Alex Asigno

Yamaha Team this weekend at the vertigo-inducing Sachsenring circuit in Germany, host to the tenth round of the 2006 MotoGP World Championship. One of the tightest and most undulating tracks in the world welcomes the most unpredictable season in recent history, with Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards both having played their part in a dramatic campaign that has seen five different race winners, nine different riders on the podium and thirteen different front row starters. A roller-coaster season continues for the Camel Rossi added to his season-tally of three victories with a stunning second place in the last round at Donington Park, where he rode through the pain of hand and ankle injuries to put his YZR-M1 machine back on the podium and cut the gap to series leader Nicky Hayden (Honda) to 35 points. That memorable performance at his talisman track was the 121st time that Rossi had stood on a Grand Prix podium - the same number as Phil Read and a figure bettered only by the legendary Giacomo Agostini and Angel Nieto. Rossi has now also scored a total of 2977 points in all classes and victory in Germany would make him the first rider in history to pass the 3000 mark. Sixth place for Colin Edwards at Donington was the 30th successive race at which he has scored points, a record made all the more remarkable by the drama of the previous round at Assen, when he crashed out of the lead in the final corner only to remount and bravely struggle across the line in thirteenth place. The only rider with a longer sequence of successive point scoring finishes is Mick Doohan, who managed it for 37 races, but the more pressing issue for Edwards now is a return to the form that saw him fighting for victory in that breathtaking Dutch TT two weeks ago. Valentino Rossi: Back to fitness Valentino Rossi arrives in Germany with the benefit of an extra weekend to recover from the hand injuries he sustained in the middle of a Grand Prix triple-header at Assen. After struggling through the discomfort to score valuable points in Holland and Great Britain, he is now hoping to be fit enough to fight for his fourth win of the season and his fourth in all classes at the Sachsenring circuit. "I am very confident that by Sachsenring my hand will be back to 100%, or near enough," says Rossi, who won the German Grand Prix for Yamaha last year to add to previous MotoGP and 250cc successes in 2002 and 1999. "I have been working hard with my physiotherapist Marco Montanari and Dr Costa and hopefully it will continue to improve at this rate. It's really nice to have had time for a rest now after three very hard weeks, even if it's not so long. I spent some time in Italy and then a few days at home in London, relaxing and seeing friends. "The important thing for Sachsenring is that we come out of the box on Friday morning ready to make the most of every available minute of practice time. We can't afford to lose time in practice with set-up problems like we had in Donington, and I am sure that Yamaha has been working at the maximum over the break so we will be ready to be competitive from Friday morning. Sachsenring is quite a different track, very tight and twisty, but last year our bike worked very well there, we were able to win and hopefully that will be the case again this year." Colin Edwards: To Japan and back Whilst his team-mate and most of their rivals have had time to rest this week, the relentless pursuit of speed has continued unabated for Colin Edwards, who has been out in Japan completing testing work for Yamaha ahead of the Suzuka 8-Hour race. Edwards was at Suzuka for two days as he prepares to compete in the prestigious event on 30th July alongside Yamaha Superbike rider Noriyuki Haga, but he is already back in Europe and gathering his strength for another important weekend of MotoGP action. "It was hard to go straight out to Japan after such a long run of races but I'm quite excited about doing the 8-Hour again, especially as it's ten years since Nori and I won it together before," reflected Edwards, who will ride for the Yamaha Blue Racing Team aboard a specially prepared YZF-R1 SP. "Testing has gone quite well this week, just getting used to being back on a Superbike again and getting reacquainted with the track. We've got a competitive package so hopefully we're going to be in a position to really go for it when we go back for the race after Laguna. "Obviously there's a lot of work to do before then and the small matter of two GPs in two weekends, including my home race! Sachsenring will be really important because we had a lot of problems with the bike at Donington that we didn't solve and we can't afford to lose any more time. The track itself has two different parts - one where it's very difficult to overtake and another which requires a massive physical effort because it works the left-hand side of your body really hard The tyres are under a lot of strain and it's vital to make the right choice so they don't overheat on the left-side. Generally I get along pretty well with the layout and there are always a lot of fans so it should be a good weekend." Davide Brivio: Still enough time Camel Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio is hopeful that a fully fit Valentino Rossi will appear at the Sachsenring on Thursday afternoon in readiness for a renewed assault on the championship standings when the action gets underway on Friday morning. Rossi's recent progress has been hampered by his injuries but with the benefit of a brief rest behind him Brivio remains confident that the World Champion has enough races to turn the situation around and successfully defend his title for the fifth time. "Now it's funny because we almost consider a weekend off as a break!" smiles Brivio. "Anyway we are hoping that this week gives Valentino a chance to recover and arrive at the Sachsenring with his injury troubles behind him. We are expecting him to be fit from Friday morning so we are hopeful of a 'normal' weekend for both him and Colin. The situation with Valentino has delayed our recovery in the championship over the past couple of rounds but there are eight races left and we still have enough time. "Our aim is to close the gap even further before the summer break so this race and the next one at Laguna Seca are very important. As far as the Sachsenring is concerned we had some problems with our bike there the first season with Valentino but we found a good setting last season and he was able to win the race. Sincerely I think the track suits the characteristics of the 2006 version M1 but we will have to wait and see on Friday morning. I hope so!" Technically speaking: Sachsenring according to Mike Norton Located in the heartland of the former East Germany's once glorious motorcycle racing industry, the Sachsenring is built right next to the old road course, a characteristic the track shares with Brno in the nearby Czech Republic. The current circuit could not be more different, its ultra-modern nature showing in its relatively slow lap times, with slow corners juxtaposed with some dazzlingly fast ones - including a super fast downhill right hander which was added in 2003. It is this that provides the circuit's biggest challenge, for riders and technicians alike. "The Sachsenring is a difficult track - it's quite short and it's not one of Valentino's favourites," explains Mike Norton, Öhlins Suspension Technician for Valentino Rossi. "It's one of my busiest weekends because the set-up of the bike is all about finding a compromise between braking for that monstrous downhill section and handling through the slow sections. It's a bit of a trade-off really between getting Valentino good through the slow part and good enough to stop the bike at the bottom of the hill. Valentino often wins races on the brakes so he's a little bit different to most riders and you always have to have some margin in the front fork. "You also spend a lot of time on the edge of the tyre at Sachsenring, right on the angle, and again that causes us an imbalance in the bike compared to normal. But Valentino's feedback is very good compared to other riders I've worked with. You can give him a change and be miles off centre but he'll ride around it and you'll either see a good lap time or a bad one, which then gives us an idea of where to go. From that point of view he's very good to work with and he always gives you 100%." Valentino Rossi: information Age: 27 Lives: London, UK Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 GP victories: 82 (56 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 166 (106 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) Pole positions: 41 World Championships - 7 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP) Colin Edwards: Information Age: 32 Lives: Conroe, Texas Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 First GP: Japan, 2003 (MotoGP) GP starts: 57 x MotoGP World Championships - 2 World Superbike Sachsenring Lap Record: Sete Gibernau (Honda) 2005, 1'23.705 Sachsenring Best Lap: Max Biaggi (Honda) 2004, 1'22.756 2005 German Grand Prix Results: 1. VALENTINO ROSSI (ITA) Yamaha, 35'04.434 2. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Honda, +0.685 3. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda, +885 8. COLIN EDWARDS (USA) Yamaha, +14.849 Click here to view the news

Camel Yamaha team-mates Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards will both start from the fourth row of the grid in tomorrow's British Grand Prix, after running into set-up problems during the second day of practice at Donington Park. Whilst Rossi continued to ride through the pain from the ankle and wrist injuries he sustained at Assen nine days ago, he also struggled to adapt his machine to the demands of the British track, where he has taken victory for five of the last six seasons. Edwards was equally baffled by the lack of progress he made today after making positive initial steps yesterday. The base setting of the YZR-M1 machine has adapted swiftly to the fast and flowing nature of recent circuits such as Assen and Catalunya, but with only the morning warm-up remaining before tomorrow's 30-lap race the team still have plenty of room for improvement. A small consolation for Rossi was that Nicky Hayden (Honda), the current series leader, was also unable to challenge for a top grid position and will start in between the Yamaha pair on the fourth row in 11th spot. Colin Edwards (10th - 1'28.481; 30 laps) "The bike is really not working as well as we would like and to be perfectly honest we're not sure why. The things that worked so well last weekend don't seem to be having the same effect here and we're struggling to come up with an alternative at the moment. It's not for a lack of trying because my crew have worked really hard all day - we played about with the springs and the ride height but kept running down a blind alley. This is one of my favourite tracks and I'm used to turning up here and being in the top three from the first session - like I have for the past two years. In theory it should have been the same today but it's just not happening. Now we have to hope we can find something good in the morning, make a great start and just fight our way through!" Valentino Rossi (12th - 1'28.808; 28 laps) "We didn't expect to have so many problems here in Donington because last year our bike worked really well. It's a track where I've always been able to be really fast and go very well from the start, so it's quite disappointing. The situation with the wrist isn't so bad, but I've got some problems in the hard braking areas. For sure I can't ride how I would like to; we're not at the maximum. We've been quite confident because, since the new chassis in Le Mans, the bike has worked very well and been fast from the start, but here we can't find a good setting for some reason. Tomorrow we will try to find a way to make the situation a little better. Today with Dr Costa I decided to try with some painkillers, to understand better what we need to do for the race tomorrow. With these painkillers it seems I can ride more or less normally. Tomorrow me and my team will try to find the best possible setting to enable me to ride a good race and I will also do some more work with Dr Costa after warm-up in order to be in the best possible shape to ride." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "It is a strange grid because nobody expects to see Colin, Valentino and Nicky all together on the fourth row. For sure the starting position will be the first problem for our riders to overcome tomorrow. I think with Colin has shown that he has the possibility to run a good race pace if we can just refine the setting a little more, and for Valentino we need to analyse things tonight and see if we can make it a little more comfortable - especially for his wrist. Today he was feeling stronger but he is clearly not at 100% yet so we will have to wait and see how he is tomorrow. But his problem is not just the injury - the bike setting is not where it should be yet and we are still unclear about the tyre choice for the race." The primary aim of the Tech 3 Yamaha Team is to improve at every outing and the solitary MotoGP qualifying session provided another encouraging result as Carlos Checa and James Ellison lowered their respective lap times in the battle for tomorrow's Gas British Grand Prix at the picturesque Donington Park circuit. Carlos's qualifying performance mirrored yesterday's practice sessions to be in 13th position, right behind world champion Valentino Rossi, as he spent the majority of the one-hour opportunity to concentrate on a race setup. Meanwhile, James who is keen to impress his legion of fans at his home Grand Prix, lowered his lap time from yesterday by a further second to be 16th on the grid. Carlos Checa (13th, 1'29.294, 31 laps) "We expected to do a little bit better but we are struggling at the end of the lap. We are very fast in the flowing part of the track - as fast as the leaders - so we still have a little work to do on the setup to get the Yamaha around the slower section as it is a combination of trying to get the bike to grip and steer at the slow part of the track so we will try something different for tomorrow. On the race tyres we are a lot closer than what our qualifying position indicates and we know that Dunlop are working very hard to improve the qualifying tyres so that we can get better grid positions. I'm confident that the changes we make over night will help in the area of the track we need to improve and this will assist in hopefully giving us a good result at the end of the race. After the last few races we know we have the consistency in the Dunlop tyres to race the distance and I think that some other riders on another brand of tyre will struggling to do 30 laps at the same pace in the heat. James Ellison (16th 1'30.382, 28 laps) "It hasn't been the best day for me after what has happened in recent weeks but I've taken two seconds off since yesterday morning and we are finding a pretty good setup on race tyres. We haven't finalised our setup but it has been gradually been getting better and better as front end feel is so important around here... I'm going quicker all the time I have made a good leap considering we haven't quite found that window but we're working on it. I'm one second off Carlos on race and qualifiers so that's encouraging because I know when we get that setup sorted I'll be right on him. This is also my home grand prix and I'm overwhelmed by the support I'm seeing around the track. I've spent a lot of time with the crowd this weekend and I've had nothing but loads of great support. They know I'm riding hard and trying 100% and that really means a lot to me. It's like playing football in front of a home crowd; you really want to do well, so I'm aiming to pay them back with a decent result. Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "It was another quite good day today. The qualifying position is not as good as Assen but it is very close to the other Yamahas of Rossi and Edwards. We are not so bad on race tyres so it will be another interesting weekend. Of course, it is very important for James as it is his home Grand Prix and he wants to shine. It won't be easy but we know he will push hard all day and his lap times have improved considerably from when he took to the track yesterday morning. Our lap times to the fastest four or five are quite close on the Dunlop race tyres so if we can stay with some other factory bikes during the race we will learn even more in relation to them That is why we are here. Dunlop sent a lot of new stuff from Japan along with one of their senior engineers as this is an important race for them and an important time of the year. Everybody is already talking about next year and it is important for Dunlop to show what they can do, to show they are committed and to show where they want to go. But we will be aiming to improve our performances from today and continue to be more competitive in the race as we have proven in the last two races. We have shown that we are improving all the time in the performance of the entire package and we aim to keep that momentum going with a good result tomorrow. Round: 9 - British Grand Prix Circuit: Donington Circuit Length: 4023 Lap Record: 1' 29.973 (Colin Edwards, 2004) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 27.676 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2006) Date: 1 July 2006 Temp: 29ºC Session 1 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 1 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP 1' 27.676 2 C. Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1' 28.158 3 M. Melandri Honda ITA 1' 28.205 4 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA 1' 28.252 5 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA 1' 28.394 6 R. De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 1' 28.428 7 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN 1' 28.431 8 C. Stoner Honda AUS 1' 28.447 9 K. Roberts Team Roberts KR USA 1' 28.473 10 C. Edwards Yamaha USA 1' 28.481 11 N. Hayden Honda USA 1' 28.509 12 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 1' 28.808 13 C. Checa Yamaha ESP 1' 29.294 14 M. Tamada Honda JPN 1' 29.362 15 A. Hofmann Ducati GER 1' 29.479 16 J. Ellison Yamaha GBR 1' 30.382 Click here to view the news

