Alex Asigno

UFO Corse Yamaha rider Simone Albergoni moved into second position in the Enduro 1 world championship standings following the fourth round of the '07 World Enduro Championship series held in Borno, Italy having claimed podium finishes on both days aboard his UFO Corse Yamaha WR250. Placing third on day one of his and the UFO Corse Yamaha team's home GP Simone then stepped one place higher on the rostrum with a second place finish on day two. In claiming a double podium result Simone moved into the runner-up spot in the E1 championship standings, one point ahead of his team-mate Cristobal Guerrero. With the GP of Italy proving to be anything but easy due to mixed weather, a demanding stone littered enduro test and a difficult extreme test Simone, like many riders, made several small mistakes and fell on more than one occasion on day one, which prevented him from finishing higher than third. Simone hoped not to make the same mistakes on day two as he had on day one and started the day well, despite heavy overnight rain making the opening lap extremely slippery. Disappointingly, Simone's promising start to the day was followed by two costly crashes in the extreme test, which cost him close to 40 seconds. Despite his mistakes Simone claimed a well deserved runner-up finish, equalling his highest result of the season. Finishing ahead of Albergoni on day one and less than six seconds behind E1 class winner Juha Salminen was Yamaha France rider Marc Germain. A specialist in wet and slippery conditions Marc came close to claiming his first win of the '07 season but fell just short of beating his Finnish rival. With Poland's Bartosz Oblucki claiming fourth on the opening day UFO Corse Yamaha rider Cristobal Guerrero placed fifth continuing his excellent debut season in the E1 class. Ensuring Yamaha claimed four of the top six positions in the E1 class on day one the UFO Corse Yamaha team's third rider Maurizio Micheluz placed sixth. With Albergoni finishing second on day two Sunday again proved to be another good day for Yamaha. With Finn Salminen topping the class results as he did on day one Maurizio Micheluz came frustratingly close to finishing third, he was denied his first podium result of the season by a slower rider blocking his way on one of the extreme tests. Placing fourth and just ten seconds behind eventual third place finisher Alessandro Belometti, Maurizio saw his result affected when a slower rider blocked a difficult climb on the extreme test leaving him no other option other than to stop and wait while the track was cleared. Dropping from the podium to fifth, due in part to a disappointing final extreme test, Marc Germain started the second day in the best possible way by winning the opening special test while Spanish UFO Corse Yamaha rider Cristobal Guerrero claimed sixth after being disadvantaged by being the first rider in the E1 class onto the day's extremely wet opening special test. Simone Albergoni (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Third, Day 2 Second: "It's been a very good weekend for me, although I'm not so happy with third on day one. I made some small mistakes, which cost me time, so on day two I really pushed hard to make sure I got a better result. I really hoped that I could battle against Juha Salminen but he was so strong again. I was pleased with my performance though. I did make two crashes in the extreme test, where I lost 40 seconds, but I'm pleased with second." Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Sixth, Day 2 Fourth: "I finished sixth on day one, which isn't so good, but I was not too far behind the riders that finished on the podium so I was quite happy. On day two I was fourth, which I am pleased with but it could have been better because I lost some time on the extreme test on the last lap because I had to wait for a slower rider who was stuck on one of the hills. I finished the day 10 seconds behind the third place rider and I know I lost much more time than that. I'm a little disappointed but my results and riding have been much better than in Spain and Portugal." Circuit Length: 4800 Crowd: 3250 Weather: Sunshine 2007 Enduro 1 Italy 29/05/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 51'54.150 2 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 0'5.590 3 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 0'17.070 4 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 0'26.540 5 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 0'27.210 6 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 0'54.590 7 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 1'47.550 8 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 3'10.260 9 Peter Bergvall Suzuki SWE 3'19.180 10 Luca Cherubini TM ITA 3'19.570 11 Fabio Mossini Honda ITA 3'48.180 12 Roberto Bazzurri Husqvarna ITA 3'51.710 13 Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 4'1.680 14 Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 4'28.600 15 Pier Luigi Surini Honda ITA 4'54.610 Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 55'42.720 2 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 0'40.800 3 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 1'47.290 4 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 1'57.400 5 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 2'6.110 6 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 2'6.910 7 Luca Cherubini TM ITA 4'10.820 8 Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 5'13.230 9 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 5'56.370 10 Joan Jou Yamaha ESP 7'23.330 11 Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 7'45.990 12 Mario Patrao Suzuki POR 8'56.320 13 Ryan Voase Kawasaki GBR 9'33.740 14 Pier Luigi Surini Honda ITA 10'17.240 15 Juraj Dozsa KTM SVK 11'6.010 Rider Standings 26/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Juha Salminen KTM FIN 200 2. Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 140 3. Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 139 4. Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 137 5. Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 135 6. Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 125 7. Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 99 8. Mike Hartmann KTM GER 91 9. Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 67 10. Luca Cherubini TM ITA 59 11. Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 56 12. Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 50 13. Joan Jou Yamaha ESP 45 14. Damien Miquel Kawasaki FRA 40 15. Tomi Peltola Suzuki FIN 38 Manufacturer Standings 26/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. KTM 200 2. Yamaha 160 3. Husqvarna 125 4. Honda 86 5. TM 65 6. Suzuki 59 7. Kawasaki 48 RACE REPORT 29/05/2007 Johnny Aubert continues impressive run of results UFO Corse Yamaha team rider Johnny Aubert continued his impressive run of results in the '07 World Enduro Championship series by placing in third position in the Enduro 2 class on day one of the GP of Italy, staged in Borno. With his confidence high having won both days of the GP of Spain and the GP of Portugal Johnny saw his day one result affected by a big crash in the stone covered enduro test mid way through the day. Despite having parted company with his WR450 in spectacular style Johnny ended the day just 13 seconds behind the eventual second place rider Samuli Aro, but unable to stop Mika Ahola claiming his second win of the season. Disappointingly for Aubert a mechanic problem, when in sight of the finish, resulted in him failing to finish the second day, which dropped the Frenchman to third in the Enduro 2 world championship standings. Looking to claim his fifth consecutive day win in the '07 WEC series Johnny started the opening day of the GP of Italy by placing second in the E2 class on the opening test. Performing well on the second test before then winning the third, Aubert's crash in the second timed enduro test ended his hopes of winning. Nevertheless he continued to push hard and after close to one-hour of special test action claimed third. On day two Aubert again started well showing that he had the speed to win by topping four of the opening seven special tests. Holding a well deserved runner-up spot and with the finish of the event in sight Johnny then suffered a sudden mechanical problem, which disappointingly put him out of the event. Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1 Third, Day 2 DNF: "The first day was not so bad for me but I crashed on the enduro test and lost one minute, which meant that I was never going to be able to win. My speed was good but after a mistake like that there was no way I was going to catch up to Mika Ahola, he was riding too well. After my crash I just wanted to go as well as I could so to finish third was good." "Things were going well for me on day two but I had a problem with my bike's engine close to the finish. My bike stopped so I pushed it to the finish but I didn't score any points, which is disappointing. I would have struggled to win because Mika was again riding really well, but I was in second when my bike stopped so it's disappointing not to have finished on the podium like I did on day one." Circuit Length: 4800 Crowd: 3250 Weather: Sunny 2007 Enduro 2 Italy 29/05/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 51'52.730 2 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 0'48.180 3 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 1'1.420 4 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 1'2.580 5 Andrea Belotti KTM ITA 1'25.730 6 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 2'9.560 7 Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 2'32.010 8 Joel Smets BMW BEL 2'42.280 9 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 2'46.630 10 Fausto Scovolo GasGas ITA 3'9.790 11 Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 3'15.560 12 Patrick Caps GasGas BEL 3'18.180 13 Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 3'51.010 14 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 4'10.060 15 Giuliano Falgari Kawasaki ITA 4'20.460 Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 54'44.820 2 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 1'21.240 3 Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 1'23.900 4 Andrea Belotti KTM ITA 1'56.310 5 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 2'14.710 6 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 2'34.620 7 Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 4'41.650 8 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 4'59.480 9 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 5'20.340 10 Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 5'52.990 11 Patrick Caps GasGas BEL 6'20.800 12 Giuliano Falgari Kawasaki ITA 6'47.940 13 Carmelo Mazzoleni Kawasaki ITA 11'10.170 14 Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 18'12.550 Rider Standings 26/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Mika Ahola Honda FIN 183 2. Samuli Aro KTM FIN 167 3. Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 152 4. Fabien Planet KTM FRA 126 5. Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 121 6. Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 102 7. Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 87 8. Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 86 9. Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 82 10. Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 79 11. Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 79 12. Patrick Caps GasGas BEL 51 13. Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 51 14. Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 47 15. Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 37 Manufacturer Standings 26/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 183 2. KTM 169 3. Yamaha 164 4. Aprilia 129 5. Beta 102 6. Husqvarna 90 7. HusaBerg 86 8. Suzuki 79 9. GasGas 53 10. Sherco 51 11. BMW 25 12. Kawasaki 15 13. TM 9

The sixth round of the MotoGP World Championship welcomes the Fiat Yamaha Team to their 'home' circuit of Mugello this weekend and the mouth-watering prospect of another classic race at the legendary venue. Already one of the most eagerly anticipated dates on the calendar, this year's visit to Tuscany has the extra spice of an Italian manufacturer leading the World Championship whilst the homecoming of Valentino Rossi to his adoring fans always guarantees an electric atmosphere and a performance to match from the mercurial 28-year-old. Rossi has satiated the partisan local crowd's appetite for entertainment and end-product for the past five seasons, putting together a run of victories previously unsurpassed by any one rider at their local track. 