 2'8.183 12 Javier Fores ESP 1'38.734 2'4.583 13 Lorenzo Alfonsi ITA 1'38.753 2'6.852 14 Davide Giugliano ITA 1'38.915 2'0.659 15 David Salom ESP 1'39.008 n/a 16 Massimo Roccoli ITA 1'39.016 2'6.185 19 Gianluca Vizziello ITA 1'39.243 2'3.504 21 David Checa ESP 1'39.283 2'4.693 23 Sebastien Gimbert FRA 1'39.575 n/a

Valencia's notoriously changeable track conditions provided an interesting day at the fourth round of the World Superbike Championship at Valencia. The damp track this morning dried out with slightly warmer and drier conditions this afternoon for the first qualifying session of the weekend. Haga had the most success of the day in the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team, being third fastest in this morning's free practice. He then went on to finish in fourth in qualifying having spent the session focusing on testing various tyre and suspension options. Having finished the morning practice session second fastest, Corser then fought throughout the afternoon session to find the right set-up. He ended the day in sixth position. Shinichi Nakatomi, riding for the French Team Yamaha YZF squad, finished the day in 18th position. Nakatomi was keen to try and find a good set up, so spent the day focusing on small suspension and tyre settings. The day's result is headed by Bayliss (Ducati), who surprised everyone with such a good result in light of the injuries he sustained at Donington. Spaniard Ruben Xaus (Ducati) finished in second today at his home circuit. James Toseland (Honda) finished in third and Haga completes the line up in fourth. The Ricardo Tormo circuit is renowned for being very changeable in its grips conditions due to the variety of vehicles that use the circuit. Any damp brings out the rubber and oil that has been laid down previously, making it very slippery. The rapidly changing conditions were nowhere more evident than towards the end of the day's on-track sessions, when thunder and lightning accompanied a sudden downpour, leaving the track under a couple of inches on rainwater. Noriyuki Haga (4th - 1'35.440 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I managed some improvement in my lap times during today but I struggled with finding the right tyre. We tried three different tyres this afternoon but I didn't find the right one for the race. Although it was still damp on the track this morning, the lower track temperatures actually suited the tyre. I'm not feeling too bad, tomorrow I hope to find the right tyre and I am hoping it is not raining, as this track gets very slippery when it is wet." Troy Corser (6th - 1'35.483 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "Today has been tough - all day I have struggled with the engine character. Following the test session here last month and after Donington, we made some engine changes which have completely altered the feel of the bike somehow. The engine character is different between my main and my spare bike, even. I'm glad we found this out today as it gives us tomorrow to sort out the problem so we are ready for race day. We think we have already worked out the problem and are working on a solution, which we will test out in the morning." Shinichi Nakatomi (18th - 1'36.757 - Team Yamaha YZF) "Today we have made many small changes and improvements throughout both sessions. Now we just need to combine the changes for tomorrow's qualifying session. I am hopeful of a higher qualifying position tomorrow - I just hope it is not raining." Circuit Length: 4005 Temp: 24 Weather: Sunny 2007 WSB Valencia 13/04/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'34.599 2 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'35.023 3 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'35.147 4 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'35.440 5 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'35.453 6 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'35.483 7 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'35.709 8 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'35.767 9 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'35.804 10 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'35.814 11 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 1'35.856 12 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'36.012 13 Giovanni Bussei Honda ITA 1'36.016 14 Carmelo Morales Yamaha ESP 1'36.032 15 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'36.094 18 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1'36.755 QUALIFYING 1 REPORT 13/04/2007 Curtain and Parkes show their determination in first qualifying Kevin Curtain took third place in this weekend's first qualifying session - only two weeks after breaking his left collar bone in four places at Donington Park. Team mate Broc Parkes struggled with his collar bone injury also, managing 11th place during the 45 minute session. Both riders have broken collar bones - Parkes his right and Curtain his left - after crashing in practice at the previous round at Donington. Since their respective accidents both riders have undergone surgery to plate and bolt the collar bones. They have had less than two weeks recovery since the last round and have surprised everyone by the efforts they have gone to in order to race here this weekend. Having attending last month's Pirelli tyre test, the team preferred to sit out the damp morning practice session rather than aggravate the riders injuries, confident that they have good set up information from these testing sessions. In the dry afternoon session, Kevin had an unexpected but excellent ride and secured third place whilst Broc found his injuries were more aggravated by the many twists and turns in the middle section of the circuit. Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni rider, Massimo Roccoli, had an average performance and only managed to qualify in 16th position. Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) topped today's qualifying session with a best time. Fujiwara (Honda) came in second with Curtain taking third and Riba (Kawasaki) completing the provisional front row in fourth place. Kevin Curtain (3rd - 1'37.885 - Yamaha Word Supersport Team) "My injuries don't feel too bad - until I have to brake hard. I surprised myself in that session, getting third slot, considering I've just had quite a major operation. The doctor has done a good job! I'm happy with securing third position today because, if it rains tomorrow as it is forecast to, the risk of crashing will be higher. I have to consider my injuries and take it a bit more gently if it rains tomorrow." Broc Parkes (11th - 1'38.681 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "My collar bone is giving me some trouble in the middle section of a lap when I have to use my right arm a lot. It really hurts when I have to switch from left to right, which makes changing direction quite difficult. I'm okay on the brakes with it, but then I have a different riding style to Kevin. I'd like to qualify in the top eight; hopefully I can get to the second row in tomorrow's qualifying, depending on the weather." Massimo Roccoli (16th - 1'39.016 - Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) "Unfortunately today was a bad day for me. There was no technical problem; it was more of a personal issue with me struggling with my feeling of the track. The bike and the tyre is the same when we tested here in March, but for some reason I am 1.5 seconds slower than at that test. The difference is too big to be technical, it is something I need to try and resolve myself for tomorrow." Circuit Length: 4005 Temp: 19 Weather: Sunny 2007 WSS Valencia 13/04/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'37.521 2 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 1'37.729 3 Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 1'37.885 4 Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 1'38.095 5 Andrew Pitt Honda AUS 1'38.478 6 Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 1'38.524 7 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 1'38.532 8 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 1'38.564 9 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 1'38.568 10 Joan Lascorz Honda ESP 1'38.649 11 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 1'38.681 12 Javier Fores Honda ESP 1'38.734 13 Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 1'38.753 14 Davide Giugliano Kawasaki ITA 1'38.915 15 David Salom Yamaha ESP 1'39.008 16 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1'39.016 19 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1'39.243 21 David Checa Yamaha ESP 1'39.283 24 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1'39.575

The Ricardo Tormo Circuit will host its first international race of the season this coming weekend, with the fourth round of the World Superbike Championship coming to this popular track for its eighth consecutive year. Valencia is a tight and twisty circuit built with spectators in mind. The venue was designed to be a 'circuit within a stadium' and this has been achieved with over 65,000 grandstand seats that allow spectators to view the track, and the action on it, from the one position. The popularity of this circuit is evident, with over 3 million spectators visiting since its opening in 1999. Valencia's complicated track, excellent facilities and favourable winter weather conditions make this circuit ideal for all kinds of racing. It is in demand by national and international championships and is not restricted to just motorcycles. Everything from trucks to Formula One cars use this circuit which means that grip levels can be unpredictable, causing conditions to change by the hour and requiring constant adjustments to the set-up of the bike. Pirelli held their official tyre test here in March, with Yamaha's World Superbike, Supersport and Superstock teams all taking part. The data gathered at this test could be of a big help to put all the Yamaha teams in a good position for their race set-up this weekend. The last round at Donington saw Haga take the team's first win of the season, showing the potential of the new R1. This was supported by Corser's second and third finishes. Haga goes into the fourth round in third place in the championship standings with 88 points with Corser just behind on 81 points. Both riders want to win at this round, so the gloves will be off from the outset. In 2006 Haga claimed two fifth places in Valencia but as he has won here previously in 2000 and 2004, he is keen to add another race win to his one from Donington. "Valencia is one of my favourite circuits and I have won there before," he says. "It is a technically challenging circuit though, and chassis and tyre set-up are very important there. With the testing we have done there recently with Pirelli I am hopeful. After winning at Donington I am feeling very positive and looking forward to winning again!" Team mate, Corser is looking to take some race win glory himself this weekend, after just missing it at Donington. Last year he took second place in both races and is looking to better that result this year. "Valencia has a good layout and the weather is normally makes for good riding conditions, although it can get a bit windy and, depending on which way it blows, it can sometimes be a problem. The track grip is different every time we go there because it depends on what's been racing there previously - trucks or Formula Ford - and what rubber they've left." With regard to the bike, Corser says, "The bike feels good following the testing we have done there, although every team has done testing there so it's going to be a close race." The third round at Donington was a very tough one for the Yamaha World Supersport Team, with both Curtain and Parkes crashing and breaking their collar bones in practice, putting them out for the race. The team goes into the fourth round with a lot of hard work to do. They know they need a good result to put them back into contention for the championship, but are very conscious of both riders still nursing injuries. Both riders had operations immediately following the race and are determined to ride at Valencia if at all possible. Currently, Curtain lies in fifth in the championship with 25 points and Parkes lies in tenth on 16 points. "I'm feeling pretty good despite the crash at Donington. A friend in Belgium helped me get operated on straight away and I now have a late and eight bolts in my left shoulder, which is lucky as I'm right-handed. As soon as I was out of surgery I started exercising the injury because the longer you leave it, the longer it takes to get going again. I now have full movement and a fair amount of strength in my left arm, though the scar is a bit tender," says Kevin of his injuries. When asked about Valencia and his expectations, Kevin said, "I'm looking forward to returning to the championship this weekend. I'd like to get on the podium' that's what I'll be aiming for." At the time of going to print, it is expected that Broc Parkes will race at Valencia, though this will be confirmed in the next 24 hours. Claudio Corti got his Superstock Championship fight off to a good start at Donington with a second place, just in front of Didier van Keymeulen on another new R1. Corti's team mate, Michele Pirro has something to prove this weekend after crashing out of the last race. He had been showing great potential in his rookie season in the Superstock Championship prior to the crash and is keen to make up for his mistakes with a good result at Valencia. Track length: 4005 Tracked opened: 1999 2006 winner: Troy Bayliss (Ducati) 2006 fastest lap: 1'35.374 (Troy Corser, Suzuki) WSB lap record: 1'35.007 (Neil Hodgson, 2003) Circuit tel: +34 96 2525220

While the third round of the World Superbike Championship was happening at Donington Park in the UK last week, Yamaha were busy making sure that a selection of national race teams from all over Europe were getting the best training to help them maximize the potential of their race bikes, and push for Yamaha race success from Norway to the south of Spain. For the past five years, Yamaha Europe’s Racing Division has run the Yamaha Race Training (YRT); a three day course aimed at providing European Yamaha race teams the opportunity to learn about how to make the most of their R-series race bikes. Within this training Yamaha’s best Japanese and European Yamaha Racing engineers help teams with their pre-season preparations and raise the knowledge level in terms of the technical set-up and machine tuning of their YZF-R6 and R1. This exclusive course is only open to Supersport, Superbike, Endurance and European Superstock teams and covers a series of theoretical seminars as well as three days on circuit riding to put the theory into practice. In addition to the engineers from Yamaha Racing; expert advice is available from Yamaha’s technical partners, such as Öhlins and 2D. Completing the exclusive package is Michelin, who provide tyres and tyre advice throughout the three-day program. For 2007, YRT was held at the Ricardo Tormo circuit at Valencia between 28th and 30th March. 80 riders in 35 teams from 13 European countries took part, making this no small event to organize. Valencia’s complicated track, excellent facilities and favourable winter weather conditions mean that the circuit is in use for 95% of the year by everything from trucks to Formula One cars, MotoGP to national championship teams. Perhaps because of this, grip levels can be unpredictable causing conditions to change by the hour and requiring constant adjustments to the set-up of the bike – ideal for training the teams in best set-up practice. During the three days, technicians and riders from each team attended seminars that covered key topics, such as: * A detailed technical presentation of the 2007 R-Series models – all the major new technical aspects of the brand new R1 were covered in detail * 2007 YEC racing parts seminar – All the new and modified racing parts, that Yamaha offers under the brand name YEC, were explained in detail to all the teams * 2007 R1 Fuel injection workshop (incl. YCC-T and YCC-I) – in this workshop the teams learnt how to modify their ignition and fuel base settings to match their rider and the track conditions using the YEC ECU and accompanying software * Engine workshop, including a camshaft-timing seminar Learning all this theory is one thing, putting it into practice is another. Every rider was designated four sessions a day on the track, in order for them and their technical team to try out what they had been taught in the classroom. Wet weather during the first day of the event gave the teams the perfect opportunity to practice finding their ideal wet race set-up. On the second and third day the riders could enjoy dry sessions and were able to work towards a competitive basic set up. And with the best lap times of below 1’39.000, it proved that the teams are ready to start competing in their championships. With the three-day session over it is now down to each individual team to make the most of their training, putting into practice what they have learnt to go for gold in the various championships.