The 'Stefan Everts and YZ450FM show' rolls on unabated within the 2006 MX1 World Championships as both the rider and motorcycle of the Yamaha Intur Sports team gained their ninth consecutive victory this weekend at Uddevalla for the Grand Prix of Sweden. The Scandinavian circuit had been reversed and some of the sections converted into more technical challenges but the hard and dusty terrain remained. 19,000 fans turned out in hot and sunny weather conditions. The 33 year old took his fifth pole position of the season (and third in a row) yesterday and did not hide his lack of fondness for the Uddevalla undulations, stating that the venue was one of his 'least favourites' of the calendar; hardly surprising as the Belgian has not won in Scandinavia since 2003. In the first moto Everts enacted a now familiar routine for his many fans by seizing the lead on the first lap and controlling the race from his pursuers. The Belgian notched his fourteenth moto win in a row despite the moto-long presence of Jonathan Barragan and a distance between the pair that fluctuated between one and three seconds for the total of a very hot 35 minute and 2 lap duration. On the last two laps it was the Intur Sports team rider who was more decisive through a pack of backmarkers and the first step in his 96th victory was complete. As in the British Grand Prix two weeks ago, Everts gave himself a harder job in the second sprint when he crashed on the first lap and had to work the entire race to catch his main rivals. Finally a fantastic performance was rounded off by overtaking leader Steve Ramon with one circulation remaining to notch his 15th moto win in succession. He now holds a career tally of 96 and is drawing ever closer to the big 'ton'. Cedric Melotte crashed in the morning warm-up period and jarred his hip. The Belgian needed painkillers to finish 11th in the first moto and pulled out of the second sprint unable to complete the distance. Everts' domination of the MX1 series can be seen in the World Championship standings. His points lead has stretched to 114, more than four motos, over Kevin Strijbos. Melotte is ninth. Livia Lancelot has taken third position in the Women's World Cup riding a YZ250F. The French youngster led the first moto until a heavy crash knocked her back to fourth. In some discomfort she made another mistake while out front in the second affair and claimed 10th. The teams can now enjoy another free weekend but machinery and spares will be packed and crated for the lengthy trip to the southern hemisphere and the Grand Prix of South Africa at the Sun City complex on July 16th. Stefan Everts, Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team: "This is not my favourite track here in Sweden so I knew it would be tough because in the past two years I had been struggling. However I took a good pole when everybody was close together and the first race went OK. Barragan kept close and I had a three second lead but I made a mistake in the whoops and he caught up, then we were into the lappers. It was tight at the end and I felt a bit tired because of the heat. I rested in between the races and then the second one was better. After the mistake the first few laps were pretty hard because everyone was going fast and it was not easy to pass. I saw the Suzuki guys pull away and I thought second might be possible but first was a long shot. At one stage Steve stopped gaining seconds on me and then started to lose them; that gave me some wings! I pulled harder and it was close. It was exciting for the crowd." Cedric Melotte, Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team: "I had a stupid crash this morning and needed to take some painkillers to enter the first race. Every time I sat down on the bike I had a lot of pain in my back and around my spine. I found it difficult to use my feet and I was fighting too much with the bike today. I preferred to stop in the second race because the pain was too much." Michele Rinaldi, Team Manager: "It was not an easy weekend for Stefan on this track and he was not the clear fastest. The first heat was OK and he made a very exciting race in the second one. He looked to have reached a highest position of third but Ramon slowed down and he picked up his speed and took a fantastic result for him, us and for Yamaha." Race classification MX1 Round: 9 - 2006 GP of Uddevalla, Sweden Circuit: Uddevalla Circuit Length: 1750 Race 1: 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 S. Everts Yamaha BEL 38' 45.263 2 J. Barragan KTM ESP +4.324 3 J. Coppins Honda NZL +14.111 4 S. Ramon Suzuki BEL +23.370 5 T. Leok Kawasaki EST +24.941 6 K. Strijbos Suzuki BEL +54.231 7 G. Crockard Honda GBR +59.603 8 K. De Dycker Honda BEL +1' 8.611 9 J. Garcia Vico Honda ESP +1' 13.560 10 J. Noble Honda GBR +1' 18.441 11 C. Melotte Yamaha BEL +1' 24.967 12 B. Jorgensen Honda DNK +1' 30.351 13 J. Bill Yamaha GBR +1' 34.027 14 M. Van Daele Honda BEL +1' 38.964 15 D. Theybers Suzuki BEL +1' 40.610 16 A. Pyrhonen TM FIN +1 lap(s) 17 K. Nemeth Suzuki HUN +1 lap(s) 18 J. Lindhe KTM SWE +1 lap(s) 19 C. Desalle Suzuki BEL +1 lap(s) 20 M. Kovalainen Honda FIN +1 lap(s) Race 2: 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 S. Everts Yamaha BEL 39' 54.109 2 S. Ramon Suzuki BEL +3.881 3 K. Strijbos Suzuki BEL +17.410 4 G. Crockard Honda GBR +22.967 5 J. Coppins Honda NZL +30.702 6 K. Nemeth Suzuki HUN +38.034 7 J. Garcia Vico Honda ESP +59.738 8 J. Noble Honda GBR +1' 7.798 9 K. De Dycker Honda BEL +1' 15.851 10 J. Bill Yamaha GBR +1' 18.647 11 M. Priem Yamaha BEL +1' 21.586 12 L. Freibergs Suzuki LVA +1' 27.213 13 M. Kovalainen Honda FIN +1' 30.737 14 A. Pyrhonen TM FIN +1' 36.841 15 N. Bradshaw Suzuki GBR +1' 37.859 16 A. Salvini Suzuki ITA +1' 44.060 17 T. Allier Kawasaki FRA +1' 55.534 18 C. Desalle Suzuki BEL +1 lap(s) 19 B. Jorgensen Honda DNK +1 lap(s) 20 A. Bobkovs Honda LVA +1 lap(s) Championship standings MX1 Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Stefan Everts Yamaha BEL 442 2 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 328 3 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 294 4 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 294 5 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 292 6 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 212 7 Javier Garcia Vico Honda ESP 165 8 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 159 9 Cedric Melotte Yamaha BEL 157 10 Manuel Priem Yamaha BEL 146 11 Julien Bill Yamaha GBR 145 12 James Noble Honda GBR 132 13 Brian Jorgensen Honda DNK 131 14 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 127 15 Antti Pyrhonen TM FIN 106 16 Sebastien Tortelli KTM FRA 99 17 Gordon Crockard Honda GBR 86 18 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL 84 19 Joshua Coppins Honda NZL 72 20 Alex Salvini Suzuki ITA 55 Manufacturers standings MX1 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Yamaha 442 2 Suzuki 369 3 Honda 317 4 Kawasaki 298 5 KTM 267 6 TM 106 MX2 : Cairoli not rewarded for challenging ride in Sweden Round: 9 - 2006 GP of Uddevalla, Sweden Circuit: Uddevalla Date: 2 July 2006 Crowd: 19000 Temp: 30ºC Weather: Sunny World Champion Antonio Cairoli played a fundamental part in a fantastic first MX2 moto at Uddevalla today for the Grand Prix of Sweden but his runner-up position was tempered by two crashes in the second outing of round nine that lowered him to sixth overall. The Uddevalla course was perhaps at its toughest for the MX2 events. Watered and very slick before the first race of the day and then worn and bumpy starting the second sprint after lunch, the terrain was far from easy and physically demanding for the riders. Cairoli wowed the 19,000 attendance, bathed in 30c plus temperatures, with a re-enactment of his electric battles from Italy and Great Britain with his countryman David Philippaerts. The De Carli Yamaha representative pulled through from a mediocre start to pass Philippaerts and Christophe Pourcel and lead but could not escape the attentions of Philippaerts. The entertaining dice - with the riders using different lines and aggressive styles - went down to the last lap and the final corner when Philippaerts charged around the outside of the banked right hander to snatch victory by a tenth of a second. Later in the day Cairoli went down on the first lap and had to dispel a lot of energy to move up to the tenth. The Italian was fatigued by the end of the twenty two laps and made another mistake less than two minutes from the finish for a final standing of twelfth. Kenneth Gundersen demonstrated he was on good form by winning the second qualification heat yesterday. However the Norweigan, cheered on by many fans, family and friends, was unable to find the same speed in both of the motos as his stamina mysteriously deserted him. The Ricci Racing rider was eighth overall with eighth and tenth positions despite some decent starts. Team-mate Alessio Chiodi was eighth and thirteenth for a final standing of ninth in one of the former triple World Champion's less effective weekends. 'Chicco' is still feeling the effects of his harsh Japanese crash and subsequent knee injury and adopted a cautious approach on a tricky Scandinavian surface. Bike-it Yamaha UK Dixon Racing's Billy Mackenzie was trawling through the lower half of the top ten in the opening throes of the first moto until a small slip halted his progress by three positions. Several laps later he had to retire with a technical problem. Mackenzie again went down in the second moto but grabbed ninth position for minor consolation. The World Championship picture shows Cairoli in third trailing Pourcel by 48 points. Mackenzie is sixth and some distance away from Tyla Rattray in fifth. The tenth round of the series will be enacted at the plush Sun City complex for the Grand Prix of South Africa in two weeks time. Antonio Cairoli, Team Yamaha De Carli: "The first moto was really good but I did not have the energy to make a gap over Philippaerts. I have been training in the sand this week and I felt some arm-pump at this track; it was hard going over the bumps. After fifteen minutes I felt better and set a good rhythm over the others. On the last corner he went very fast on the outside and won by less than a second. I thought I had the race because he went crazy and straight on into the green fence. I don't think it was correct but Philippaerts is a very strong and fast guy. It was OK for the Championship but the second moto was a disaster. I started badly and then crashed on the first lap. I recovered to tenth but then crashed again with two laps to go because I was so tired and could not see the line. Pourcel winning that second heat was not good for the Championship. I want this title and must train harder to make it happen." Kenneth Gundersen, Yamaha Team Ricci: "Everything felt so good yesterday and today I had no energy at all. I was completely empty and it is so frustrating because I had some good starts but I was finished. I don't know what it is but I am not feeling good. I think I have some allergy. I will go home now and see the doctor. I was also training pretty hard these last two weeks and it may have affected me today. I will get some rest before South Africa." Alessio Chiodi, Yamaha Team Ricci: "I didn't have a good feeling on the track mainly because of my knee. I was being too cautious and I felt like I didn't have complete control. The knee still hurts so I am afraid of catching it again. My start was good in the first moto but in the next race I crashed after ten minutes and my confidence slipped. It is not a good day but I feel like my condition is slowly getting better." Race classification MX2 Round: 9 - 2006 GP of Uddevalla, Sweden Circuit: Uddevalla Circuit Length: 1750 Race 1: 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 D. Philippaerts KTM ITA 39' 17.217 2 A. Cairoli Yamaha ITA +0.108 3 C. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA +9.254 4 M. De Reuver KTM NED +18.357 5 T. Rattray KTM RSA +23.307 6 G. Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA +39.353 7 T. Searle Kawasaki GBR +48.095 8 A. Chiodi Yamaha ITA +56.679 9 R. Goncalves KTM POR +1' 2.049 10 K. Gundersen Yamaha NOR +1' 3.657 11 C. Nunn KTM GBR +1' 14.223 12 A. Leok Yamaha EST +1' 21.815 13 N. Aubin Kawasaki FRA +1' 21.903 14 E. Remes Honda FIN +1' 37.414 15 J. Wing KTM SWE +1' 46.161 16 C. Campano KTM ESP +1' 51.872 17 J. Dougan Honda GBR +2' 0.809 18 A. Pellegrini Suzuki ITA +1 lap(s) 19 J. Tarroux Kawasaki FRA +1 lap(s) 20 P A. Renet Honda FRA +1 lap(s) Race 2: 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 C. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 40' 13.934 2 D. Philippaerts KTM ITA +11.074 3 T. Searle Kawasaki GBR +33.578 4 G. Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA +34.886 5 M. De Reuver KTM NED +40.170 6 D. Guarneri Yamaha ITA +43.236 7 C. Nunn KTM GBR +48.102 8 K. Gundersen Yamaha NOR +51.551 9 B. MacKenzie Yamaha GBR +52.057 10 S. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA +1' 6.734 11 M. Monni KTM ITA +1' 9.925 12 A. Cairoli Yamaha ITA +1' 13.686 13 A. Chiodi Yamaha ITA +1' 14.994 14 C. Campano KTM ESP +1' 35.092 15 N. Aubin Kawasaki FRA +1' 47.862 16 P A. Renet Honda FRA +1' 53.417 17 T. Church Kawasaki GBR +1 lap(s) 18 J. Wing KTM SWE +1 lap(s) 19 E. Remes Honda FIN +1 lap(s) 20 X. Boog Yamaha FRA +1 lap(s) Championship standings MX2 Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 350 2 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 304 3 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 302 4 Marc De Reuver KTM NED 284 5 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 261 6 Billy MacKenzie Yamaha GBR 213 7 Carl Nunn KTM GBR 205 8 Tommy Searle Kawasaki GBR 196 9 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 194 10 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 181 11 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 180 12 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 169 13 Alessio Chiodi Yamaha ITA 164 14 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 127 15 Manuel Monni KTM ITA 99 16 Luigi Seguy Yamaha FRA 94 17 Anthony Boissière Yamaha FRA 87 18 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 73 19 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 69 20 Pierre-Alexandre Renet Honda FRA 56 Manufacturers standings MX2 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 KTM 412 2 Yamaha 388 3 Kawasaki 367 4 Honda 139 5 Suzuki 16 Click here to view the news

Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi produced one of the performances of his life today as he rode through the pain of hand and ankle injuries to take a simply sensational second place in the British Grand Prix. Roared on by a partisan local crowd, who have taken the Italian to their hearts after a string of victories at this circuit, Rossi started steadily from twelfth on the grid but soon got into his rhythm and began passing riders with the flamboyance and determination that has already taken him to five consecutive MotoGP World Championship titles. With the series leader before today's action, Nicky Hayden (Honda), struggling to seventh place today, Rossi's incredible charge comes into sharper focus with a glance at the championship standings. With eight rounds remaining the Yamaha man trails the American by just 35 points and the destiny of the title is now back in his hands. Rossi remains in third place overall, however, after a second victory of the season for Dani Pedrosa (Honda) saw the Spaniard consolidate second spot. Rossi's team-mate Colin Edwards also produced a determined ride as he made up four places from his qualifying position to take sixth despite also struggling to find the correct set-up for his machine during practice. The American now heads to Japan to prepare for the Suzuka 8-Hour race he will contest on 30th July, before returning for the next round of the MotoGP season at Sachsenring, Germany, two weeks from now. Valentino Rossi (2nd; + 3.864) "That was an amazing race and a very important result for me. I am in a better position as far as the points are concerned and that is more important than winning the race. To be honest after Assen I wasn't sure if it would be possible to fight for a top result here but I wanted it so much because Donington is a very special place to me and the fans give me such incredible support every year. We were really surprised that the bike didn't work on Friday but the whole team worked really hard to find the right setting and the right tyre. After qualifying we decided we would try some new things this morning but the wet warm-up meant we had no chance to do that so we just took a gamble with the setting and it worked. It took me eight laps to understand just how good my pace could be and from that point I realised that my goal had to be the podium. I had some hard battles along the way but when I got up to Melandri it got even harder! We had real fun and neither of us wanted to back down. He was faster than me in some places and I was faster than him in others. In the end it came down to the last hairpin and we both braked around 20 or 30 metres deeper than normal. We both ran wide but luckily Marco went even wider than me and I was able to get in from of him. I finished second but today it felt like a win." Colin Edwards (6th; + 21.710) "It just hasn't clicked for us this weekend and I'm really disappointed, even though sixth place brings in a few decent points. Last year everything came easily here but from the first practice it was clear that it wasn't going to be the case this time around and we never really found our way, it was as simple as that. The bike wasn't too bad for the race and I could catch other riders easily but we didn't have the set-up to get past people on the brakes. That made life really difficult and the race was a struggle from start to finish. It's been a hard few weeks but now I have a bit of a change of scenery as I will head out to Japan to prepare for the 8 hour. I hope we'll be in better position to fight at Sachsenring in a couple of week's time." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "This was a very important race because despite Valentino's injury we have been able to close the gap to Nicky Hayden in the championship. Valentino said it was more like a victory and the feeling in the team is the same because of the physical condition he was in and the fact he started from so far back on the grid. There was never any doubt about Valentino's qualities but he has performed like a true World Champion over a difficult few weeks and he deserves a rest now. Our engineers also did a great job to put everything together in time, they have also been working hard and will enjoy a couple of days off before the next race. Now we have eight races left and 35 points to make up before Valencia." Under a blazing summer sun, the Tech 3 Yamaha Team continued the positive progress of the last three weeks to claim some more points with another impressive result to add to the encouraging race finishes of the previous three meetings. Carlos Checa fought hard throughout the race to claim 10th after 30 gruelling laps while team mate James Ellison, who was keen to impress his supporters, also picked up a few confidence-inspiring points as he finished 14th. With the inspiring results of the last few weeks, due in part to the improved consistency of the Dunlop tyres, the Tech 3 Yamaha Team has more than doubled its points haul from the first six races of the year. Carlos Checa (10th, Fastest lap 1'30.496) "It was a very hard race and I was pushing all the time. We changed some things from yesterday but in the warm up we couldn't test them because of the wet track. At the start of the race with the different settings it took a few laps before I could get the good feeling from the front and rear tyres but then I got the confidence to start pushing the pace. It was not easy to pass Tamada at first, but when I got the rhythm my pace was a bit faster than him and I was able to overtake him and get away. This was a good feeling for me to pass a factory Honda and then to be able to catch De Puniet and pass him as well. It was a question mark for me to know the endurance of the tyre because of the changed settings but basically we've been growing and learning more about the set-up with the tyres as the Dunlops improve. We must be satisfied with the result as the starting point here wasn't easy. We made good progress through the weekend and I'm happy with the job that the mechanics and the team did, as well as the performance of the Dunlop tyres. I wish, I hope and I want to keep going like this and improve overall to get even better results in the next races." James Ellison (14th Fastest lap 1'31.402) "I got a good start but after that it all went a bit downhill. We made a few changes after qualifying so we didn't get a chance to test them in the morning warm up because of the rain so as a result during the race we didn't have any grip in the rear. Once we got a bit of wear on the edge of the tyre we started dropping back which was disappointing as I was running wide everywhere. Early in the race I was in front of Carlos and I wanted to stay there to have a good fight with him but it didn't happen. On the positive side I think we have learnt a lot more about the setup that will help us in a couple of weeks with the nature of the Sachsenring track where we go to next. I was happy to have raced and finish in the points in front of the British crowd but I wish I could've done better Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "This was another good weekend after Catalunya and Assen and for sure these three races have been the best since we started the season. Carlos had a good pace in the race. He passed Tamada on a factory Honda with Michelins and De Puniet on a factory Kawasaki with Bridgestones, which is good for us. The last 10 laps he was lapping quicker than Hopkins and Capirossi in front of him so we are happy with the consistency and durability, but definitely we have to qualify better, because the gap we have after five laps - even though we are lapping the same as the guys in front - if we are seven or eight seconds behind them, we know there is no way we can catch them in a class like MotoGP. I'm very happy with Carlos as he was pushing 100% from the first lap to the end. It was really good for him to beat the Honda and come back on De Puniet, who was more than five seconds away at one stage, and put him behind us. It's another top 10 finish that was almost impossible to dream of at the start of the year. I'm also happy to see James in the points. For sure he is little disappointed about not doing better in his home grand prix but he also had quite a stable pace but it's altogether a good result and it's a good way to end these three races in a row that have been tough for everybody. We got some good points and now Carlos is equal with Vermeulen so the championship is now halfway through and I think if we can continue the way we have been in the last few races and reduce the gap to the leaders a bit more the second part of the championship will be quite exciting." Race classification MotoGP Round: 9 - British Grand Prix Circuit: Donington Circuit Length: 4023 Lap Record: 1' 28.714 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 27.676 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2006) Race: 30 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP 44' 54.878 2 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA +3.864 3 M. Melandri Honda ITA +4.016 4 C. Stoner Honda AUS +5.776 5 K. Roberts Team Roberts KR USA +9.596 6 C. Edwards Yamaha USA +21.710 7 N. Hayden Honda USA +25.764 8 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA +29.034 9 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA +35.606 10 C. Checa Yamaha ESP +40.442 11 M. Tamada Honda JPN +41.062 12 R. De Puniet Kawasaki FRA +42.197 13 A. Hofmann Ducati GER +51.454 14 J. Ellison Yamaha GBR +1' 17.804 15 J. Cardoso Ducati ESP +1 lap(s) 16 C. Vermeulen Suzuki AUS +1 lap(s) Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP 1' 28.714 Championship standings MotoGP Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 153 2 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 127 3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 118 4 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 114 5 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 107 6 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 91 7 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 73 8 Kenny Roberts Team Roberts KR USA 66 9 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 59 10 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 58 11 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 57 12 Toni Elias Honda ESP 53 13 Sete Gibernau Ducati ESP 44 14 Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 37 15 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 37 18 James Ellison Yamaha GBR 14 Manufacturers standings MotoGP Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Honda 201 2 Yamaha 147 3 Ducati 116 4 Suzuki 72 5 Team Roberts KR 66 6 Kawasaki 61 Team standings MotoGP Pos. Team Points 1 Repsol Honda Team 280 2 Camel Yamaha Team 191 3 Fortuna Honda Team 167 4 Ducati Marlboro Team 158 5 Rizla Suzuki 95 6 Honda LCR 91 7 Kawasaki Racing Team 74 8 Team Roberts KR 66 9 Konica Minolta Honda 59 10 Tech3 Yamaha 51 11 Pramac D'Antin 18 Click here to view the news

After five days of intense physiotherapy on cracked bones in his right wrist and left foot, Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi returned to MotoGP action for the first true test of his fitness since the Dutch TT in today's free practice sessions for the British Grand Prix. Rossi took to the Donington Park circuit with heavy strapping on his wrist but was able to complete 43 laps over the two sessions, running consistently at the top end of the timing screens before settling for the seventh fastest lap overall. With Rossi focusing on adapting the bike both to the demands of the circuit and the diminishing limitations of his physical condition, his team-mate Colin Edwards worked diligently beside him on the set-up of his own YZR-M1 machine. With his last-corner battle for victory at Assen still fresh in the mind, today represented a perfect opportunity for the Texan to turn the page and focus on another podium assault in Sunday's ninth round of the season. Edwards lapped fourth fastest in the morning session and slipped to sixth in the afternoon, but after completing 53 laps he has plenty of crucial data to work from ahead of tomorrow's single qualifying session. COLIN EDWARDS (6th - 1'29.379; 53 laps) "To be honest my pace today wasn't quite as good as I had expected but we're still looking for a few things from the set-up that we'll work on tomorrow. We had a couple of problems today but by the end of the second session it was starting to come. Basically we need to get it turning into the corners a little better and there are some sections of the track where we're getting some vibrations, but it is nothing major. We played around with the tyres a little today but we've got plenty still to do and need to get our heads down in the morning before chasing a lap time in qualifying." VALENTINO ROSSI (7th - 1'29.416; 43 laps) "I'm happy to be riding again and enjoying myself on the bike. Assen was a very tough weekend for me but my physiotherapist has done a good job and I feel better, although still not at 100%. I still have some pain, especially under braking, but the mobility is much better and this is important. There are three hard braking areas at this track where I am struggling and to be honest I don't know how this will be in the race; I was losing strength towards the end of the afternoon session today and this could be a problem. As far as the lap time is concerned we need to make up a few tenths in certain areas but I think we can do this with a few changes to the bike. I will get some more treatment tonight and keep some ice on my wrist and we will see tomorrow." DAVIDE BRIVIO - CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR "We're still working with both riders on the setting of the bike and it has been good to have a 'normal' first day - gathering data without anything spectacular happening and no dramas to worry about either. The good news is that Valentino can ride without too much pain or discomfort and he is trying his best to manage his condition and set fast laps. We know we have to be faster but we are still fine-tuning the set-up and have plenty of room for improvement tomorrow. The only question mark is how Valentino can hold up over the course of a race but we can't know that until Sunday. We'll just set up the bike and let the Clinica Mobile set up the rider!" The British Grand Prix at the historic Donington Park circuit is the third race in successive weekends for the MotoGP competitors and while it may be tiring, it has resulted in a steady progress of improved performances for the French Tech 3 Yamaha Team. Carlos Checa's overall lap times continue to get closer to the leaders and he is 12th fastest after the opening two free practices and in front of factory riders Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki), Randy de Puniet (Kawasaki) and Alex Hoffman (Ducati). At present less than a second separates the top 13 riders. His team mate, James Ellison, is also continuing down his own development path with the Tech 3 Yamaha and a new generation of Dunlop tyres to be in 17th position at his home race. Carlos Checa (12th, 1'29.842, 48 laps) "This track is quite difficult as it is very different from the beginning to the end and we seem to be having our biggest problems at the end of the lap. We have been testing a few different rear tyres and by the end of the session I think we have found a pretty good pace to work on. On the bike we started the day using pretty standard base settings like we used in Assen but it is not working here so we will have to be making a few changes and try something a bit different. We have to get some more weight over the front. It is getting better but it is still not enough as it is difficult to get it to steer quick enough. We have some things to try tomorrow and I am quite confident that we can improve. It is also a little hard having different tyres to test as we have to keep the same bike settings so we can tell the difference in the tyres. James Ellison (17th 1'31.306, 49 laps) "We have made a few more changes to the frame as we continue to make the bike better to ride but today I spent all of my time on it to compare it to the bike that I have really settled into. It has given us a few things to work on and a new direction to go, to compare to what I found at Barcelona and Assen and the feeling I'm getting from my preferred bike. I'm feeling pretty good after the crash I had last week. I thought my ankle might play up a bit but while I'm on the bike I'm fine, it's only when I rest and start to think about it that I feel anything. We have certainly learnt a few things today. My aim was to get into the 1'30 second bracket. We didn't get quite there but we were working on other things so I can't be too disappointed. I improved my morning time by well over a second so no doubt we will be making a few changes overnight to get an even quicker time and move up the grid like we did last week. Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "This is a very special weekend for many reasons for the Tech 3 Yamaha Team. The first one is that it is the third race in just over two weeks so I think everyone is feeling a little tired. The second reason is that it is the home Grand Prix for James and also for Dunlop our tyre supplier and major partner this year. The entire team, including Carlos and James, went to visit the Dunlop facility in Birmingham on Tuesday and we were all quite impressed by what we saw with the factory and the speed at what they're putting into MotoGP tyre development. It was good for all of us to see how difficult their mission is and how much they are involved in the project. We have quite a few Japanese here from Dunlop this weekend to get a feel for the paddock and this will no doubt help things as well. This is good as we haven't seen this since the winter test and confirms to the team the efforts that Dunlop are endeavouring to accomplish with this MotoGP project. It's been a good day in practice as well as Carlos is within 0.8 sec of the fastest lap time and both riders took a second of their morning's time. We are losing most of our time in the fourth split at the end of the lap so we have to discover why this is happening because in the other three splits we are less than a third of a second off the leading riders. So far we are quite happy. We have been able to do quite a few laps and the weather looks very good for the weekend so -unlike other races - it will allow us to use all the time possible to work. James seems to be having a bit of difficulty understanding the bike during the sessions but I'm sure we have found the reasons now after speaking with him and he will have a much better time tomorrow. We really want him to do well in his home grand prix. Round: 9 - British Grand Prix Circuit: Donington Circuit Length: 4023 Lap Record: 1' 29.973 (Colin Edwards, 2004) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 27.897 (Valentino Rossi, 2005) Date: 30 June 2006 Free Practice : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Free Practice 1 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP 1' 28.970 2 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA 1' 29.025 3 C. Stoner Honda AUS 1' 29.064 4 M. Melandri Honda ITA 1' 29.196 5 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN 1' 29.275 6 C. Edwards Yamaha USA 1' 29.379 7 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 1' 29.416 8 K. Roberts Team Roberts KR USA 1' 29.544 9 N. Hayden Honda USA 1' 29.557 10 M. Tamada Honda JPN 1' 29.806 11 C. Checa Yamaha ESP 1' 29.842 12 C. Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1' 29.941 13 R. De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 1' 30.342 14 A. Hofmann Ducati GER 1' 30.387 15 M. Fabrizio Honda ITA 1' 30.762 16 J. Ellison Yamaha GBR 1' 31.306 Click here to view the news