'The Doctor' has not been beaten on Italian soil since 2001, when he crashed out in a wet race, and his past three victories for Yamaha are unequalled in measures of brilliance and bravery. Mike Hailwood, who won the Isle of Man TT for five consecutive seasons in the 1960s, is the only rider in history to have held such a firm stronghold over his home Grand Prix. Colin Edwards' record at Mugello is somewhat less spectacular but the Texan has every reason to look forward to this weekend. After qualifying on the front row of the grid at four of the first five races Edwards has been denied a mammoth points haul merely through sheer bad luck - the latest chapter in a catalogue of misfortune coming in France, where the heavens opened as the grid formed on an otherwise dry circuit and denied him the chance to shoot for victory from pole position. A continuation of his excellent practice form and another top performance in qualifying should finally bear fruit this Sunday. The Mugello circuit is one of the fastest on the calendar, with the front straight almost certain to entice the new 800cc machines towards their highest top speed of the year. Measuring 1,141m, it is 61m shorter than the back straight of Shanghai, the longest in the championship, but the faster final turn and longer entry into the straight means the riders can get on the gas early, shift up through the gears and still have time to get the throttle wide open in sixth, potentially edging past the 337.5km/h set by Casey Stoner in China. Mugello differs from other fast circuits in its frequent changes of gradient and the speed of its chicanes. There is a mix of slower and high-speed corners, although even the slowest corners are wide, allowing several 'ideal' lines and putting the emphasis on rider skill as well as chassis set-up precision. Valentino Rossi - "Something incredible" As well as his five MotoGP victories at Mugello, Valentino Rossi also won the 125cc race there in 1997 and the 250cc race in 1999 - making him easily the most successful rider at the circuit across all classes of Grand Prix racing. It promises to be another special weekend for the Italian and he is optimistic that his chances won't be spoiled, as they were in France, by the rain. "We hoped that Le Mans would be a place where we might have been able to win back some points on Stoner, but unfortunately the weather played against us," says Rossi, who trails the Australian by 21 points in the current rider standings. "We stayed in France for two days of testing and we made a lot of progress, especially with the tyres. We also tried some new engine modifications, just small details, which we think will help us in Mugello. "As everyone knows I have a very special relationship with Mugello. I have won there many times, including the last three years with Yamaha, and I've had some of the greatest races of my life there. Even though I will have a second home race this year at Misano, Mugello is something incredible and the fans and atmosphere there are always unbelievable. It's a fantastic track but of course the straight is very long and we know we're going to have a very hard battle on our hands. At least we can rely on the weather... I hope!" Colin Edwards - "Crazy in a good way!" In stark contrast to the fortunes of Valentino Rossi at Mugello, for Colin Edwards it is one of his least successful circuits - with a best ever result of ninth place in both 2003 and 2005. However, Edwards' pace aboard the YZR-M1 at every kind of circuit so far this season gives him plenty of reason to think that he can end that barren run this Sunday. "Mugello hasn't been one of my best GP tracks and I've never had a really great race there, but we're aiming to turn that around this time," affirms Edwards. "Le Mans was a massive disappointment for everyone, especially after getting pole, but it was good to get back to work straight away and try to find out why it happened instead of sitting stewing over it for ten days. We know our bike is working brilliantly when we get everything right - qualifying is proving that at every race - but we really need to translate that to race conditions and to do this we need to make the most of every minute of practice. "Mugello is an incredible place and the Italian fans are completely crazy, in a good way! The countryside is beautiful and you can't help but be inspired by the atmosphere. This is really crunch time now - six races in eight weeks with the first being Valentino's home race and the last, in the US, being mine. Let's hope we can kick the run off to a good start with a double podium in Mugello, finish it off in the same way at Laguna and try to do the same thing at all the ones in between too!" Davide Brivio Team Director - "An interesting scenario" Fiat Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio is eagerly anticipating a battle royale this weekend as his riders prepare to tackle Ducati at their home circuit. The Italian factory have won three of the first five races so far this season and are sure to make life difficult for Rossi and Edwards at Mugello. Brivio, however, is confident that the overall performance of the YZR-M1 will give his riders every chance of success. "Of course Mugello is a very important race for us - firstly because it is in Italy and secondly because it comes at a key part of the season, at the start of six races in eight weeks," says Brivio. "Valentino has a great record there and at Yamaha we have been able to win with him for the past three seasons but this year it will be very difficult. We're working hard to improve the package available to both our riders and we'll see if that pays off here. I think we will be competitive but in racing you never know. "For Colin the challenge is to convert his obvious potential in practice into a top result in the race. We know Mugello is not his favourite track but we've worked hard in recent weeks to give him a package he is happy with everywhere so hopefully that proves to be the case once free practice starts on Friday morning. It is an exciting weekend for the team and especially for Valentino because it is in Italy but it is also the home of Ducati and they will be very motivated, I'm sure. It's a very interesting scenario." Valentino Rossi : Information Age: 28 Lives: London, UK Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 GP victories: 85 (59 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 179 (119 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) Pole positions: 48 World Championships: 7 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP) Colin Edwards: Information Age: 33 Lives: Conroe, Texas Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 First GP: Japón, 2003 (MotoGP) GP starts: 71 x MotoGP World Championships: 2 World Superbike Mugello: Lap Record M. Biaggi (Honda) 2005, 1'50.117 Mugello: Best Lap S. Gibernau (Ducati) 2006, 1'48.969 Grand Prix Results: Mugello 2006 1. V. Rossi (Yamaha) 42'39.610 2. L. Capirossi (Ducati) +0.575 3. N. Hayden (Honda) +0.735 12. C. Edwards (USA) Yamaha +30.678

Yamaha Motocross Team's Joshua Coppins continued his 100% podium record with third place overall at a cloudy and windy Sugo circuit - crowded by 24,000 spectators -for the Japanese Grand Prix and the sixth round of fifteen in the FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship today. The New Zealander rode to a brace of third positions on the works YZ450F-FM in front of the attending Yamaha president Mr Kajikawa and company employees, and thanks to a poor day for his most direct title rival, Kevin Strijbos, he extended his lead in the championship standings to more than one Grand Prix with 63 points in total. The immaculate Sugo track was again a technical and difficult prospect for the MX1 and MX2 classes. A long period of rainfall on Friday afternoon softened the terrain that was already well prepared and mixed deeply with wood chippings. The result was a mud that swiftly became rough and rutted with several lines providing ample choice and strategy for the riders. It was the third year in succession that the World Championship had visited the venue close to the city of Sendai and the third time this century for the Japanese round. Sugo, in Yamaha ownership, lies a few kilometres from the road racing complex and was established 32 years previously. After hot and bright conditions on Saturday, in which Coppins sealed his second consecutive pole position by two tenths of a second, race day was windy and cloudy with frequent sunny spells. The first moto saw a battle for second as Billy Mackenzie ran away for the first ever British win in MX1. Coppins held a position as runner-up for almost the entire moto under pressure from David Philippaerts and then Jonathan Barragan. The Spaniard was eventually able to push through with two laps to go as Coppins admitted that his riding was not the best as he sought the quicker lines. In the second sprint he again rode a lonely race to third after Ken de Dycker experienced brake trouble ahead and retired. He was close to Mackenzie and the chance of taking second place approaching the final two laps but could not get level with the eventual overall winner to overtake. Marc de Reuver had a difficult day. The Dutchman started poorly in the opening moto and then slipped off in the deeply rutted corner after the pit lane. He circulated outside of the top twenty just behind leader Mackenzie and set similar lap-times but then fell again in the final laps, this time heavily off the biggest jump on the course, and suffered a concussion with nasty black eye. Feeling dazed and dizzy De Reuver did not take to the waiting zone for the second moto. Team Jubilo Yamaha - the squad that competes in the Japanese National Championship - boasted the talents of former AMA competitor Akira Narita. The three times Japanese Champion failed to finish the first moto and picked up four points for seventeenth in the second. The Yamaha Motocross Team now travel directly back to Europe and both Coppins and de Reuver will have a free weekend before making preparations for the comparatively short trip to St Jean d'Angely in western France. The French round will constitute the seventh round of the championship and precedes the Bulgarian Grand Prix two weeks afterwards. Joshua Coppins - Yamaha Motocross Team: "I did not have a good feeling on this track, even on Saturday but I was able to push for a fast lap. I was surprised with pole position because I was struggling a little bit. I could not find the lines I wanted and couldn't get a rhythm going in the first moto. I was fighting the bike and not enjoying the race so for the second moto I tried riding a gear higher and making the bike work more for me instead of the other way around. It did not go as well as I hoped but I tried my best. I knew there would be many winners and many different guys on the podium this year but I am the only one to be here every week so far. I want to continue to do what I am doing. If 3-3 is a bad day then I am pleased with that. For sure this season is more stressful for me and the championship is always in the back of my mind but I want to win more GPs. Sometimes you have to lose the battle to win the war and that was the case today for me." Marc de Reuver - Yamaha Motocross Team: "I was fifth at the start of the first heat but made a small mistake just before the finish line. I lost some time because I had to bash the bars and levers back into position. Billy Mackenzie lapped me and I ran behind him without any problem until the big crash over the table-top. The front wheel just washed out on the landing and I hit my head hard. I don't even remember how I got back to the paddock and Michele and Carlo thought it was better that I don't ride. It is a disappointing weekend but I am lucky that I only have a black eye." Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team: "Overall it was a positive day but I cannot say that I am satisfied. In both motos Josh did not ride as well as he can and it is important to flow on this track because it is very rough. He showed his strength however to take third place both times and that was good in the circumstances. It was a very bad day for Marc. He looked very fast but made a mistake and crashed. He then fell again in a big way and luckily was not seriously injured; it was not convenient for him to race the second moto." Circuit Length: 3737 Weather: Dry 2007 GP of Sugo, Japan 27/05/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 39'31.947 2 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'8.939 3 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'13.608 4 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'27.369 5 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'31.616 6 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'40.288 7 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'42.846 8 Yoshitaka Atsuta Honda JPN 0'43.191 9 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'46.266 10 James Noble Honda GBR 1'1.475 11 Manuel Priem TM BEL 1'5.560 12 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 1'9.411 13 Kazamusa Masuda Honda JPN 1'48.276 14 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 1'49.305 15 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 1'51.752 16 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL 2'5.433 17 Scott Columb Suzuki NZL -1 Laps 18 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL -1 Laps 19 Kohij Ohkawara Yamaha JPN -1 Laps Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mike Brown Honda USA 40'20.363 2 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'3.066 3 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'7.996 4 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'27.232 5 Yoshitaka Atsuta Honda JPN 0'9.033 6 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'40.274 7 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'48.099 8 James Noble Honda GBR 0'53.372 9 Manuel Priem TM BEL 1'6.877 10 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 1'8.637 11 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 1'45.054 12 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 1'54.087 13 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL 2'3.623 14 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN -1 Laps 15 Kuraudo Toda Suzuki JPN -1 Laps 16 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL -1 Laps 17 Akira Narita Yamaha JPN -1 Laps 18 Kohij Ohkawara Yamaha JPN -1 Laps 19 Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA -1 Laps 20 Scott Columb Suzuki NZL -1 Laps Rider Standings 27/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 274 2. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 211 3. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 186 4. Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 154 5. David Philippaerts KTM ITA 148 6. Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 146 7. Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 143 8. Mike Brown Honda USA 141 9. James Noble Honda GBR 128 10. Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 126 11. Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 120 12. Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 115 13. Manuel Priem TM BEL 103 14. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 95 15. Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 80 16. Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 70 17. Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 57 18. Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 49 19. Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 45 20. Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 38 Manufacturer Standings 27/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 274 2. Suzuki 229 3. KTM 201 4. Honda 188 5. Kawasaki 187 6. TM 103 8. Aprilia 2 RACE REPORT 27/05/2007 Cairoli stays on podium after tricky Japanese GP Yamaha De Carli's Antonio Cairoli saw his winning streak of five Grand Prix come to an end in Japan but the Sicilian - who announced a new three year agreement with Yamaha the same day - took a second moto win and second position overall behind arch-rival Christophe Pourcel in the sixth meeting of the MX2 campaign. Sugo was another capable circuit on which Cairoli could show off his speed and skills. The mud was hugely technical by virtue of the holes, dips and bumps that carved very quickly into the surface. The course demanded concentration but also allowed for individual expression thanks to the choice in racing lines and vast jumps. On a warm but overcast Saturday Cairoli dominated the second qualification heat for his fifth Saturday win of the season and one that he claimed was the easiest so far. His speed ensured selection of second place in the start gate for Sunday. After an unfamiliar bad start and then a small (and rare) race crash by Cairoli in the first moto, while closing fast on Tyla Rattray for second position, the Italian lost the chance to fight for the win and he had to accept a distant third place. The 21 year old, who had won the last seven motos in succession and whose previous lowest result had been a second position in Spain, re-evaluated his approach for the next race of 35 minutes and 2 laps. He rounded the first corner at the front of the pack and unveiled a more familiar sight that motocross fans are quickly becoming accustomed to in 2007 by setting the pace ahead of Rattray and Pourcel. Both of his pursuers would crash deep into the moto giving the YZ250F pilot a clear run to the finish line for his tenth win from twelve. Pourcel was able to recover to overtake a lagging Tommy Searle for second spot in the final stages and post a better overall score for the win. Yamaha Team Ricci's Kenneth Gundersen was again unfortunate to only place eighth overall. The Norwegian was slow out of the gate in each moto and then had to ditch his goggles twice as sand and dirt had entered the eyewear. With the roost kicked up by the rear wheels of the machines ahead he was limited in whatever progress he could make, posting twelfth and ninth by the end of the afternoon. Nicolas Aubin suffered the effects of a long trip during the week, and was not able to operate at the level normally shown by the French youngster who has arguably been one of the breakthrough performers this season. He was thirteenth and sixteenth for thirteenth overall. His team-mate David Guarneri could not score in Moto1 due to a third lap crash in which he broke his clutch. He was stronger in the second race and took ten points for eleventh in only his third Grand Prix this year. Bike It Yamaha Dixon Racing's Carl Nunn was tenth overall. The British Champion simply could not gel with the track in the first race and was disappointingly dragged down to eighteenth. The Briton gave a better account of himself in the second moto and took part in an entertaining tussle with team-mate Martin Barr (who grabbed a career best twelfth) and Guarneri. Nunn eventually moved past Gundersen for eighth place by the end of the distance. Cairoli conceded two points to Pourcel in the World Championship standings but his margin still rests at a hefty 66. Gundersen and Aubin are seventh and eighth respectively. The Grand Prix of France at St Jean d'Angely will form the seventh round of the World Championship and will take place in two weeks time. Antonio Cairoli - Yamaha De Carli: "I was a bit unlucky at this GP because I felt very good in the second moto. I did not start so well in the first race and Christophe took a lead of many seconds. I lost a lot of time stuck behind a Kawasaki rider and the track was so wet; I did not want to make a mistake. My lines were not great either. After I got through I chased Christophe and Tyla. The gap was around twenty seconds and I got it down to five but I made a small error and crashed. Before the second race I watched the MX1 moto for some lines. When I got the holeshot I found my speed right away and leading the race was easy, especially after the first twenty minutes. Christophe and Tyla made some mistakes and Searle was a long way away. I want to win again in France for sure and start to take more points away from the other guys in the championship. I don't want to repeat my mistakes from last year so when the win is there I will go for it but otherwise the top three is acceptable." Kenneth Gundersen, Yamaha Team Ricci: "I don't know why but in both motos I got sand inside my goggles and had to take them off, after that it was very difficult to ride. I had two bad starts but I gave everything I had today and I could not do any better, so in one way I am happy." Nicolas Aubin - Yamaha Team Ricci: "I had a very long journey here and as a result only slept two hours last night. I felt like I was asleep on the bike; I could not react and was making stupid mistakes. My crash in the first moto was like the mistake of a junior. Anyway, I have learned a lot for the future and I have to work hard in the next few GPs now to regain the points that I lost today." Carl Nunn - Bike it Dixon Yamaha Racing: "The first moto was really bad. Things were OK at the beginning but I then just went backwards; I did not even have any rhythm to lose. The bike wasn't working because I was not riding it correctly. I felt terrible and made everything hard work. I went down and then after that I lost all momentum. The second race was a lot better and had some good battles. I finished eighth and was happy with that because I was able to raise my game significantly. It was the first time all weekend I enjoyed the track and was able to put the bike where I wanted it to go." Circuit Length: 3737 Weather: Dry 2007 GP of Sugo, Japan 27/05/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 39'45.553 2 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'5.524 3 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 0'38.981 4 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'50.085 5 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 1'8.766 6 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 1'20.922 7 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'29.208 8 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 1'32.731 9 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 1'33.926 10 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'52.268 11 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 2'2.674 12 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR -1 Laps 13 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA -1 Laps 14 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL -1 Laps 15 Youhei Kojima Suzuki JPN -1 Laps 16 Yu Hirata Honda JPN -1 Laps 17 Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR -1 Laps 18 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR -1 Laps 19 Yuya Ozaki Yamaha JPN -1 Laps 20 Elliott Banks-Browne Suzuki GBR -1 Laps Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 40'44.387 2 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'5.667 3 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'9.007 4 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'30.867 5 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'44.728 6 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'47.756 7 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'3.866 8 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'7.021 9 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 1'12.036 10 Youhei Kojima Suzuki JPN 1'17.201 11 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 1'19.994 12 Martin Barr Yamaha GBR 1'26.537 13 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 1'32.576 14 Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 1'34.426 15 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 1'35.437 16 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 1'36.083 17 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 1'43.889 18 Tadashi Kugimura Yamaha JPN 1'56.363 19 Jake Nicholls Suzuki GBR 2'5.405 20 Yu Hirata Honda JPN -1 Laps Rider Standings 27/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 292 2. Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 228 3. Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 218 4. Tommy Searle KTM GBR 175 5. Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 173 6. Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 147 7. Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 139 8. Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 134 9. Matti Seistola Honda FIN 115 10. Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 95 11. Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 90 12. Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 69 13. Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 65 14. Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 62 15. Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 58 16. Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 55 17. Erik Eggens Suzuki NED 54 18. Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 54 19. Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 53 20. Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 50 22. Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 42 Manufacturer Standings 27/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 292 2. Kawasaki 239 3. KTM 237 4. Honda 173 5. Suzuki 103

The British weather tried to spoil the seventh round of the World Superbike Championship at Silverstone today but it couldn't take away two podium positions from the Yamaha Motor Italia Team. In a rain-soaked single-race day Haga took second while Corser took his 110th podium position in third. The second race was cancelled after a 30 minute delay to clear water from the track failed to improve conditions. The day started with a twenty minute warm up session that doubled up as the first opportunity for all the teams to find their wet set up. Corser showed his wet race confidence in the YZF-R1, going second fastest overall in the session. Haga went fifth fastest but had a small crash at the end of the session. Both Haga and Corser got good race starts with Haga maintaining his second place and Corser moving up to fourth. Within one lap Corser had passed his way up to second, overtaking Haga along the way, and was focusing on catching front man Bayliss. It was on lap four that Corser took the lead until Bayliss re-took it after six laps. The water soaked track made for difficult race conditions but all three riders were locked in a tight battle for the lead for the remainder of the race. Haga squeezed past Corser on lap 19 and went on to set the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap to give Yamaha their 50th fastest lap of all-time. Both riders held on to their positions to take second and third positions. Yamaha was the only manufacturer today to have all its riders finish. Shinichi Nakatomi braved the bad weather to put in a strong performance. He finished 13th and took away three points in his most disliked weather conditions and with two broken toes. Haga now goes into the eighth round at Misano only 23 points behind first place; Corser maintains his fifth position with the 16 points from today's race. Noriyuki Haga (2nd - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I'm a bit disappointed the race has been cancelled because I have lost out on the chance to take away even more points. The conditions out there are bad but I still would've wanted to race - that's my job and I know the risks. At least no championship points have gone elsewhere. This morning I had a small high-side crash in the warm up session but it didn't put me off in the race. I was more concerned about my suspension setting which wasn't perfect. The twenty minute session this morning wasn't long enough for me to find the best wet set up so I had to work with what I had. I am surprised at my result and getting fastest lap considering this but it's a good result and I have even managed to reduce the points difference between myself and first place. I'm looking forward to Misano - at least it hardly ever rains there!" Troy Corser (3rd - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I'm disappointed that the second race was cancelled because I was going well in the wet today and reckon I could've got another podium. I am pleased with my race one result as it's the first time I have ridden the Yamaha in full wet conditions. I was running in first place but just couldn't maintain it because of the conditions and I made a small mistake - when you make a mistake in this weather it can really affect you. I'm happy with the bike and also now with both wet and dry set up. With regard to race two there was so much water on the track I nearly crashed twice on the sighting lap. But to not race is still disappointing." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "We got a good result today considering the weather. To have both riders on the podium together re-pays all the hard work the team has put in so far this season. Today we have are twelve points closer to the championship win so we are now even more motivated. To see Troy on the podium was great because he's had some bad luck in the last few races. All our energies are now on the next race at Misano as it is our second home race. I would like to thank the team for all their hard work this weekend." Shinichi Nakatomi (13th - Team Yamaha YZF) "This has been a difficult weekend with my injuries and the weather. I had very little time between races to recover from my crash at Monza; I was in a lot of pain and found it hard to push on the footpeg during the race. But I have found some good setting this weekend and am pleased to finish in thirteenth as the bike was sliding a lot in the rain." Martial Garcia (Team Manager, Team Yamaha YZF) "It is good to take away three points from this round considering Tomi's pain. He told me that he almost stopped during the race but he fought on to take some points. He now has three weeks to recover which is a good amount of time. It is a credit to him that he finished the race today, I am pleased with his result." Circuit Length: 3619 Temp: 10 Crowd: 55,000 Weather: Wet 2007 WSB Silverstone 27/05/2007 Race 1 - 28 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 46'2.875 2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 0'2.035 3 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 0'4.568 4 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 0'50.039 5 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'9.696 6 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'20.982 7 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'33.061 8 James Toseland Honda GBR -1 Laps 9 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP -1 Laps 10 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER -1 Laps 11 Vittorio Iannuzzo Kawasaki ITA -1 Laps 12 Luca Morelli Ducati ITA -1 Laps 13 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN -2 Laps Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'37.005 Rider Standings 27/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. James Toseland Honda GBR 237 2. Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 214 3. Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 201 4. Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 189 5. Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 151 6. Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 116 7. Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 113 8. Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 90 9. Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 87 10. Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 62 11. Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 60 12. Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 59 13. Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 46 14. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 44 15. Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 40 17. Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 22 Manufacturer Standings 27/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 251 2. Yamaha 237 3. Ducati 234 4. Suzuki 201 5. Kawasaki 88 RACE REPORT 27/05/2007 West gives Yamaha their first Supersport race win of the season Freezing temperatures and heavy rain was not enough to put Anthony West off from taking his first race win for Yamaha today at Silverstone. In a dramatic race for the Yamaha World Supersport Team Broc Parkes crashed out while in second place and West went from 16th to take the race win in appalling weather conditions. Both riders got excellent starts with Parkes going into the lead on the first lap with Yamaha Team Italia rider Massimo Roccoli in second and West making an impressive charge from 16th to 6th. Parkes started to open a gap between him and the rest of the pack as West continued his one-man charge. After passing Roccoli on lap four West set about catching his team mate. By lap ten he had passed Parkes and already put 3.5 seconds between them. Parkes was maintaining his second place when he crashed on lap 14 at the old hairpin in a low-side slide. Roccoli had been running in third for the majority of the race when he also crashed out on lap 23. The race was then red flagged due to the deteriorating weather conditions giving Anthony West the race win with a comfortable 33 second lead. Today's race success puts West in seventh place in the championship and only 28 points behind fourth place. Anthony West (1st - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "This is a fantastic result especially when you consider my qualifying position. The rain helped in a way because I was finding it very difficult in the dry to find a decent set up. I need more time at tracks I don't know to get the right race setting but the rain leveled the playing field. I wasn't even too confident in my wet set up that we sorted in this morning's session because the session was stopped and re-started and we lost time. I went hard for the first few laps and I had some big moments which were scary. I had quite a few throughout the race actually so I am glad that the race was red flagged - it was too cold to keep going. I was out there long enough! I would like to dedicate this win to Kevin Curtain as without him I would not have had this chance to race in World Supersport. I really feel for him being out injured and I hope he gets well soon." Broc Parkes (DNF - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I knew Anthony was going very fast and I tried to follow but there was almost too much of a gap. The crash was so strange, it was really slow and I didn't even crash hard but I broke the footpeg and that ended my race. I just can't believe that I have crashed again, I'm pretty devastated." Massimo Roccoli (DNF - Yamaha Team Italia) "I took a lot of risks today. My aim to challenge Fujiwara towards the end of the race for the podium position but I lost the rear and crashed out. I am very disappointed because I have been fast here in the dry this weekend." Circuit Length: 3619 Temp: 10 Crowd: 55,000 Weather: Very Wet 2007 WSS Silverstone 27/05/2007 Race 1 - 28 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Anthony West Yamaha AUS 39'16.245 2 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 0'33.477 3 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 0'48.057 4 Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 0'51.777 5 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 0'54.295 6 Matthieu Lagrive Honda FRA 1'1.579 7 Javier Fores Honda ESP 1'50.576 8 Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 1'52.106 9 Julien Enjolras Yamaha FRA 1'53.184 10 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED -1 Laps 11 Miguel Praia Honda POR -1 Laps 12 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA -1 Laps 13 Jesco Gunther Honda GER -1 Laps 14 Gregory Leblanc Honda FRA -1 Laps 15 Joan Lascorz Honda ESP -1 Laps Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Anthony West Yamaha AUS 1'44.188 Rider Standings 27/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 145 2. Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 100 3. Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 69 4. Robbin Harms Honda DNK 59 5. Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 47 6. Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 43 7. Anthony West Yamaha AUS 41 8. Andrew Pitt Honda AUS 40 9. David Salom Yamaha ESP 34 10. Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 34 11. Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 33 12. Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 30 13. Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 27 14. Craig Jones Honda GBR 25 15. Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 25 21. David Checa Yamaha ESP 20 24. Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 13 Manufacturer Standings 27/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 165 2. Kawasaki 110 3. Yamaha 107 4. Suzuki 54 5. Ducati 43 RACE REPORT 27/05/2007 Yamaha claim fifth and sixth finishes in bad weather conditions Michele Pirro and Matteo Baiocco took fifth and sixth place finishes respectively today at Silverstone despite appalling weather conditions. With constant rain since last night the track had become very wet and slippery with lots of standing water. All the weekend's practice and qualifying sessions so far this weekend had been in dry conditions which meant that no one had been able to find a good wet set up so everyone took the opportunity to use this morning's warm up session as a chance to get some wet settings. The race was also shortened to ten laps due to the weather. Michele Pirro started on pole, his third of the season so far, with team mate Claudio Corti also on the front row in third. Fresh from his win at Monza two weeks ago, Team Umbria Bike rider Matteo Baiocco started in seventh position. Pirro made a good start and took the lead on the first lap with Roberts and Aitchison close behind. Despite trying to build up a gap between himself and the pack behind Pirro was unable to shake off Roberts. On lap five Roberts passed Pirro but was unable to maintain it after a near high-side one lap later. Then, on the penultimate lap Pirro had a near crash and ran onto the gravel, losing first place. He re-joined to finish in fifth. Baiocco and Corti battled together throughout the race for sixth position until an error by Corti saw him drop back to take tenth finishing slot. Baiocco held his ground to take sixth and ten valuable points. Didier Van Keymeulen's weekend did not go according to plan when he crashed during Saturday's free practice session. He had been showing his potential from the start of the weekend, running fastest in the first free practice and achieving fourth in qualifying one. In the second practice session Didier was on a fast lap minutes before the end when he crashed at the chicane, breaking one of the lower vertebrae in his back and cracking his pelvis. His recovery period is expected to be abut three months. Matteo Baiocco leaves Silverstone second in the championship and only eight points behind lead-man Aitchison. Pirro moves up to fifth place in his rookie year in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup with only four points separating him from third position. Corti lies in sixth, just three points behind his fellow Yamaha Team Italia rider. Michele Pirro (5th - Yamaha Team Italia) "I got a very good start today and was two seconds in front when I hit a slippery white line and lost control while passing a back marker. I lost out on a very good opportunity this weekend to improve my championship standing. I am very sorry to the team." Matteo Baiocco (6th - Team Umbria Bike) "I didn't get a good wet set up and I just tried to survive in the race, which I managed to do. I look forward to Misano, which is my home track, where I promise that the music will be very different!" Claudio Corti (10th - Yamaha Team Italia) "I didn't have time to set the bike up for the wet today which meant I had a very poor result. I hpe for much better next time." Circuit Length: 3619 Temp: 9 Crowd: 55,000 Weather: Wet 2007 Superstock Silverstone 27/05/2007 Race 1 - 10 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Brendan Roberts Ducati AUS 17'54.454 2 Mark Aitchison Suzuki AUS 0'3.270 3 Matej Smrz Honda CZE 0'9.170 4 Xavier Simeon Suzuki BEL 0'14.674 5 Michele Pirro Yamaha ITA 0'20.559 6 Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 0'26.737 7 Cederic Tangre Yamaha FRA 0'27.989 8 Loic Napoleone Suzuki FRA 0'27.437 9 Ayrton Badovini MV Agusta ITA 0'32.785 10 Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 0'34.403 11 Lorenzo Baroni Ducati ITA 0'37.299 12 Ilario Dionisi Suzuki ITA 0'37.586 13 Nicolo Canepa Ducati ITA 0'40.906 14 Marko Jerman Suzuki SVK 0'46.422 15 Dario Giuseppetti Yamaha GER 0'58.452 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Matej Smrz Honda CZE 1'44.768 Rider Standings 27/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Mark Aitchison Suzuki AUS 78 2. Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 70 3. Nicolo Canepa Ducati ITA 60 4. Michele Pirro Yamaha ITA 56 5. Ilario Dionisi Suzuki ITA 54 6. Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 51 7. Xavier Simeon Suzuki BEL 51 8. Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha BEL 45 9. Brendan Roberts Ducati AUS 35 10. Matej Smrz Honda CZE 31 11. Rene Mahr Yamaha GER 26 12. Cederic Tangre Yamaha FRA 23 13. Marko Jerman Suzuki SVK 23 14. Sheridan Morais Ducati RSA 19 15. Danilo Dell'omo MV Agusta ITA 13 Manufacturer Standings 27/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 101 2. Suzuki 91 3. Ducati 85 4. Honda 43 5. MV Agusta 24 6. Kawasaki 4