Yamaha Motocross rider Josh Coppins experienced a dream debut in blue colours by toasting overall MX1 success today in front of 25,000 fans packed into the Eurocircuit in Valkenswaard just south of the city of Eindhoven for the opening meeting of the fifteen rounds of the 2007 FIM World Championship and the first visit of two planned stops in the Netherlands this season. The Grand Prix of Benelux occurred under very pleasant conditions. The winding Eurocircuit boasted a slower lap-time and average speed compared to past years thanks to several new corner sections and a layout that reversed the traditional direction. The brown sand churned into rutted waves of terrain that was slippery in places making it physically very demanding. Coppins started well on the YZ450FM and was placed in the top three alongside Steve Ramon and Ken de Dycker in the first moto. The battle for the lead narrowed down to a duel with De Dycker and the New Zealander hounded the Belgian for four laps before moving through and swiftly breaking his pursuer's tow. The second half of the moto was straightforward for the 30 year old kiwi as he eased to his GP debut race success with his Yamaha. The second race saw Coppins face slightly more adversity as he combated a mediocre start and a problem with his goggles, but he pushed through to the runner-up position. Despite an earnest attempt to slice the advantage carved by Jonathan Barragan at the front the Coppins had to be content to settle for second spot which easily delivered his maiden Yamaha victory by six points overall from the lively Spaniard. Marc de Reuver also had a Yamaha debut to remember. The 24 year old scored sixth and third positions for fifth in the final ranking. Riding under pressure at his home GP De Reuver hit the sand on the first lap of Moto one but then embarked on a determined charge from last spot to seize a creditable sixth place by the chequered flag; in what was arguably the most eye-catching - but tiring - performance of the 40 minute fare. Later in the day a more effective getaway from the line allowed the Dutchman to forage away in third, some distance behind his team-mate. Josh Coppins - first "Ken is super fast but I knew he could not keep that pace for the whole race. He is a little bit wild so I held back and then attacked when Steve was coming closer to us. I put some good laps together at the end of the race and then I could pull away easily. My start was not as good in the second moto. I was spinning out of the gate and had to grab the clutch again; it was not a perfect launch. I lost some time and was quite far back. I passed many guys but had problems with my goggles and was held up in third for a little while until I could sort it out. Again I made some decent laps and took second. I looked towards Jonathan but he was riding very well and I had some cramp. I did not know who would be the main challenger this weekend and I still do not know who will be my main rival for the championship. My job is to do the best I can and if I cannot win then I will settle for second." Marc de Reuver - fifth "I am happy. When I crashed in the first moto I thought 'what a disaster' but I picked up the bike and my pace. I kept looking at my board and rode my own race. The lap-times were pretty good and consistent, I passed a lot of guys but it also cost me a lot of energy. In the second moto it was much traffic the first few laps. I managed to get to third place but I was quite tired. The bike is working well although we need to practice more on our starts. It wasn't a bad first GP for me in MX1. I thought MX2 was aggressive in the first laps and believed that MX1 would be different but it is pretty similar actually" Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager: "It was a perfect start today. Josh was smart enough to make a good start and not lose any ground in the first laps. He was under pressure and it was easy to make a mistake, but he didn't. He was steady and this consistency helped him win the GP; this was the best we could have expected from him. I am very happy with Marc. He never gave up despite that bad start. He looked very motivated and to come back from last to sixth place was very encouraging. He was pretty tired though and this showed in the second moto but we are satisfied. I have, and had, absolutely no doubt in the capabilities of the bike. It worked well this weekend and we have a very good machine in our hands for the season." Circuit Length: 1750 Temp: 19 Crowd: 25000 Weather: Sunny 2007 GP of Valkenswaard, Benelux 01/04/2007 Race 1 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 41'1.884 2 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'16.953 3 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'25.220 4 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'35.705 5 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'58.269 6 Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 1'3.069 7 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 1'4.679 8 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 1'6.490 9 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 1'9.355 10 James Noble Honda GBR 1'11.339 11 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 1'34.417 12 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 1'43.315 13 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 1'49.928 14 Mike Brown Honda USA 1'52.619 15 Antoine Meo Honda FRA 2'3.627 16 Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 2'9.254 17 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 2'18.764 18 Manuel Priem TM BEL -1 Laps 19 Bas Verhoeven Suzuki NED -1 Laps 20 Marko Kovalainen Honda FIN -1 Laps Race 2 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 41'44.389 2 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'10.386 3 Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 0'21.442 4 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'28.440 5 Manuel Priem TM BEL 0'38.574 6 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'52.584 7 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'57.350 8 James Noble Honda GBR 1'1.456 9 Mike Brown Honda USA 1'3.833 10 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 1'38.302 11 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 1'44.922 12 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 2'4.822 13 Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 2'26.141 14 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST -1 Laps 15 Julien Vanni Honda FRA -1 Laps 16 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL -1 Laps 17 Antoine Meo Honda FRA -1 Laps 18 Marko Kovalainen Honda FIN -1 Laps 19 Bas Verhoeven Suzuki NED -1 Laps 20 Christian Beggi Honda ITA -1 Laps Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 2'6.620 Rider Standings 01/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 47 2. Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 41 3. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 37 4. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 36 5. Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 35 6. Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 34 7. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 25 8. James Noble Honda GBR 24 9. Manuel Priem TM BEL 19 10. Mike Brown Honda USA 19 11. Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 17 12. Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 13 13. Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 13 14. Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 12 15. Antoine Meo Honda FRA 10 16. Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 10 17. Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 9 18. Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 9 19. Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 9 20. Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 8 Manufacturer Standings 01/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 47 2. KTM 41 3. Suzuki 40 4. Honda 34 5. Kawasaki 19 6. TM 19 RACE REPORT 01/04/2007 Cairoli rules supreme at the Benelux GP Antonio Cairoli aced the MX2 class with a double moto sweep for his eleventh career victory. The De Carli Yamaha rider won both races at a reasonable canter for an authoritative launch to the World Championship. The 2005 number one and '06 runner-up toyed with leader Gareth Swanepoel in the formative stages of Moto one but pulled clear on lap seven to a enjoy an untroubled run to the finish line. The second race followed a similar script once he had moved past reigning champ Christophe Pourcel, who had made a mistake and fallen. Ricci Yamaha's Kenneth Gundersen carried some decent speed through the weekend and was a distant fourth in the first race after a less than perfect start. The Norwegian took another top five result with fifth after lunch and was pleased to leave the circuit with 34 points and sixth overall. His new team-mate and super talent Nicolas Aubin enacted a solid first appearance for the squad with seventh in the classification. The young Frenchman was sixth and eighth in the two Moto's and followed Gundersen in the final listing with seventh overall. Davide Guarneri was unable to compete due to a twisted ankle sustained recently in the Italian Championship at Malpensa. He is expected to be fit for the Spanish Grand Prix in two weeks time. Both riders of the Bike it Yamaha UK Dixon racing team failed to appear at the season opening GP due to injuries. Antonio Cairoli - first "The first heat was a little bit easier than the second. I didn't start that well for the first moto but I felt better on the track because it wasn't so rough compared to the second race. My physical condition was good and I am happy because I have not been training that much in the sand this year. I thought Rattray was the closest rider to me today in terms of speed so I am lucky that he did not get good starts. I knew that Christophe's condition is still not great so I thought that I could win the second moto even before he crashed. I was waiting for his mistake, after which it made things easier." Kenneth Gundersen - sixth "For me it's a good day, fourth in the first and fifth in the second despite a bad start. I feel strong and the bike is working very well so I am really happy. My plan is not to be totally 100% strong at this early stage so I am pleased with the results." The Easter holidays prompt a break in the World Championship next week but the paddock then heads to southern Europe for the Grand Prix of Spain at Bellpuig followed immediately the weekend after with the Portuguese round at Agueda. Circuit Length: 1750 Temp: 19 Crowd: 25000 Weather: Sunny 2007 GP of Valkenswaard, Benelux 01/04/2007 Race 1 - 17 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 41'41.618 2 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'7.537 3 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'10.919 4 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 0'16.115 5 Erik Eggens Suzuki NED 0'20.211 6 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 0'31.436 7 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'46.444 8 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 0'58.769 9 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 1'5.893 10 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 1'9.858 11 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'13.239 12 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'18.060 13 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 1'22.387 14 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 1'25.946 15 Jeremy Tarroux Yamaha FRA 1'45.961 16 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 1'47.848 17 Avis Wyatt KTM RSA 1'49.832 18 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 1'51.800 19 Rob van Vijfeijken KTM NED 1'53.890 20 Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 1'56.756 Race 2 - 17 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 39'58.304 2 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'8.354 3 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'27.872 4 Erik Eggens Suzuki NED 0'34.476 5 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 0'39.353 6 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'43.755 7 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 0'58.299 8 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 1'9.640 9 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'13.504 10 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 1'30.672 11 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 1'35.155 12 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 1'43.632 13 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'44.678 14 Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 1'48.772 15 Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 1'52.002 16 Martin Barr Yamaha GBR 1'56.835 17 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 2'13.948 18 Jeremy Tarroux Yamaha FRA 2'21.565 19 Rob van Vijfeijken KTM NED 2'25.639 20 Gregory Aranda Kawasaki FRA -1 Laps Rider Standings 01/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 50 2. Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 44 3. Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 35 4. Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 34 5. Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 34 6. Erik Eggens Suzuki NED 34 7. Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 28 8. Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 27 9. Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 22 10. Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 22 11. Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 18 12. Matti Seistola Honda FIN 17 13. Tommy Searle KTM GBR 11 14. Jeremy Tarroux Yamaha FRA 9 15. Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 9 16. Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 9 17. Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 8 18. Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 7 19. Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 7 20. Martin Barr Yamaha GBR 5 Manufacturer Standings 01/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 50 2. KTM 44 3. Kawasaki 40 4. Suzuki 34 5. Honda 22