Yamaha has finalized its plans for round five of the 2006 Endurance World Championship, the Suzuka 8-hour race held at the Japanese circuit on 30 July. A three-team entry will be headed by the YAMAHA BLUE RACING team, which will feature riders Colin Edwards and Noriyuki Haga riding a specially prepared YZF-R1 SP. The event will mark a reunion of the rider pairing which won the event in 1996, when they rode a Yamaha YZF750SP. Edwards is currently riding a Yamaha YZR-M1 for the factory's MotoGP team and is seen as one of the most consistent riders in the class. The American has won the Suzuka 8-Hour three times and the Superbike World Championship in 2000 and 2002. Haga is currently second in the Superbike World Championship, where he competes on a Yamaha YZF-R1 for the Yamaha Motor Italia squad. It will be Haga's first entry in the 8-hour since 2001. The other two factory-supported entries are the YSP Racing Team sponsored by PRESTO Corporation and Team Cha-llenger. The YSP Racing Team sponsored by PRESTO Corporation will enter the pair of Katsuyuki Nakasuga, who is competing this season in the JSB1000 class of the All Japan Championships, and Shinichi Nakatomi, who rides for Yamaha Motor France in the Superbike World Championship. Team Cha-llenger will enter with riders Norihiko Fujiwara, who has ridden in the 8-hour almost every year since 1992, and Nobuyuki Osaki, a Japanese supersport championship competitor. Many of the Endurance World Championship regulars will also make the trip to Japan, including Yamaha Austria Racing Team and Yamaha Phase One Endurance, who are currently second and fifth in the championship. Click here to view the news

Andrew Pitt took his first ever win in the Superbike World Championship at Misano today as team-mate Noriyuki Haga gave the Yamaha Motor Italia squad its first ever double podium finish in the class. After colliding with another rider and failing to score in the opening race, the Australian rode intelligently to win race two while many top riders crashed out behind him. Making his intentions clear from the start, Pitt set the fastest lap of race two as he pulled away from the pack with world champion Troy Corser (Suzuki). When Corser crashed out on lap eight, Pitt found himself out in front of former world champions James Toseland (Honda) and Troy Bayliss (Ducati). When both Toseland and Bayliss made mistakes the Yamaha Motor Italia rider was able defend a five second lead over the battle for second, contested by Haga, Alex Barros (Honda) and Chris Walker (Kawasaki). Pitt rode sensibly to finish over two-and-a-half seconds ahead of Barros to give his team their first win of the season. Barros eventually took second place in what was a ferocious race long battle, with Haga getting the final podium spot from Walker on the last lap. Earlier in the day Haga finished fifth, his 27 point haul moving him up to second place in the championship. There were more mixed fortunes in the Yamaha Motor France camp. Norick Abe turned around a horrific qualifying session to score tenth and 13th place finishes from 22nd on the grid. Team-mate Sebastien Gimbert was 12th in race one but retired in race two, while Shinichi Nakatomi was unable to capitalize on his 13th place qualifying. The Japanese rookie crashed out of the opener and finished outside the points in the second heat. With half of the season gone, Bayliss continues to lead the championship, 94 points ahead of Haga. Pitt's win sees him remain sixth in the championship but moves Yamaha into third place in the manufacturers standings. Round seven of the series takes place at Brno in the Czech Republic on July 23. Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "It feels incredible to get that first win. I saw that Troy (Corser) was making some mistakes so I tried to keep the pressure on him. When he went down I saw that the lead was about 1.3 seconds over the next guy. For all I knew there was a big line of guys behind me so I tried to concentrate as there were a lot of laps to go. When I went past and saw 'six seconds' on my pit board I thought the mechanics had made a mistake and it was 0.6 seconds. Then, when we got down to the last five laps I knew that I could take it easier and enjoy things a bit more. It's a great feeling and I really have to thank my team. We did a lot of testing on used tyres because we knew that it was important to be consistent throughout the race. In the first race the bike was running wide on a full fuel load but for the second we completely changed the front end and run harder springs which made a big improvement." Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "Two very hard races. It was so hot and the tyre was gone after about five laps. I pushed very hard and spent the last 20 laps of each race fighting with the bike as well as with the other riders. I am very happy with the result though as it moves me to second in the championship. We had a good test at Brno recently so I am looking forward to riding there next month." Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "To me this is the worst track! Until this morning I was so bad, always 20-something! We tried a few different settings for the race and they worked a bit better. In the first race a lot of riders fell and I gained some positions, but I think I passed about ten riders. I was losing the rear a lot in race one so we adapted the settings again for race two and in the beginning the lap times were better. In the hotter conditions in the afternoon, towards the end of the race, I was having lots of slides again and pushing the front. Compared to qualifying, it was much better." Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "A very hot race but in race one I made a mistake and fell. I had a better rear tyre choice of race two and felt better in this one but did not score any points. My injuries did not give me any real problems in the race." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "A great day for us as a team and individually for our riders. I am very happy to see Andrew take his first win in superbike and I am sure this will be so important for his confidence. Nori has moved into second place in the championship and this is the first time that our team has had two riders on the same podium in superbike. I'm very proud of the progress we have made, because at the start of the season I would have said that this would be one of the worst tracks for our bike. Now our target is to ensure we maintain these results at every track between now and the end of the season." Race classification WSB Round: 6 - Misano Circuit: Misano Circuit Length: 4060 Lap Record: 1' 34.913 (Troy Bayliss, 2002) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 33.525 (Troy Bayliss, 2002) Race: 25 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 40' 6.480 2 J. Toseland Honda GBR +6.493 3 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN +10.141 4 A. Barros Honda BRA +15.017 5 N. Haga Yamaha JPN +15.376 6 R. Laconi Kawasaki FRA +16.763 7 L. Lanzi Ducati ITA +23.857 8 F. Nieto Kawasaki ESP +34.167 9 R. Xaus Ducati ESP +35.254 10 N. Abe Yamaha JPN +35.335 11 K. Muggeridge Honda AUS +39.423 12 S. Gimbert Yamaha FRA +39.609 13 F. Foret Suzuki FRA +39.755 14 V. Iannuzzo Suzuki ITA +44.065 15 R. Rolfo Ducati ITA +48.495 16 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS +48.587 Race 2: 25 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 40' 18.671 2 A. Barros Honda BRA +2.717 3 N. Haga Yamaha JPN +6.559 4 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR +7.100 5 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN +7.276 6 M. Fabrizio Honda ITA +13.916 7 L. Lanzi Ducati ITA +14.148 8 J. Toseland Honda GBR +15.065 9 R. Xaus Ducati ESP +15.434 10 F. Foret Suzuki FRA +20.579 11 F. Nieto Kawasaki ESP +21.440 12 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS +23.417 13 N. Abe Yamaha JPN +25.602 14 K. Muggeridge Honda AUS +26.088 15 R. Rolfo Ducati ITA +26.712 16 V. Iannuzzo Suzuki ITA +33.556 17 S. Martin Petronas AUS +34.766 18 S. Nakatomi Yamaha JPN +37.406 19 R. Laconi Kawasaki FRA +40.146 20 I. Clementi Ducati ITA +47.341 Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 1' 35.123 Championship standings WSB Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 254 2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 160 3 James Toseland Honda GBR 157 4 Troy Corser Suzuki AUS 149 5 Alex Barros Honda BRA 146 6 Andrew Pitt Yamaha AUS 128 7 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 80 8 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 70 9 Chris Walker Kawasaki GBR 64 10 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 61 11 Norick Abe Yamaha JPN 60 12 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 56 13 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 52 14 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 52 15 Roberto Rolfo Ducati ITA 48 18 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 18 19 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 11 Manufacturers standings WSB Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Ducati 260 2 Honda 196 3 Yamaha 189 4 Suzuki 188 5 Kawasaki 98 6 Petronas 4 WSS : Roccoli gives Yamaha breakthrough win at Misano Round: 6 - Misano Circuit: Misano Date: 25 June 2006 Crowd: 61000 Temp: 31ºC Weather: Sunny Yamaha Team Italia youngster Massimo Roccoli took his and the latest Yamaha YZF-R6's first world supersport win in a tough round six at Misano today. In blisteringly hot conditions, the boy from nearby Rimini held his nerve to fend off compatriot Simone Sanna (Honda) for an emotional win. The 21-year-old former Yamaha R6 cup champion led the race from lap three and showed maturity beyond his years to withstand intense pressure from the former 125cc Grand Prix winner who remained just centimetres from the Yamaha's rear wheel throughout the race. Polesitter Broc Parkes ended the race third on his Yamaha Motor Germany YZF-R6. The Australian run set a new lap record on lap two and ran with the leading duo for much of the race, only to slip back as he struggled for rear grip in the closing laps due to selecting a different rear tyre option to the majority of the grid. Yamaha GMT94's David Checa recovered from a poor start to gain his best result in the class. The Spaniard started from the front row but found himself swamped going into the first corner but fought through from tenth to take fourth at the chequered flag. Kevin Curtain had a tough weekend on the other Yamaha Motor Germany machine. Last year's runner-up was forced to start from the fourth row of the grid after being plagued by set-up problems during qualifying. The Australian was further hampered by a bout of sickness on race day but he was still able to ride a gritty and professional race to sixth place, keeping his hopes of lifting the championship well and truly alive. In a good day for the R6 riders, Yamaha Team Italia's Gianluca Vizziello ended the race seventh after being passed by Curtain on the final lap. Spanish privateer Xavi Fores made it six Yamahas in the top ten and continued his fantastic season with tenth position on his SLM Racing-entered machine. World champion Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) retains his place at the head of the leader board, despite missing the race at Misano through injury. He leads Curtain by the reduced gap of 30 points. Parkes is third, 12 points behind his team-mate, with Roccoli a further three points behind in fifth. Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia) "It's incredible. My bike was perfect today. I went fast from the first lap and pushed hard for the whole race. I had no problems with arm pump like in previous races and I knew from Friday that I could have a good race here. I hoped for a podium but I did not expect to win. I was not sure if Sanna could pass me on the last lap so I just pushed as hard as I could. I'm very happy for the team and my fans and want to thank them for their support." Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) "That was such hard work it feels like I've ridden about three races out there! I just struggled for rear grip today. I knew after about four or five laps that it was going to be tough and I had a lot of slides and big moments. I could see that Roccoli and Sanna had a lot more grip than me and I just had to settle for third. Maybe we could have chosen a different rear tyre and that would have improved things. Third is not a bad result, but I felt that we could have got more than that today." David Checa (Yamaha GMT94) "I am still too used to the bigger bikes I race in endurance. I was fifth into the first corner but then I got pushed wide by Harms, then I was pushed wide by Sofuoglu, so I decided that I should keep my tyres and get by those guys later. I had a soft front set-up to conserve the tyre in this heat. If there were more laps left I would have caught up with Broc in front, because he had killed his tyre at the end." Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) "We have had problems with the front this weekend, and we thought it was one thing, but it wasn't so we went the wrong way with set-up for two days. We had a bit of a change of set-up overnight and things seemed better, but by this time we had not had a chance to test which tyre was going to go the distance for the race. I ran out of rear grip and I think Broc was in the same boat. I woke up this morning and I wondered who was rocking the motorhome! I went to the Clinica Mobile and I was all right before the race - and when you get on the bike you forget everything anyway." Gianluca Vizziello (Yamaha Team Italia) "I did my best today. I had a good start but when I pushed hard the bike started sliding and I lost the riders in front of me. With seven laps to go tyre was really finished so I decided to stay in my position and score some good championship points." Race classification WSS Round: 6 - Misano Circuit: Misano Circuit Length: 4060 Lap Record: 1' 37.628 (Broc Parkes, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 36.846 (Simone Sanna, 2003) Race: 23 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 M. Roccoli Yamaha ITA 37' 55.059 2 S. Sanna Honda ITA +0.242 3 B. Parkes Yamaha AUS +4.936 4 D. Checa Yamaha ESP +6.492 5 R. Harms Honda DNK +9.805 6 K. Curtain Yamaha AUS +10.147 7 G. Vizziello Yamaha ITA +13.168 8 K. Sofuoglu Honda TUR +14.740 9 J. Stigefelt Honda SWE +16.107 10 X. Fores Yamaha ESP +19.665 11 M. Berger Kawasaki FRA +19.835 12 W. De Angelis Honda ITA +24.121 13 M. Lagrive Honda FRA +24.221 14 A. Vos Honda NED +25.557 15 M. Sanchini Yamaha ITA +26.474 Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 B. Parkes Yamaha AUS 1' 37.628 Championship standings WSS Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 116 2 Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 86 3 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 74 4 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 74 5 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 71 6 Yoann Tibero Honda FRA 50 7 Xavi Fores Yamaha ESP 45 8 Johan Stigefelt Honda SWE 42 9 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 35 10 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 26 11 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 22 12 David Checa Yamaha ESP 21 13 Joshua Brookes Ducati AUS 21 14 Simone Sanna Honda ITA 20 15 Christian Zaiser Ducati AUT 15 32 Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha BEL 2 Manufacturers standings WSS Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Honda 145 2 Yamaha 118 3 Ducati 34 4 Kawasaki 32 5 Suzuki 10 Superstock : More points for Corti in Misano Round: 4 - Misano Circuit: Misano Date: 25 June 2006 Crowd: 61000 Temp: 28ºC Weather: Sunny Yamaha Team Italia rider Claudio Corti brought his YZF-R1 SP home fifth in a dramatic fourth round of the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup at Misano. Starting from the front row, the 18-year-old Italian led briefly in the opening stages before slipping back as he struggled with set-up problems. After crashing in the morning warm-up, the current European Superstock 600 Champion was forced to race with his spare bike and was unable to exactly replicate the settings of his preferred machine. Corti spent most of the race battling for third with Luca Scassa (MV Agusta), Brendan Roberts (Suzuki) and Riccardo Chiarello (Kawasaki) but looked set for sixth until picking up a position on the final lap, when Chiarello slid off. The Yamaha rider took to the grass but stayed upright to gain 11 championship points. Corti now lies fourth in the championship, on 50 points. The championship top three was reflected in today's race. Alessandro Polita (Suzuki) was the runaway winner and now leads the championship by 27 points from today's second placed rider, Ayrton Badovini (MV Agusta). Scassa eventually claimed the third spot on the Misano rostrum to move one point ahead of Corti in the championship standings, in third. Claudio Corti (Yamaha Team Italia) "I had a big crash in the morning practice and although I was ok the bike was very badly damaged. We didn't have enough time to repair the bike, so we had to use a spare. We didn't have enough time to set it up properly and I didn't have the same speed I had the rest of the weekend. Fifth is not so bad in the circumstances but I had wanted to do better at this circuit." Race classification FIM Superstock 1000 Cup Round: 4 - Misano Circuit: Misano Circuit Length: 4060 Lap Record: 1' 37.526 (Alessandro Polita, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 37.526 (Alessandro Polita, 2006) Race: 15 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 A. Polita Suzuki ITA 24' 48.301 2 A. Badovini MV Agusta ITA +6.602 3 L. Scassa MV Agusta ITA +9.519 4 R. Roberts Suzuki AUS +10.777 5 C. Corti Yamaha ITA +18.127 6 E. Rocamora Yamaha ESP +19.192 7 S. Saltarelli Kawasaki ITA +31.703 8 M. Smrz Honda CZE +31.965 9 R. Cooper Honda GBR +32.011 10 R. Chiarello Kawasaki ITA +33.028 11 A. Martinez Mas Kawasaki ESP +34.306 12 M. Baiocco Yamaha ITA +35.749 13 C. Tangre Suzuki FRA +36.451 14 M. Jerman Suzuki SVK +37.936 15 D. Dell'omo Suzuki ITA +43.021 Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 A. Polita Suzuki ITA 1' 37.526 Championship standings FIM Superstock 1000 Cup Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Alessandro Polita Suzuki ITA 95 2 Ayrton Badovini MV Agusta ITA 68 3 Luca Scassa MV Agusta ITA 51 4 Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 50 5 Enrique Rocamora Yamaha ESP 39 6 Riccardo Chiarello Kawasaki ITA 33 7 Alex Martinez Mas Kawasaki ESP 29 8 Denis Sacchetti Kawasaki ITA 27 9 Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 23 10 Ivan Silva Kawasaki ESP 20 11 Ilario Dionisi Yamaha ITA 19 12 Simone Saltarelli Kawasaki ITA 18 13 Sheridan Morais Suzuki RSA 18 14 Richard Cooper Honda GBR 14 15 Danilo Dell'omo Suzuki ITA 14 Click here to view the news