Yamaha Motocross Team's Joshua Coppins continued his 100% podium record with third place overall at a cloudy and windy Sugo circuit - crowded by 24,000 spectators -for the Japanese Grand Prix and the sixth round of fifteen in the FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship today. The New Zealander rode to a brace of third positions on the works YZ450F-FM in front of the attending Yamaha president Mr Kajikawa and company employees, and thanks to a poor day for his most direct title rival, Kevin Strijbos, he extended his lead in the championship standings to more than one Grand Prix with 63 points in total. The immaculate Sugo track was again a technical and difficult prospect for the MX1 and MX2 classes. A long period of rainfall on Friday afternoon softened the terrain that was already well prepared and mixed deeply with wood chippings. The result was a mud that swiftly became rough and rutted with several lines providing ample choice and strategy for the riders. It was the third year in succession that the World Championship had visited the venue close to the city of Sendai and the third time this century for the Japanese round. Sugo, in Yamaha ownership, lies a few kilometres from the road racing complex and was established 32 years previously. After hot and bright conditions on Saturday, in which Coppins sealed his second consecutive pole position by two tenths of a second, race day was windy and cloudy with frequent sunny spells. The first moto saw a battle for second as Billy Mackenzie ran away for the first ever British win in MX1. Coppins held a position as runner-up for almost the entire moto under pressure from David Philippaerts and then Jonathan Barragan. The Spaniard was eventually able to push through with two laps to go as Coppins admitted that his riding was not the best as he sought the quicker lines. In the second sprint he again rode a lonely race to third after Ken de Dycker experienced brake trouble ahead and retired. He was close to Mackenzie and the chance of taking second place approaching the final two laps but could not get level with the eventual overall winner to overtake. Marc de Reuver had a difficult day. The Dutchman started poorly in the opening moto and then slipped off in the deeply rutted corner after the pit lane. He circulated outside of the top twenty just behind leader Mackenzie and set similar lap-times but then fell again in the final laps, this time heavily off the biggest jump on the course, and suffered a concussion with nasty black eye. Feeling dazed and dizzy De Reuver did not take to the waiting zone for the second moto. Team Jubilo Yamaha - the squad that competes in the Japanese National Championship - boasted the talents of former AMA competitor Akira Narita. The three times Japanese Champion failed to finish the first moto and picked up four points for seventeenth in the second. The Yamaha Motocross Team now travel directly back to Europe and both Coppins and de Reuver will have a free weekend before making preparations for the comparatively short trip to St Jean d'Angely in western France. The French round will constitute the seventh round of the championship and precedes the Bulgarian Grand Prix two weeks afterwards. Joshua Coppins - Yamaha Motocross Team: "I did not have a good feeling on this track, even on Saturday but I was able to push for a fast lap. I was surprised with pole position because I was struggling a little bit. I could not find the lines I wanted and couldn't get a rhythm going in the first moto. I was fighting the bike and not enjoying the race so for the second moto I tried riding a gear higher and making the bike work more for me instead of the other way around. It did not go as well as I hoped but I tried my best. I knew there would be many winners and many different guys on the podium this year but I am the only one to be here every week so far. I want to continue to do what I am doing. If 3-3 is a bad day then I am pleased with that. For sure this season is more stressful for me and the championship is always in the back of my mind but I want to win more GPs. Sometimes you have to lose the battle to win the war and that was the case today for me." Marc de Reuver - Yamaha Motocross Team: "I was fifth at the start of the first heat but made a small mistake just before the finish line. I lost some time because I had to bash the bars and levers back into position. Billy Mackenzie lapped me and I ran behind him without any problem until the big crash over the table-top. The front wheel just washed out on the landing and I hit my head hard. I don't even remember how I got back to the paddock and Michele and Carlo thought it was better that I don't ride. It is a disappointing weekend but I am lucky that I only have a black eye." Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team: "Overall it was a positive day but I cannot say that I am satisfied. In both motos Josh did not ride as well as he can and it is important to flow on this track because it is very rough. He showed his strength however to take third place both times and that was good in the circumstances. It was a very bad day for Marc. He looked very fast but made a mistake and crashed. He then fell again in a big way and luckily was not seriously injured; it was not convenient for him to race the second moto." Circuit Length: 3737 Weather: Dry 2007 GP of Sugo, Japan 27/05/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 39'31.947 2 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'8.939 3 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'13.608 4 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'27.369 5 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'31.616 6 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'40.288 7 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'42.846 8 Yoshitaka Atsuta Honda JPN 0'43.191 9 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'46.266 10 James Noble Honda GBR 1'1.475 11 Manuel Priem TM BEL 1'5.560 12 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 1'9.411 13 Kazamusa Masuda Honda JPN 1'48.276 14 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 1'49.305 15 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 1'51.752 16 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL 2'5.433 17 Scott Columb Suzuki NZL -1 Laps 18 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL -1 Laps 19 Kohij Ohkawara Yamaha JPN -1 Laps Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mike Brown Honda USA 40'20.363 2 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'3.066 3 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'7.996 4 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'27.232 5 Yoshitaka Atsuta Honda JPN 0'9.033 6 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'40.274 7 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'48.099 8 James Noble Honda GBR 0'53.372 9 Manuel Priem TM BEL 1'6.877 10 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 1'8.637 11 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 1'45.054 12 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 1'54.087 13 Danny Theybers Suzuki BEL 2'3.623 14 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN -1 Laps 15 Kuraudo Toda Suzuki JPN -1 Laps 16 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL -1 Laps 17 Akira Narita Yamaha JPN -1 Laps 18 Kohij Ohkawara Yamaha JPN -1 Laps 19 Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA -1 Laps 20 Scott Columb Suzuki NZL -1 Laps RACE REPORT 27/05/2007 Cairoli stays on podium after tricky Japanese GP Yamaha De Carli's Antonio Cairoli saw his winning streak of five Grand Prix come to an end in Japan but the Sicilian - who announced a new three year agreement with Yamaha the same day - took a second moto win and second position overall behind arch-rival Christophe Pourcel in the sixth meeting of the MX2 campaign. Sugo was another capable circuit on which Cairoli could show off his speed and skills. The mud was hugely technical by virtue of the holes, dips and bumps that carved very quickly into the surface. The course demanded concentration but also allowed for individual expression thanks to the choice in racing lines and vast jumps. On a warm but overcast Saturday Cairoli dominated the second qualification heat for his fifth Saturday win of the season and one that he claimed was the easiest so far. His speed ensured selection of second place in the start gate for Sunday. After an unfamiliar bad start and then a small (and rare) race crash by Cairoli in the first moto, while closing fast on Tyla Rattray for second position, the Italian lost the chance to fight for the win and he had to accept a distant third place. The 21 year old, who had won the last seven motos in succession and whose previous lowest result had been a second position in Spain, re-evaluated his approach for the next race of 35 minutes and 2 laps. He rounded the first corner at the front of the pack and unveiled a more familiar sight that motocross fans are quickly becoming accustomed to in 2007 by setting the pace ahead of Rattray and Pourcel. Both of his pursuers would crash deep into the moto giving the YZ250F pilot a clear run to the finish line for his tenth win from twelve. Pourcel was able to recover to overtake a lagging Tommy Searle for second spot in the final stages and post a better overall score for the win. Yamaha Team Ricci's Kenneth Gundersen was again unfortunate to only place eighth overall. The Norwegian was slow out of the gate in each moto and then had to ditch his goggles twice as sand and dirt had entered the eyewear. With the roost kicked up by the rear wheels of the machines ahead he was limited in whatever progress he could make, posting twelfth and ninth by the end of the afternoon. Nicolas Aubin suffered the effects of a long trip during the week, and was not able to operate at the level normally shown by the French youngster who has arguably been one of the breakthrough performers this season. He was thirteenth and sixteenth for thirteenth overall. His team-mate David Guarneri could not score in Moto1 due to a third lap crash in which he broke his clutch. He was stronger in the second race and took ten points for eleventh in only his third Grand Prix this year. Bike It Yamaha Dixon Racing's Carl Nunn was tenth overall. The British Champion simply could not gel with the track in the first race and was disappointingly dragged down to eighteenth. The Briton gave a better account of himself in the second moto and took part in an entertaining tussle with team-mate Martin Barr (who grabbed a career best twelfth) and Guarneri. Nunn eventually moved past Gundersen for eighth place by the end of the distance. Cairoli conceded two points to Pourcel in the World Championship standings but his margin still rests at a hefty 66. Gundersen and Aubin are seventh and eighth respectively. The Grand Prix of France at St Jean d'Angely will form the seventh round of the World Championship and will take place in two weeks time. Antonio Cairoli - Yamaha De Carli: "I was a bit unlucky at this GP because I felt very good in the second moto. I did not start so well in the first race and Christophe took a lead of many seconds. I lost a lot of time stuck behind a Kawasaki rider and the track was so wet; I did not want to make a mistake. My lines were not great either. After I got through I chased Christophe and Tyla. The gap was around twenty seconds and I got it down to five but I made a small error and crashed. Before the second race I watched the MX1 moto for some lines. When I got the holeshot I found my speed right away and leading the race was easy, especially after the first twenty minutes. Christophe and Tyla made some mistakes and Searle was a long way away. I want to win again in France for sure and start to take more points away from the other guys in the championship. I don't want to repeat my mistakes from last year so when the win is there I will go for it but otherwise the top three is acceptable." Kenneth Gundersen, Yamaha Team Ricci: "I don't know why but in both motos I got sand inside my goggles and had to take them off, after that it was very difficult to ride. I had two bad starts but I gave everything I had today and I could not do any better, so in one way I am happy." Nicolas Aubin - Yamaha Team Ricci: "I had a very long journey here and as a result only slept two hours last night. I felt like I was asleep on the bike; I could not react and was making stupid mistakes. My crash in the first moto was like the mistake of a junior. Anyway, I have learned a lot for the future and I have to work hard in the next few GPs now to regain the points that I lost today." Carl Nunn - Bike it Dixon Yamaha Racing: "The first moto was really bad. Things were OK at the beginning but I then just went backwards; I did not even have any rhythm to lose. The bike wasn't working because I was not riding it correctly. I felt terrible and made everything hard work. I went down and then after that I lost all momentum. The second race was a lot better and had some good battles. I finished eighth and was happy with that because I was able to raise my game significantly. It was the first time all weekend I enjoyed the track and was able to put the bike where I wanted it to go." Circuit Length: 3737 Weather: Dry 2007 GP of Sugo, Japan 27/05/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 39'45.553 2 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'5.524 3 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 0'38.981 4 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'50.085 5 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 1'8.766 6 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 1'20.922 7 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'29.208 8 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 1'32.731 9 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 1'33.926 10 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'52.268 11 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 2'2.674 12 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR -1 Laps 13 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA -1 Laps 14 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL -1 Laps 15 Youhei Kojima Suzuki JPN -1 Laps 16 Yu Hirata Honda JPN -1 Laps 17 Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR -1 Laps 18 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR -1 Laps 19 Yuya Ozaki Yamaha JPN -1 Laps 20 Elliott Banks-Browne Suzuki GBR -1 Laps Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 40'44.387 2 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'5.667 3 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'9.007 4 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'30.867 5 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'44.728 6 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'47.756 7 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'3.866 8 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'7.021 9 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 1'12.036 10 Youhei Kojima Suzuki JPN 1'17.201 11 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 1'19.994 12 Martin Barr Yamaha GBR 1'26.537 13 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 1'32.576 14 Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 1'34.426 15 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 1'35.437 16 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 1'36.083 17 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 1'43.889 18 Tadashi Kugimura Yamaha JPN 1'56.363 19 Jake Nicholls Suzuki GBR 2'5.405 20 Yu Hirata Honda JPN -1 Laps