Noriyuki Haga gave Yamaha their first race win of the season today at Donington by winning race two, which was made all the sweeter by Troy Corser following it up with a third place at the same time. With Haga taking fourth and Corser romping home second in race one it is just what the team have been working towards all season. In race one Corser made good progress from eighth place and charged through the field to take second place by only lap six. Haga's start was marred by his tyre struggling to warm up in the first few laps. As the tyre warmed up, Nori worked his way through the field taking fourth. A comfortable gap between the top four riders saw little change with Toseland (Honda) taking the win, Corser second and Biaggi (Suzuki) third. Bayliss failed to finish after a nasty high-side at Coppice corner in which he took injuries that made him fail to take part in race two. Race two was virtually a dream race for the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team. Haga took the leading place on the first lap after a great start but was swiftly overtaken by Toseland to put him in second. Corser moved from eighth place to third within the same lap due to better drive off the start line. The team mates rode shotgun in second and third until a technical problem forced leading man Toseland to stop suddenly, resulting in a near miss as both Haga and Corser shot past the Honda rider - one either side. With Biaggi making up third place in the group, the front pack started to break away from the rest of field. All three riders diced with each other in a very close race with all the positions changing frequently. Biaggi put in several passes on lead-man Haga but only made it stick at the Old Hairpin. Haga stayed on Biaggi's tail, though and took it right to the wire, passing him on the last corner of the last lap. Corser remained in a comfortable third position throughout the lead battle. Shinichi Nakatomi had a difficult weekend at Donington, managing a best result of 14th in race two. The young Japanese rider spent the initial part of the weekend learning the Donington circuit, which was totally new to him and got a good start from 23rd place up to 15th in the opening stages of race two. He remained there for the duration of the race, battling it out with Bussei and Martin, taking 14th towards the end of the race. Today's results mean the teams go into the fourth round at Valencia in two weeks with Toseland in 1st place (115 points) and Biaggi second (110 points). Haga lies in third place after this weekend's excellent results with 88 points and Corser is just behind on 81 points. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I could not get the tyre to work in race one for the first few laps so could not push. If the tyre had worked in race one like it had in race two then I would have had a podium finish for certain." I am very happy with my win and the race overall, my father is also very happy. With my number being 41, and after getting fourth place in the first race, I had to get 1st place! And with it being my father's birthday today on 1st April I had to get the win for him too." Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I'm reasonably happy with today's results but I would have liked to do the double here at Donington as I like the track and have achieved it before. I felt comfortable throughout all the practice sessions this weekend and feel I should have got higher. In race one I didn't get off the line well so found it hard to make up places. Race two was a better start, but the tyre didn't work as well as in the first race. I had initial spin and had to slide the bike into corners whereas I could see Biaggi and Nori had more grip. To come out with two podium finishes is good, though, and I am pleased that Nori won the second race for the team and Yamaha. Nori and I have worked closely together, sharing set-up information. But now I know that he can beat me on these settings I am going to have to be more secretive! It was important to get the bike and team working well but I want to win the Championship also so must now focus on that." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "We have really done a lot of work this weekend so it is the best re-payment to have both riders on the podium at the same time. We made up some distance in the championship today, with Toseland and Bayliss both out in the second race. But I would like to say I am sorry for Bayliss and we wish him well and hope he is back for Valencia. I would like to thank everyone for all their efforts - from the team staff and riders to our sponsors." Shinichi Nakatomi (Team Yamaha YZF) "I chose the wrong rear tyre compound for race one and I had very little grip so I could not push the bike. Race two went better as I chose a better compound. I had a good close race with Bussei and Martin but I couldn't pass them due to the lack of grip. I have a good feeling for Valencia as I feel we are making good progress. I hope for a better position there." Martial Garcia (Team Coordinator - Team Yamaha YZF) "This has been a difficult weekend as we have had chassis set up problems. The engine set up is fine, but we have a grip issue which we need to sort out. I am optimistic for the next round at Valencia in two weeks but only if we can make some progress on the chassis set-up in the meantime." Circuit Length: 4023 Temp: 13 Crowd: 51.000 Weather: Dry 2007 WSB Donington Park 01/04/2007 Race 1 - 23 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 James Toseland Honda GBR 35'28.222 2 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 0'1.368 3 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 0'2.448 4 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 0'9.249 5 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'18.028 6 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 0'18.956 7 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 0'29.998 8 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 0'30.296 9 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 0'30.525 10 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0'36.661 11 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 0'39.389 12 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 0'48.045 13 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 0'51.290 14 Giovanni Bussei Honda ITA 0'51.402 15 Dean Ellison Ducati GBR 1'0.156 17 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN -1 Laps Race 2 - 23 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 35'26.734 2 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 0'0.111 3 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 0'1.100 4 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 0'5.927 5 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'9.834 6 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 0'12.203 7 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 0'22.287 8 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0'30.060 9 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 0'37.734 10 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 0'39.893 11 Giovanni Bussei Honda ITA 0'41.524 12 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 0'45.617 13 Steve Martin Honda AUS 0'52.547 14 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1'1.669 15 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 1'20.586 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'30.370 Rider Standings 01/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. James Toseland Honda GBR 115 2. Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 110 3. Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 88 4. Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 81 5. Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 66 6. Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 64 7. Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 45 8. Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 45 9. Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 36 10. Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 30 11. Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 24 12. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 23 13. Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 23 14. Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 19 15. Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 16 18. Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 12 Manufacturer Standings 01/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 124 2. Suzuki 110 3. Yamaha 98 4. Ducati 94 5. Kawasaki 40 RACE REPORT 01/04/2007 Yamaha have difficult weekend in Supersport With neither rider in the Yamaha World Supersport Team participating in today's race, the pressure was on for all other Yamaha-shod riders to try and get a good result for the manufacturer. Following accidents during Friday's free practice, both Curtain and Parkes were ruled out of any further riding this weekend due to broken collar bones. The remaining key Yamaha riders in the field - Roccoli, Checa and Gimbert - rode a solid race and battled it out in the middle of the field to gain eight, ninth and 11th.places respectively. They played a safe race; a good achievement considering the race was red flagged halfway through the race due to a three rider pile up at the first corner. After a restart the times were calculated on aggregate. Sofuoglu (Honda) won the race, while Harms (Honda) came second and Fujiwara (Honda) took third in what was a close battle in the closing stages. Overall, Yamaha claimed eight points in the manufacturer standing going forward into Valencia, where it is hoped that Curtain and Parkes will be fit enough to return. Parkes had a successful operation Saturday afternoon. Curtain will see a specialist on Monday morning. Massimo Roccoli (8th - Yamaha Motor Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) "It went better than expected after a difficult practice with two crashes. The set-up was good and I had a good race after two perfect starts. I took some important points today and am feeling positive about Valencia." Circuit Length: 4023 Temp: 13 Crowd: 51,000 Weather: Dry 2007 WSS Donington Park 01/04/2007 Race 1 - 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 34'56.601 2 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 0'0.764 3 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 0'1.343 4 Craig Jones Honda GBR 0'10.215 5 Simone Sanna Honda ITA 0'12.135 6 Davide Giugliano Kawasaki ITA 0'12.982 7 Yoann Tiberio Honda FRA 0'16.642 8 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 0'16.664 9 David Checa Yamaha ESP 0'22.965 10 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 0'23.852 11 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 0'24.862 12 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 0'26.053 13 David Salom Yamaha ESP 0'26.512 14 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 0'29.445 15 Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 0'29.448 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 1'33.848 Rider Standings 01/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 70 2. Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 43 3. Robbin Harms Honda DNK 39 4. Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 38 5. Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 25 6. Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 22 7. Craig Jones Honda GBR 19 8. Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 17 9. Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 17 10. Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 16 11. Yoann Tiberio Honda FRA 15 12. Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 14 13. Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 13 14. Simone Sanna Honda ITA 11 15. Davide Giugliano Kawasaki ITA 10 17. Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 8 18. David Checa Yamaha ESP 7 Manufacturer Standings 01/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 70 2. Kawasaki 48 3. Yamaha 44 4. Suzuki 17 5. Ducati 14 RACE REPORT 01/04/2007 New R1 proves its strength with a second and third at Superstock season opener Corti got his season off to a good start with a second place at today's opening round of the 2007 Superstock 1000 FIM Cup. Didier van Keymeulen, riding for the TTSL-MGM Racing Team and former Superstock champion, rounded up a Yamaha dominated podium in third. Rookie Superstock 1000 rider Michele Pirro showed a strong ability running in the top three, before a crash on the penultimate lap. All three riders had already shown the YZF-R1s capability in qualifying earlier in the weekend, with Pirro taking pole position in his debut race and van Keymeulen lining up in third. Corti started just off the front row in fifth. From the start Pirro showed great potential, maintaining his lead and putting some distance between him and the rest of the pack. Unfortunately a red flag on lap four dictated a restart so Pirro lost his advantage. With the race reduced to an eight lap sprint Pirro set a new lap record of 1'34.653 on lap two of the re-started race. The three Yamaha riders diced for position in the top five throughout the race. Unluckily a mistake by Pirro on the penultimate lap saw him crash out whilst trying to overtake Badovini (MV Augusta) for second place. He re-mounted to finish 30th. This mistake pushed Corti and van Keymeulen up to second and third positions respectively. Corti made a final attempt to take first place on the last corner of the last lap but settled for second. Canepa (Ducati) won the race with Corti second and Didier van Keymeulen completing the podium. Claudio Corti (2nd - Yamaha Motor Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) "I had a very good start but after two laps with good tyres I then had trouble running at the top of the pack. After passing van Keymeulen I managed to get close to Canepa. I tried to pass him but it wasn't possible. In any case, I am happy with 20 points." Didier van Keymeulen (3rd - TTSL-MGM Racing) "My first race start wasn't perfect and I went down to fourth, but I felt I had good corner speed, which is important as it is so difficult to overtake at this track. I knew I could do better and was happy with my second position at the next start. When I was overtaken by Pirro I tried to slipstream but I couldn't find a good opportunity to overtake so I settled for third. I am very happy with this result in my first race back in Superstock. The 2007 R1 feels similar to the 2006 model but much better. I like the handling in the corner and for me it is one of the strongest bikes out there." Michele Pirro (30th - Yamaha Motor Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) "The bike was good and I tried to get away, but following an error I waited until the penultimate lap, where I then tried to overtake Badovini. I made a mistake in braking, though, and crashed into him. I am sorry to my team and also to Badovini." Circuit Length: 4023 Temp: 7 Crowd: 51.000 Weather: Dry 2007 Superstock Donington Park 01/04/2007 Race 1 - 4 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Nicolo Canepa Ducati ITA 12'46.272 2 Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 0'0.147 3 Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha BEL 0'0.983 4 Mark Aitchison Suzuki AUS 0'2.355 5 Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 0'4.199 6 Ilario Dionisi Suzuki ITA 0'6.635 7 Xavier Simeon Suzuki BEL 0'6.927 8 Arne Tode Honda GER 0'9.402 9 Sheridan Morais Ducati RSA 0'10.150 10 Rene Mahr Yamaha GER 0'10.846 11 Marko Jerman Suzuki SVK 0'11.145 12 Dario Giuseppetti Yamaha GER 0'11.578 13 Marko Rohtlaan Honda EST 0'11.922 14 Cederic Tangre Yamaha FRA 0'16.027 15 Nicky Moore Ducati USA 0'18.843 30 Michele Pirro Yamaha ITA 1'24.092 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Michele Pirro Yamaha ITA 1'34.653 Rider Standings 01/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Nicolo Canepa Ducati ITA 25 2. Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 20 3. Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha BEL 16 4. Mark Aitchison Suzuki AUS 13 5. Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 11 6. Ilario Dionisi Suzuki ITA 10 7. Xavier Simeon Suzuki BEL 9 8. Arne Tode Honda GER 8 9. Sheridan Morais Ducati RSA 7 10. Rene Mahr Yamaha GER 6 11. Marko Jerman Suzuki SVK 5 12. Dario Giuseppetti Yamaha GER 4 13. Marko Rohtlaan Honda EST 3 14. Cederic Tangre Yamaha FRA 2 15. Nicky Moore Ducati USA 1 Manufacturer Standings 01/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 25 2. Yamaha 20 3. Suzuki 13 4. Honda 8

Noriyuki Haga will start tomorrow's round of the World Superbike Championship in second place after an impressive Superpole performance today. Troy Corser will start from eighth position after sliding off during his Superpole lap, though he had been among the top three riders all weekend. Dry weather today allowed Haga to make the most of his wild lines and focus on getting the right race set-up. Having qualified eighth this morning Haga went on to put in a hard to beat Superpole lap time. Only Troy Bayliss, the last man out, could better the Japanese rider's time, pushing him to second position. Haga goes into tomorrow's race with already 148 World Superbike race finishes in the points under his belt, dedicated to extending that number to 150 by the end of the day. Troy Corser's fortunes were almost reversed to Noriyuki's during the day. He battled with Bayliss for the top spot throughout the practice and qualifying sessions only to crash out on the first corner of his Superpole lap due to a severe cross-wind. He will start tomorrow's race on the second row in eighth position. This is in accordance with the rules stating that if a rider starts Superpole in the top eight, he cannot drop lower than eighth position. Shinichi Nakatomi had difficulties in finding the correct feeling, resulting in a disappointing qualifying session today. Tomi managed to improve only one position from yesterday's qualifying despite knocking almost four seconds off his best time. He will start in 22nd position, though with 50 laps completed is hopeful of a better end result. Troy Corser (8th - 1'31.132 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "The wind kicked me out on the first corner and I just couldn't keep it up; it just means that I'll start from the second row. I'm feeling confident about the bike; it really feels like mine now. Since we lost time yesterday due to the weather we've still got a final rear tyre option for the race to test tomorrow morning during warm up." Noriyuki Haga (2nd - 1'31.084 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "We only needed to make some small changes to the bike from yesterday and it is feeling good now. I had problems yesterday with the weather because it was still wet on my line so I could not push too much. Today the dry weather has given us a better opportunity to set the bike up well." Shinichi Nakatomi (22nd - 1'34.985 - Team Yamaha YZF) "I am happy today because the weather has been better but I have only had two hours experience around this track. I am improving but we still have not found the best set up for the race. With my results slowly getting better I am hopeful for tomorrow." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I am confident in both Troy and Noriyuki for tomorrow's races. They are both happy with the set-up; all we need to see is if the tyre can support the distance. We're checking all the data we have gathered so far to see if there is anywhere where we can improve during tomorrow's warm-up." Circuit Length: 4023 Temp: 13 Weather: Dry 2007 WSB Donington Park 31/03/2007 Superpole Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'30.370 2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'31.084 3 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'31.377 4 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'31.399 5 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'31.504 6 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'31.686 7 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'31.689 8 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'31.999 9 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'32.077 10 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'32.178 11 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'32.185 12 Giovanni Bussei Honda ITA 1'32.744 13 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'32.750 14 Steve Martin Honda AUS 1'33.536 Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'13.052 2 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'31.132 3 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'31.479 4 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'31.655 5 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'31.695 6 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'32.182 7 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'32.188 8 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'32.199 9 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'32.360 10 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'32.724 11 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'32.847 12 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 1'32.857 13 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 1'32.877 14 Steve Martin Honda AUS 1'33.071 15 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'33.092 23 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1'34.985 QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 31/03/2007 Yamaha GMT94 Team lead the way for Yamaha at Donington With the Yamaha World Supersport Team out of this weekend's race, it fell to other Yamaha-shod teams to try and gain the best qualifying today for the manufacturer. Both Curtain and Parkes suffered broken collar bones in yesterday's free practice resulting in a premature end to the factory-supported team's weekend. David Checa, of the Yamaha GMT Team, is the highest placed Yamaha rider in ninth place on tomorrow's grid. The younger brother of MotoGP star Carlos is contesting his second year in the World Supersport Championship, having finished overall in 11th position in 2006. His team mate, Sébastien Gimbert will start tomorrow's race in 10th position, having qualified just over half a second behind Checa. Massimo Roccoli, the sole rider for the Yamaha Motor Italia Lorenzini by Leoni Team, had a very disappointing qualifying after crashing both his main and spare machines. Although he was third fastest in this morning's free practice he could only manage a qualifying position of 20th in the afternoon session. Despite having had such a successful day in yesterday's qualifying in fairly wet conditions, Arnaud Vincent starts tomorrow in 28th position. Although he improved his time by over three seconds today, the overall pace was much faster. Pere Riba (Kawasaki) is in pole position for tomorrow with a best time of 1'34.066, with Simone Sanna (Honda) in second and Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) in third. The front row is completed by Dutchman Barry Veneman (Suzuki). Massimo Roccoli (20th - 1'35.944 - Yamaha Motor Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) "I crashed after a few minutes at the start of the practice because I touched the kerb at the last corner (Goddards). It was my mistake. I returned to the garage and took the second bike but I crashed again in the slower section of the track, where I lost the front. I don't know why that happened, but I am okay I have a good set up for the race after we made changes today to front and I am confident for tomorrow." In the table on the bottom of the page, the Friday Qualifying-I results are mentioned. Please find below the Qualifying II results: 1 Riba P. Kawasaki ZX-6R 1'34.066 2 Sanna S. Honda 1'34.195 3 Sofuoglu K. Honda 1'34.382 4 Veneman B. Suzuki 1'34.470 5 Tiberio Y. Honda 1'34.609 6 Alfonsi L. Honda 1'34.670 7 Foret F. Kawasaki 1'34.737 8 Fujiwara K. Honda 1'34.953 9 Checa D. Yamaha 1'34.959 10 Gimbert S. Yamaha 1'35.038 11 Harms R. Honda 1'35.165 12 Nannelli G. Ducati 1'35.220 13 Lagrive M. Honda 1'35.282 14 Giugliano D. Kawasaki 1'35.327 15 Vizziello G. Yamaha 1'35.433 16 Lascorz J. Honda 1'35.657 17 Salom D. Yamaha 1'35.679 18 Fores J. Honda 1'35.704 19 Jones C. Honda 1'35.706 20 Roccoli M. Yamaha 1'35.944 21 Boccolini G. Kawasaki 1'35.950 22 Ivanov V. Yamaha 1'36.050 23 Talmacsi G. Yamaha 1'36.148 24 Kallio V. Suzuki 1'36.172 25 Peris C. Yamaha 1'36.316 26 Velini A. Yamaha 1'36.701 27 Leblanc G. Honda 1'36.862 28 Vincent A. Yamaha 1'37.128 29 Lauslehto T. Honda 1'37.249 30 Günther J. Honda 1'37.336 31 Praia M. Honda 1'37.442 32 Polzer Y. Ducati 1'38.358 33 Milovanovic N. Honda 1'38.392 34 Forner D. Yamaha 1'38.882 Circuit Length: 4023 Temp: 12 Weather: Dry 2007 WSS Donington Park 31/03/2007 Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Matthieu Lagrive Honda FRA 1'40.239 2 Davide Giugliano Kawasaki ITA 1'41.208 3 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'41.621 4 Arnaud Vincent Yamaha FRA 1'41.639 5 Craig Jones Honda GBR 1'42.465 6 Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 1'42.539 7 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1'42.556 8 Vesa Kallio Suzuki FIN 1'42.967 9 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 1'42.989 10 Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 1'43.004 11 Simone Sanna Honda ITA 1'43.040 12 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1'43.171 13 David Checa Yamaha ESP 1'43.916 14 Chris Peris Yamaha CAN 1'44.016 15 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 1'44.114