Andrew Pitt will start tomorrow's two-race sixth round of the Superbike World Championship from the front row of the grid after qualifying his Yamaha Motor Italia YZF-R1 third in today's superpole session at a hot Misano. The Australian set his best lap of the weekend in the one-lap qualifying run to the delight of his Yamaha Motor Italia squad. The former supersport world champion has run strongly throughout the practice sessions and was able to make minor improvements to give greater feedback from the front tyre. The Australian was able to do a race simulation in the afternoon session, running consistent times over 20 laps in preparation for tomorrow's two races. The superpole result sees Pitt equal his best qualifying position in the class. Having started third on the grid at this year's opening race in Qatar, where he went on to secure his first podium finish in the class. Pitt's team-mate Noriyuki Haga made big improvements with the set-up of his machine to go into the superpole session as the sixth fastest rider in regulation qualifying. After ending Friday practice in 12th, the Yamaha Motor Italia squad changed the geometry and gear ratios of Haga's YZF-R1 to improve the acceleration and steering of the machine. Although the Japanese star could not improve his grid position in the one-lap shootout, he is confident of challenging at the front in tomorrow's races - having completed a successful race simulation in the practice sessions. There were mixed fortunes for the Yamaha Motor France squad in Misano. Shinichi Nakatomi had his best qualifying of the season, ending regular qualifying in 16th place to make superpole for the first time. The Japanese rider put in his best lap of the afternoon on his flying lap - moving him up to 13th on tomorrow's grid. Team-mate Sebastien Gimbert will start one row behind his Japanese team-mate after ending qualifying 20th. Norick Abe again struggled at a circuit he openly dislikes. He ended the day a further row behind, in 22nd, although if there is any consolation for the former Grand Prix rider then it is that he starts three places higher than in last year's Misano races, where he managed to fight through to make the top 15. Pole position for tomorrow's two 25-lap races goes to James Toseland (Honda) who set a time of 1:33.833 on his qualifying run. World champion Troy Corser (Suzuki) and Steve Martin (Petronas) make up the front row alongside Pitt. Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "I was actually a little bit surprised at how good the lap time was in superpole because I made a small mistake and that must've cost me a little time. The bike has been working really well all weekend so to get a front row start really tops things off and puts us in good shape for the race tomorrow. We've made a few improvements to the bike today to improve the feeling and give better tyre life. Pirelli has brought along a wider rear tyre for this race and although it seems to work on our bike and gives more grip, it does work the front tyre more. We'll decide in the morning if this is our best tyre option." Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "Second row is ok. The bike is working better today and is much easier for me to ride over the race distance. I was able to do a good race simulation and I'm confident that we're ready for the fight tomorrow!" Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "I am very happy to have made superpole and I think that it shows the progress we have made. I didn't really notice the pain in my arm today as I was so focused on my riding, although I think that it will be hard for me to be at 100 percent throughout both races tomorrow. It is important that I do not crash and make the injury worse but I will be trying hard in the races to get the best result possible." Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) "We had some front end grip problems which seems to be caused by the set-up of the front fork. We made some improvements in the afternoon and hopefully we can find more for the races. I had a crash in the afternoon session and have hurt my ankle, although nothing is broken." Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "It's the same problem for me, I just can't seem to get any traction. I tried hard to make a better lap time but it just didn't happen. We will try a few things tonight and I hope that I can get some good starts in the races." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "I'm quite satisfied with how things have gone so far. I'm pleased with Andrew's performance and not just with the fact that he has got on the front row. His time was very impressive and close to Toseland's pole time, which will give him a lot of confidence. He's in good shape for the race, as is Nori. He was able to do a good race simulation with 10 or 11 laps very similar to what Bayliss and Toseland were doing. Second row is ok for Nori as we know what he is capable of doing in the race." Round: 6 - Misano Circuit: Misano Circuit Length: 4060 Lap Record: 1' 34.913 (Troy Bayliss, 2002) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 33.525 (Troy Bayliss, 2002) Date: 24 June 2006 Temp: 30ºC Session 2 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 2nd Qualifying Superpole 1 J. Toseland Honda GBR 1' 35.553 1' 35.199 1' 33.833 2 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 1' 35.016 1' 34.572 1' 33.866 3 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 1' 35.448 1' 35.013 1' 34.031 4 S. Martin Petronas AUS 1' 35.313 1' 34.900 1' 34.178 5 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR 1' 35.255 1' 35.299 1' 34.472 6 N. Haga Yamaha JPN 1' 35.816 1' 35.115 1' 34.487 7 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 1' 34.903 1' 34.494 1' 34.523 8 L. Lanzi Ducati ITA 1' 35.851 1' 35.146 1' 34.556 9 R. Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1' 35.166 1' 34.843 1' 34.648 10 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1' 35.561 1' 35.304 1' 34.685 11 A. Barros Honda BRA 1' 35.858 1' 35.312 1' 34.707 12 M. Fabrizio Honda ITA 1' 35.466 1' 35.356 1' 34.814 13 S. Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1' 36.111 1' 35.593 1' 35.003 14 F. Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1' 35.667 1' 35.245 1' 35.007 15 R. Rolfo Ducati ITA 1' 35.682 1' 35.590 1' 35.410 16 M. Neukirchner Ducati GER 1' 36.091 1' 35.222 19 S. Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1' 36.144 1' 35.781 22 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 1' 36.625 1' 36.061 WSS : Yamaha takes pole in Misano Round: 6 - Misano WSS Circuit: Misano Date: 24 June 2006 Temp: 35ºC Weather: Sunny Broc Parkes demonstrated why Misano is one of his favourite circuits by taking pole position for tomorrow's sixth round of the Supersport World Championship, held at the Italian seaside venue. With reduced grip levels, due to the warm temperatures, all of the supersport riders struggled to match their times from April's test at the same venue. Parkes had been the fastest rider on display in April, posting a 1:36.411 lap time, although he was unable to go faster today. The 24-year-old Yamaha Motor Germany rider was one of only two riders to break the 1:37 barrier, setting a best time of 1:36.876 to take the second pole position of his career. Simone Sanna (Honda) will start from second on the grid. Confirming the latest YZF-R6's performance at Misano, Yamaha riders filled the next three positions on the grid. Local rider Massimo Roccoli and Yamaha GMT94's David Checa both topped the timesheets during the afternoon session but ended the day third and fourth respectively. Roccoli's Yamaha Team Italia colleague Gianluca Vizziello will lead the second row, in fifth, with Spanish YZF-R6 privateer Xavi Fores making it five Yamahas on the first two rows. Kevin Curtain will start from an uncharacteristically low fourth row on the grid after ending the day down in 14th position. The experienced Australian, who currently lies second to the absent Sebastien Charpentier (Honda), in the championship crashed mid-session and was forced to use his spare machine, which had different suspension settings and did not allow him to push as hard as on his preferred machine. Round: 6 - Misano WSS Circuit: Misano Circuit Length: 4060 Lap Record: 1' 37.924 (Katsuaki Fujiwara, 2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 36.846 (Simone Sanna, 2003) Date: 24 June 2006 Temp: 35ºC Session 1 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 2nd Qualifying 1 B. Parkes Yamaha AUS 1' 37.407 1' 36.876 2 S. Sanna Honda ITA 1' 38.626 1' 36.999 3 M. Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1' 37.601 1' 37.096 4 D. Checa Yamaha ESP 1' 38.578 1' 37.263 5 G. Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1' 37.515 1' 37.288 6 Y. Tibero Honda FRA 1' 37.555 1' 37.473 7 X. Fores Yamaha ESP 1' 38.663 1' 37.589 8 C. Zaiser Ducati AUT 1' 38.183 1' 37.769 9 K. Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1' 39.756 1' 37.824 10 M. Berger Kawasaki FRA 1' 38.947 1' 37.841 11 R. Harms Honda DNK 1' 38.450 1' 37.976 12 W. De Angelis Honda ITA 1' 39.284 1' 37.993 13 J. Stigefelt Honda SWE 1' 38.555 1' 37.998 14 K. Curtain Yamaha AUS 1' 38.157 1' 38.013 15 M. Sanchini Yamaha ITA 1' 39.440 1' 38.137 16 M. Lagrive Honda FRA 1' 39.399 1' 38.143 18 B. Martinez Yamaha ESP 1' 39.101 1' 38.260 21 V. Ivanov Yamaha RUS 1' 39.888 1' 38.650 22 A. Corradi Yamaha ITA 1' 39.795 1' 38.687 24 S. Zerbo Yamaha ITA 1' 38.875 N/A 27 A. Velini Yamaha ITA 1' 39.985 1' 39.524 28 A. Berta Yamaha ITA N/A 1' 39.621 31 J. Enjolras Yamaha FRA 1' 39.816 N/A Click here to view the news

Camel Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards came within metres of his first MotoGP World Championship victory today after dominating the Dutch TT until a breathtaking finale at Assen. Starting from the front row of the grid Edwards led the way from the first turn and set an electrifying pace that only American compatriot Nicky Hayden (Honda) was able to follow. With two laps remaining Hayden closed in and made his first lunge for the lead, forcing Edwards off the track and onto the escape road. The 'Texan Tornado' looked consigned to second place but he produced a stunning fight-back to pull level with Hayden on the final lap and retake the lead with just a few corners to go. When Hayden launched one last attack into the final chicane, only to run straight onto the gravel, Edwards seemed certain to win but there was one final twist in the tale as he ran onto the grass on the exit from the corner and lost control of his YZR-M1 machine, which threw him into the air. As Edwards slid to the ground within touching distance of the finish line Hayden returned to the track to snatch his first win of the season, leaving the Yamaha man to pick his bike up and limp across the line in 13th place. Edwards' Camel Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi also produced one of his best rides of the season so far as he battled through the pain of cracked bones in his hand and ankle to take the flag in eighth place. Rossi started from the very back of the grid after struggling to qualify with the injury he picked up during Thursday morning's free practice session. However he made up ten positions in a brave ride to seal eight valuable championship points. Valentino Rossi (8th; +23.591) "That was a really hard race for me but Doctor Costa, Marco Montanari and the entire Clinica Mobile team did a great job on my hand and I was able to race until the end. I was in some pain, especially at the start and I wasn't able to ride at 100% of my ability, but it was okay. At the start I was worried how it would go, but when the adrenalin kicked in I started to feel like I could race and by the time we got to the midway point I was feeling much better and having some fun. I lost strength in my hand over the last three laps but I was able to hang on and we picked up some decent points in eighth place. The team have done a great job this weekend in difficult conditions. I wasn't able to do many laps in practice so they didn't have much data but the bike and the tyres felt great so I have to say a big thanks to everybody. I feel very sorry for Colin - he rode a great race and he was unlucky to make the mistake at the end because he deserved to win." Colin Edwards (13th; +40.412) "What can I say? Obviously I'm really disappointed because I know I should have won that race. The bike felt great from the start and I was really enjoying riding it out there. I knew my pace in practice would be hard for the other guys to cope with and that's how it proved to be. I got the start I wanted and just kept my head down, doing those times. When Nicky came up inside me two laps from the end he left the pass pretty late and there was nowhere for me to turn the bike into. I had to go straight and luckily it was at a point of the track where I could run back on again. I was determined not to lose hold of him and just gave it everything to give myself a chance on the last lap. I got past him and then tried to keep a really defensive line out of the final corner - I had no idea Nicky had run onto the gravel otherwise I wouldn't have needed to do it. Unfortunately I ran it a bit too tight onto the grass and the rear just spun up as I opened the throttle and it threw me off. I'm gutted but fair play to Nicky, it was a great race." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "It was a great race and Colin missed out on the win by just a few metres. It's disappointing because we could already taste the victory champagne and we didn't expect that final twist. He made some wonderful moves on the last lap and he didn't deserve to go down like that, but that's racing! Valentino also rode brilliantly today, surprising everybody once again with his mental and physical strength. As a team we are very proud of both our riders today." Another top 10 result for Tech 3 Yamaha Team at Assen The evolution of Tech 3 Yamaha Team continued at the A-Style TT Assen as Carlos Checa furnished the team with another milestone when he climbed into the Top 10 for the second time in a week to finish in ninth position. Nicky Hayden (Honda) was the one to claim the win. Tech 3 team-mate, James Ellison didn't fair as well, crashing at the start of the fourth lap while in 12th place - right behind Carlos. It's a disappointing result for James who now heads to his home Grand Prix at Donington next week (July 2) suffering an ankle injury. With the improved results of the last two races, the Tech 3 Yamaha Team has doubled its points haul in the championship, inspiring the entire team to reach new heights in the upcoming Grands Prix to compliment the solid progression of recent weeks. Carlos Checa (8th, Fastest lap 1'38.119) "This is a very satisfying result for all of us as now we are in a fight with other riders. In the beginning of the race I tried to follow Melandri and Pedrosa but they started going away and I couldn't stay with them. It was better to stay with my pace as the feeling from the front wasn't so good. I caught and passed Tamada then step by step I also got by Vermeulen. I saw Rossi coming and by that time the chatter from the front increased. I also tried to stay with him but as the chatter was quite bad at that stage it was better to finish than risk a crash after all the hard work the team has done. We have to learn now where that is coming from as now we are going faster but we are also much closer to the front than at the beginning of the year. Dunlop has been putting in a very good effort and it is not easy from inside the box, I can tell you, but we have improved to be fighting with very strong rivals. We have made many steps in the last two races and now we are just one second off the top guys so this is the next step we have to work on. I am now able to fight and this is a lot more fun for me. When we compete with other riders it is much better than just trying to be the first Dunlop rider home. Now we hope that the improvements get us even closer in the next races. James Ellison (DNF Fastest lap 1'39.002) "Obviously I'm very disappointed but there are positives to take out of this weekend. I had a pretty good start as I've got a little trick I've been working on. I feel really comfortable on the bike and am able to be a bit more aggressive if anyone tries to get past and have the confidence to throw it back in front of them without hesitating when I see a front wheel coming alongside. I got in a pretty good position and stayed with Carlos but, going into Turn One I went in a little too hot and lost the front. I was trying real hard because I was comfortable and that's what you do. This is one meeting where I wanted to do really well as things are progressing nicely now and I wanted to use this as a springboard for Donington next week but now I've done a bit of damage to my ankle. It's pretty hard to walk on but with a week off some physio and ice packs I hope to be right. Besides being pretty mad at myself, I'm sorry for the team because they have been working non stop all year and they deserved to get a half decent result as well. Hopefully we can do something next week" Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "We are very happy. Happy with the race result and also happy with the qualifying. We have made another step from Barcelona. We may have finished ninth instead of eighth like last week but we are closer to the front which is the most important thing. We are definitely now racing, as we have Vermeulen on the factory Suzuki and Bridgestones as well as Tamada on a factory Honda and Michelins behind us. We are now in the mid field so it proves we have made big improvements. I'm disappointed for James because he was going very well and was right with Carlos when he lost the front end. Otherwise I think he would have had a very encouraging result for him too. Both riders were quick in qualifying and both riders were strong in the race. We had stable tyres until the end of the race and the lap times are very consistent. Apart from the first four we had similar lap times to many others so that is very encouraging. We now go to Donington where normally Dunlop tyres perform well. We are looking for an improvement in all areas again next week and keep the progression going." Race classification MotoGP Round: 8 - 2006 MotoGP Assen Circuit: Assen Circuit Length: 4555 Lap Record: 1' 37.106 (Nicky Hayden, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 36.411 (John Hopkins, 2006) Race: 26 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 N. Hayden Honda USA 42' 27.404 2 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN +4.884 3 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP +7.525 4 C. Stoner Honda AUS +7.555 5 K. Roberts Team Roberts KR USA +8.078 6 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA +17.065 7 M. Melandri Honda ITA +18.090 8 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA +23.951 9 C. Checa Yamaha ESP +29.027 10 C. Vermeulen Suzuki AUS +31.627 11 M. Tamada Honda JPN +32.841 12 A. Hofmann Ducati GER +34.143 13 C. Edwards Yamaha USA +40.412 14 R. De Puniet Kawasaki FRA +1' 3.648 15 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA +1' 17.303 16 I. Silva Ducati ESP +1 lap(s) 17 J. Cardoso Ducati ESP +3 lap(s) Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 N. Hayden Honda USA 1' 37.106 Championship standings MotoGP Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 144 2 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 102 3 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 100 4 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 98 5 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 98 6 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 78 7 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 63 8 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 57 9 Kenny Roberts Team Roberts KR USA 55 10 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 54 11 Toni Elias Honda ESP 53 12 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 50 13 Sete Gibernau Ducati ESP 44 14 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 37 15 Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 31 18 James Ellison Yamaha GBR 12 Manufacturers standings MotoGP Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Honda 176 2 Yamaha 127 3 Ducati 109 4 Suzuki 64 5 Kawasaki 57 6 Team Roberts KR 55 Team standings MotoGP Pos. Team Points 1 Repsol Honda Team 246 2 Camel Yamaha Team 161 3 Fortuna Honda Team 151 4 Ducati Marlboro Team 148 5 Rizla Suzuki 87 6 Honda LCR 78 7 Kawasaki Racing Team 70 8 Team Roberts KR 55 9 Konica Minolta Honda 54 10 Tech3 Yamaha 43 11 Pramac D'Antin 17 Race classification GP250 Round: 8 - GP250 Assen Circuit: Assen Circuit Length: 4555 Lap Record: 1' 40.500 (Jorge Lorenzo, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 40.007 (Jorge Lorenzo, 2006) Race: 24 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 J. Lorenzo Aprilia ESP 40' 30.770 2 A. de Angelis Aprilia SMR +8.168 3 A. Dovizioso Honda ITA +8.241 4 A. Debon Aprilia ESP +31.875 5 R. Locatelli Aprilia ITA +34.686 6 Y. Takahashi Honda JPN +39.326 7 M. Simoncelli Gilera ITA +39.383 8 A. West Aprilia AUS +45.104 9 H. Aoyama KTM JPN +47.526 10 M. Poggiali KTM SMR +59.296 11 A. Baldolini Aprilia ITA +1' 4.424 12 S. Aoyama Honda JPN +1' 5.827 13 F. Battiani Aprilia ITA +1' 14.392 14 A. Tizon Honda ESP +1' 21.750 15 A. Espargaro Honda ESP +1' 21.763 Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 J. Lorenzo Aprilia ESP 1' 40.500 Championship standings GP250 Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 149 2 Jorge Lorenzo Aprilia ESP 133 3 Yuki Takahashi Honda JPN 99 4 Hiroshi Aoyama KTM JPN 92 5 Roberto Locatelli Aprilia ITA 91 6 Alex de Angelis Aprilia SMR 91 7 Hector Barbera Aprilia ESP 78 8 Sylvain Guintoli Aprilia FRA 51 9 Marco Simoncelli Gilera ITA 49 10 Anthony West Aprilia AUS 42 11 Shuhei Aoyama Honda JPN 38 12 Alex Debon Aprilia ESP 35 13 Martin Cardenas Honda COL 28 14 Manuel Poggiali KTM SMR 28 15 Jakub Smrz Aprilia CZE 27 Manufacturers standings GP250 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Aprilia 176 2 Honda 154 3 KTM 96 4 Gilera 49 Click here to view the news