Yamaha have had a good day in the first qualifying session today at the fifth round of the World Superbike Championship in Assen. In sunny, warm and dry weather Haga took provisional second qualifying place and Corser finished in fifth with both riders promising more progress tomorrow. Noriyuki Haga started the afternoon qualifying session in fourth place but went on to top the board in front of Xaus and Toseland with only five minutes to go. Unfortunately, in the dying minutes of the session Toseland came back to take the top slot, pushing Haga down to second. Troy Corser started the afternoon qualifying session in second where he remained for most of the session until Toseland knocked him down into third. Muggeridge and Bayliss also posted faster times putting him in a comfortable fifth slot for tomorrow's second qualifying. Team Yamaha YZF rider Shinichi Nakatomi also had a good day, much preferring Assen's dry conditions to the wet weather experienced at Valencia two weeks ago. Concentrating on getting a good set-up, the young Japanese rider put in 20 laps, doing the second fastest speed of over 285kph and finishing the day in 14th. Toseland currently tops the provisional qualifying grid at his team's home track with Haga only 0.147 seconds behind in second and Xaus in third. Haga currently holds the Superpole record at Assen with a 1'39.009 which he claimed last year. He will be looking to equal this in tomorrow's qualifying and Superpole sessions, especially as this weekend will be his 137th race start with Yamaha. This will equal Fabrizio Pirovano's record with Yamaha. Noriyuki Haga (2nd - 1'39.750 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I used a soft tyre for this afternoon's session but I know I won't be able to use it for the race because it will be too warm for it to last the race distance. I have already made a tyre choice for tomorrow, though, and we will make some more minor modifications tomorrow to try and get pole position. Second place is okay today but I want to go for pole position tomorrow." Troy Corser (5th - 1'39.938 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "Today has been good for my first day on this bike at this track. We now have a good idea of the direction we need to go in tomorrow. This afternoon we made some changes and found some positive results as well as some negative ones. I also rode both bikes to get as much data as possible, but we didn't have enough time to really try out all the changes we made. Tomorrow will be about finding a good race setting and to continue testing the changes we have made to the gearbox and suspension. I'm feeling good about how it's going, though. We're really close." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I am quite confident after today's practice and qualifying sessions. We've had a problem free start to the weekend and tomorrow we will focus on deciding which tyres to use for the race. We already have an idea which we will confirm tomorrow." Shinichi Nakatomi - 14th - 1'41.032 - Team Yamaha YZF) "I have had a good day today and so far this weekend everything feels much better than at Valencia. I am very positive for this weekend's result and I am working hard on finding a good set-up. I am certain that tomorrow we will find it." Circuit Length: 4555 Temp: 25 Weather: Sunny 2007 WSB Assen 27/04/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'39.603 2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'39.750 3 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'39.765 4 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'39.806 5 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'39.938 6 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'40.092 7 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'40.201 8 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 1'40.355 9 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'40.445 10 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 1'40.480 11 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'40.537 12 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'40.804 13 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'40.844 14 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1'41.032 15 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 1'41.109 QUALIFYING 1 REPORT 27/04/2007 Parkes takes second in day one qualifying at Assen Parkes showed that he is back on the pace today by taking second place in qualifying following his accident at Donington only a month ago when he broke his right collar bone. And with Steve Martin settling into Curtain's seat while he recovers from the leg injuries he sustained at Valencia, the team is confident of good results this weekend. Parkes started the morning's free practice session focusing on ensuring he was happy with the set-up and trying out several tyre options for the race. In the qualifying session Parkes proceeded to take second place on a flying lap before being knocked down to fourth by Sofuoglu and Charpentier. The session was then red flagged but as soon as it was re-started Parkes went out and re-took second place where he ended up only 0.017 seconds off pole position man Charpentier. Time ran out before the Australian could push any further for first place. Today was Steve Martin's first opportunity to ride the R6 since stepping into Curtain's boots. Martin started the morning's free practice session using Parkes settings which he adapted to suit his riding style. Martin hasn't ridden in the supersport class since 2000 but that didn't stop the highly experienced World Superbike rider taking to the R6 within the first few laps. Yamaha Team Italia rider Massimo Roccoli comes to Assen confident after a win in the national Italian championship last weekend at Mugello. His new-found confidence showed today in both sessions with him finishing in eighth. Broc Parkes (2nd - 1'42.191 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "Today's sessions felt good. We tried two bikes which were set-up quite differently and have found a good direction for this weekend. Tomorrow we will concentrate on riding race distance to see if we can find the right tyre before the second qualifying session in the afternoon. But at the moment everything is going the right way for a good result this weekend. My collar bone is still sore and I'm finding it a bit hard to change direction in some of the fast-change corners but it certainly feels a lot better than it did at Valencia." Steve Martin (13th - 1'43.297 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I'm happy with what I've achieved today considering I have only been on the bike for less than two hours. The bike is great to ride and I feel I am making solid progress. I didn't manage to get a good run on the tyres today due to the oil flag during the session, but I am confident we will go faster tomorrow. I just need to get to know the bike more and understand what it can and can't do." Massimo Roccoli (8th - 1'43.010 - Yamaha Team Italia) "Last weekend's win for me was a great boost to my confidence and the bike is very fast here. Those two things combined make me very happy and confident this weekend. It is thanks to my race engineer that the bike is so good. I am happy with my position and will look to improve on it tomorrow." Circuit Length: 4555 Temp: 25 Weather: Sunny 2007 WSS Assen 27/04/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 1'42.174 2 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 1'42.191 3 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'42.482 4 Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 1'42.755 5 Vesa Kallio Suzuki FIN 1'42.773 6 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 1'42.875 7 David Salom Yamaha ESP 1'43.000 8 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1'43.010 9 Andrew Pitt Honda AUS 1'43.040 10 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 1'43.167 11 David Checa Yamaha ESP 1'43.241 12 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 1'43.245 13 Steve Martin Yamaha AUS 1'43.297 14 Davide Giugliano Kawasaki ITA 1'43.369 15 Craig Jones Honda GBR 1'43.414 19 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1'43.601 25 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1'44.227

The sixth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship will take place next weekend at the Sugo circuit for the Grand Prix of Japan. For the third time this century and the third season in succession, Yamaha’s elite crew of MX1 and MX2 racers will head to the impressive and popular venue close to the city of Sendai. Importantly, the firm enter their home event holding the lead in the Rider’s and Manufacturer’s standings of both classes and will defend an unbeaten record at Sugo. Yamaha Motocross Team’s Josh Coppins currently enjoys a 43 point advantage in the MX1 classification. With one third of the fifteen race series already completed Coppins has forged a strong and notable start to his career as a Yamaha rider by guiding the Rinaldi-tuned works YZ450FM to three Grand Prix wins and seven moto triumphs from ten. He travels to Japan knowing that the Italian squad have tasted oriental victory in 2004 and 2005. “Of course I would love to win for Yamaha at their home GP and that is another goal of mine this season,” said the 30 year old title favourite, who’s lowest finish this year has been a sixth position. The New Zealander missed the 2006 edition of the race through injury but finished fourth in 2005 after taking part in a classic five rider scrap. “I like the track a lot,” he continued. “I have only been once but had a pretty good result there. I like how it is pretty rough, technical and jumpy. The terrain is also interesting. I am also fond of Japan, when you have to travel so far it helps that you like the actual country. I enjoy taking in the countryside and somehow I feel very safe when I am there. The people are so polite and very helpful.” Coppins, along with the Rinaldis and team-mate Marc de Reuver, will visit the Yamaha Motor Co (YMC) factory at Hamamatsu in the days leading up to the GP. “I am really looking forward to that,” he added. “As I get towards the later stages of my career I am starting to appreciate a lot more the history of our sport and places like Yamaha with their museum for motorsport. I am keen to see their old world championship bikes in both road racing and motocross. I have never actually been to a factory before so I am looking forward to meeting the bosses and the guys responsible for the bikes. It will be nice also to see how the work and the testing that I do filter through to the production machines.” The Sugo circuit has won rave reviews for not only its challenging layout but the care and attention directed to the soil that quickly becomes bumpy, rutted and technical. Marc de Reuver, who was third in the MX2 class there twelve months ago, is one of the many fans among the riding fraternity. “I always prefer tracks that are not rock hard and Sugo is nice to ride,” the charismatic Dutchman said. “It has big braking bumps, which is good for sand riders because we can play a little bit with the bike going into the corners. The layout is not too fast and the jumps are enjoyable.” The 24 year old has had a tough baptism to the MX1 class but top three moto results in Holland, Italy and Germany indicate there is more to come from De Reuver and a maiden overall podium is around the corner. “For sure MX1 is different from what I expected,” he revealed. “As an MX2 rider you look at them and you think, ‘they are not a lot faster and not as aggressive’ but now that Stefan Everts has gone it seems that everyone sees the big prize. That second moto in Valkenswaard, only my second race, was so crazy. Mantova also, people were attacking, passing and really going for it, which I had not seen before. It seems like I am still in MX2! From the first to the last lap they push. MX1 is hard, especially physically.” Team Manager Carlo Rinaldi is relishing the chance for his new rider line-up to show YMC staff first-hand the fruits of their efforts on the factory floor. “I enjoy going to Japan first of all because we like the nice and kind cooperation from Yamaha and secondly because we love the track,” he remarked. “We have always taken good results there. The dirt and the layout are excellent and we have seen some great races. I think Josh will have some pressure but he has proved to us so far that he manages under those kinds of conditions. I believe that racing in Japan will give him an extra boost.” “Visiting the factory will be something different for us and an added treat on our trip,” he added. “I honestly have never been to YMC so it will be interesting for me and the riders also.” Yamaha’s home dominance in the MX1 category is mirrored (in fact bettered) in MX2 where the YZ250F has taken the first two steps of the podium in both 2005 and 2006. The factory stand a very good chance of further spoils next week thanks to the fantastic form of Team De Carli’s Antonio Cairoli, who is unbeaten in the five Grand Prix held so far and has notched nine moto wins from ten. The Sicilian, who has finished runner-up for the past two seasons in Sugo, will also visit the facilities in Hamamatsu with team principal Claudio De Carli. “I love going to Japan and the whole experience, with the factory trip included, should be interesting also,” he said last week after winning the German Grand Prix at Teutschenthal. “I really like Sugo. I am definitely going there to win this time because I have finished second twice now.” “The beginning of the season has been perfect,” affirmed De Carli. “It has gone like a dream and everything has been good. We worked well in our testing during the winter and Tony is physically very good and confident. We now have to do our best to keep going in this direction although it won’t be easy all year.” The Italian boss was also full of praise for the 2007 YZ250F on which Cairoli has been torturing his rivals – most notably reigning champion Christophe Pourcel – this season and still has not finished lower than second place. “The bike we have, as well as the stock version, is a little bit different from last year and is better for the rider because it turns and handles better in the corners,” he said. “It certainly suits Tony’s style. We have made some work on the delivery of the power, so it is more usable for the rider. We made some suspension adjustments and overall we are really happy with the equipment we have.” The Grand Prix of Japan will be followed by trips to France and Bulgaria in the month of June as the 2007 campaign reaches the halfway point.