Cold and wet weather conditions hampered today's free practice and qualifying sessions at Donington, adding to the Yamaha Motor Italia Team's challenge in finding the right race set up for Sunday. With both Corser and Haga having taken double wins here previously, the riders were looking to simply remember the circuit and focus on finding the best bike set-up. But they had to wait until the afternoon qualifying to really get to work. This is the first time Troy Corser has ridden the Yamaha YZF-R1 around Donington but that didn't stop him posting the best time in free practice and the second best time in the afternoon qualifying session. A high-speed but minor accident in the last 18 minutes knocked him off top spot, making it hard to regain the fastest time, which he had for the majority of the session. Noriyuki Haga spent the day working around the challenging weather conditions to try different set up options. He achieved a best time of 1'34.553 putting him in a solid eighth position going into tomorrow's second qualifying session where weather conditions should be better. Team YZF Yamaha rider Shinichi Nakatomi had his first on-track experience of Donington today and therefore was focused on getting to know the track and lines. Nakatomi is no stranger to learning race tracks quickly though. Last year was his first year in the championship and he had never ridden at any of the circuits prior to the race weekends. The provisional front row is headed up by Troy Bayliss (Ducati) followed by Troy Corser. Ruben Xaus (Ducati) is in third and James Toseland (Honda) completes the front row. Troy Corser (2nd - 1'32.817 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I'm pretty happy with the engine changes we've made today. The bike is easier to ride and is pretty comfortable so now we can focus on finding the right balance and settings. The crash was my fault, I just went in a bit too quick but I was lucky and got away lightly. After this morning's cold session where we didn't get much opportunity to really try the tyres, we got some consistency this afternoon and there was good grip." Noriyuki Haga (8th - 1'34.553 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I remembered the track from my last ride here in 2003 in the MotoGP class so today was more about trying to finding the right set up. This morning was very wet and too cold, though, making it difficult to push the bike too much. The lines were drying this afternoon but some corners were still wet so I spent much of the time looking for the best lines. Tomorrow I hope to get more time to focus on our race set up, but that depends on the weather and luck." Shinichi Nakatomi (23rd - 1'38.568 - Team YZF Yamaha) "This is my first time riding at this circuit, the only time I have been to Donington before was last year when I came to watch the British Superbike round. This circuit is very beautiful but very difficult technically, with high speed up and downhill corners. I did not get a good position in this afternoon's session due to the weather but I am hoping for drier weather tomorrow to allow me to get a better qualifying position for the race." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "The progress we made at Valencia has been evident here today and Corser is quite satisfied with the result of today's sessions. Nori says his bike is okay and that is a very good sign as he is quite demanding of the bike. We hope the weather is dry tomorrow so we can just focus on the race set up and check the tyre life for race distance." Circuit Length: 4023 Temp: 8 Weather: Changeable 2007 WSB Donington Park 30/03/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'32.333 2 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'32.817 3 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'33.646 4 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'33.692 5 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'33.729 6 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'34.203 7 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'34.549 8 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'34.553 9 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'34.593 10 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 1'35.363 11 Giovanni Bussei Honda ITA 1'35.897 12 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'35.907 13 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'36.002 14 Steve Martin Honda AUS 1'36.067 15 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 1'36.441 23 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1'38.568 QUALIFYING 1 REPORT 30/03/2007 Injuries mean an early return home for Yamaha World Supersport Team The third round of the World Supersport Championship got off to a bad start for the Yamaha World Supersport Team, with both Curtain and Parkes sustaining injuries during crashes in the free practice session on Friday. The crashes ended the team's hopes of success for the weekend. Kevin Curtain was the first to fall early on in the wet session, high-siding the bike at Goddard's corner in front of his team mate resulting in a clean break to his collar bone. It is not known yet whether Kevin will be fit enough to race at Valencia in two weeks. Broc spent the session focusing on putting some distance on the tyres and re-acquainting himself with the track not having ridden here since 2001, when he rode for Ducati in the World Superbike Championship. Unfortunately, in the closing stages of the session he high-sided the bike at the same corner as Kevin, leaving him with a small fracture to his collar bone. Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport Team) "The track conditions were too cold today especially the last corner, which was really slippery. I was hoping for the track to dry quickly to really put in some good laps. It is frustrating to work so hard for the first two rounds and then this to happen here. Right now, it is hard for me to say when I'll be back; I will do my best to be there." Kevin Curtain (Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I'm all right. I now just want to concentrate on getting my collar bone fixed before Valencia in two weeks time. It is a good break at least, if there is such a thing. The conditions just weren't good out there today. I aim to be back for Valencia, we will have to wait and see if that is realistic or not." Despite the misfortunes of the Yamaha World Supersport team there was good news for other Yamaha-shod riders in the championship. Former French 125 GP World Champion and current entrant in the French Supersport Championship - Arnaud Vincent put in a best lap of 1'41.208 to take provisional fourth place in the afternoon's qualifying session, while Massimo Roccoli set a best time of 1'42.556, placing him in seventh position. Yamaha - GMT94 team members Sébastien Gimbert and David Checa finished the day in 12th and 13th places respectively. The fastest man in today's qualifying session was Matthieu Lagrive (Honda), followed by Davide Giugliano (Kawasaki) and Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda). Arnaud Vincent completes the provisional front row going in to tomorrow's final qualifying session. Arnaud Vincent (4th - 1'41.639 - Tati Team Beaujolais Racing) "In today's qualifying I started with a wet rear tyre but then switched to a slick after ten minutes as the track was starting to dry. I hope tomorrow is wet because the wet conditions will even out the playing field and also I often ride well in the wet." Massimo Roccoli (7th - 1'42.556 - Yamaha Motor Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) "During the qualifying session I mainly rode with wet tyres. During one pit stop I saw that the tyre was pretty much finished so I opted for an intermediate. Just before the session ended I managed to put in a good lap placing me in seventh overall. We have a good wet race set up now so I'm confident I will start from the second row on Sunday if it continues to rain. We will see how final qualifying goes tomorrow." Circuit Length: 4023 Temp: 8 Weather: Changeable 2007 WSS Donington Park 30/03/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Matthieu Lagrive Honda FRA 1'40.239 2 Davide Giugliano Kawasaki ITA 1'41.208 3 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'41.621 4 Arnaud Vincent Yamaha FRA 1'41.639 5 Craig Jones Honda GBR 1'42.465 6 Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 1'42.539 7 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1'42.556 8 Vesa Kallio Suzuki FIN 1'42.967 9 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 1'42.989 10 Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 1'43.004 11 Simone Sanna Honda ITA 1'43.040 12 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1'43.171 13 David Checa Yamaha ESP 1'43.916 14 Chris Peris Yamaha CAN 1'44.016 15 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 1'44.114

This weekend sees the third round of the World Superbike Championship come to Donington Park for the first of three rounds in the UK. Donington hosted the very first championship round on 3rd April 1988 and it is returning to the circuit for the first time in six years to mark the championship's 20th anniversary. The track is known for its two-faced character - fast sweeping corners combined with slower first gear sections. The Yamaha team's technicians will have a challenging job in finding the best compromise between stability at high-speeds and agility for quick changes of direction. The track is an ideal setting for spectators as it is a natural amphitheatre with spectator banking around most of the circuit. After an extensive test session in Valencia last weekend, the Yamaha Motor Italia Team has gathered new data that will help them find the best setting for the upcoming race. With the focus on tyre-life at race distance the riders lapped multiple race distances on their 2007 YZF-R1s. As a result of last week's testing session the team will be looking to improve on their results in the championship so far this season. Corser claimed the first third place podium for the team at Qatar while Haga gave the team another third position at Phillip Island. Currently Corser lies in fifth position in the championship standings so far and Haga in fourth. Haga comes to Donington looking to fight for race wins and to potentially repeat his double win at Donington in 1998. His third place at Phillip Island was achieved in spite of him having a cold so he is determined of a better result, now he is back in peak fitness. With Corser being victorious in two races during the 1996 round, both riders have proven to be winners on this venue. "I'm looking forward to Donington very much because it is where I took part in my first European round of WSB in 1998!" Haga says, "I won both races that time, so I'm hoping I can repeat it again this year. It is a very exciting circuit to race at because it is demanding both technically and mentally, I like it and, with the right set up, it suits my riding style. We tested many things at Valencia which I am sure will help with the race set up at Donington - you will be able to see for yourself from the result of the race!" Following on from a slightly disappointing home round at Phillip Island and then a productive testing session at Valencia, Troy Corser is positive about success at one of his favourite circuits where he also managed a double win in 1996. "I'm glad to be back at Donington Park" he says. "Hopefully the weather will be good. Whenever I have raced there previously I have done pretty well. I like the track and, at Valencia last week, we got to try out lots of new set-up options that we hadn't tried before so I'm expecting a good result this weekend." The Yamaha World Supersport Team hopes to improve on the mixed results at Phillip Island. Parkes scored a good but hard fought third place at the second round, leading for all but the final three laps, when he ran out of grip. Curtain struggled as well with rear end traction due to tyre problems which saw him drop from the battle for top spot to 11th position. In spite of the disappointing result at the last round, Curtain put in the quickest lap at last week's Valencia testing session. Parkes came in fifth fastest, leaving the team feeling upbeat going into the third round. Kevin Curtain states, "I haven't been to Donington since 2001, but I do like the circuit and am really happy to be back there. I was just getting to know it when it was taken off the calendar! During the test in Spain last week we worked on suspension settings to get more life out of the rear tyre. With the set-up alterations we made the bike showed some consistent speed during the long runs, which is a good step forward for this round." Donington also marks the first round of the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup. Claudio Corti and Michele Pirro got some pre-season testing in at the official FGSport tyre test in Valencia last week. Corti posted the fastest time overall while youngster Pirro ended an impressive fourth quickest despite still getting to grips with the Superstock class. Both riders are planning to show their fighting form at Donington on Sunday, with Corti looking to demonstrate his championship winning capabilities. Pirro is looking to focus on adapting his riding style from the 125cc machines he has ridden previously to the inline four cylinder engine of the YZF-R1. 2005 Superstock 1000 champion ,Didier van de Keymeulen returns to the class for the 2007 season and will try hard to regain his championship status. Donington Park Track length: 4023 Opened: 1977 (original circuit 1931) Fastest lap ever: 1'32.824 (Neil Hodgson 2000) Race record: 1'33.470 (Troy Corser 1996) 2001 WSB race winner: Pierfrancesco Chilli (Suzuki), Neil Hodgson (Ducati) Circuit tel: +44 1332 814320 Circuit website: http://www.donington-park.co.uk/