Camel Yamaha Team team-mates Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi will start from opposite ends of the grid in tomorrow's 76th edition of the Dutch TT after enjoying contrasting fortunes in qualifying practice. Whilst Edwards was consistently amongst the fastest riders on track throughout the day, topping the time sheets in morning free practice before clocking the third quickest time to seal a front row start in the decisive afternoon session, Rossi continued to suffer from the effects of a heavy crash yesterday and was only able to complete fourteen laps in qualifying. The Italian's best effort was almost four seconds off the pole position time of 1'36.411 set by John Hopkins (Suzuki) and he now faces an anxious wait to see if he will be able to take his place at the very back of the grid for the eighth round of a luckless season. Rossi will undergo further therapy this evening but his participation in the event will not be 100% confirmed until after tomorrow's morning warm-up, when he will make a final assessment of his fitness along with the Clinica Mobile doctors. Colin Edwards (3rd - 1'36.755; 27 laps) "Obviously I would have liked to be on pole position and I felt with the pace we were setting that we had a good shot. I went out there at the start of the session and ran a couple of tyres. On my final race tyre I was really happy with the pace and then we started throwing some qualifiers on but I don't know if I had a 1'36.4 in my bag. I was pretty happy with 36.7 that I did but for Hopkins and Nakano to do a 36.4 was pretty impressive so it would have been a case of taking my brain out and setting it on one side to try and match that! Anyway, right there at the end Stoner and Pedrosa were just sitting in the middle of the track on my last lap so we'll never know. As I say my race pace is good so I'm looking forward to tomorrow and I just hope Valentino can make the best possible recovery overnight to try and salvage something from the weekend." Valentino Rossi (18th - 1'40.298; 14 laps) "This afternoon I tried using some painkillers but the fracture in my right wrist hurts a lot. Truly it was very difficult to ride - the hand is very swollen and I don't have much strength. Together with Marco Montanari and Doctor Claudio Costa we have done the best that was possible, I've had a lot of treatment and I was able to ride for a few laps, but the strong pain stopped me from finishing the qualifying session. Tomorrow we will see how I am and, depending on what happens in the warm-up, we will decide whether I will ride or not. Anyway it's going to be very difficult. We tried to move the brake lever a little bit down and we're now looking at the possibility of making a bigger brake lever to see if this is better for me." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "Colin did a good job - he was consistently fast in every practice session and qualified on the front row so we couldn't ask for much more. The omens are good for the race for him and starting from the front row makes him one of the contenders to win the race. Unfortunately that is not the case for Valentino. He had to be very strong just to complete a few laps this afternoon and now it is just a case of letting him rest and seeing how his condition develops overnight. Obviously we want him to race but our first concern is his physical condition. Thankfully the Clinica Mobile is doing a fantastic job, as always, and we know he is in good hands." Tech 3 Yamaha Team on form in Assen Qualifying The improved performance of the Tech 3 Yamaha Team continued at the "A-Style" Assen TT when the experienced Carlos Checa gave the team it's most superb qualifying result of the 2006 season to place himself eighth on the grid for tomorrow's race. Additionally, team mate, James Ellison continued his climb through the ranks and will start from 14th position after recording his best time of the year to be just over half a second behind Checa These ever improving results are a fitting reward for the concentrated efforts and dedication that the team and tyre manufacturer, Dunlop have maintained since the season started and auger well for even more impressive results during the rest of the year. Carlos Checa (8th, 1'37.378, 31 laps) "This is our best qualifying position and the result makes me and the team very happy. We have improved our time from yesterday so tomorrow we start from the third row where we have never been before this year. .We have good pace and hopefully we can stay with our rivals that have been close to my lap times and have similar pace to me... We have confidence that we can keep the same lap times and this will give us a good chance tomorrow. In Barcelona we found the consistency and here it looks like we are even faster and closer to the lap times of our rivals. Hopefully, from our pace on race tyres not many riders can run at that. We have made another step and tomorrow I hope we take another one as we get closer and closer. I will be trying as hard as I normally do but now I am more confident, I feel fast and I believe in myself. James Ellison (14th 1'38.005, 28 laps) "We did pretty well. My aim today was to get into the '37 second bracket and I only missed out by less than a tenth of a second. Plus I'm well within range of Carlos so I'm happy. It should be good tomorrow because we have a good race tyre as Carlos and I have been doing laps on race tyres and we have a good setup and consistency. There's also been something found with the qualifying tyres and proves that Dunlop are always progressing and always looking for something better. We're improving bit by bit each weekend as we are learning and considering it is the first year for Dunlop with a team like this I think we are making pretty good progress now. The last few weeks have been great as since we have made the adjustments to the frame I can ride the bike like I want to. It makes it so much more enjoyable to ride and go out and have fun as well. Things are looking up all the time as morale has been boosted in the team by what is happening. We still need to progress but in a way the season started for us last weekend. Tomorrow I don't want to make any predictions as I just want to try my best, run a good race, be consistent with the times and stick with Carlos for the entire race. It should be good and I'm really looking forward to it. Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "This is by far the very best qualifying position we have had so far and together with Marco (Melandri) and Alex (Hoffman) we are on the third row of the grid.. We are very happy because we have a race tyre that is good on performance and durability. We also have found something interesting now with the qualifying tyres to get a good grid position. The result of James is also very good as this is his best qualifying position. It is also the best lap time he has done with a race tyre and is closer to the leading guys. We know this is going to be a tough race and we have some good points that we can grab. It's still only the early part of the championship and we are very happy with the progress we are now making. I definitely think we are now heading in the good direction we have been striving for and hopefully we can continue in this direction at Donington and beyond. We are very happy. Also, I want to say that I am very sorry to see what has happened to Valentino and the team and I wish him all the best for tomorrow's race. Round: 8 - 2006 MotoGP Assen Circuit: Assen Circuit Length: 4555 Lap Record: new track Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 36.411 (John Hopkins, 2006) Date: 23 June 2006 Temp: 20ºC Session 1 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 1 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA 1' 36.411 2 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN 1' 36.424 3 C. Edwards Yamaha USA 1' 36.755 4 N. Hayden Honda USA 1' 36.758 5 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP 1' 36.993 6 C. Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1' 37.077 7 M. Melandri Honda ITA 1' 37.332 8 C. Checa Yamaha ESP 1' 37.378 9 A. Hofmann Ducati GER 1' 37.399 10 K. Roberts Team Roberts KR USA 1' 37.528 11 R. De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 1' 37.556 12 C. Stoner Honda AUS 1' 37.660 13 M. Tamada Honda JPN 1' 37.676 14 J. Ellison Yamaha GBR 1' 38.055 15 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA 1' 38.060 16 J. Cardoso Ducati ESP 1' 39.406 18 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 1' 40.298 Click here to view the news

Yamaha Motor Italia warmed up for their second home race of the season with a productive day of practice in Misano today. Andrew Pitt spent the day's two one hour sessions working on finding good race settings for his Yamaha YZF-R1 in the hot conditions. The Australian was able to try out all the Pirelli tyre options at his disposal and settle on his likely choices for the race. Pitt posted the sixth best time of the session, a 1:35.448, despite being held up in traffic. With track temperatures of over 50°C, grip levels proved significantly lower than at April's test at the same venue. Noriyuki Haga struggled to find as good a setting as he would have liked on his YZF-R1. The Japanese star, who lies third in the championship, plans to make changes to his machine overnight to improve the handling and traction of his machine. Like Pitt he worked exclusively on finding settings for Sunday's two 25-lap races, ending the day less than a second from provisional pole - in 12th place with a best of 1:35.816. Yamaha Motor France riders Norick Abe, Sebastien Gimbert and Shinichi Nakatomi all fought problems during the session. Nakatomi was the fastest of the trio, ending the day 19th despite riding with an arm injury sustained during the last round in Silverstone. Gimbert experienced set-up problems and ended the day in 20th with Abe complaining of a lack of traction as he ended the day an unusually low 24th. Championship leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) was the fastest man on show today, recording a 1:34.903 on his final lap of the day. Troy Corser (Suzuki), Regis Laconi (Kawasaki) and Chris Walker (Kawasaki) complete the provisional front row. Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "I was surprised at how well the bike has gone in these hot conditions. We did a lot of laps and have tested all our tyre options, so we know what we'll be using for the race. At the end we put the best settings on and I was able to do a good lap, even though I got held up in traffic a bit. Tomorrow it's about trying to refine the package further so that we can be in the best possible shape for the race." Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "The traction levels are a lot lower now than when we tested in April so we still have to improve the balance of the bike. I want to be able to change direction of the bike more easily and generally make the bike easier to ride. We'll look at the suspension and gearing tonight and I think we can find some progress for tomorrow." Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) "We had some problems with the chassis settings today so I think that we can make some big improvements tomorrow. The times are very close with just over a second between me and Bayliss in pole so I know that we can be close to superpole tomorrow." Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "I was able to do many laps today and my arm did not hurt too much, so this is promising for the race. I am glad to be coming to a circuit I know, because we have already tested here and I am pleased to be faster than my team-mates." Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "For me it is the same as last year's race here. I have no grip and the back wheel is just sliding around. I tried very hard to make a good lap time, especially in those last three laps, but I could not make the improvement. We are already looking at the data to see what improvements we can make to try and find a solution for tomorrow." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "I'm quite satisfied. Obviously you want to be right up the front but Andrew has had a good day and was able to find a setting that works well. He's already found a tyre that works for the race and tomorrow we'll make a few changes to try and give him more front end feeling. Nori is still looking for the best set-up but I am not too worried as he is often wanting to make big changes to the bike on the Friday night but we usually find a solution for Saturday." Round: 6 - Misano Circuit: Misano Circuit Length: 4060 Lap Record: 1' 34.913 (Troy Bayliss, 2002) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 33.525 (Troy Bayliss, 2002) Date: 23 June 2006 Temp: 25ºC Session 1 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 1 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 1' 34.903 2 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 1' 35.016 3 R. Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1' 35.166 4 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR 1' 35.255 5 S. Martin Petronas AUS 1' 35.313 6 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 1' 35.448 7 M. Fabrizio Honda ITA 1' 35.466 8 J. Toseland Honda GBR 1' 35.553 9 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1' 35.561 10 F. Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1' 35.667 11 R. Rolfo Ducati ITA 1' 35.682 12 N. Haga Yamaha JPN 1' 35.816 13 L. Lanzi Ducati ITA 1' 35.851 14 A. Barros Honda BRA 1' 35.858 15 K. Muggeridge Honda AUS 1' 35.965 16 F. Foret Suzuki FRA 1' 36.037 19 S. Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1' 36.111 20 S. Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1' 36.144 24 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 1' 36.625 WSS : Yamaha dominant in first practice at Misano Round: 6 - Misano WSS Circuit: Misano Date: 23 June 2006 Temp: 31ºC Weather: Sunny Yamaha enjoyed a dream start to qualifying for Sunday's sixth round of the Supersport World Championship at Misano, with YZF-R6 riders occupying four of the top five places in first qualifying today. Yamaha Motor Germany's Australian rider Broc Parkes topped the timesheets with a time half-a-second under Katsuaki Fujiwara's three-year-old lap record. The 24-year-old had slipped off uninjured in the morning warm-up but fought back to set a best of 1:37.407, one-tenth-of-a-second faster than Gianluca Vizzello on the Yamaha Team Italia YZF-R6, in the afternoon's timed practice. Local rider Massimo Roccoli ended the day fourth on the other Yamaha Team Italia entry. The 21-year-old, who hails from nearby Rimini, posted a fastest time of 1:37.601 to complete the provisional front row. Young French rider Yoann Tibero is the odd man out on the provisional front row, taking third on his Honda. Parkes' team-mate Kevin Curtain had been at the top of the timesheets when his bike developed a minor technical fault with 15 minutes of the session remaining. The Australian was able to return to the pits and rejoin using his spare machine, but with his second bike using different settings he was unable to improve his time and slipped back to fifth. Yamaha GMT94's David Checa ended the day ninth to give the YZF-R6 five of the top 10 places on the grid. Grid positions for Sunday's 23-lap will be decided by in tomorrow afternoon's final qualifying session. Round: 6 - Misano WSS Circuit: Misano Circuit Length: 4060 Lap Record: 1' 37.924 (Katsuaki Fujiwara, 2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 36.846 (Simone Sanna, 2003) Date: 23 June 2006 Temp: 31ºC Session 1 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 1 B. Parkes Yamaha AUS 1' 37.407 2 G. Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1' 37.515 3 Y. Tibero Honda FRA 1' 37.555 4 M. Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1' 37.601 5 K. Curtain Yamaha AUS 1' 38.157 6 C. Zaiser Ducati AUT 1' 38.183 7 R. Harms Honda DNK 1' 38.450 8 J. Stigefelt Honda SWE 1' 38.555 9 D. Checa Yamaha ESP 1' 38.578 10 S. Sanna Honda ITA 1' 38.626 11 X. Fores Yamaha ESP 1' 38.663 12 S. Zerbo Yamaha ITA 1' 38.875 13 A. Vos Honda NED 1' 38.879 14 M. Berger Kawasaki FRA 1' 38.947 15 G. Leblanc Honda FRA 1' 39.005 16 B. Martinez Yamaha ESP 1' 39.101 20 M. Sanchini Yamaha ITA 1' 39.440 26 A. Corradi Yamaha ITA 1' 39.795 27 J. Enjolras Yamaha FRA 1' 39.816 28 V. Ivanov Yamaha RUS 1' 39.888 30 A. Velini Yamaha ITA 1' 39.985 Click here to view the news

Camel Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards adapted better than any other rider to the track changes and mixed weather conditions that affected the first day of action at the Dutch TT today, clocking the fastest time in the afternoon session after lapping sixth quickest in the morning. The main concern for Yamaha at Assen today, however, was for the condition of Edwards' team-mate Valentino Rossi, who suffered a high-speed crash in the morning and was taken to a local hospital for treatment to a number of minor injuries. The Italian was two laps into his second run of the morning when the rear tyre of his YZR-M1 machine lost its grip on the cool Assen circuit and threw him into the air in the fast left-hander before the final chicane. After undergoing x-rays in the Clinica Mobile, which confirmed hairline fractures to the pisiform bone on his right hand and his left malleolus (ankle), Rossi was then taken to the Assen Hospital for a thorax scan which thankfully showed no further damage. He bravely returned to the track in the afternoon and set the twelfth fastest time despite being in some pain and discomfort. Colin Edwards (1st - 1'38.144; 28 laps) "The bike felt great today and it was easy to ride from the first moment I went out onto the track. Even with the changes this circuit still has plenty of banking and it creates its own load, so that saves a lot of time with the setting and you can more or less ride anything here. I've ridden a lot of inferior bikes to the M1 here and had a few problems but this is such a great bike - we've barely had to touch it today. I've always gone well here and it's a circuit I've always liked but it seems that from the first time I raced here in about 1995 they have made some kind of change each year to spoil the track. I think the latest changes are a step too far and I don't think we can call this 'The Cathedral' of MotoGP anymore - certainly the Dutch TT has lost a lot of its magic. It was a strange day because of that and because of the injury to my team-mate. I was glad to see him back in the garage this afternoon and hopefully we can work together to go much faster tomorrow." Valentino Rossi (12th - 1'39.458; 23 laps) "I'm okay and I would like everyone to relax about it, even if it's been quite hard for me to ride! I have a little fracture on my left foot and also a small fracture on my right wrist, so when I give gas and brake it's really hard. I don't have much power or feeling. Plus I got a big bruise on my thorax and I couldn't breathe well for a long time. I had all the examinations necessary to check if everything was okay and with some painkillers I was able to ride this afternoon. The problem this morning was that we started with a tyre that was a bit too hard on the left. When it started to rain I stopped and when I started again I felt that I didn't have enough grip on the left side. I tried to do another lap to see if the grip would improve, but in a really fast point, with the bike leaned over on the left side, I took a flight through the air! It was a big high-side and the first time I hit the ground was very hard. It's a really unlucky thing for us because here I can feel that our bike is working really well, as Colin has shown. The track is not like the old Assen, but anyway it's not so bad. I need to see how it will be when I can ride at the maximum and hopefully I will feel in better shape tomorrow so I can do that." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "I suppose it is fair to say that was a different day to normal! On one hand it was very positive because Colin was fast throughout and both he and his bike look good around this circuit. Of course Valentino had a big problem this morning but it was amazing to see him back out on track in the afternoon after such a heavy fall. Despite the pain he was in he managed to complete some laps and also gave us some feedback so let's just hope his condition improves. If Colin can continue like this and Valentino can get back to a decent level of fitness, then we should see them both on top on Saturday." Tech 3 Yamaha Team second fastest in opening practice The Tech 3 Yamaha Team proved today that persistence, hard work and dedication are rewarded as Carlos Checa finished the initial practice sessions in second fastest position for the A-Style Dutch TT on the new look Assen circuit. Checa's superlative time was just over a tenth of a second behind fellow Yamaha rider Colin Edwards who was fastest. Team mate, James Ellison also scored his most impressive practice time of the year to date to be only 1.5 seconds behind Edwards in 13th position, marginally behind number one Yamaha rider and multiple world champion, Valentino Rossi. As the season approaches the half-way point, the results confirm the ongoing improvement of the Dunlop race tyres, reflected in the ever decreasing gap to the top of the leaderboard. Carlos Checa (2nd, 1'38.259, 39 laps) "This is an excellent result for myself and the team and confirms all the hard work we have been doing. I now have the feeling with the Dunlop tyres that I can push more. I can go into the turn and exit the turn faster as rear stability and grip has been improving all the time. Of course we are always looking fro more but the question now is to get the endurance to last the entire race. There has been nothing changed on the bike since Barcelona and there we had improved a lot to give a better feeling but 85% of the improvement is all down to the tyres. It has been awhile since I have been in this position and sure I am happy but as a rider this is what I expect and desire. Sometimes you can't always be in front but I know the limitations and what we have We are racing in the top level with one of the best bikes in the world and I always have tried to be happy no matter how difficult the situation. This situation is getting better every race as since the tests at Le Mans and Mugello there has been a very big improvement so I feel that we a re getting closer Tomorrow, we need to make sure that we can qualify well to stay near this position and make sure we have a good tyre to do the job. We also need to find the suitable race tyre as today with the conditions and learning the new track we did not have enough time to do a proper distance but we have a good idea of which direction to go. I feel confident that after Barcelona we are closer now than we have been all year. James Ellison (13th 1'39.645, 35 laps) "This is definitely the happiest I have been all year. We just got pipped in the last few moments by Rossi and Pedrosa so maybe the position could have been even better but I'm not worried about that at the moment as we're still progressing. We're all very happy. We knew that once we could get the bike set up properly with the tyres I would be able to ride the bike the way I want to. I still don't feel like I'm right on the limit but it's the first time I'm riding like I was riding last year. It's been frustrating in the earlier races not being able to move around on the bike and use the bike aggressively. I've just had to sit on top of it and the bike was riding me. I feel a lot better on it now and I'm having fun every time I go out. I'm feeling a lot more relaxed on it, letting the bike move underneath me instead of fighting it, I'm telling it where to go and the improvements are coming now. The tyres are always improving. To be only 1.5 seconds off is a huge boost to me and a great inspiration to the team. We've been getting better every weekend and this has been a great improvement. Hopefully tomorrow is like everywhere else where the leading guys don't improve that much and I can narrow the gap a bit more because my aim this weekend is to be within a second of pole position because we always seem to be able to run quite a good race pace but we start too far back. Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "This has been a very good day today after the great weekend we had in Barcelona. We have continued to work hard with Dunlop and in the end it shows that what we are doing is paying off. Both Carlos and James had a really good race in Barcelona and that has been an inspiration to keep on pushing harder here. Dunlop has always been quite good here in Assen, so hopefully this will continue. The weekend has started in a really positive way for us and it is very satisfying to see Carlos in second position and show what the Yamaha and the Dunlop tyres can do. For sure James is also a lot better than he has ever been. Ok, it is only day one but so far we have started the weekend well and we hope we can continue in this way for qualifying and the race. It is not only just one fast lap either as both riders are putting in the consistent lap times now as they both did a lot of fast laps s o naturally we'd really like to be in this same position tomorrow afternoon We knew from the start of the year it would take time to get the results. We will test the qualifying tyres tomorrow morning to see what works and I know both riders will be endeavouring to set even faster times and hopefully we have qualifying tyres that can do the job. The only real concern is the weather forecast as we will be hoping for the dry conditions to for the weekend. Round: 8 - 2006 MotoGP Assen Circuit: Assen Circuit Length: 4555 Lap Record: new track Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 38.144 (Colin Edwards, 2006) Date: 22 June 2006 Temp: 18ºC Free Practice : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Free Practice 1 C. Edwards Yamaha USA 1' 38.144 2 C. Checa Yamaha ESP 1' 38.259 3 C. Stoner Honda AUS 1' 38.416 4 K. Roberts Team Roberts KR USA 1' 38.510 5 R. De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 1' 38.610 6 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA 1' 38.659 7 C. Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1' 38.720 8 M. Tamada Honda JPN 1' 38.921 9 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN 1' 38.965 10 N. Hayden Honda USA 1' 39.142 11 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP 1' 39.166 12 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 1' 39.458 13 J. Ellison Yamaha GBR 1' 39.645 14 M. Melandri Honda ITA 1' 39.647 15 A. Hofmann Ducati GER 1' 40.248 16 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA 1' 40.688 Click here to view the news