Valentino Rossi returned to the top step of the podium today after leading for all 27-laps of the Grand Prix of Spain, taking his first victory since Sepang last year and his 46th win of the four-stroke MotoGP era. Rossi's 26th win for Yamaha also makes him the most successful rider at Jerez in the premier class, with five wins at the Spanish track. He was joined for the podium celebrations by his team-mate Colin Edwards, who rode a strong race from fourth on the grid to stay in contention behind Dani Pedrosa, eventually finishing third and taking his seventh MotoGP podium in front of a record crowd of 138,000. Both Yamahas got a good start off the line, Edwards riding around the outside of Carlos Checa to take third at turn two and Rossi passing pole-sitter Pedrosa to take the lead shortly after. By the fourth lap the leading trio had begun to pull away from Nicky Hayden and John Hopkins and Rossi had started to stretch his lead on Pedrosa, setting the fastest lap of the race on lap five. Despite a strong showing from the Spaniard in front of his home crowd, Rossi's lead never looked in jeopardy and he eventually crossed the line 1.246 seconds in front. Edwards meanwhile never stopped pushing in third place, spurred on by the looming Honda of Toni Elias in the latter stages. Tyre worries for the pair proved unfounded as their Michelins worked well to the flag and Rossi and Edwards now take first and fourth in the Championship after two rounds of the eighteen-race season. Valentino Rossi Position: 1stTime: 45'53.340 "After the situation at this race last year, this is much, much better! Our first priority today was to get points and I knew that to win I would have to ride at the maximum, but today my Yamaha really flew and I was able to do a great race. It feels like a long time since I last won and this is a great emotion and a very special victory for me, especially in Jerez in front of this great crowd. Qatar was good but to taste victory again is a wonderful feeling. We had some problems on Friday and again yesterday and then after this morning's warm-up we made some more small modifications; I have to thank my team, from Jeremy Burgess to all my mechanics and engineers. They did a fantastic job for me this weekend and they all deserve this win. My tyre worked very well today and Michelin have done a good job too in difficult conditions, so thank you to them. I got a great start, didn't make any mistakes and had a good battle with Pedrosa, who we knew would be the danger today. I'm really happy for Colin too and to have both Yamahas on the podium shows that we're in good shape for what's going to be a long season. Now we have two race tracks which might be difficult for us so it's very important to leave here leading the championship." Colin Edwards Position: 3rdTime: +2.701 "On Friday morning you wouldn't have thought we would end up on the podium, but here we are and it was a good race for me. I've got to say an enormous thank you to all my guys because they worked non-stop all weekend and came up with some pretty good solutions to the problems we had. Michelin also had something up their sleeve for us and seemed to know what would work and they were proved right - they've done a good job for us this weekend. I got a good start and my best move was getting past Checa so quickly; I knew I had to find some clear air and try to hang onto the back of Valentino and Pedrosa. I made a couple of small mistakes and they were able to pull away from me a bit which was a pity, but my bike was working well so I was able to keep a pretty good pace throughout. Towards the end I could see Elias had appeared behind me and I didn't like the idea of him getting spurred on by his home fans and trying to snatch a podium, so I really had to keep hammering away! The last few laps were a little hairy at times as I started to slide but anyway we managed to make it and it feels great to be up here on the podium again." Davide Brivio - Team Director "It's great to be back with both riders on the podium and especially here in Jerez where we struggled so much in last year's race. It's a really positive sign and shows what a good job our Yamaha engineers have done with our new bike. Everyone has worked very hard over this weekend and the entire team deserves congratulations. The new tyre regulations mean we have to manage what we have very carefully and this is a great result for us. It's also a very important result because we now have two tricky circuits and it's good to be going into this stage of the season in front. Thanks again to all the team and everyone involved, we're very happy today!" More championship points for Dunlop Yamaha Tech3 Team There were smiles aplenty in the Spanish sunshine for the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team when both riders, Sylvain Guintoli and Makoto Tamada finished in the points at the Spanish Grand Prix, held in front of over 131,000 screaming fans at the technically demanding Jerez circuit. It wasn't only the points that made the team happy as both riders on the new smaller capacity 800cc machines completed the race in a faster time than 2006 confirming the constant improvement of the Dunlop tyres. Both riders became embroiled in their own duel that lasted until the flag as they both exchanged places a number of times, Makoto pipping Sylvain for 14th position by just 0.091 of a second after 27 gruelling laps of the 4.423km track. In his rookie year of MotoGP, Guintoli, 24-year-old Frenchman, improved his performance every time he left the pit box replicating his efforts of the previous race in Qatar confirming that it will be a season that produces every improving results. His Japanese team mate is now moving in the same direction as he becomes attuned to his return to Dunlop tyres and with this confidence producing result both riders expect to be closer to the leading battles with the championship now moving to Istanbul for the Grand Prix of Turkey on April 22. Makoto Tamada Position: 14thTime: +36.653 "Although it wasn't perfect I am happy with the result as I was held up by another rider during the early laps. He was faster in some spots and I was faster in others which caused me to lose a little bit of time but when I got past him I could get away quickly and come back to where Sylvain was so we fought out the rest of the race together which was very good. I was very happy with the bike setting as we used a new front tyre that I hadn't used before. I had a very good feeling with it although the rear spun a little but even at this early stage of the season I know that this will improve as well. Saying that, it was very consistent during the entire race. We have a gap of just three tenths of a second each lap compared to the mid pack so it was only a small gap in comparison to the last race. Being three seconds faster than my race time last year made me happy as well. The fight with the field this year is a lot more than last year and I know my team are happy with me because I kept fighting until the end. This will help everyone because it is important to fight until the very end so we can give the information to Dunlop so they can continue to improve." Sylvain Guintoli Position: 15thTime: +36.744 "We had had a pretty good weekend and to score another point scoring place is very encouraging. In reality, we have done a much better job here because we are only 36 seconds from the win and six seconds quicker than the time Checa did last year considering the race was four seconds quicker as well. For me it is a big improvement because Jerez is a place I have never done very well at as I've had many troubles here in the past. The entire weekend was a big improvement tyre-wise and I am getting more used to the bike as well. I had a bad first lap but then I caught the group in front of me that were fighting for 10th but I just couldn't manage to stay with them. I had a good fight towards the end with my teammate Makoto which was a lot of fun. I had a very good front tyre which gave me the confidence to push hard throughout the race. The rear was excellent for the early laps which allowed me to catch the group in front and do low 42's. Then like everyone else the grip level dropped off slightly but I could still maintain a rhythm in the high 42's. I am confident of continuing the improvement at the next Grand Prix in Turkey." Herve Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Manager "I'm very happy today as I think both our riders had a very good and consistent race. Sylvain had a great start and pushed really hard but Makoto was a bit more cautious. By mid race they were both together and had a very good battle between them so that was great to see. With both riders in the points it's a very good result for us as there was only one crash during the race - that says a lot for the progress we are making. Also more importantly the group in front of us with Capirossi, Barros and De Puniet was very, very close and with just 0.3 second a lap quicker we would've been with them so that's very encouraging - and don't forget Capirossi won here last year. We have made a big step forward especially compared to the previous race, so we are happy. We know the points aren't easy to come by this year considering how close the lap times are, so with both our guys in the points this is a good result and a good boost to our confidence. I am also happy with the lap times throughout the race because they are very consistent doing mid to high 1'42's which is very close to the pack, so I think if we can achieve a better grid position and have a bit more speed in the first five or six laps we will have better results. We are staying here to test for the next couple of days. Unfortunately the weather forecast is for rain, but Dunlop have a big wet test program for us anyway." Circuit Length: 4423 Temp: 19 Weather: Sunny 2007 MotoGP Spain - Jerez de la Frontera 25/03/2007 Race 1 - 27 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 45'53.430 2 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0'1.246 3 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'2.701 4 Toni Elias Honda ESP 0'4.351 5 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 0'4.993 6 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 0'10.000 7 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 0'14.146 8 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'19.969 9 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 0'24.786 10 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 0'24.955 11 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 0'25.008 12 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 0'25.852 13 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 0'26.445 14 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 0'36.653 15 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 0'36.744 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'40.905 Rider Standings 25/03/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 45 2. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 36 3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 36 4. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 26 5. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 19 6. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 17 7. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 16 8. Toni Elias Honda ESP 15 9. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 13 10. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 12 11. Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 12 12. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 10 13. Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 5 14. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 4 15. Olivier Jacque Kawasaki FRA 4 18. Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 2 19. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 2 Team Standings 25/03/2007 Pos. Team Points 1. FIAT Yamaha Team 71 2. Repsol Honda Team 53 3. Ducati Marlboro Team 40 4. Honda Gresini 34 5. Rizla Suzuki 29 6. Pramac D'Antin 17 7. Konica Minolta Honda 12 8. Honda LCR 10 9. Kawasaki Racing Team 7 10. Tech3 Yamaha 4 11. Team Roberts 3 Manufacturer Standings 25/03/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 45 2. Ducati 36 3. Honda 36 4. Suzuki 20 5. Kawasaki 7 6. KR212V 3

Valentino Rossi will start from second position for tomorrow's Grand Prix of Spain in Jerez after an exciting and extremely close qualifying battle today, while his team-mate Colin Edwards will be just behind him in fourth having lost out on third position in the dying moments of the session. It is Rossi's eighth consecutive top-three start for Yamaha, the Italian having started from the front row in the final six races of 2006 and at this season's opener in Qatar. After struggling for grip once again this morning and finishing free practice way down the order in 18th position, it was clear from the start this afternoon that warmer temperatures and the latest changes made to the setting of his M1 had improved Rossi's package and he quickly posted his fastest time of the weekend so far. Edwards and his crew had made drastic changes to his bike setting overnight and he too showed a marked improvement to his race pace both this morning and again this afternoon, as he and Rossi used the improved track conditions in their quest to find the right tyre package ahead of tomorrow's 27-lap race. With eight minutes to go Rossi moved into pole position with the first of his two Michelin qualifying tyres, only to be ousted by his team-mate less than a minute later as the Texan set his first flying lap. The last five minutes saw the usual flurry of quick laps and position-changing amongst the leading protagonists before Rossi took the top slot once again with a lap of 1'39.453, before being pushed into second by Spaniard Dani Pedrosa (Honda), who set the eventual pole time of 1'39.402. Edwards' final lap seemed sure to give him a front-row slot alongside his team-mate but he fell victim to another local favourite as Carlos Checa (Honda) claimed third in the last seconds of the session. Valentino Rossi "It's been an up and down weekend for us so it's good that we've achieved our number one goal of getting onto the front row. It's going to be very important for tomorrow's race I think. It was a good qualifying session and my lap was quite good, but we know it's possible to be a lot quicker because last month at the test I was more than one second faster! We knew it would be difficult to match the 1'38.394 I did then however, because then we had four qualifying tyres and with the new tyre restrictions now we only have two. With the race tyre we were struggling quite a bit yesterday and this morning it was even worse, so we were a bit worried, but we looked at the situation together with Michelin and found a good solution and this afternoon we were in much better shape. I think tyres are going to be the biggest issue tomorrow and the last ten laps especially are going to be very hard and difficult for everyone. I think it's going to be an exciting race for the fans!" Colin Edwards "I'm pretty annoyed to have missed out on the front row by so little! I didn't have quite enough speed into turn one with my last qualifying tyre and so lost a little bit of time in the first section and that proved to be the difference that mattered. Anyway, you live and learn! We were a bit worried last night but my team turned the bike upside down overnight and it felt much better this morning. Then this afternoon we used the tyre we're planning to use for the race and things improved again, so I'm feeling quite happy about my race pace now. We've still got a few things to tweak and a couple of decisions to make before tomorrow afternoon but we're more or less there so hopefully we're going to be able to get a good start and run a good race. It was pretty close today and everyone's really stepped up their game, I think it's going to be one hell of a race tomorrow! Finally I want to say thank you again to my team for working so hard last night to come up with a good setting - they did a great job." Davide Brivio - Team Director "Well things are much better when it's warmer! This afternoon we could really work properly and get some proper testing done. In fact Colin was much better this morning and again this afternoon, he seems happy with his tyre choice now so I think he can do a good race tomorrow. Valentino had some troubles this morning but we found a good solution and this afternoon the situation was more normal. It was a shame Checa pushed Colin off the front row and we missed having them both there, like in Qatar, but anyway second and fourth is not so bad and I think they both have the pace to fight at the front now. We're in a good position for the race." Qualifying 1 Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Total Time 1, Daniel Pedrosa, Honda, ESP, 1'39.402 2, Valentino Rossi, Yamaha, ITA, 1'39.453 3, Carlos Checa, Honda, ESP, 1'39.406 4, Colin Edwards, Yamaha, USA, 1'39.486 5, Casey Stoner, Ducati, AUS, 1'39.524 6, John Hopkins, Suzuki, USA, 1'39.625 7, Shinya Nakano, Honda, JPN, 1'39.632 8, Toni Elias, Honda, ESP, 1'39.660 9, Marco Melandri, Honda, ITA, 1'39.722 10, Kenny Roberts, KR212V, USA, 1'39.727 11, Nicky Hayden, Honda, USA, 1'39.834 12, Randy De Puniet, Kawasaki, FRA, 1'39.883 13, Alex Barros, Ducati, BRA, 1'40.196 14, Chris Vermeulen, Suzuki, AUS, 1'40.328 15, Loris Capirossi, Ducati, ITA, 1'40.391 16, Olivier Jacque, Kawasaki, FRA, 1'40.405 17, Makoto Tamada, Yamaha, JPN, 1'40.617 18, Alex Hofmann, Ducati, GER, 1'40.710 19, Kousuke Akiyoshi, Suzuki, JPN, 1'41.202 20, Sylvain Guintoli, Yamaha, FRA, 1'41.219

The first European race of the season got off to a slightly shaky start for Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards today, with the Fiat Yamaha Team riders struggling for rear grip at the Andalucian circuit of Jerez. The Italian and the American finished the day in sixth and ninth respectively and the weekend promises to be a close battle, with the top 12 riders all within half a second of each other after two free practice sessions. Despite clear skies and sunshine, this morning's first practice was run in cold temperatures and, with the track temperature reaching a maximum of only 15 degrees, the conditions did not provide the riders with much chance to really get to grips with bike and tyre set-up. This afternoon was considerably warmer and both Rossi and Edwards improved their times and their general race-pace, but neither rider was able to find the perfect tyre combination with the current setting on their M1 and will hope to make considerable improvements tomorrow. The best time of the day was recorded by Honda rider and Spanish favourite Carlos Checa, who set a best lap of 1'40.851. Rossi, "Today was quite difficult for us, compared to how we began in Qatar! Unfortunately the situation with the tyre is not perfect, we don't have enough grip and the problem is made worse because the condition of the track isn't so good either. We have a lot less grip than we had at the test here so now we need to work more on the setting of the bike in order to improve the grip with the tyres we have. This morning the problem was a lot worse and we were quite worried after the first session, but we've worked very hard today and the situation this afternoon is a lot better. Anyway we're not that far away at the end of the day, only sixth, and all the riders are very close together so I don't think we need to worry yet. It's clear that some of our rivals are very strong and it's going to be a hard battle, so we need to make the most of the time we have left. I hope that the track grip will improve tomorrow as more rubber is laid down and I hope it will also be a little bit warmer in the morning so we can work properly during free practice." Edwards, "We've definitely got a little bit of a problem to deal with and I can't say we're in the same shape we were in at this stage of the Qatar race! We know what tyre worked here at the test and the bike is basically the same, with a few improvements, but the conditions here today are pretty different and it seems things aren't quite working the way we expected. The main problem is that we can't get the rear to hold on and we're just sliding around a bit. It's disappointing because at the test here our grip and our speed through the corners was our best thing, but here it seems we've lost that a bit and we're not entirely sure why at the moment! We've tried quite a few different tyres but we couldn't find something that worked perfectly today. We're obviously restricted with our tyre choice because of the new rules, so now we're going to need to make some changes to the bike in order to get it to work with what we've got. The bike feels great and I'm happy with it, it's just a matter of grip. We've got a lot of ideas and we'll have a good chat about it tonight and start again in the morning. I am sure we'll be able to come up with something!" Davide Brivio - Team Director "Compared to the test we have a lot less grip so now we have to work at 100% to find a way to make the bike work with the tyres we've got. The team and riders are working hard together to find the right combination between the elements and tomorrow we will keep going. Obviously the situation isn't perfect and we need to come up with some good ideas as at the moment we're not in the best race-shape, but we're confident we can make some big improvements tomorrow. This morning was very cold and it was difficult to work properly like that so really we only had the afternoon. Let's hope it's warmer tomorrow!" Free Practice Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Total Time 1, Carlos Checa, Honda, ESP, 1'40.851 2, Daniel Pedrosa, Honda, ESP, 1'40.906 3, Toni Elias, Honda, ESP, 1'40.972 4, Casey Stoner, Ducati, AUS, 1'41.171 5, Kenny Roberts, KR212V, USA, 1'41.182 6, Valentino Rossi, Yamaha, ITA, 1'41.198 7, John Hopkins, Suzuki, USA, 1'41.245 8, Chris Vermeulen, Suzuki, AUS, 1'41.305 9, Colin Edwards, Yamaha, USA, 1'41.339 10, Alex Barros, Ducati, BRA, 1'41.362 11, Loris Capirossi, Ducati, ITA, 1'41.409 12, Marco Melandri, Honda, ITA, 1'41.418 13, Nicky Hayden, Honda, USA, 1'41.536 14, Randy De Puniet, Kawasaki, FRA, 1'41.666 15, Alex Hofmann, Ducati, GER, 1'41.835 16, Makoto Tamada, Yamaha, JPN, 1'42.097 17, Shinya Nakano, Honda, JPN, 1'42.199 18, Sylvain Guintoli, Yamaha, FRA, 1'42.311 19, Olivier Jacque, Kawasaki, FRA, 1'42.402

Cristobal Guerrero The opening round of the '07 World Enduro Champion saw Finland's Juha Salminen claim a double Enduro 1 class win in Ostersund, Sweden where the five-time WEC champion and two-time US GNCC series winner claimed two commanding day wins. With the snow covered special tests expected to favour the Scandinavian riders Juha placed ahead of Swede Niklas Gustafsson on day one with Poland's Bartosz Oblucki third. On day two Salminen was followed home by Fredrik Georgsson from Sweden with Finn Tomi Peltola third. For the three UFO Corse Yamaha team riders competing in Sweden the event proved to be a difficult one. With conditions playing right into the hands of the Scandinavian competitors it was the team's newest member, former Enduro Junior World Champion Cristobal Guerrero from Spain, who recorded the best results. Despite his lack of experience in the winter conditions Cristobal placed in eighth on day one and then a highly impressive sixth on day two. Italian UFO Corse Yamaha team riders Simone Albergoni and Maurizio Micheluz had a hard time of things in Ostersund with reigning E1 class runner-up Albergoni struggling to master the frozen conditions placing just inside the top 10 on day one in ninth before dropping to 13th on day two following numerous crashes on the one-lined special tests. Picking up a five minute penalty on day one after receiving help untangling a track banner from his rear wheel, Micheluz dropped from ninth to 14th before going on to finish seventh on day two. Cristobal Guerrero (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 eighth, Day 2 sixth: "It has been a very hard race. The enduro test on day one was incredibly long, and because of the conditions very difficult also. Finishing eighth on day one was ok, but I made a few small mistakes. Finishing sixth on day two is really good. I crashed twice on the motocross test and then in the last test my chain came off. I think that with out my problems I could have finished sixth overall or even fifth. The next race of the championship is my home race in Spain, which I'm looking forward to." Simone Albergoni Simone Albergoni (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 ninth, Day 2 13th: "I've had too many crashes this weekend. On Saturday I was crashing a lot and again on Sunday I found it really difficult in the frozen conditions. I just couldn't find a good rhythm. If I pushed too hard then I crashed if I tried to ride smooth I was just too slow. It is so difficult riding a special test when it is just one long frozen rut from the start to the finish. I'm really disappointed with my results." Maurizio Micheluz Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 14th, Day 2 seventh: "Day one wasn't good. I finished ninth but I was penalised five minutes because someone helped me take some track marking banner out from my rear wheel. It was a stupid penalty and I dropped to 14th. "Day two was better because I finished seventh. I only crashed once, which I was happy with considering the conditions. I haven't enjoyed the race. The conditions were really difficult with the snow and mud on day one and then the cold and snow on day two." Crowd: 3750 2007 Enduro 1 Sweden 19/03/2007Race 1Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 103'35.490 2 Niklas Gustafsson KTM SWE 2'53.910 3 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 3'51.880 4 Tomi Peltola Suzuki FIN 3'59.600 5 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 5'4.720 6 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 5'16.970 7 Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 5'38.310 8 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 5'47.920 9 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 7'22.000 10 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 8'6.130 11 Tobias Burman KTM SWE 8'19.190 12 Per Korsell Husqvarna SWE 8'59.250 13 Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 10'47.280 14 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 11'0.490 15 Juraj Dozsa KTM SVK 13'10.500 Race 2Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 71'43.690 2 Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 2'53.150 3 Tomi Peltola Suzuki FIN 2'56.160 4 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 3'39.970 5 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 3'49.320 6 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 3'59.090 7 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 4'7.030 8 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 4'23.430 9 Niklas Gustafsson KTM SWE 4'31.340 10 Tobias Burman KTM SWE 5'13.760 11 Torbjorn Back Honda SWE 5'15.850 12 Per Korsell Husqvarna SWE 5'48.560 13 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 6'5.590 14 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 7'3.310 15 Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 8'56.930 Rider Standings 17/03/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Juha Salminen KTM FIN 50 2. Tomi Peltola Suzuki FIN 38 3. Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 38 4. Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 36 5. Niklas Gustafsson KTM SWE 34 6. Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 32 7. Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 28 8. Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 28 9. Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 21 10. Tobias Burman KTM SWE 21 11. Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 20 12. Mike Hartmann KTM GER 18 13. Per Korsell Husqvarna SWE 18 14. Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 14 15. Juraj Dozsa KTM SVK 11 Manufacturer Standings 17/03/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. KTM 50 2. Suzuki 38 3. Husqvarna 38 4. Yamaha 30 5. Honda 18 RACE REPORT 19/03/2007 2007 FIM World Enduro Championship - Round 1, Ostersund, Sweden, March 17-18 Johnny Aubert Finnish riders Samuli Aro and Mika Ahola shared victory in the Enduro 2 class at the opening round of the '07 World Enduro Championship with Aro topping day one and Ahola day two. Revelling in the typically Scandinavian winter conditions the two riders placed comfortably ahead of countryman Valtteri Salonen on both days as the three ensured that the podium on both days was an all Finnish affair. Knowing that the Scandinavian riders he will be battling against during the '07 Enduro 2 world championship would be all but impossible to beat in the specialist winter conditions in Sweden, Yamaha mounted Frenchman Johnny Aubert simply did the best he could considering the unfamiliar frozen terrain and claimed two solid fifth place finishes. In doing so he placed as the first non Scandinavian rider in the E2 class results on both days. Aubert's UFO Corse Yamaha team-mate Fabrizio Dini found the conditions tough and finished in 17th and 12th. Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha Enduro 2 class - Day 1 fifth, Day 2 fifth: "The first day went pretty well for me really and I finished fifth. I crashed on one of the motocross tests and I got stuck under my bike, which cost me one minute. The Scandinavian riders at the top of the Enduro 2 class are so fast in the winter conditions. I am happy with fifth. Day two was much the same as day one. I made one mistake on the enduro test, which cost me about 45 seconds. I went into a big hole full of snow and I had to get off my bike and push it out. Apart from that things went well and I was just trying to make the best result I could. The E2 championship is going to be very competitive all season so it was important for me to finish both days as best I could, which I did." Crowd: 3750 2007 Enduro 2 Sweden 19/03/2007Race 1Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 103'1.720 2 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 0'0.230 3 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 3'44.870 4 Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 4'58.110 5 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 5'9.890 6 Patrik Wicksell KTM SWE 6'21.580 7 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 6'49.960 8 Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 7'53.520 9 Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 8'23.350 10 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 9'20.020 11 Fritz Andersson KTM SWE 9'43.930 12 Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 10'32.220 13 Patrick Caps GasGas BEL 10'38.000 14 Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 11'10.220 15 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 11'28.140 17 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 13'27.770 Race 2Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 69'51.090 2 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 0'47.090 3 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 2'33.660 4 Patrik Wicksell KTM SWE 2'56.180 5 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 3'54.560 6 Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 4'16.660 7 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 4'40.930 8 Fritz Andersson KTM SWE 4'50.720 9 Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 5'58.630 10 Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 6'17.530 11 Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 7'25.950 12 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 7'30.230 13 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 8'24.960 14 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 8'29.090 15 Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 8'33.140 Rider Standings 17/03/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Samuli Aro KTM FIN 47 2. Mika Ahola Honda FIN 47 3. Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 40 4. Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 33 5. Patrik Wicksell KTM SWE 33 6. Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 32 7. Fabien Planet KTM FRA 28 8. Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 24 9. Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 24 10. Fritz Andersson KTM SWE 23 11. Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 18 12. Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 14 13. Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 13 14. Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 13 15. Patrick Caps GasGas BEL 13 Manufacturer Standings 17/03/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 47 2. KTM 47 3. HusaBerg 40 4. Beta 33 5. Yamaha 32 6. Aprilia 25 7. Husqvarna 17 8. GasGas 13 9. Sherco 13 10. Suzuki 10