The MotoGP World Championship returns to its oldest venue this weekend with a fresh new challenge awaiting it at the legendary Dutch TT. With major changes having taken place at the Assen circuit since last season, the whole of the Northern Loop section making way for a new car park and expanded viewing areas, the Camel Yamaha Team venture into the unknown this weekend as they look to extend their winning run to three straight races. The 76th edition of the Dutch TT welcomes MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi in top form, the Italian having taken consecutive victories at Mugello and Catalunya in the last two rounds to put his title defence firmly back on track. Rossi has won at Assen for three of the last four editions of the world-famous race and nothing less than another success will do as he aims to cut back a 29-point deficit to current series leader Nicky Hayden (Honda), who has yet to win a race this year. Rossi's team-mate Colin Edwards himself took three victories at Assen in the World Superbike series, including a double win on his way to the title in a gripping climax to the 2002 season. Last season he joined Rossi on the MotoGP podium after finishing in third place and, after continuing set-up work on the new version YZR-M1 chassis at Catalunya, he is confident of rejoining the battle for a top three position in Holland. Valentino Rossi: A great emotion Valentino Rossi is looking forward getting back out on track just five days after the 56th victory of his illustrious career in Barcelona. Despite his opposition to such a hectic run of races, which will almost certainly see some of the riders injured last Sunday missing at least one round, the Italian sees the next two weekends as a valuable opportunity to maintain his momentum and pull even closer to the championship lead. "Having three consecutive races is a problem because if you are injured in the first then you risk not being able to ride for two more races," comments Rossi. "By the third race the riders are also tired and begin to lose concentration so it's very tough for everyone. In the past Assen was one of my favourite tracks and it was always a great, great emotion to ride a MotoGP bike at the limit there. Sadly the track has been changed so I am not as excited about it as usual, because it seems from reports that some of the 'Assen magic' has gone. Anyway, I hope that it's still a good track and I know it will still be fun to race there; it always has a fantastic atmosphere and the Dutch fans are wonderful. "We have now won two races in a row and if we hadn't had the problem in Le Mans then that would be three, which means we are now more or less at the same level that we were at this time last year. These races are really important so I hope that we can manage to win as many as possible. I have moved up to third in the championship now but I still only took five points from Hayden in Barcelona and he is 29 points ahead of me, so we need to keep winning because he is a consistent podium finisher and he always fights to the end." Colin Edwards: Familiar Territory Colin Edwards returns to one of the most successful circuits of his career this weekend but, like Rossi, he is concerned that some of the natural character will have been lost with the recent modifications. After picking up a solid fifth place in the last round at Catalunya the American is now targeting a return to podium form as he heads into three important races at Assen, Donington and Laguna Seca. "I grew up on the next three tracks and I've finished on the podium at all of them in MotoGP so hopefully this can be a good spell for me," says Edwards. "On paper the Yamaha should work well at the new track and some more time with the new chassis will help us get up to speed. We know that what Valentino is using works so it's a case of adapting it to me, making a few small changes and getting as close to his pace as possible - if not improving on it. "Like a lot of the riders I have a lot of affection for the old Assen circuit and I hope it hasn't lost too much of its character. Whatever the track is like you can bet that the atmosphere is going to be just as crazy as ever and I always have a lot of fans there - especially some of the Brits who come over for the party. Hopefully I can give them something to shout about on Saturday afternoon." Davide Brivio: A team effort Such a hectic schedule of races is a major strain on any team and Camel Yamaha is no different. It requires a special effort from the riders and engineers right through to the catering staff and it is a point of the season where every member of the workforce plays a crucial role. Team Director Davide Brivio says everybody has a major part to play as the points quest continues with a second race in the space of just six days. "It was amazing watching the boxes being packed up in the pit garage and the hospitality unit being dismantled on Sunday night to think that in just two days' time they would all be put back together at a circuit 1800 kilometres away," says Brivio. "It is a huge challenge for the whole team and a lot of pressure but it is another example that shows how a rider cannot be successful on the track unless he has the right staff behind him to put everything in place. "Our target before Mugello was to win the next four races so now you could say the job is half done. We want the same level of performance at the next two rounds and the same result, although we know it will be difficult. Assen will be a very interesting challenge because it is virtually a new track - like going to China, Laguna Seca or Turkey last year - but the base setting of our bike has improved vastly and we hope it can be adapted quickly." Technically speaking: Assen according to Andrea Zugna Despite the dramatic changes to Assen's unique layout over the winter, it still promises to be one of the most technically and physically demanding circuits on the calendar for the MotoGP riders. With barely a straight piece of tarmac in sight, handling remains a major focal point due to high-speed chicanes and dramatic camber changes - the latter, in some places, resembling the profile of the public roads that the original circuit was based around 76 years ago. Andrea Zugna, Data Engineer for Colin Edwards, says the information gathered last season will still be highly valuable. "It will be interesting to see how the track is without the Northern Loop because that was a very characteristic section of the circuit, with high camber and left-right switches," says Zugna. "I suppose the first section of the circuit will now be similar to China, with a series of tight right-handers from turns one to four causing strain on the right hand side of the tyre, and that will also make it physically demanding on the riders. "As far as the setting is concerned we will still start with the same as last year because we know it works for around 90% of the track. On Friday morning we will analyse the data from the final 10% and the engineers will be able to make the adjustments based on that information. We expect Assen to be more like a 'normal' circuit now. It has always required only partial throttle and that will still be the case, so it is not too critical on gearbox and engine settings but does require a good compromise to cope with the fast direction changes and the slow chicane which was modified last year. Our setting worked well last year and we finished on the podium so hopefully that can be the case for both riders again." Valentino Rossi: information Age: 27 Lives: London, UK Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 GP victories: 82 (56 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 164 (104 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) Pole positions: 41 World Championships - 7 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP) Colin Edwards: information Age: 32 Lives: Conroe, Texas Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 First GP: Japan, 2003 (MotoGP) GP starts: 55 x MotoGP World Championships - 2 World Superbike Assen Lap Record: New Track 2006 Dutch TT Results: 1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha, 38'41.808 2. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda, +1.583 3. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha, +7.643 Click here to view the news

The Superbike World Championship makes its second visit of the year to Italy this weekend, when the Misano Adriatico circuit plays host to round six of what is proving to be an exciting championship. The question on everyone's lips is who can stop Ducati's Troy Bayliss from extending his run of seven consecutive race wins. The man most likely to break that domination looks like being Yamaha Motor Italia's Noriyuki Haga. Haga has been supremely consistent this season, failing to finish just one race and never coming lower than fifth in the other nine races. He has been Bayliss' main challenger since the start of the European season in April, outscoring all but the Australian over the last three rounds to go to Misano third in the championship. The Japanese rider returns to Italy on the back of three consecutive podium finishes and a successful test in Brno. His Yamaha Motor Italia squad have worked hard to make the 2006 YZF-R1 easier to ride than last year's model and with every lap bringing a greater knowledge of the complex electronics systems used to manage the power, the team goes to Misano in good spirits. "Last year we had a big traction problem in Misano," says Haga, who qualified a lowly 21st on the grid but still scored a pair of sixths at the seaside circuit last year. "My target for Misano is the same as at all races: to fight for the win. This year the bike is much better on this type of track and we had a good test at Misano in April, when I set the third fastest time and was able to do a good race simulation. I think that the conditions will be much hotter for the race and that this will change the grip levels but we now have a good base setting for the bike and it means that we do not have to make such big changes between each circuit." As an official Pirelli tyre test team, Haga and his team-mate Andrew Pitt spent their three days in the Czech Republic last week evaluating the latest products from the tyre company as well as trying out a host of new settings and development parts on their YZF-R1s. Running in hot temperatures as expected in Misano, Pitt set the second fastest time on race tyres with a 2:01.2, Haga was third fastest with a best of 2:01.5. Bayliss was the fastest rider on show with a 2:00.8. Showing the considerable improvements made to the bikes and tyres over the past year, all of the top riders were well under Haga's 2:03.747 lap record from last year's race. Pitt currently lies sixth in the series and has been a regular challenger at the front of the field this season. The Australian is in good form, having taken a pair of top five finishes in Silverstone. As always he goes into this weekend's race with a target of a podium finish. Like Haga, he was able to complete a full test programme in Brno and is looking forward to Misano. He says: "Misano is a circuit that I enjoy going to. It's normally very hot there, which along with the fact that you're on the left side of the tyre so long, means that it's a hard track on the tyres. It's mostly left hand corners around here and you're on the side of the tyre for a big part of the lap. There are only one or two right handers and a couple of chicanes. The most critical part at Misano is the triple left hand corner leading into the back straight. You need to get that right to get a good run onto the back straight, because in the race that's really the only chance you get to overtake. Our test went well there but we expect it to be hotter this weekend, so the grip levels are likely to be different for the race." Having spent two days testing in Lausitz last weekend, Yamaha Motor France will go to Misano hoping to recapture the form that saw Norick Abe take two fourth places in Valencia, a track with some similarities to this weekend's venue. The Japanese star currently lies ninth in the championship and, with last year's races and some valuable testing time around the venue, he will be expected to better the solitary point he scored in last year's races, even though Misano is one of his least favourite tracks. By contrast team-mate Sebastien Gimbert rates Misano as one of his favourites. He missed the race through injury last year but rode strongly to set the 11th fastest time in April's test. The team's third rider, Shinichi Nakatomi, could miss the race due to the arm injury he sustained in Silverstone. A decision will be made later this week as to whether the Japanese star will ride or not. As always, the event will also feature a round of the Supersport World Championship, where Yamaha Motor Germany's Kevin Curtain will look to take advantage of the absent championship leader Sebastien Charpentier. The Honda rider crashed at the Brno test and will miss the Misano race. Curtain currently lies second in the championship on his new-for-2006 YZF-R6, 40 points behind Charpentier. Curtain set the fastest supersport time at the Brno test, his 2:06.0 being over a second under the lap record. "The Brno test went real well," explained Curtain. "The bike is improving every time we get out on it. Pirelli brought along a lot of tyres to test and we've found some that work well with the R6. Misano should suit us. We've got to try and pull some points back on Charpentier and keep applying the pressure to him. There's still a long way to go in the championship and I've always maintained that nothing would be decided in the opening races. I had some bad luck in Monza but we will keep focussed and try not to make any mistakes." Curtain's team-mate Broc Parkes is a Misano specialist, having won an Italian championship race there last year and setting the fastest ever world supersport lap of the circuit in April's official test. Parkes was just one tenth of a second slower than his team-mate in Brno and will be looking for a good result in Misano to elevate him from his current fourth position in the championship and possibly put himself in a position to challenge for the title in the latter half of the season. Click here to view the news

Stefan Everts' assault on the World Championship record books weathered its toughest test in weeks but came through unscathed at the eighth round of the 2006 series. At a hot and packed Matterley Basin circuit for the British Grand Prix the World Champion won both motos to stretch his unbeaten run to thirteen races and eight perfect rounds so far. Everts had claimed his second pole position in a row on Saturday on a very dry track that was hard and dusty. The long layout gave the impression of high speed but the riders were struggling to break the two minute barrier as they bobbed and weaved through the course situated in the middle of a natural bowl and among some picturesque scenery. Everts owned his twelfth consecutive moto in usual untouchable fashion. The 33 year old came close to crashing in a busy first corner but cut through from fourth position in the opening turns to be leading the pack by the end of the first lap. A more unconventional race lay in store later in the afternoon as a spill while leading on the fifth lap required some swift surgery to his standing and nine circulations later he had recouped four positions and passed Steve Ramon to again be the pace-setter. It was another dominant display from the Yamaha Intur Sports rider who also recorded the fastest lap of the sprint. Cédric Melotte continues to improve both his physical condition and his confidence. The Belgian was part of a tasty dice for second and third positions in the opening moto - at one stage the YZ450FMs were flying tandem - and eventually he defended fifth spot from Tanel Leok. In the second outing he gained another top ten placing with eighth for his best pair of results this year. Bike it Yamaha UK Dixon Racing's Julien Bill posted the seventh quickest lap-time in qualification and was running in the mid top ten for sections of the opening race until being relegated to tenth with an engine glitch. He was 13th in the final moto after a problem with his goggles. Everts leads the Championship by 99 points which gives him an advantage of almost two Grand Prix with only seven left to run. The Belgian is still firmly on course to reach 100 career victories and presently has 95. Cédric Melotte is eighth but only twelve points from seventh with the next round due to take place at Sweden in two weeks. Stefan Everts, Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team: "I hit a rock with my frame, the back wheel came out of the rut and I slid out. Josh passed me immediately but I was aggressive and got him back quickly. I was chasing Tanel but I was having a hard time around the first part of the track because it was so fast and the roosts coming up from all the dust made it difficult to see the lines. I made my way through one by one and then pushed quite hard to have a small gap after a few laps. I managed to bring my Yamaha to the chequered flag first and again I am very happy. After the small crash it made a good show for the fans and I was pleased with how I could still take the race." Cédric Melotte, Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team: "Finally I felt more like my old self. I had a long talk with Michele during the week about my life and not just motocross. His encouragement was unbelievable and he is very positive. I had a small problem with my back today and had a lot of pain. I needed an injection to race but I did not want to give up because I was feeling mentally much better. I am still physically not 100% and my riding style needs a high level of fitness. I needed a bit of time to come back but I am still confident for the rest of the season. It will be good to have a small break now and I can take my training step by step." Michele Rinaldi, Team co-ordinator, Yamaha Intur Sports Motocross Team: "It has been a difficult and delicate time for Cédric. He needed a long time to recover from his wrist and still wasn't fit to push for forty minutes. It was not the best situation for Cédric, Yamaha or for us. Today he proved he was fast and could ride at the front for half of the race but could not go to the end. I hope this will change soon because Stefan is giving us perfect results in one half of the team. Both riders really appreciate the new Yamaha and we can see that it is strong everywhere and in all kinds of conditions. We are taking many holeshots which shows the performance of the engine and we are all satisfied." Race classification MX1 Round: 8 - 2006 GP of Matterley Basin, UK Circuit: Matterley Basin Race 1: 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 S. Everts Yamaha BEL 41' 8.529 2 K. De Dycker Honda BEL +4.816 3 J. Coppins Honda NZL +5.293 4 K. Strijbos Suzuki BEL +6.436 5 C. Melotte Yamaha BEL +16.789 6 T. Leok Kawasaki EST +20.713 7 G. Crockard Honda GBR +26.176 8 J. Garcia Vico Honda ESP +28.827 9 P. Leuret Honda FRA +37.045 10 J. Bill Yamaha GBR +43.021 11 J. Noble Honda GBR +50.363 12 J. Barragan KTM ESP +1' 9.842 13 M. Jones Honda GBR +1' 12.970 14 S. Ramon Suzuki BEL +1' 18.796 15 M. Priem Yamaha BEL +1' 20.067 16 D. Theybers Suzuki BEL +1' 22.208 17 L. Freibergs Suzuki LVA +1' 22.777 18 A. Pyrhonen TM FIN +1' 28.109 19 C. Federici Kawasaki ITA +1' 31.970 20 N. Bradshaw Suzuki GBR +1' 36.825 Race 2: 19 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 S. Everts Yamaha BEL 39' 21.708 2 K. Strijbos Suzuki BEL +3.372 3 S. Ramon Suzuki BEL +15.875 4 T. Leok Kawasaki EST +37.671 5 J. Coppins Honda NZL +45.447 6 J. Barragan KTM ESP +50.676 7 K. De Dycker Honda BEL +56.471 8 C. Melotte Yamaha BEL +59.626 9 M. Van Daele Honda BEL +1' 3.592 10 J. Garcia Vico Honda ESP +1' 8.873 11 M. Priem Yamaha BEL +1' 11.660 12 J. Noble Honda GBR +1' 21.470 13 J. Bill Yamaha GBR +1' 23.626 14 C. Federici Kawasaki ITA +1' 28.325 15 N. Bradshaw Suzuki GBR +1' 36.628 16 M. Jones Honda GBR +1' 41.671 17 J. Lindhe KTM SWE +1' 46.492 18 A. Salvini Suzuki ITA +1' 54.806 19 A. Bobkovs Honda LVA +2' 1.915 20 B. Verhoeven Kawasaki NED +2' 3.758 Championship standings MX1 Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Stefan Everts Yamaha BEL 392 2 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 293 3 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 278 4 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 267 5 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 254 6 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 190 7 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 159 8 Cedric Melotte Yamaha BEL 147 9 Javier Garcia Vico Honda ESP 139 10 Manuel Priem Yamaha BEL 136 11 Julien Bill Yamaha GBR 126 12 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 120 13 Brian Jorgensen Honda DNK 120 14 James Noble Honda GBR 108 15 Sebastien Tortelli KTM FRA 99 16 Antti Pyrhonen TM FIN 94 17 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL 78 18 Gordon Crockard Honda GBR 54 19 Alex Salvini Suzuki ITA 50 20 Wyatt Avis KTM RSA 46 Manufacturers standings MX1 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Yamaha 392 2 Suzuki 329 3 Honda 279 4 Kawasaki 278 5 KTM 245 6 TM 94 MX2 : Another runner-up place for Cairoli Round: 8 - 2006 GP of Matterley Basin, UK Circuit: Matterley Basin Date: 18 June 2006 Crowd: 39000 Temp: 28ºC Weather: Hot Antonio Cairoli repeated his Italian Grand Prix runner-up position at Matterley Basin as the top two steps of the MX2 podium were again filled by David Philippaerts and the De Carli representative. The World Champion had started badly in the first race on a track that proved difficult for passing simply because the high speed and simple layout meant that the distances between riders remained constant and tricky to breach. He was able to improve his ranking by one digit to sixth after Nicolas Aubin faded back through the top ten. In the second moto he harried Philippaerts for the better part of the 35 minute and 2 lap distance before pulling away for his fifth race triumph of the season. Bike it Yamaha UK Dixon Racing's Billy Mackenzie was fourth after tying on points for the lower step of the podium but losing his third silverware of the term after finishing eighth in race two. The Scot was the first Yamaha home with third position in the first contest of the day in what was a decent performance in front of a very vocal supporting crowd. The 22 year old had several injections into a broken left hand and fought off the close attentions of Championship leader Christophe Pourcel for the runner-up place behind David Philippaerts until the last lap. The local resident was back to his aggressive best after two indifferent and troublesome Grand Prix but his impetuousness cost him in the afternoon after a mistake while third saw him run off the track and he struggled to rise higher up the classification. Mackenzie was briefly on the podium when Sebastien Pourcel overtook Tommy Searle for third but then almost crashed giving the British teenager his first ever top three and leaving the Yamaha man disappointed. Kenneth Gundersen was leading the moto1 until he lost the front end of the Ricci Racing Yamaha on a banked right hander and crashed down to sixth, finally able to rise to fifth. In the second outing he fought off Billy Mackenzie and passed Anthony Boisierre for sixth that gave him fifth overall. Davide Guarneri gained his best race result of the year in fourth position after leaving behind the tussle between his Yamaha compatriots Gundersen and Cairoli but collided with Gareth Swanepoel and did not finish race two. His team-mate Alessio Chiodi had small crashes in both motos and was eleventh. After two second positions and a victory in the last four motos Cairoli has moved up to second in the Championship 34 points behind Christophe Pourcel. Mackenzie is sixth and Gundersen seventh. After a heavy three week spell of consecutive races the World Championships have now earned a well deserved break. The Grand Prix of Sweden at the Uddevalla circuit will draw the teams and riders together on the first weekend of July. Antonio Cairoli, Team Yamaha De Carli: "I didn't start well and I was trying to come back through but I hit a wall with Gundersen because he was so hard to pass. I lost a lot of time. I rode with my head and I liked the track. I was thinking about the Championship in that first heat because I passed Tyla and de Reuver although I lost the race because of that start." Kenneth Gundersen, Yamaha Team Ricci: "Again my own mistake cost me, just like Montevarchi. I tried to be smooth too early and should have attacked for a few more laps before trying to set a rhythm but I came into the corner and the front slid out. I came from eighth to fifth in the first one and it wasn't a bad race. I struggled in the second moto and was fighting the bike." Alessio Chiodi, Yamaha Team Ricci: "Today was not so good because I had some decent positions but I crashed in both motos however my knee is getting better and that is one positive thing. The track was fast and the dry but it wasn't so bad." Billy Mackenzie, Bike it Yamaha UK Dixon Racing: "I'm gutted to be honest. Hearing the crowd cheering for twenty minutes after the race for someone else when I knew I should have been up there was hard to take and a bit of a downer. I tried my hardest. I made a small mistake after the whoops when I was third because I saw Cairoli and Philippaerts ahead of me and thought 'I can get them'. My hand has been getting better for three weeks now but it still forced me to have two bad Grand Prix. The medication I had today was great. I need to pick my head up now; fourth overall was fine and the points make it good." Race classification MX2 Round: 8 - 2006 GP of Matterley Basin, UK Circuit: Matterley Basin Race 1: 19 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 D. Philippaerts KTM ITA 39' 22.087 2 C. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA +5.443 3 B. MacKenzie Yamaha GBR +9.460 4 D. Guarneri Yamaha ITA +13.068 5 K. Gundersen Yamaha NOR +14.894 6 A. Cairoli Yamaha ITA +17.540 7 G. Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA +18.911 8 T. Searle Kawasaki GBR +19.706 9 N. Aubin Kawasaki FRA +21.875 10 S. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA +49.922 11 C. Nunn KTM GBR +52.163 12 R. Goncalves KTM POR +53.868 13 A. Chiodi Yamaha ITA +57.138 14 A. Boissière Yamaha FRA +1' 2.097 15 M. Monni KTM ITA +1' 10.702 16 P A. Renet Honda FRA +1' 17.198 17 T. Rattray KTM RSA +1' 23.172 18 R. Rowson Kawasaki GBR +1' 24.485 19 S. Simpson Honda GBR +1' 27.681 20 J. Dougan Honda GBR +1' 41.747 Race 2: 19 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 A. Cairoli Yamaha ITA 39' 56.266 2 D. Philippaerts KTM ITA +11.233 3 T. Searle Kawasaki GBR +13.689 4 S. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA +14.190 5 R. Goncalves KTM POR +26.994 6 K. Gundersen Yamaha NOR +36.890 7 A. Boissière Yamaha FRA +40.631 8 B. MacKenzie Yamaha GBR +45.117 9 C. Nunn KTM GBR +49.390 10 A. Chiodi Yamaha ITA +50.918 11 M. Monni KTM ITA +51.632 12 C. Pourcel Kawasaki FRA +53.183 13 M. Seistola Honda FIN +1' 0.827 14 P A. Renet Honda FRA +1' 5.203 15 T. Rattray KTM RSA +1' 6.533 16 B. Anderson Yamaha GBR +1' 7.906 17 M. De Reuver KTM NED +1' 22.806 18 X. Boog Yamaha FRA +1' 27.227 19 S. Simpson Honda GBR +1' 30.413 20 J. Wing KTM SWE +1' 32.179 Championship standings MX2 Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 305 2 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 271 3 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 257 4 Marc De Reuver KTM NED 250 5 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 245 6 Billy MacKenzie Yamaha GBR 201 7 Carl Nunn KTM GBR 181 8 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 170 9 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 169 10 Tommy Searle Kawasaki GBR 162 11 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 157 12 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 148 13 Alessio Chiodi Yamaha ITA 143 14 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 112 15 Luigi Seguy Yamaha FRA 94 16 Manuel Monni KTM ITA 89 17 Anthony Boissière Yamaha FRA 87 18 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 69 19 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 64 20 Pierre-Alexandre Renet Honda FRA 50 Manufacturers standings MX2 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 KTM 365 2 Yamaha 351 3 Kawasaki 322 4 Honda 127 5 Suzuki 13 Click here to view the news

Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi emerged from a crash-strewn race at Catalunya with 25 more points to boost his world title defence, thanks to his third Grand Prix victory of the season at Montmelo today. One of the most dramatic races in recent history began to unfold from the first corner, when Sete Gibernau (Ducati) collided with his team-mate Loris Capirossi under braking and both riders went tumbling into the gravel at high speed, taking Marco Melandri (Honda) with them. All three riders were injured and unable to join the restarted race after the red flags were subsequently raised, although John Hopkins (Suzuki), Randy de Puniet (Kawasaki) and Dani Pedrosa (Honda) did make it back to the grid after also running off track during the first corner melee. Casey Stoner (Honda) repeated the excellent start he got at the first race start, taking the hole-shot and then leading over the first eight laps before eventually folding under constant pressure from Rossi and sliding into the gravel. With extremely high temperatures and low grip levels several other riders also crashed out, leaving Nicky Hayden (Honda) as the only man capable of chasing the Italian. With less than a second separating the pair for most of the race, Rossi turned on the style with typical flair in the closing stages and had opened out a 4.509 second advantage over the American when he took the chequered flag. With no fewer than eight riders failing to make it to the end of the race it was a credit to Rossi's team-mate Colin Edwards that he arrived home in fifth place, collecting some valuable championship points and more crucial data with the new version of the YZR-M1 chassis that was available to him on both bikes for the first time this season. The American's compatriots Hayden and Kenny Roberts (Team KR) completed the podium. Valentino Rossi (1st; 41'31.237) "The start of the race was hard for everybody because we were all very worried about the riders who crashed - especially Marco Melandri because we could see his accident was a bad one. Just before the start Doctor Costa told me that Marco was more or less ok and I was very relieved. Even then it was tough to concentrate on re-starting the race. I made a mistake at the start and Stoner came past me, but my bike was working so well that I was able to push from the beginning and when the fuel came down it was even better. I knew that some of the other riders were having trouble with their tyres but my team have done a great job with Michelin this weekend and I had lots of grip to the end. Hayden pushed very hard but I kept my pace up and was able to extend the advantage over him. The M1 has been so much fun to ride all weekend and I want to say a big thank you to the whole team for getting it to this stage. To win at two of my favourite tracks like Mugello and Catalunya is a big, big satisfaction for me." Colin Edwards (5th; +22.548) "I can't say I'm happy because I feel we missed a chance to finish on the podium today, but we're at an early stage with this chassis and we have made a lot of progress this weekend. We felt we had found a good compromise with the set-up in practice but the grip levels were low in the race and I kept losing the front. It's a difficult problem to ride around because it's a fine line between pushing it so hard that it folds and not pushing it enough to get the required load down to the track. I'm disappointed but I was very close to the incident in turn one and I know it could have been me in the ambulance, so things could have been worse for me. It was a big shock for all of us but thankfully nobody was seriously hurt and we all hope the injured riders can be back with us soon." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "Of course we are delighted with the result and the confirmation of the progress with our bike. We now know that we have a competitive package for our riders so we hope we can fight like this every weekend until the end of the season. We said this was an important spell for us and I am delighted with the way the team, the riders and the bike have responded. Now we have just five days to the next one at Assen and we have to try and do it all over again!" Carlos Checa (8th, fastest lap 1'44.171) "That is one of the strangest races I have ever been in and I hope that everyone is fine. This is the sort of result I have been looking for. I am very happy with the race. It doesn't matter where we finished. What is important to me is that we have found the consistency to be able to push hard for the whole race. Also another thing that I am very happy with is the lap times that we can do now. We know now that we can keep a good pace and are able to fight for positions until the end. I had a good fight with Tamada and we were able to pass each other a few times. It is good to be back in this position. To do so many laps that are so close together means that we are improving all the time and we will be even closer as the year goes on. The other positives for us are with our lap times with Edwards and some others. We are much closer to them than a few races ago, so I hope we can improve and get some extra help from Dunlop and Yamaha for the next races ahead. This result will give everyone extra motivation to keep improving and with two races so soon it will be another chance for us to improve our consistency and race result. James Ellison (9th. fastest lap 1'45.108) "I'm pretty happy with the result and chuffed for my team and Dunlop. They have been working so hard all year to get this. I'm a bit disappointed that I couldn't do the same lap times as we did in warm-up but we are learning things all the time that we can use in future races. We learnt some things with suspension this weekend and I'm feeling more comfortable that I have ever felt and now I am able to slide and push hard. Because I'm feeling so much better on the bike I am not suffering from arm-pump because of hanging on so tightly, so I'm able to relax on it a bit more and let the bike do the work. We are improving the consistency of the Dunlop tyres better all the time. We still have a bit of trouble with side grip but I think with the banked corners at Assen this will not be so much of a problem. The traction of the Dunlop tyres has improved a lot as well. All these factors show that we are making progress all the time." Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "We are very happy but are disappointed that the race had to be overshadowed by the accident that injured Loris, Marco and Sete. This is the sort of result the team and Dunlop have been working very hard to achieve and to be just over 30 seconds behind the leaders is the best news no matter what position we finished in. Clearly the work done since France and Mugello is starting to pay off and now we have found a good rhythm and consistency. We did a good race pace on Saturday and again in the warm-up this morning and to do similar ties in the race is very encouraging. Carlos did 17 laps all in the 1:44 second bracket and these continued right until the second last lap so that proves that we have the consistency we have been searching for. This is only the seventh race of the year and we have made big progress since the first round and this result with Carlos and James will motivate the team and Dunlop to work even harder. We are a bit disappointed that all the rides could not compete as I think we would've had a good result with everyone out there. To be posting similar laps to Colin is another indication that we are getting closer all the time. We now have two races back to back that will see the progress continue and hopefully we will be even closer to the leading riders. Race classification MotoGP Round: 7 - 2006 MotoGP Catalunya Circuit: Catalunya Circuit Length: 4727 Lap Record: 1' 43.048 (Nicky Hayden, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 41.855 (Valentino Rossi, 2006) Race: 24 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 41' 31.237 2 N. Hayden Honda USA +4.509 3 K. Roberts Team Roberts KR USA +9.174 4 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA +13.465 5 C. Edwards Yamaha USA +22.548 6 C. Vermeulen Suzuki AUS +25.198 7 M. Tamada Honda JPN +30.622 8 C. Checa Yamaha ESP +31.277 9 J. Ellison Yamaha GBR +59.203 10 A. Hofmann Ducati GER +1' 14.062 11 J. Cardoso Ducati ESP +1' 46.815 Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 N. Hayden Honda USA 1' 43.048 Championship standings MotoGP Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 119 2 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 99 3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 90 4 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 89 5 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 86 6 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 65 7 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 60 8 Toni Elias Honda ESP 53 9 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 49 10 Sete Gibernau Ducati ESP 44 11 Kenny Roberts Team Roberts KR USA 44 12 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 40 13 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 37 14 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 31 15 Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 24 16 James Ellison Yamaha GBR 12 Manufacturers standings MotoGP Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Honda 151 2 Yamaha 119 3 Ducati 105 4 Suzuki 54 5 Team Roberts KR 44 6 Kawasaki 37 Team standings MotoGP Pos. Team Points 1 Repsol Honda Team 205 2 Camel Yamaha Team 150 3 Ducati Marlboro Team 143 4 Fortuna Honda Team 142 5 Rizla Suzuki 71 6 Honda LCR 65 7 Konica Minolta Honda 49 8 Kawasaki Racing Team 48 9 Team Roberts KR 44 10 Tech3 Yamaha 36 11 Pramac D'Antin 17 Race classification GP250 Round: 7 - 2006 GP250 Catalunya Circuit: Catalunya Circuit Length: 4727 Lap Record: 1' 47.302 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2004) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 46.220 (Jorge Lorenzo, 2005) Race: 23 Laps Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 A. Dovizioso Honda ITA 41' 28.179 2 J. Lorenzo Aprilia ESP +0.095 3 A. de Angelis Aprilia SMR +0.422 4 R. Locatelli Aprilia ITA +1.587 5 A. Debon Aprilia ESP +3.136 6 H. Aoyama KTM JPN +4.032 7 Y. Takahashi Honda JPN +4.072 8 S. Guintoli Aprilia FRA +7.315 9 A. West Aprilia AUS +43.107 10 M. Cardenas Honda COL +43.193 11 M. Poggiali KTM SMR +43.582 12 A. Ballerini Aprilia ITA +44.405 13 J. Cluzel Aprilia FRA +52.426 14 A. Tizon Honda ESP +1' 5.476 15 F. Perren Honda ARG +1' 8.871 Fastest Race Lap: Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time 1 A. de Angelis Aprilia SMR 1' 47.327 Championship standings GP250 Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points 1 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 133 2 Jorge Lorenzo Aprilia ESP 108 3 Yuki Takahashi Honda JPN 89 4 Hiroshi Aoyama KTM JPN 85 5 Roberto Locatelli Aprilia ITA 80 6 Hector Barbera Aprilia ESP 78 7 Alex de Angelis Aprilia SMR 71 8 Sylvain Guintoli Aprilia FRA 51 9 Marco Simoncelli Gilera ITA 40 10 Shuhei Aoyama Honda JPN 34 11 Anthony West Aprilia AUS 34 12 Martin Cardenas Honda COL 28 13 Jakub Smrz Aprilia CZE 27 14 Alex Debon Aprilia ESP 22 15 Manuel Poggiali KTM SMR 22 Manufacturers standings GP250 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Aprilia 151 2 Honda 138 3 KTM 84 Click here to view the news

Yamaha Red Bull De Carli’s Antonio Cairoli finally ended an unforgettable 2007 racing calendar by securing the European Supercross championship last weekend in Munich. A successful defence of his indoor crown means he adds yet another trophy to his immense collection from this season; including the FIM MX2 World Championship and the Italian national motocross title. The fifth and last round of the European SX competition was not an easy won for the 22 year old, who had previously won three events (Bologna, Milan and Genova) and also took a second place at Bilbao in Spain. A crash in practice when he fell on the landing off a double jump caused some cuts and also bruising to his left hip and chest. The entry list was already quite tough with seasoned AMA supercross racers in the form of Rodrig Thain and Joaquim Rodrigues and Cairoli’s main title rival Fabian Izoid. The world champion was able to ride through the pain of his injuries to seize a victory in the semi-final event and his close tussle against Rodrigues kept the fans more than entertained. A bad start in the first of the twelve lap main events on Friday night however (the second was on Saturday) saw Cairoli again facing adversity. On a track that was difficult for passing he could only fight back from eleventh place to take seventh position. Crucially he was able to overtake Izoid in the closing stages and this achievement confirmed his third major championship of the year. With his work done Cairoli opted not to contest the second night in Munich due to the discomfort from his earlier accident “I had decided that I wanted to be cautious at this meeting and just do what was needed to take the championship but the fall in practice complicated things,” he said. “To ride well in supercross you need to be 100% and I could never get comfortable or find my rhythm after the crash; I wasn’t agile enough to be quick and the track was also pretty dangerous in places. I won the semi-final but not really in the manner I would like. In the final I was practically last off the start and I had to battle to recover positions. I knew that if I passed Izoird that the title was mine, so that was my goal.” “I am really happy to be European Champion Supercross champion,” he continued. “Last year the title came little bit as a surprise, but this year I really pushed and enjoyed the series because at every track there was a fantastic reception from the public. I believe this Championship is growing in terms of interest.” “2007 has been really long and at this last race I did feel some fatigue and perhaps also a slight fall of concentration; I think this is understandable,” he added. “However it has been a fantastic season; full of victories! I really want to thank the team, together we have worked and sweated a lot and now can take great satisfaction from what we have done. Now we have a short holiday before we can think about the adventure ahead in 2008!" Click here to view the news

Valentino Rossi will start from the front row of the grid in third place with his Camel Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards just two spots behind him in fifth when the Australian Grand Prix gets underway tomorrow, thanks to a much improved performance on the second day of action at Phillip Island. After initially struggling to find an adequate set-up for their YZR-M1 machines in yesterday's opening free practice sessions due to the cool spring temperatures, both riders worked effectively with their pit crews to find better grip for the rear tyre - improving their best lap times by almost two seconds and securing prime starting positions for tomorrow's crucial round in the process. For Rossi the target is a sixth victory of the season as he looks to pull even closer to series leader Nicky Hayden (Honda). After an excellent run of recent form the Italian lies just 26 points short of the American and tomorrow promises to be another mouth-watering duel between the pair, with Hayden starting from pole position thanks to a record lap this afternoon. Edwards is also targeting his best finish of the season in front of a bumper Phillip Island crowd including many of his Australian family members and friends. Valentino Rossi (3rd - 1'29.271; 28 laps) "The team did a really good job today because we had some difficulties setting the bike up yesterday, but today it worked really well and I was able to qualify on the front row, which is very important at this circuit. Because of the temperatures here we are finding it hard to get heat into the rear tyre and we struggled a bit again today, which is why I had to leave it so late before trying for the fast time on the qualifying tyre. We still have some work to do in this aspect on the race setting but with the qualifying tyre the grip was there and I was able to go third fastest, even though I ran off the track on my out lap and then my bike did a small wheelie in the last corner on my flying lap. Anyway I am happy and want to say a big thank you to my team and to Michelin for the excellent progress we made today. I'm surprised that Capirossi and Gibernau are so far back because they have got a very strong race pace so I suppose me and Nicky will be pushing hard from the start to try and escape." Colin Edwards (5th - 1'29.680; 29 laps) "I don't think I've ever gone from one extreme to the other to this extent in my whole career! From being totally miserable yesterday I'm now really happy and content with our set-up and today's work. It's a good feeling! We've actually made a big move with the setting, back towards what we had at China and Le Mans and it seems to be working. The thing is we had a different chassis back then and we were suffering with chatter at the time so we never went back to that but the guys worked overtime and came up with a concoction that worked. I've really got to thank my team; we've changed almost everything possible since yesterday, from electronics to suspension and, bar the engine and the chassis, it's hardly the same bike today. They've put in the hours and it's clearly worked so I really am seriously grateful to them. I'm really happy with my race tyre and the set-up we used through the session and then the qualifier I used was like superglue! It's no secret that we were struggling in the tyre area too yesterday so I want to say thanks to Michelin, they've pulled something out overnight and it's looking good. I can't wait for tomorrow; it feels good to be starting at the right end of the grid for my favourite race of the year! Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "It's been a very good day for us. Firstly we're all really pleased to see Colin back near the top again and feeling so much better with the bike. Then with Valentino we achieved our main target of starting on the front row and this is very important for tomorrow's race. I think it's going to be a very interesting race tomorrow! The race pace of both Valentino and Colin is very good and I think it's going to be a great fight, as it always is at Phillip Island, with a lot of overtaking. I hope that we will be in that fight with both our riders!" Superb qualifying result for Tech 3 Yamaha Team at Phillip Island Carlos Checa In another impressive step for the Tech 3 Yamaha Team, lead rider Carlos Checa scored the team a stunning qualifying position for the team when he secured the sixth fastest time in the solitary one-hour session as Nicky Hayden (Honda) claimed pole position. Proving the giant leaps in the performance of the Dunlop qualifying tyres Carlos was also the fastest rider in the third free practice session held earlier in the day surprising the world with the result. Besides providing the best qualifying time of 2006 for the Tech 3 Yamaha Team, Carlos was able to run very impressive times with race tyres instilling the team with confidence for what is hoped to be the best race result of the year. While Carlos proved how well the team has progressed through the year in Dunlop's return to the premier class of racing, teammate James Ellison struggled as he will start from 18th position on the grid although he took two seconds of his lap times. Carlos Checa (6th, 1'29.865, 29 laps) "That was definitely the best result for us for the year and being able to do laps in the 1'29 sec bracket was outstanding. It is also the biggest improvement for the Dunlop qualifying tyres that I have seen and doing it at a track like Phillip Island that is so hard on tyres is very satisfying and proves how hard Dunlop have been working. To be the fastest the morning gave me one of the best feelings I have ever had in racing. I love this track and I have had some very good results here over the years so I am looking forward to another good result tomorrow. Besides the times we could do on qualifying tyres we also have good pace on race tyres with excellent durability and stability so we are confident that we can get our best result of the year. As we have found this big improvement in our qualifying tyres it gives us a perfect chance to get away with the leaders as we are on the second row of the grid. If you said to me a few weeks ago that we would be on the second row of the grid I would've laughed at you but I must thank Dunlop and my Tech 3 team for all the hard work they have been putting in to try and make us more competitive." James Ellison (18th1'31.998, 28 laps) "We are basically struggling with the same stuff as normal in the front and rear tyres using different rim sizes and different profiles. We found that as we are using very similar tyres to what Carlos is using and then we were able to start working ion the bike and see some changes to our times. We have been moving forward and finally broke into the 1'31 sec bracket so we made a few steps forward then we hit a wall. The next wall we have hit is in the three fast corners as its running into the corner and we're pushing wise so we are limited to how fast we can go into the corners. We have a plan and the boys seem to know what to do so hopefully we will find something overnight and be able to try something new in the morning to ensure we can run at a decent pace in the race Saying that, I'm really happy for Carlos as it's a fitting reward for all the hard work the team has been putting in and shows that the Dunlops are improving." Herve Poncharal - Tech 3 Yamaha Team Director "First up I want to thank Carlos a lot. He has worked so hard all year and this proves the work and information he has been supplying is helping us and Dunlop. It has been a really good week so far and for sure the best weekend we have had all year. We are really happy to see everything improving the way it is and to see Carlos on top of the sheet this morning was truly a great moment. To be on the second row is also very important as this track is which is supposed to be one of the most difficult for tyres and we are doing well on both race and qualifying tyres. Second row is our best grid position so far and we are very optimistic but it is such a close grid and the racing is always so close here that anything can happen so you can hope for a top five but you can easily finish 14th or 15th The start will be very important as we have to be very aggressive for the first few laps so if we can do that we are in a very good shape so we can look for a strong result which would be superb. This result confirms what I have been saying all year with Dunlop improving race by race and together with Yamaha we have a very good package so this looks good for the future. Again I would like to congratulate Carlos as he has doing a very tremendous job." Circuit Length: 4448 Temp: 17 Weather: Dry 2006 MotoGP Phillip Island 16/09/2006 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 1'29.020 2 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 1'29.258 3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'29.271 4 Kenny Roberts Team Robert KR USA 1'29.662 5 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'29.680 6 Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 1'29.865 7 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 1'29.949 8 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 1'29.969 9 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 1'30.037 10 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'30.081 11 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 1'30.132 12 Sete Gibernau Ducati ESP 1'30.237 13 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 1'30.393 14 Toni Elias Honda ESP 1'30.498 15 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 1'31.143 18 James Ellison Yamaha GBR 1'31.998 Click here to view the news

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

Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards will start the Grand Prix of Portugal from the front two places on the grid tomorrow, after a sensational qualifying practice that saw the Italian seal his fourth pole of the season with a record time of 1'36.200. Edwards was just 0.278 seconds off the pace of his team-mate to equal his best qualifying position of the campaign ahead of what promises to be a mouth-watering penultimate round. Both riders worked hard on the race setting of their YZR-M1 machines throughout the day, building on positive recent tests at Motegi and an exhaustive first day of practice yesterday. In the morning they were second and fifth fastest but the momentum grew in the afternoon when they both dipped under the 1'38 mark on race rubber before launching their grid attack in an exciting climax to the session, Rossi setting his definitive pole time on the last of three impressive efforts. Tomorrow's race, which gets underway at 1pm local time (CET -1), will see the reigning World Champion aim to reduce a 12-point deficit to series leader Nicky Hayden, who clinched the final front row spot in third place, before the final round of the season at Valencia in two weeks' time. Valentino Rossi (1st - 1'36.200; 27 laps) "With the championship as it is now I think it was fundamental to be on pole position today and for Colin to qualify second is perfect - I am really pleased for him and all his guys. We've worked hard this weekend because the right setting was quite difficult to find and all the team had to give 100% so I'm really thankful to them and to Michelin for a great tyre. Of course the important thing is tomorrow and with Hayden on the front row with us it looks like it will be a great battle for the victory. There are a lot of other riders with good pace too but for now I'm really happy with the pole position. My first two qualifying laps were quite good but the last one was unbelievable - it is so much fun to ride the M1 when it's working so well like this. Hopefully the weather will stay like this tomorrow and we can have a good show for everybody." Colin Edwards (2nd - 1'36.478; 27 laps) "It's a fantastic feeling to be back on the front row and running with consistent times that we know can make us competitive in the race. Hats off to my team and to Michelin as well, because we had a lot of help from them today. After Motegi we stayed and tested and finally figured out the little piece of the puzzle that has been missing all year. Now the bike feels easy to ride - I can push it to the limit, even go over the limit, and I don't know how to thank the guys enough. Personally I feel good and feel that I'm riding great. Tomorrow looks like it's going to be really interesting so hopefully I can play my part for the team and we'll see what happens." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "It was a perfect end to the session for us and a perfect way to start the race tomorrow! To have Valentino and Colin start first and second at such a crucial moment in the season is very important. It's great for us to see Colin back on the front row and so happy on the bike. It's also encouraging to see that we're making progress with the bike, even at this stage of the championship. It's fantastic that Valentino is on pole and in such good shape for these last two battles. But it is only Saturday and now we have to focus on tomorrow and hope for an equally good day." Tech 3 Yamaha Team storm into top 10 after sensational qualifying With a positive opening day as a springboard for today's one-hour qualifying session, the Tech 3 Yamaha Team, led by Carlos Checa, continued the encouraging performance of the weekend as he grabbed a top 10 spot on the grid claiming ninth fastest time to start tomorrow's Gran Premio de Portugal at the Estoril circuit from the third row of the grid. His lap time was less than a second off pole-sitter and fellow Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi who is attempting to defend his world champion status in the 28-lap race. With just 10 minutes remaining of the session Carlos astounded the MotoGP paddock as he was second fastest taking over a second off his time from yesterday to confirm the on-going improvements of the Dunlop tyres and the factory Yamaha combination at a track where side-grip is so very important. With these two days now behind them, the team is confident that Carlos can score his best result of the year and help celebrate the Cataluyan's 34th birthday tomorrow. The second Tech 3 Yamaha pilot, James Ellison also improved taking nearly two seconds of his fastest lap from yesterday and will start from 17th position on the grid but unfortunately was pushed off the track after another rider came underneath him in the closing stages of the session causing him to crash and thus negate any further chance of moving up the grid. Carlos Checa (9th, 1'37.107, 28 laps) "It was a very positive day because we improved a lot with our race tyre and of course the track has improved in grip as well but we have made some good steps. We have found a good tyre for tomorrow after I had some concerns about warming the left hand side of the tyre and grip on that side but we have found a combination of tyre that we don't lose anything on the right side so this automatically gives me more confidence. With qualifying I had some chatter but we tried a different wheel size with the same tyre and we improved more than one second which for us is good. It was not enough to be in the top spot but I am quite satisfied with our procedure, our work and the structure of the tyre area for this race and gives us much more confidence for tomorrow. We have been moving step by step so we are improving time and again. Finally I couldn't improve anymore but at the end of the day we have had some very good information so I think for the next race we will be more effective in qualifying but for tomorrow I hope we can get the best result of the year." James Ellison (17th 1'38.810, 26 laps) "We improved again as I took two seconds off my time but I was hoping for a little bit more with another half a second. With the bike at the moment I feel I'm on the limit all the time but I don't think I pushed hard enough. I'm not entirely happy but not too disappointed either. Then to finish off the session I had a bit of an incident. There were a lot of guys going slow and I moved to keep out of the way but John (Hopkins) came around and he had to hit the brakes really hard getting out of shape to miss everyone and his handlebar hit me pushing me into the gravel and that was it. If it was anyone's fault it was all the guys going slow spread out over the track but at least it was right at the end of the session so I didn't lose too much. I'm ok and John came to apologise but really it wasn't his fault. Just one of those things and it was only cosmetic damage to the bike and I'm ok so no problem. I'm feeling pretty good for tomorrow as we can run a low 1'39 on race tyres so I'm fairly happy with that. Ive looked at the times and the guys that we should be up against, Chris (Vermeulen) and Randy (De Puniet), they're doing the same sort of times on race tyres so we just need a good start to get away with everybody - if it's dry. Chances are it's going to be wet tomorrow so we'll have to wait and see. If that's the case it's going to turn into a gamble for everybody." Herve Poncharal - Tech 3 Yamaha Team Director "We have had a fantastic day today but what is really worrying me is the weather forecast for tomorrow as it is supposed to be showers so it could be the same scenario like we had at Philip Island. That was also after such a good qualifying where we were sixth fastest, but we can't do anything about the weather. We have had a very positive weekend so far and it was so good to happen here because we were very sceptical after Japan and as I said yesterday we are back to where we were in Phillip Island. Carlos is very happy and I think the Yamaha/Dunlop package is working very well here as qualifying was very satisfactory and the third row is good enough for us. Also I think we have a good pace with the race tyre and providing we can get a good start I know we can stay with the lead group. Dunlop is looking good here and Carlos is very strong here and very motivated. James has also been improving a lot. Yesterday morning was a disaster but since then he has improved and his lap time is very decent. I'm sorry that he was taken out and he had a fall. Everybody knows that we are trying to finalise our collaboration for next year at the end of this race so I hope a good result will push the reason to allow Carlos to stay with us." Circuit Length: 4182 Temp: 25 Weather: Dry 2006 MotoGP Estoril 14/10/2006 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'36.200 2 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'36.478 3 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 1'36.549 4 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'36.569 5 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 1'36.702 6 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 1'36.790 7 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 1'36.790 8 Sete Gibernau Ducati ESP 1'36.940 9 Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 1'37.107 10 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 1'37.182 11 Toni Elias Honda ESP 1'37.245 12 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1'37.371 13 Kenny Roberts Team Robert KR USA 1'37.433 14 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 1'37.517 15 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 1'37.582 17 James Ellison Yamaha GBR 1'38.810 Click here to view the news

One of the closest MotoGP World Championships in history heads into its final stage this weekend as the series heads out to Malaysia for the first of a five-race spell across three continents. Races at Sepang, Phillip Island (Australia), Motegi (Japan), Estoril (Portugal) and Valencia (Spain), will decide the destiny of a title which for the past five seasons has been lifted by Yamaha superstar Valentino Rossi. For the Italian to retain that honour he must turn around a 38-point deficit to current leader Nicky Hayden (Honda), although no fewer than nine riders still have the mathematical odds to take the honours. Rossi's chances were given a huge boost at the last round three weeks ago in Brno, where a second place finish combined with ninth for Hayden saw the gap between the pair slashed by thirteen points. That race went down as the closest top-15 finish of all time in the sport, strengthening this season's reputation as one of the toughest ever and highlighting the number of points to be won and lost over the remaining five events. Brno also witnessed Rossi's 87th appearance on the podium in the premier class and another top-three finish in Malaysia would equal Giacomo Agostini's tally of 88 - a record bettered only by Mick Doohan. Rossi has finished on the podium at Sepang for the last five years, including a memorable victory for Yamaha in 2004 and a title-clinching second place behind Loris Capirossi (Ducati) last season. Colin Edwards says that his target for the remaining five races is to assist Rossi's title quest in any way he can whilst turning a consistent run of points-scoring finishes into at least a string of podiums. Tenth place in the last round at Brno was the 33rd successive race at which he has scored points - a MotoGP record again bettered only by Doohan on 37 - but the Texan's goal is a return to the potentially winning form he showed earlier in the season. Valentino Rossi: One of my favourites Valentino Rossi is predicting a repeat of last year's tough battle with fellow Italian Loris Capirossi this weekend as he looks to get one over on his compatriot after another memorable duel between the pair at Brno. The Yamaha man cites Sepang as one of his favourite tracks and he is hopeful that recent developments with the 990cc M1 machine will make it equally inclined towards the Malaysian venue. "As everyone knows, Sepang is one of my favourite tracks and it's always great fun to ride the M1 there," says Rossi. "We made some really good progress in Brno so hopefully everything will work well from Friday morning and we can fight at the top all weekend. Last year Loris was incredibly strong in Sepang, similar to how he was two weeks ago in Brno and I am sure that this will be the case again this time! "This year I can't win the title in Malaysia so our aim once again is to finish on the podium and take as many points as possible in order to stay in the fight. These three races in a row are going be very important and at the end of them the championship could be much clearer. It's always hard work, with a lot of flying and time changes in a short amount of time, but we will stay focused and do the best we can!" Colin Edwards: No looking back Colin Edwards, who lives in his hometown of Conroe, Texas, is used to long haul trips and is therefore undaunted by the demands of three 'flyaway' races in as many weekends. The 32 year old insists that thoughts of a poor run of form over the summer are now firmly behind him as he simply concentrates on a grandstand finish to his season over the final five races. "Things really haven't gone to plan lately and I think it's fair to say that I hoped to be in a better situation going into the final run of races," admits Edwards. "But there's no point dwelling on the past - we made some positive steps at the test in Brno so we'll see if that helps. We discovered last year that what works in Brno doesn't necessarily work everywhere else but we definitely understand the bike better after that test so hopefully we will be in a better position come Friday morning in Sepang. "I really like the Sepang track and then Phillip Island is one of my all-time favourites, so I am definitely looking forward to these races. We have two aims - one is to keep working with the team to find the best bike in order to give Valentino the tools to win the title, and the other is to get some good results and get on the podium. Having three 'flyaway' races in a row is always intense, but I am feeling ready for the challenge!" Davide Brivio: The final push Camel Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio is asking for one final effort from his team over the next two months as they cling on to the possibility of defending the crown they have won with Rossi for the past two seasons. The complicated logistics of five races across three continents always puts a further burden on every member of staff but Brivio is confident their extra exertions will once again be rewarded by results on the track. "After a very long and hard season, this is the start of the final 'push' for everyone and I know that the riders, the team and everyone involved will give 100% through these final two months," explains Brivio. "After Brno we did two days testing, and these were extremely important for the final few races. We tried a lot of new things and made some big steps forward with the setting and we got some very important information from our riders, which we hope will help us to remain at a competitive level until the end of the season. "Our number one aim now is to give Valentino the means to stay in the running for the championship title, and then we will see what the situation is in Valencia. We hope that the Brno test has also given Colin plenty of confidence and we hope to see him getting some good results now and ending the season on a high. Sepang and Phillip Island especially are favourite tracks of both riders so hopefully these races will be good to us!" Technically speaking: Sepang according to Jeremy Burgess Sepang is one of the widest tracks on the calendar, measuring 16 metres across in some areas, and always features high track temperatures in the tropical climate. Races can be won and lost due to the ability of machinery to hold a line during turn-in at several points of hard braking. With four major hairpins and some fast and frequent changes of direction in its 5542m layout, Sepang provides a stern workout for the entire bike set-up and its largely predictable, if demanding, climate makes it the ideal winter testing venue. "With the exception of Brno we have been to some tight and fiddly tracks recently but I would call Sepang a 'real' Grand Prix circuit," explains Jeremy Burgess, Valentino Rossi's Crew Chief. "Sepang is a great test track because it has a bit of everything - from two points that are fast enough for the riders to take in sixth gear to some tight and twisty first gear corners. As far as the corners are concerned there are some you accelerate through, some you stop at, areas where you are braking from high speeds - basically every area of the bike gets a workout. "Last year we got caught out on tyres but we put a lot of laps in during the winter tests and over the last couple of races this is an area we have focused on. A good front-end set-up is also crucial at Sepang because there are lots of points where the riders are braking at full lean, so they need full confidence to know that the front won't tuck. The heat is also an important factor and the rider must be careful not to push the tyres too early." Valentino Rossi: Information Age: 27 Lives: London, UK Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 GP victories: 83 (56 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 168 (109 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) Pole positions: 42 World Championships - 7 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP) Colin Edwards: Information Age: 32 Lives: Conroe, Texas Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 First GP: Japan, 2003 (MotoGP) GP starts: 60 x MotoGP World Championships - 2 World Superbike Sepang Lap Record: Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2005, 2'02.993 Sepang Best Lap: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2005, 2'01.731 2005 Malaysian Grand Prix Results: 1. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati, 43'27.523 2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha, +1.999 3. Carlos Checa (SPA) Ducati, +2.069 10. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha, +22.275 Click here to view the news

The Camel Yamaha Team head for the third race in as many weekends looking to end a gruelling run of races on a high as the MotoGP World Championship arrives in Great Britain this weekend. Following on from the elation of victory at Catalunya and the double disappointment of an injury for Valentino Rossi and a final-bend crash for Colin Edwards at Assen, the Donington Park race represents an ideal opportunity for both riders to bounce back before a well earned two-week break. Rossi, in particular, is in desperate need of a boost after conceding further ground to Nicky Hayden (Honda) at the top of the World Championship standings. The Italian fought bravely to eighth place despite riding with cracked bones in his hand and foot at the Dutch TT, but crucially he now trails the American by 46 points in the championship. Rossi has won seven times in all classes at Donington Park, one of his favourite MotoGP circuits, but a return to the top step of the podium will be a huge challenge as he battles to recover his fitness and as many points as possible. Edwards is sure to be given a hero's welcome by his army of British fans, thousands of whom cheered him to the verge of his first MotoGP victory just across the North Sea at Assen last Saturday. The British Grand Prix ranks equally with the Dutch TT as Edwards' most successful event in the premier-class, having finished second there two years ago and narrowly missing the podium last year, so he has high hopes that he can bounce back from that disappointment with another top performance. There is a slight change to the order of the races this weekend, with the main event taking place after the 250cc race but before the 125cc race. The red lights will go out for the MotoGP riders at 1pm local time, although this will not affect the regular schedule for fans around the world since it still coincides with the standard starting time of 2pm CET. VALENTINO ROSSI: A RACE AGAINST TIME MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi returns to his country of residence this weekend keeping the fingers on his good hand crossed that he will be in sufficiently good shape to challenge at the front of the field once again. The Italian left Assen on Saturday evening with his physiotherapist Marco Montanari, who will remain by his side for the rest of the week as he tries to recover as much strength as possible before the crucial ninth round of an intriguing championship. "We have a lot of work to do to improve the situation with my wrist and try to reduce the swelling and heal the bone as much as possible," explains Rossi. "It would be better to have a month now to recover but we are racers and we have to go straight to the next race, which is a pity. Anyway I hope we can improve it as much as possible so that I can ride well at Donington. For sure I won't be at full fitness, but we have five days to improve. Colin showed that the bike is working really well so hopefully it will be like this at Donington also for both of us. "Donington is like a second home Grand Prix for me and I hope the fans give me all the usual support because I need all the help I can get right now. It has been one of my favourite tracks ever since I rode the 125 there for the first time in 1996 and I have a lot of good memories - especially my first win with the 500 in 2001 and victories with Yamaha for the last two years. It's going to be a big challenge for me to stand on the top of the podium on Sunday, but as long as my hand continues to improve throughout the week, then I think we can try!" COLIN EDWARDS: A CHANCE FOR REVENGE The British Grand Prix can't come soon enough for Colin Edwards, who heads to another of his favourite tracks looking to bury his Assen nightmare with that elusive first MotoGP win. The amiable American refuses to dwell on the final corner calamity that denied him a visit to the top step of the podium in Holland as he looks on the positive side of a weekend that should provide the platform to another bid for the winners' champagne in England. "I can't deny that I'm still disappointed after what happened at Assen, but now I have to put that behind me and focus on Donington, which is one of my best tracks and a place I have always gone well," says Edwards. "I have to forget about what happened at the end of the race in Assen and focus on the fact that my bike worked perfectly all weekend, I was consistently fast and I was able to do a really great race up to the last chicane. "Now we have to hope that the situation is the same at Donington because my aim is to go out there and get my revenge! I want to make up for the disappointment for the team and my fans, and give them something to cheer about again. I always have loads of fans in the UK, a lot of them were there for me at Assen so let's hope they're all back to cheer me on again this weekend." DAVIDE BRIVIO: A LONG BATTLE AHEAD Camel Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio is also in good spirits despite a weekend of drama and ultimate disappointment in Holland. The Italian knows that he could not have asked for much more from his riders on Saturday and he is confident that a similar level of effort from the whole team this weekend will finally reap the rewards they deserve. "Hopefully this week before Donington will be enough time for Valentino to make a decent recovery and we all hope to see him in better shape when he comes into the garage for practice on Friday morning," says Brivio. "Assen was a big disappointment for us in lots of ways but with Valentino in better shape and Colin in good form we have a chance to put things right at a circuit both riders like and in a country where they are both very popular. "Whatever progress Valentino makes this week we know he will not be at 100% but we expect him to show the same fight and determination that took him into the points at Assen. It was important he did that but the gap to Nicky Hayden at the top of the championship is significant and we can't afford to let him get too far ahead. He is a strong rider and I think it will be a hard push now until the final race of the season at Valencia." TECHNICALLY SPEAKING: DONINGTON ACCORDING TO MATTEO FLAMIGNI A dramatic viewing experience, Donington Park sits inside an amphitheatre style setting, with the spectator bankings ringing around the outside. The prevalent off-camber nature of the track is one of the main factors at play during the British Grand Prix, with a large tendency for the front tyre to push, making the right, left, right flick down the Craner Curve section something of a high tension rollercoaster ride. This sequence of sweeping corners is one of the fastest in the world and, according to Valentino Rossi's Data Technician Matteo Flamigni, it is a place the top riders can really make the difference. "I don't know of any other circuit in the world with a series of corners as fast as Craner Curves," says Flamigni. "The rider is more important than the machine here because it takes a lot of courage and skill to make up time through the first section of the track. In any case the bike setting must be stable enough to give the rider confidence at speeds of around 200km/h and agile enough to cope with the quick changes of direction. "Donington is like two circuits in one. After the fast opening two sections the second half of the lap is much slower because of the last section, which has two hard braking zones. Turn nine in particular is crucial because the riders go from something like 280km/h to around 60km/h, so the bike has to be good under braking - especially because these are key points to overtake at the end of the race. Setting up a motorcycle is always a question of making the right compromises but at Donington Park this is particularly true. The best bike out there will have the most accurate balance between performance in these two contrasting halves of the track." VALENTINO ROSSI: INFORMATION Age: 27 Lives: London, UK Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 GP victories: 82 (56 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 165 (105 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) Pole positions: 41 World Championships - 7 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP) COLIN EDWARDS: INFORMATION Age: 32 Lives: Conroe, Texas Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 First GP: Japan, 2003 (MotoGP) GP starts: 56 x MotoGP World Championships - 2 World Superbike Donington Lap Record: Colin Edwards (Honda) 2004, 1'29.973 Donington Best Lap: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2005, 1'27.897 2005 Results (Wet Race): 1. VALENTINO ROSSI (ITA) Yamaha, 52.58.675 2. Kenny Roberts (USA) Suzuki, +3.169 3. Alex Barros (BRA) Honda, +4.006 4. COLIN EDWARDS (USA) Yamaha, +10.292 Click here to view the news

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 Click here to view the news

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

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