Troy Corser Circuit Length: 4005m Temp: 23 Weather: Sunny, windy on day two Yamaha Motor Italy WSB riders Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga each worked hard to find good base settings at a very windy but dry Valencia circuit, with Corser taking fifth fastest lap of the tests on his YZF-R1, with Haga just one place behind in the final ranking. With the YZF-R1 an all-new machine this season, Haga and Corser still have many development parts to try out and after the experiences of the first two races of the year, each concentrated great efforts in matching machine set-up to tyre choice, to make rear traction last over full race distance. In contention for fast times throughout, Corser also worked through new brake components and rated them an improvement, an important factor at a circuit with many turns and frequent braking points. Haga survived two crashes unharmed, but left knowing he still has to find an optimal set-up for Valencia’s race weekend itself, in one month’s time. Team YZF Yamaha's Shinichi Nakatomi continued his never-ending cycle of development on his R1, testing new suspension parts and settings from Kayaba, and finding improvements through the test. He was 15th fastest overall. Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team) "We tried a few new links on the back of the bike and it has definitely made the bike better and easier to ride. It doesn’t seem to matter which tyres we got today because none of them seemed to work over race distance any better than the others. We found an improvement in the mapping to improve the response in the midrange, even if it is still a bit too flat in that area. Overall the test was not so bad and we tried some different brakes and callipers as well - and they were better. We have a pretty good bike set-up around here, we just need to get the tyres matched up in terms of compound. I think everyone else is in the same boat." Noriyuki Haga Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team) "I found a good front tyre here, but I cannot take too much satisfaction away from these two days. I tried a lot of different settings but this morning I had two crashes, one on the left side and one on the right side. We continued to work a lot on the suspension and the linkage but I could not find a really good feeling. The wind really did not help me as well. But I had good confidence with my qualifying tyres, better than in Phillip Island and Qatar races. But we still have a lot of work to do on the suspension when we get here for the race.” Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italy WSB Team) "We worked our way through a lot of different settings and links for the rear suspension at this test. Our main job was just trying to find a way to make things easier for the rear tyre, to make it last better over full race distance. We also had new exhausts on one of Troy’s bikes for comparison with the previous system, as part of our development programme." Shinichi Nakatomi Shinichi Nakatomi (Team YZF Yamaha) "I tried many new suspension settings on the machine in this test and some new parts. We worked a lot on suspension. We were looking for a base setting for the Valencia race and the feeling with the bike got better and better. We set the best lap time in the last session, even in the strong wind, so that proves that we made improvements." 1 Bayliss T. Ducati 1'34.102 2 Xaus R. Ducati 1'34.565 3 Lanzi L. Ducati 1'34.584 4 Biaggi M. Suzuki 1'34.708 5 Corser T. Yamaha 1'34.851 6 Haga N. Yamaha 1'35.029 7 Nieto F. Kawasaki 1'35.410 8 Muggeridge K. Honda 1'35.470 9 Neukirchner M. Suzuki 1'35.532 10 Laconi R. Kawasaki 1'35.639 15 Nakatomi S. Yamaha 1'36.832 Curtain fastest after strong test results for Yamaha riders Yamaha World Supersport Team rider Kevin Curtain secured the quickest supersport lap time after two days of official testing at Valencia, and in a highly positive shakedown for all Yamaha riders, four of the top six riders were YZR-R6 mounted. Curtain, concentrating his efforts on race distance testing and preparations for the Valencia race in mid April, was still clearly the fastest rider on show, with second quickest time overall going to Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni). Broc Parkes, Curtain’s team-mate, was fifth fastest, and like Curtain, expended his energies on tyre endurance and race set-up. The tests were blessed by warm conditions and a dry track on each of the two days, but on day two the ever-present wind peaked in its intensity, making conditions tricky for all in the last afternoon session. Kevin Curtain (Yamaha World Supersport Team) "We accomplished a little bit at this test. We spent a bit of time working on suspension settings to get more life out of the rear tyre and I guess we doubled the life we could expect to get. That was pretty good. There was a lot of wind across the track today but the times I did this morning were a little bit better. It would have been good to get into the 1’36s but we were not really here to do fast single lap times; but you have to ride at race pace to test properly. So all we did were long runs and long runs. I think we did about 60 laps each day. We’re pretty happy, and this was a step in the right direction." Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport Team) "We did a lot of race testing here, concentrating on tyre endurance after the last couple of rounds, and we went in a good direction. We worked through a few new springs and settings and we did more work on the new rear suspension units that we started the year with. I think they are really ready now. I didn’t put in a tyre in to try and do a single fast lap, but even my times on a race set-up, with a full tank of fuel, were still pretty fast. It all looks good." Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) "This proved to be a good test for us because I have sometimes had problems at this track in the past, so to set the second fastest time was a good result. Also we found a good set-up for the race here, and worked a lot with the suspension and tyres, so I think we will be ready for the race." 1 Curtain K. Yamaha 1'37.126 2 Roccoli M. Yamaha 1'37.498 3 Foret F. Kawasaki 1'37.556 4 Fujiwara K. Honda 1'37.590 5 Parkes B. Yamaha 1'37.635 6 Salom D. Yamaha 1'37.984 7 Alfonsi L. Honda 1'38.104 8 Riba P. Kawasaki 1'38.145 9 Kallio V. Suzuki 1'38.333 10 Peris C. Yamaha 1'38.724 11 Ivanov V. Yamaha 1'38.575 14 Peris C. Yamaha 1'38.724 19 Talmacsi G. Yamaha 1'39.966 20 Forner D. Yamaha 1'40.174 24 Vincent A. Yamaha 1'40.622 25 Enjolras J. Yamaha 1'40.883 Claudio Corti Corti fastest after positive test at Valencia One day before the Supersport and Superbike classes had their chance to start testing at Valencia the Superstock riders made their last test before the start of the season at Donington Park on April 1. Claudio Corti showed the potential of the new 2007 YZF-R1, scoring the fastest lap of all and setting himself up well for the first round, while his team-mate Michele Pirro was an impressive fourth quickest, despite feeling that he still has a lot of learning to do in the Superstock class. Claudio Corti (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) “I am very pleased with the performance of the new rear suspension and it makes all the difference to the steering. The front forks are also very good with the latest settings, and the new tyres we use in this class this year are going to make a big difference. I am confident for the new season.” Michel Pirro (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) “I think I am riding the bike too much like a 250 and not enough like a big four-stroke Superstock bike. I need to learn how to brake properly on this bike but I am sure as time goes on I can be competitive on the machine.” 1 Corti C. Yamaha 1'37.420 2 Badovini A. MV Agusta 1'37.582 3 Canepa N. Ducati 1'38.211 4 Pirro M. Yamaha 1'38.320 5 Sacchetti D. MV Agusta 1'38.616 6 Van Keymeulen D. Yamaha 1'38.685 7 Baiocco M. Yamaha 1'38.686 8 Aitchison M. Suzuki 1'38.769 9 Simeon X. Suzuki 1'39.027 10 Dell'Omo D. MV Agusta 1'39.085 13 Mahr R. Yamaha 1'39.400 18 Tangre C. Yamaha 1'39.906 19 Gieseler T. Yamaha 1'40.103 21 Giuseppetti D. Yamaha 1'40.361 25 Depoorter O. Yamaha 1'41.324 27 Schouten R. Yamaha 1'42.003 29 Van Den Broeck W. Yamaha 1'43.192

The second round of the MotoGP World Championship welcomes the Fiat Yamaha Team to Europe next weekend with Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards looking to continue their strong start to the season at Jerez. After starring in an intriguing curtain-raiser to the season in Qatar, where the pair dominated in practice only to see Casey Stoner (Ducati) storm to his debut victory in the race, the Italian and the American will be looking to use data from positive tests at the Spanish circuit just over three weeks ago to propel them to victory next Sunday. Second place for Rossi in the desert dust of Doha leaves him lying second in the championship, five points behind the Australian youngster, whilst Edwards holds sixth place after suffering grip problems on the unpredictable Losail surface in the race. Both riders lapped well at Jerez in the final Official Test of the pre-season, when Rossi took the top spot in a televised 'qualifying' session - smashing the pole record with a best lap of 1'38.394. Rossi's record at Jerez in competitive action is unmatched, the 28-year-old having won there on six occasions riding five different types of motorcycle since his first appearance in the 125cc class in 1996. Edwards, meanwhile, had never ridden at the Spanish venue previous to his debut MotoGP appearance in 2003 and the Texan has enjoyed limited success at the circuit since then, his best finish coming with seventh spot in a wet race three seasons ago. Jerez could barely provide a starker contrast to the scenes at Losail, with the rolling green Andalusian hills providing the ideal setting for a natural amphitheatre that has become known as the Spanish Mecca of motorcycle racing, with upwards of 120,000 fans making the annual pilgrimage. The track itself challenges the riders to pick the most effective racing line, with few hard braking points and little opportunity to fully open the throttle. The 4.423km layout features regular and quick changes in direction, meaning that the rider requires a responsive overall set-up and good grip at maximum lean angles. Valentino Rossi - "We're in good shape" Valentino Rossi has reiterated his confidence in the ability of Yamaha's engineers to respond to the top-speed challenge laid down by Ducati at Qatar as he looks to end his longest run without a win since his debut victory at Donington Park in 2000. Stoner's machine had the top speed advantage over Rossi's down the long Losail straight but 'The Doctor' fully expects the deficit to reduce over the coming weeks and says that the extra corner speed of his M1 will prove crucial at tighter circuits such as Jerez. "I think Qatar showed that, although we have some areas to improve, our bike is working well and we won't be making the same mistakes as last year," said Rossi. "I'm feeling confident for Jerez, I think it will suit our bike very well, even better than Qatar, and we were very strong there in the test. We know we lack a bit of horsepower but I think this will improve race-by-race and Yamaha are working very hard. I don't expect it to be a big problem in Jerez as it's a different type of track". "Jerez is one of my favourite circuits and I've had some great races there in the past so I hope this is another good year for me there. Qatar was very quiet, which was a good way to start the season because there were no distractions for me, but Jerez is always a great party with a fantastic atmosphere, so now I am really looking forward to that and I hope we can give the fans a good show. I expect that Pedrosa will be very fast here, as he was in the test, and I expect a big battle with him at his home race." Colin Edwards - "Learn and move on" Despite his unexpected problems in the race at Losail, sixth place for Colin Edwards was still a decent points haul for the opening round and the Texan is confident of adding considerably to that tally at Jerez. The more predictable nature of the Spanish track conditions should allow the 33-year-old to fully exploit the excellent set-up work he completed there during pre-season testing and allow him to once again run at the top of the time sheets throughout the Grand Prix. "I'm looking forward to Jerez, our bike worked pretty well there during the test and we made some good changes to it there so I am expecting to be running at the top again - just this time I hope to be able to do it in the race, too!" says Edwards. "Qatar was disappointing of course because we were so good all week and then the race didn't work out. It wasn't what we expected but we just have to learn from it and move on". "Last year Jerez wasn't great for us, I got a good start but then got caught up in Valentino's crash and ran through the gravel at turn one but both he and I will be looking to avoid anything like that this year! We've got a good setting to start with in Jerez and we'll go from there. We know we need to work on a few things and I know Yamaha are working hard to improve our top speed a bit, but hopefully that won't be too much of an issue in Jerez". Davide Brivio - "Podium priority" Fiat Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio outlined the importance of Rossi's opening-race podium in what promises to be another unpredictable season of MotoGP racing. Whilst the team's focus is clearly on winning races, Brivio points out that the priority is to be on the rostrum in as many events as possible as the team put together another championship tilt. The Italian added that his staff are now looking forward to the next challenge, with Jerez high on the list of favourite venues for any paddock regular. "We're happy with the way the season started in Qatar because we saw that our bike is competitive and ready to win races " says Brivio. "We were on the podium and that is our target at every race this season because that's where the serious points are. Now we're looking forward to Jerez, a circuit where we tested well at and got lots of good information, so hopefully there will be no surprises. We're also confident that the difference between our bike and others in straight-line speed won't be as much of an issue there". "Qatar is a nice place to go but it clearly doesn't have the atmosphere and sense of occasion of Jerez. It's nice to be in such a great motorcycling arena, with lots of people bustling around the paddock and thousands of screaming fans in the grandstand. I think it is the kind of atmosphere Valentino responds to and he will want to put on a great show for the fans. It's a great motivation for all the riders and there is no reason why Colin can't repeat his form at the tests and challenge with Valentino for the podium this Sunday." Valentino Rossi: Information Age: 28 Lives: London, UK Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 GP victories: 84 (57 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 174 (115 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) Pole positions: 46 World Championships: 7 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP) Colin Edwards: Information Age: 33 Lives: Conroe, Texas Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 First GP: Japan, 2003 (MotoGP) GP starts: 67 x MotoGP World Championships: 2 World Superbike Jerez Lap Record (990cc) Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2005, 1'40,596 Jerez Best Lap (800cc) Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2007, 1'38,394 2006 Spanish Grand Prix Results 1. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 45'57.733 2. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda +4.375 3. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda +9.996 11. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha +37.930 14. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha +1'05.766

The 2007 FIM Motocross World Championship sees Yamaha once again retain a strong and potent line-up of teams, riders and, importantly, equipment to tackle the MX1 and MX2 classes over the sixth month, fifteen round series. Top priority of course will be to maintain the riders and manufacturers titles won and practically owned by the Rinaldi Team in the premier category since 2001. From 500cc to MXGP and then the last three years in MX1, Yamaha has toasted championship success every season this century. Thanks to Team Yamaha De Carli the company also has one of the most talented riders in the MX2 competition, Antonio Cairoli, pushing for a second title in three years this coming term. The YZ450FM and the YZ250F have set benchmarks in their respective circles since 2003 and now carry the current Yamaha fleet - outlined below - as the FIM World Championship celebrates 50 years of existence when the paddock reconvenes on April 1st. Yamaha Motocross Team The Yamaha Motocross Team may have an all-new rider line-up for 2007 but their pedigree and immense record of results is well-known and feared in the paddock. The Rinaldi brothers (Michele and Carlo) have moulded a highly professional crew from their Italian base since first embracing Yamaha’s four-stroke technology in 1999 with Andrea Bartolini claiming the 500cc World Championship. The small but technically proficient group have won a further seven titles in the last eight seasons thanks to a prosperous alliance with now-retired-Stefan Everts and their expertise with the factory’s innovations in motocross machinery. 2006 was something of a zenith as the team scored 14 from 15 MX1 Grand Prix wins on the latest aluminium-framed version of the YZ450FM. This year they will assist double World Championship runner-up and widely touted favourite for the ’07 crown Josh Coppins. The 30 year old is one of only six riders to have won an MX1 Grand Prix since the inception of the category in 2004 (and one of only two currently still in the series). Famed for his work ethic and dedication, Coppins has already adapted well to his new ‘steed’ with pre-season victories at meetings in Italy and France. ‘The whole bike is a step above what I had been using so it was a really positive experience from day one,’ the New Zealander commented on his initial tests with the YZ. ‘I felt comfortable right away and as I have been working with it more and more over the last couple of months I have found the strong points, the chassis among them.’ ‘I feel like I have adapted to a new bike very fast and I have a decent speed already; the team have helped so much in this respect and could not do any more for me,’ he added. ‘Regarding 2007 and beyond I will never be a Stefan Everts and win multiple world titles but I’ll do everything to win the title too with Yamaha; that’s my goal and I have some work to do.’ Coppins will be backed-up in his plight by MX1 debutant Marc de Reuver. The 24 year old has won two Grand Prix in the MX2 category but his tall frame and determined character means that this colourful Dutchman should be a valid threat in his maiden campaign on the YZ450FM. ‘I have some more to learn but it is coming along,’ he assessed. ‘Riding a 450 is very different. It hurts your body more. With an MX2 bike you are working hard with the cardio-vascular but the bigger bike makes your arms and legs ache! The Yamaha is really an awesome machine, powerful yet predictable and very strong at starts.’ ‘The Rinaldis are very passionate and take a lot of interest,’ he continued on his new team. ‘They want to know what you are up to and they go with you riding and testing. When you get off the bike they immediately want to know what is good, what is wrong, they want feedback and have meetings. It is very productive and professional.’ Of course Carlo Rinaldi will be marshalling his unit of six personnel for the two riders and is clear about his goals for 2007. ‘I believe that Josh can win and I am confident in him but it will be difficult and we must keep our feet on the ground a little bit,’ he said. ‘There are many people saying Josh is the title favourite and this is perhaps the first time he has ridden under this kind of pressure; in my experience pressure can affect riders in different ways. We have every confidence in him though.’ ‘With Marc he has the potential to be one of the top guys and has shown that he is as fast if not faster than the others at different circuits,’ he states. ‘He needs to work on his consistency though and still be able to find a result even on a bad day. I have seen him mature since he has been working with us and I am confident that this will have a positive effect on the track.’ Concerning the evolution of the YZ450FM: ‘We have improved the bike quite a bit again which I did not really think would be that possible especially because it was already so good last year. We have two new riders now though and we have found some settings and we have made some significant changes to the engine to match the riders’ requirements. That has left us very satisfied with the package we have.’ YZ450FM specifications Engine Engine type: Single cylinder liquid-cooled 4-stroke, DOHC 5-valve Displacement: 449cc Carburation: Single Keihin FCR 39mm carburettor Ignition: YRRD Lubrication system: Semi-pressurized wet sump Maximum power: 60ps Exhaust: Full Titanium TransmissionType: 5-speed Primary drive: Gear Clutch: Wet with 9 plates: Hydraulic operated Final drive: Chain Chassis and running gear Frame type: Aluminium semi-double cradle Rear frame: Carbon fibre Triple Clamps: CNC machined from billet, made by Ergal Front suspension: Factory fully adjustable 50mm upside down Kayaba forks Rear suspension: Monocross with factory Kayaba gas shock absorber with titanium spring Front/rear wheels: 20/21 inch front, 19 inch rear Front brake: Ø270mm single disc, - radial calliper Rear Brake: Ø245mm single disc Weight: 101 kg Fuel capacity: Carbon fibre, 8 litres capacity Technical partners: Acerbis ; Afam ; Arrow ; Braking ; Brembo ; Champion ; Domino ; DT 1 ; Pirelli-Metzeler ; Regina ; Technical Touch ; Tommaselli ; Yamalube Josh Coppins - #6 Personal profile Date of Birth: 11/03/1977 Place of Birth: Motueka, New Zealand Nationality: Kiwi Residence: Motueka, New Zealand and Balen Hulsen, Belgium Height: 177cm Weight: 73kg Marital Status: Single Hobbies: Watersports, BMX, Trials Career highlights 2006: 7th, Motocross MX1 World Championship (injured) 2005: 2nd, Motocross MX1 World Championship + British Champion 2004: 3rd, Motocross MX1 World Championship + British Champion 2003: 12th, MXGP Motocross World Championship (injured) 2002: 2nd, 250cc Motocross World Championship 2001: 6th, 250cc Motocross World Championship 2000: 4th, 250cc Motocross World Championship 1999: 7th, 250cc Motocross World Championship 1998: 13th, 250cc Motocross World Championship 1997: 17th, 250cc Motocross World Championship 1996: 23rd 250cc Motocross World Championship Marc de Reuver - #14 Personal profile Date of Birth: 21/02/1983 Place of Birth: Amstelveen, The Netherlands Nationality: Dutch Residence: Lommel, Belgium Height: 191cm Weight: 75kg Marital Status: Single Hobbies: Surfing on internet Career highlights 2006: 5th, Motocross MX2 World Championship 2005: 20th, Motocross MX2 World Championship 2004: 14th, Motocross MX2 World Championship 2003: 7th, Motocross 125 World Championship 2002: 9th, Motocross 125cc World Championship, 125cc Dutch Champion 2001: 8th, Motocross 125cc World Championship, 125cc Dutch Champion 1988: Started racing Members Yamaha Motocross Team Michele Rinaldi (ITA) Team owner Carlo Rinaldi (ITA) Team Manager Massimo Raspanti (ITA) Technical coordinator Gerald Wever (GER) De Reuver's mechanic Fabio Santoni (ITA) Coppins' mechanic Andrea Zirri (ITA) Engine mechanic Manuel Volpato (ITA) Assistant mechanic Giovanni Pelizza (ITA) Logistics coordinator Team Yamaha De Carli Yamaha’s MX2 arm with the YZ250F is led by Team Yamaha De Carli. The Italian outfit has become one of the leading squads in the category since 2004 thanks to the achievements and eye-catching style of Antonio Cairoli. ‘Tony’ has won 26 motos from 96 and 10 Grand Prix from 48 in the last three years, as well as giving the 250 four stroke its first crown in 2005. The 21 year old Sicilian has finished third, first and second in the last three seasons of MX2 competition and adopts the race number ‘222’ for 2007; the digits with which he debuted on the international stage in 2004. ‘The YZ250F in 2007 has improved again and my team have done some excellent development work,’ Cairoli said, who leads the Italian Championship after three rounds. ‘It has been difficult to train in Belgium in the last few years because of the weather so we have committed to the first four rounds of the Italian Championship. They say there is no better training than racing but then there is also the risk of competition and giving 100% for the win! Obviously my objective is to regain the world title this season. I want to avoid the mistakes I committed in 2006 and I am hopeful.’ Cairoli is backed up by fellow 21 year old Matteo Bonini, who is hoping to shake off his bad luck with injury that blighted his first season with the team in 2006, and new highly rated teenager Alessandro Lupino (16 years old) who has already posted some very encouraging top ten results in Italy. ‘I am satisfied with our development and speed at the moment; we have reached a base that I believe is very good,’ said Team Principal Claudio De Carli. ‘The Italian Championship started well for us and is continuing to be positive. Tony is in good condition even if not still 100% and also Bonini has recovered and we expect some good results from him in the World Championship. We will also be running young Alessandro Lupino this year and we want him to mature and get some experience. He is only sixteen years old but has a lot of promise. He has made some good finishes in the Italian Championship and we hope this will carry on.’ Yamaha Van Beers Racing Team The Netherlands based Yamaha Van Beers Racing Team came to prominence during the 2006 MX1 World Championship when rider Manuel Priem finished a lofty eight in the final classification and they also celebrated two Dutch championships thanks to the efforts of Priem and Aigar Leok. The Dutch squad now offer Yamaha potentially excellent options in MX1 and MX2. 21 year old Estonian Leok graduates to steer the YZ450F while promising 19 year old Dennis Verbruggen is Belgium’s next star-in-the-making and attempts his first full MX2 campaign after winning the Under18 World Championship in 2005 and the European MX2 title in 2006 aboard his Yamaha. Leok and Verbruggen will start this season with renewed YRRD kits for both their bikes. Yamaha Team Ricci The second of three heavyweight Yamaha teams in the MX2 class is Yamaha Ricci who field Grand Prix winner Kenneth Gundersen, GP moto victor Davide Guarneri and Nicolas Aubin who surprised many at the Bulgarian and British Grand Prix last year with his speed on a privateer entry. All three riders can now benefit from the improved 2007 YRRD kits available for the YZ250F. The Italian set-up completed test sessions throughout February and Guarneri in particular seemed to be placing an injury-perturbed 2006 season behind him with some impressive podium finishes in the three rounds of the Italian Championship run to-date (that in itself is becoming a Yamaha ‘mini-series’ with De Carli and Ricci team members disputing the leading positions). Bike it Yamaha UK Dixon Racing Yamaha’s intent to regain number one status in the MX2 class extends to the calibre of Britain’s Bike it Yamaha UK Dixon Racing Team who have provided the YRRD kitted YZ250F with further victories and at least one triumph every season since 2004. Double British MX2 Champ Carl Nunn returns to the fold where he debuted in great style by winning the French 125cc GP seven years ago. Now 27, Nunn was Britain’s top ranked rider in all categories last year with a decent sixth position in the MX2 standings. The Brit will be partnered by another new Dixon signing Carlos Campano. Spain’s most recognised MX2 participant means that Yamaha’s cosmopolitan line-up in the World Championship includes representation from the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Britain, Norway and Belgium. Laurens Klein Koerkamp – Department Manager Racing Division Yamaha Motor Europe NV 'After winning 6 world titles in the last 6 years, for 2007 there a new challenge in MX1 with two new Yamaha riders. Josh has lots of experience, has shown a strong pre-GP season performance and used it to get to know the YZ450FM in each and every detail. We expect him to fight for race wins from the beginning and fight for the championship. Marc is extremely talented, has gelled into the team perfectly and with the Rinaldi experience and focussed rider-approach on and off the track we believe he can be a top MX1 rider. In MX2 Cairoli is fully determined to get back his world title. We expect Guarneri to come through as a next top MX2 rider with improved consistence. Kenneth Gundersen and Carl Nunn have the experience already and should be up there from the beginning. Interesting will is what the young guys will be doing : with Dennis Verbruggen, Nicolas Aubin, Bonini and Lupino Yamaha is investing in the future. They all get good support in professional teams and have the chance to show their skills and gain experience. Race Calendar 01 Apr 2007 – GP of Benelux, Valkenswaard 15 Apr 2007 - GP of Spain, Bellpuig 22 Apr 2007 - GP of Portugal, Agueda 06 May 2007 - GP of Italy, Mantova 13 May 2007 - GP of Germany, Teutschenthal 27 May 2007 - GP of Japan, Sugo 10 Jun 2007 - GP of France, St Jean d'Angely 17 Jun 2007 - GP of Bulgaria, Sevlievo 01 Jul 2007 - GP of Sweden, Uddevalla 15 Jul 2007 - GP of Republic of South Africa, Sun City 29 Jul 2007 - GP of Czech Republic, Loket 05 Aug 2007 - GP of Belgium, Namur 19 Aug 2007 - GP of Northern Ireland, TBA 26 Aug 2007 - GP of Great Britain, Donington Park 02 Sep 2007 - GP of Netherlands, Lierop