Torrential rain in Le Mans today doused the hopes of the Fiat Yamaha Team as Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards struggled in the wet conditions and splashed home to sixth and twelfth respectively. An action-packed race, which saw seven riders crash out, was eventually won by Australian rider Chris Vermeulen, who took his first win in MotoGP. Black clouds gathered ominously over the MotoGP grid and a few spots of rain just before 2pm meant the race was declared wet. Despite this the riders chose to start the race on slick tyres, with the option of making a pit-stop to change bikes if the weather worsened. Edwards started from pole but was uncomfortable from the start and had dropped to the back of the field by the end of the first lap, before becoming the first to make a pit-stop and change bikes on lap four. Rossi meanwhile pounced from fourth on the grid and took the lead at turn two, holding it until he was passed by Yamaha rider Sylvain Guintoli and Randy de Puniet on lap six as the track became wetter. Rossi was one of the last five riders to come in and change after ten laps and things looked promising at first as he fought back to third but, having opted for a harder-compound wet tyre, he was unable to keep up the momentum as the rain grew heavier and slipped back through the field. Sixth place nonetheless gained him ten important championship points and he holds on to second in the standings. Unfortunately things did not improve for his team-mate; Edwards persevered to the flag but continued to struggle throughout the race. Valentino Rossi - position 6th; "Of course I'm very upset about this result because I had a very good feeling in the dry at the start. We made some good modifications to the bike, it was working very well and I thought I was going to be able to fight for the victory. Unfortunately the weather ruined it for us today! We made the pit stop and started the second part of race with hard rain tyres, because we thought it was only going to be light rain. Sadly we were wrong and when the rain got heavier my tyre was too hard for the conditions and I couldn't push. I was very slow from then on and didn't have any grip from the rear. In the last five laps it was quite dangerous as it was very hard to stay upright and I think I lost five or six seconds per lap at the end. We had hoped that this would be a track at which we could gain some ground on Stoner and it's going to be a very hard battle from here because he is very fast, not just on the straights but everywhere! I want to congratulate Chris Vermeulen today because he rode a great race, I think he's a bit of a magician in the rain!" Colin Edwards - position 12th; We encountered some problems that I've run into before - in Australia last year when I crashed in the rain and at the Jerez test this year. It's hard to explain, but to me it feels like it's related to the engine braking - when we've got less traction from the tyres in the wet it just seems to appear. I think even yesterday's crash was down to something similar. Basically I try to put it into the corner but the rear comes round on me and it slides. Valentino and I have quite different styles - he holds the clutch in there a lot longer whilst I just kind of dump it and today it was a big problem for me. To be honest that wasn't really rain racing for me, it was more like ice racing and it was impossible. At the start it was at its worst because being on a slick tyre with a damp track just exacerbated the problem. I came in early because in the circumstances I thought I'd gamble and hope it was going to chuck it down with rain, but a few laps out there on rain tyres when it wasn't that wet wasn't fun either. I came back in again, thinking maybe the tyre was too hard, and we tried a softer rain tyre and that was better in the end. I'm really sorry to the team and to everyone involved; I don't like wasting my first pole and I had hoped for great things today." Davide Brivio - Team Director; "Today's race was run in very difficult conditions, which is a pity when we had high hopes for both riders. Valentino was running well but when it started to rain we chose a tyre for light rains and then, unfortunately, the rain came down very heavily and very hard and it just wasn't the right tyre for those conditions. This is why after he changed bikes he was very good but as the rain got heavier he started to go backwards. He did well to finish the race in this situation and get some points. For Colin, we don't really know what to say but the conditions of today and the lower temperatures made it difficult for him and it was a day to forget after his great pole position. I think in the dry he could have had a good race but this sadly wasn't to be. He was uncomfortable with the bike and from the start he wasn't going well. All we can do now is move on from Le Mans, put it behind us and look forward to Mugello." In front of the home crowd of the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team, the Grand Prix of France was a truly momentous affair as Makoto Tamada and Sylvain Guintoli both scored top ten results as they finished ninth and tenth respectively raising the bar in what was another stellar performance for the team. Both Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 riders rose to the wet weather circumstances with Sylvain creating his own piece of personal history as he overtook seven times world champion Valentino Rossi to lead a MotoGP for the first time. Unfortunately he was caught out by the worsening conditions as he tried to extend his lead causing him to crash but quickly remounted. Makoto was able to stay out a few more laps on slicks before his enforced pit-stop. He rode a steady and sensible race in the atrocious conditions that saw many other riders crashing out also attain his best result of the season so far. The scene had been set for a magnificent weekend during qualifying when Sylvain was on top of the time sheets with 10 minutes to go, finally missing the top spot by just 0.8 of a second. This weekend has given the team a tremendous boost with the Italian Grand Prix in two weeks time but in the meantime will remain at Le Mans for two days of testing to further improve performance of the Dunlop tyres and Yamaha machines. Makoto Tamada - position 9th; That was a very different race. I am happy to finish but I am not overly happy because I had the potential to go faster but I have no complaint with anything as we raced in such severe conditions. We also learnt many things in this race as when it was just a little bit wet I lost too much time and it was hard to decide at what time was best to come in. When it became very wet the lap times became a lot better and I felt very comfortable and in those conditions we had a lot of grip with the Dunlop tyres. Now we are here to test for a couple of days so it is important for us to work a lot on the bad points we have when the track is not dry but not all wet. This is a good result for the team and I know now that we are making many improvements that will help us for the rest of the year. Sylvain Guintoli - position 10th: That was a pretty funny race but I am extremely happy with the entire weekend. This is something special for me to do what I did in front of my home crowd with my good qualifying and the race. I got a very bad start as I wheelied off the line. I felt very confident passing everybody as I was trying to find a rhythm and the next thing I know I am in front with no one to chase. When I was in front for that one lap I didn't think about it, I just went for it. I was very surprised when the rear came around and made me crash as it didn't seem that wet. If I hadn't crashed I would have stayed out for a few more laps as it was not really wet enough to change bike. 10th is my best result so I have to be very happy even with a crash but the entire weekend has been brilliant. We can take a lot out of this weekend as we got rid of any doubts about how competitive we can be. I am now very confident with the bike and my riding and I am looking forward to Mugello to continue my progress. Herve Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Manager This has been a very weird French Grand Prix. We had a really good qualifying session and a strong warm-up this morning. It was an incredible start to the race. Sylvain was exceptional as he said to me before the start that it would be good to lead for just one lap and he did it! It didn't look too good for him at the start as he was 13th at the first split but he fought his way through. When I saw the rain coming harder I thought it wasn't looking too good but we were ready for a crash and he was prepared to take the chance. Everyone around the track enjoyed seeing Sylvain in front and after he crashed he showed very good fighting spirit to pick the bike up and continue. I would also like to thank Makoto as he showed great fighting spirit too to finish in 9th place and to have our two riders in the top ten is a sensational result. This weekend has been a huge step forward for the team and I think now we can be fighting for top ten finishes at every race. We have two days to test more things here at Le Mans and feel that we can make some more steps before the next race in Italy. Circuit Length: 4180 Temp: 13 Weather: Wet 2007 MotoGP France - Le Mans 20/05/2007 Race 1 - 28 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 50'58.752 2 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'12.599 3 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 0'27.347 4 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0'37.328 5 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 0'49.166 6 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0'53.563 7 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 1'1.073 8 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 1'21.241 9 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN -1 Laps 10 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA -1 Laps 11 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP -1 Laps 12 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA -3 Laps Rider Standings 20/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 102 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 81 3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 62 4. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 61 5. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 55 6. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 48 7. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 38 8. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 35 9. Toni Elias Honda ESP 35 10. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 30 11. Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 30 12. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 27 13. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 20 14. Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 19 15. Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 15 16. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 12 17. Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 11 Team Standings 20/05/2007 Pos. Team Points 1. Ducati Marlboro Team 140 2. FIAT Yamaha Team 116 3. Rizla Suzuki 103 4. Honda Gresini 96 5. Repsol Honda Team 92 6. Pramac D'Antin 57 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 28 8. Tech3 Yamaha 23 9. Honda LCR 20 10. Konica Minolta Honda 15 11. Team Roberts 4 Manufacturer Standings 20/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 102 2. Honda 89 3. Yamaha 81 4. Suzuki 71

Today the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team finished a two-day test hot on the heels of last weekend’s races at Monza. Following on from Haga’s double win at Monza the team went straight to the Misano circuit on the Adriatic coast of Italy where they participated in a private test alongside key riders from Ducati, Kawasaki and DFX Honda. The focus of the two-day session was for the team to test various new parts and for the riders to learn the new Misano circuit. From 2007 races at Misano will now go the other way round the track in a bid to increase safety as well as the racing excitement. This effectively means a whole new track for the riders to learn. Corser had a successful two days taking the second fastest unofficial time both days just behind Bayliss. Having lapped a 1’36.6 on day one he went on to take a second off his time the next day to do a 1’35.6. Following on from his double win last weekend, Haga was fifth fastest on day one and went over a second quicker on day two as he learnt the track and made progress with setting up the new parts. The team is now confident of fully utilizing the new parts to get the best out of the all-new 2007 R1 at the seventh round of the championship at Silverstone in just over a week’s time. Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “The test has proved very valuable. We got the chance to test all the new parts we wanted including engine, chassis and suspension items as well as trying different tyres. I feel that the past two days have helped us start to resolve the problems I encountered at Monza. We have focused on doing race distances and we have done a lot of laps. It has been tiring but I am fairly happy with my lap times considering this. The test was also very good for learning the new Misano circuit and where the bumps are, which is everywhere! I have also got a good idea of what race setting to use for the Misano race which isn’t far away.” Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “I am very tired as we have come straight from Monza to Misano but even so the test has been good. The circuit now goes the other way and we have not ridden it like this before so it was good to learn where all the bumps are. We tested various new engine parts which were good although we could do with more time to really get the best out of them. So far, so good though.” Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator – Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “The test has gone well – both riders have done many laps and the team has worked hard even though everyone is tired after Monza. We managed to test all the parts including a variable intake system which is also used on the production R1. The test has given us some invaluable time to get the system set up right for each rider. We also tested different mapping settings and Troy focused on engine braking as this was a problem for him at Monza. I am happy with the results and we have got some good data and information which is bound to help us at Silverstone.” Fastest times (both days combined): Troy Bayliss (Ducati) 1’35”3 Troy Corser (Yamaha) 1’35”6 Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) 1’35”9 Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) 1’36”6 Ruben Xaus (Ducati) 1’36”8 Fonsi Nieto (Kawasaki) 1’36”9 Regis Laconi (Kawasaki) 1’37”1 Michel Fabrizio (Honda) 1’38”2 Marco Borciani (Ducati) 1’39”0 Mauro Sanchini (Kawasaki) 1’39”0

Yamaha Motocross Team's Josh Coppins continued his 100% podium record with third place overall in the German GP held at the 'Talkessel' circuit of Teutschenthal. His teammate Marc de Reuver enjoyed his best moto result to date in a MX1 GP race, finishing second to Coppins in the first heat. A crash in the second moto unfortunately destroyed Marc's chance for his first GP victory. Coppins gained his first pole position on the YZ450FM during an initially wet Timed Practice on Saturday. High winds on Friday meant that the practice schedule had to be cut in order to complete the set-up of the circuit, Nevertheless the Yamaha Motocross Team had a decent day of preparation enjoying a pleasing one-two for both of their riders as Marc de Reuver flew to a lap-time just four thousandths of a second slower than Coppins. Despite the adverse conditions at the start of the weekend (Saturday was windy, cloudy and with occasional showers) Sunday dawned sunny and slightly breezy. With its climbs, drops, banked curves and undulations Talkessel still has a flowing layout even though a new sandy loop had been installed. The hard terrain had also been mixed with sand in many places with a view to generating more lines which was partially successful. The speed remained fairly high and the course was not the most technically difficult of the calendar; therefore the gaps between riders remained constant and tricky to cut down. The first MX1 moto saw an excellent start for the Italian crew as Coppins pulled away from de Reuver and the pair kept a comfortable distance over Steve Ramon. A repeat result looked as though it might happen later in the afternoon but the three second lead diligently created by Coppins vanished when the 30 year old hit neutral and crashed in the sand. He remounted in eighth and then joined in a thrilling five rider fight for the lead. In theory it should have been de Reuver's race and Grand Prix. Riding at the venue where he won his first Grand Prix in 2003 the Dutchman looked comfortable when he inherited Coppins' position but then slipped off his 450 in a surprising crash. Devastated by his mistake he then could do no better than eighth place, which gave him fourth overall; still his best finish so far this year. Coppins meanwhile had re-launched an offensive and climbed into the top four but he then clipped his right foot on a bank after exiting a corner a little too fast and twisted his ankle, nullifying his speed somewhat. He confirmed sixth to seal the third step of the podium. Coppins' lead in the standings has increased by seven points over Kevin Strijbos, who could only take fifth, and now reaches 43 for almost a full Grand Prix advantage. Josh Coppins, Yamaha Motocross Team: "I was riding well in the second moto and passed Brown for the lead. I pulled a nice little advantage over the others and was happy with that but I hit a neutral going through the sand and crashed. I restarted around sixth or seventh and was riding quite good again, passing a few guys, although I then hit the bank with my foot with five or six laps to go and took it a bit easy after that. The first moto win was good because this track is so fast and the racing is so close that a couple of seconds lead is a lot here compared to other circuits. I was comfortable and able to control the race. The second moto was frustrating. I made a mistake that I am disappointed about because I was in a good position. It was a so so day but on the bright side I was able to extend my lead in the championship." Marc de Reuver, Yamaha Motocross Team: "Even in my junior motocross races did I not give away a race like that! I went into the corner and my right hand slipped off the grip. I don't know why because I always took the same rut. The bike was still running and I picked it up straightaway. I lost only two places and thought that the moto was still there for me but then Ramon pushed me over the berm and just into the fence and everyone in that group went through. I have nothing more to say except that I am sick of this. I should have won it easily, with 'two fingers in my nose' even. I was riding so smoothly and it was just a stupid thing." Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team: "It could easily have been a one-two for the team. The first moto was easy for them both and it looked as though the second race was going to be the same, even when Josh crashed because Marc had the lead and Josh could have made second overall. It turned around very quickly though because Marc made the mistake and Josh twisted his ankle. Marc was so angry and disappointed. He lost a lot of time and speed. The second half of the second moto was hard for us!" Circuit Length: 1780 Temp: 20 Crowd: 32000 Weather: Showers 2007 GP of Teutschenthal, Germany 13/05/2007 Race 1 - 19 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 41'33.823 2 Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 0'6.946 3 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'11.243 4 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'13.949 5 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'14.865 6 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'17.440 7 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 0'26.508 8 James Noble Honda GBR 0'29.096 9 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 0'34.254 10 Manuel Priem TM BEL 0'45.676 11 Bradley Anderson Yamaha GBR 0'46.596 12 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'49.656 13 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'51.164 14 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'53.206 15 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 1'1.365 16 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 1'5.529 17 Alex Salvini Yamaha ITA 1'7.947 18 Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 1'9.753 19 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 1'13.081 20 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 1'31.115 Race 2 - 19 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 39'49.343 2 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'2.008 3 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'3.729 4 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'4.221 5 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 0'7.718 6 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'11.974 7 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'24.821 8 Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 0'29.354 9 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'31.323 10 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 0'34.459 11 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'36.376 12 Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 0'40.458 13 Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 0'50.129 14 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'53.742 15 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'55.388 16 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 0'56.356 17 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 0'57.910 18 Julien Vanni Honda FRA 0'58.589 19 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 1'1.208 20 Bradley Anderson Yamaha GBR 1'5.050 Rider Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 234 2. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 191 3. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 156 4. Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 131 5. Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 130 6. Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 121 7. Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 115 8. David Philippaerts KTM ITA 115 9. Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 112 10. James Noble Honda GBR 104 11. Mike Brown Honda USA 100 12. Manuel Priem TM BEL 81 13. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 80 14. Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 73 15. Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 66 16. Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 62 17. Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 57 18. Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 49 19. Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 43 20. Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 38 Manufacturer Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 234 2. Suzuki 205 3. KTM 181 4. Honda 163 5. Kawasaki 157 6. TM 81 7. Aprilia 2 RACE REPORT 13/05/2007 Cairoli unstoppable in Teutschenthal The phenomenon that is Antonio Cairoli's form in the MX2 Motocross World Championship showed no signs of fading today as the flamboyant Sicilian won the Grand Prix of Germany for the fifth round of fifteen in the series. It was the Yamaha De Carli representative's fifth consecutive success (sixth stretching back to 2006) and his fourth double moto triumph of the year. Antonio Cairoli has now won nine MX2 motos from the ten contested this season. His worst result is still the second position he took in the first race of the Spanish Grand Prix. Enjoying ruthless speed on the YZ250F and combined with an excellent physical condition, not to mention a large dose of confidence, the 21 year old is currently unstoppable. The 2005 World Champ and 2006 runner-up gained his third consecutive pole position as the MX2 qualification heats were scraped with the change of timetable and replaced by an MX1 Timed Practice chrono. "Tony" hole-shotted both motos and lead from the first corners until the last. The first race was processional and only lively in the final three laps when defending number one Christophe Pourcel closed down the gap to the red-plated '222' machine to set up an exciting climax. Cairoli however showed the extent of his control to register his fastest lap of the race in the final minutes to ensure his chequered flag. The second moto presented a clearer run on a rougher track. Cairoli stretched his lead over Pourcel and Tyla Rattray in the first half of the 18 laps and had the trophy in his pocket from that stage. Cairoli, who waved to the crowd on the last circulations, dedicated his win to 'all the mothers' in recognition of mothering Sunday in Germany. The Italian's good mood was further buoyed by enlarging his lead in the MX2 championship by six points over Pourcel. His advantage now stands at a hefty 66, almost three full motos. Yamaha Ricci Racing's Davide Guarneri came back to form in only his second Grand Prix of the year. The friendly Italian won his first (and only so far) moto at Teutschenthal in 2005. He made two decent jumps from the gate and finished fifth in both races for the same classification in the final table. Team-mate Kenneth Gundersen took the next highest moto placing behind Cairoli with third position in the first race. The Norwegian did not make any mistakes despite pressure from Tyla Rattray. He suffered a bad start in the second moto however and could only work his way back to fourteenth. Gundersen, who has bittersweet memories of Teutschenthal (he won the 250cc GP here in 2002 but then also crashed hard and sustained the painful knee injury that kept him out of the series for well over a year in 2004) was seventh overall and one place behind Nicolas Aubin who did not get away from the gate well in either sprint and couldn't find a good rhythm in Motoone but collected ninth and sixth after two hard rides. His tussle with Tommy Searle was particularly entertaining from which he managed to emerge victorious. Yamaha's motocross crew next race will be the home Grand Prix for Yamaha held at the popular Sugo circuit in two weeks time. Yamaha are undefeated on their Japanese territory with MX1 and MX2 victory in the previous two years. The third incarnation of the Grand Prix of Japan represents round six of the World Championship and the only non-European meeting this season. A special preview, with comments from Yamaha's main protagonists, will be issued next week. Antonio Cairoli, Yamaha De Carli: "I am happy to give this win to all the mothers as it is mother's day and I love mine very much! This was an important victory as I have never finished on the podium here and for the championship it was very positive. The track was a bit more difficult than before, rougher even, and I prefer this because when it is too easy everybody goes so fast. In the first moto I had the holeshot and went hard on the first lap to make a gap over Gundersen. I could see that Christophe was coming fast but I was able to control the race. He came close at the end but I made two strong laps at the end and he couldn't pass me. The second moto was a little easier. The track was more technical. I took a lead of six or seven seconds over Christophe and it was not as stressful. On the last lap I said 'Ciao' to the crowd." Kenneth Gundersen, Yamaha Team Ricci: "Even with a bit of arm-pump in the first race I could keep third and that was a good result but in the second I made a bad start and couldn't get my rhythm. I was struggling against the bike and the track and couldn't get any speed. To be honest I was riding really badly and that was disappointing because a good overall finish was wasted." Davide Guarneri, Yamaha Team Ricci: "I love this track and I felt quite good today. I had a problem on the left turns because my ankle is still a bit weak but I had two good starts and my speed was also good. Two fifth positions is a great result because this is only my second race of the year and I hope in the next few GPs I can do even better." Circuit Length: 1780 Temp: 20 Crowd: 32000 Weather: Showers 2007 GP of Teutschenthal, Germany 13/05/2007 Race 1 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 39'32.155 2 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'2.695 3 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 0'46.329 4 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'47.786 5 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 0'52.944 6 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 1'3.364 7 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 1'15.902 8 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'19.038 9 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 1'19.801 10 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'34.835 11 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 1'36.225 12 Gautier Paulin Honda FRA 1'38.275 13 Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 1'40.741 14 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 1'41.345 15 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 1'42.596 16 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 1'43.701 17 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 1'50.893 18 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 1'53.369 19 Avis Wyatt KTM RSA 1'54.673 20 Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 2'4.369 Race 2 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 39'29.074 2 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'2.511 3 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'43.072 4 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'50.695 5 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 1'0.381 6 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 1'6.520 7 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 1'10.604 8 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'11.903 9 Avis Wyatt KTM RSA 1'14.497 10 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'15.371 11 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'16.450 12 Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 1'22.141 13 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 1'25.861 14 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 1'28.738 15 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 1'30.724 16 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 1'42.208 17 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 1'45.505 18 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 1'46.453 19 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 1'47.569 20 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 2'2.330 Rider Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 247 2. Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 181 3. Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 180 4. Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 143 5. Tommy Searle KTM GBR 137 6. Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 121 7. Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 118 8. Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 113 9. Matti Seistola Honda FIN 104 10. Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 85 11. Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 67 12. Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 58 13. Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 55 14. Erik Eggens Suzuki NED 54 15. Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 53 16. Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 53 17. Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 47 18. Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 46 19. Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 42 20. Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 42 23. Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 40 Manufacturer Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 247 2. Kawasaki 209 3. KTM 199 4. Honda 148 5. Suzuki 88

A moment Haga had been working towards came today when he took race wins in both races at the home round of the Yamaha Motor Italia Team. Haga went down to sixth at the start of race one behind Corser but quickly started to work his way up through the grid setting the fastest lap three times . By lap five Haga was battling with Toseland for the lead while Corser fought with Biaggi for sixth place. Haga won the fight for first and went on to complete a textbook race and take his first win at Monza in front of a record breaking 108,000 strong crowd. Corser had less fortune than Haga in race one, running wide at Lesmo on two consecutive laps and struggling to make up any time on fifth place until errors by Bayliss and Biaggi on lap 14 significantly reduced the gap. The retirement of Rolfo right at the end of the race gave Corser a fifth place finish. Haga got another bad start in race two but once again made his way up to second place by lap three. On lap seven Haga made his move to pass Toseland who he had been tailing and then set about putting some space between him and the rest of the field. From there on it was just up to Haga to bring the bike home safely to take his second win of the day. This completed a good weekend for the rider with him taking Superpole, both race wins and setting the fastest lap of the race in race one on the 2007 R1. Corser got a good start and moved up from fifth to fourth and then fought hard in a battle between Biaggi and Rolfo for four laps with the riders swapping positions frequently. As the race progressed Corser struggled to keep pace with the pack and had to settle for sixth and ten points. Today's excellent results puts Haga back in fierce contention for the championship as he now stands in second place and only 35 points behind lead man Toseland. Corser is in fifth having taken 21 points away from this weekend. Yamaha also lies second in the manufacturer standings with first place within reach. Noriyuki Haga (1st and 1st - Yamaha Motor Italia) "Today was perfect - the perfect end to a perfect weekend. I have taken Superpole, won both races and got the fastest lap in the second race. This weekend the bike was feeling good and we didn't make any big changes to the set-up which is unusual for me. We focused on the engine because this is such a fast track and the results speak for themselves. I would like to say thank you to the Team, Yamaha, Santander and all the other sponsors and people who have worked hard to make this possible. Taking the double win at the team's home round feels good and it is made all the sweeter as I have never won here before." Troy Corser (5th and 6th - Yamaha Motor Italia) "This weekend has been very difficult; it has not gone to plan at all. Somehow I don't seem to be able to get the same top speed that Haga can achieve even though the bikes are the same. I had a couple of scary moments coming out of Lesmo when the back of the bike would let go and start coming round. I had it on Friday and then we seemed to solve the problem but I had it again in both races today. We have two days testing at Misano in the coming week so I really hope we can find out what's causing this and solve it before Silverstone." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "This has been a fantastic day - a double win at our home round where we have had over 800 guests today. Haga is now second in the championship and Yamaha are second in the manufacturer championship also. Haga rode very well, made no mistakes and really pushed hard. We had lots of fans here today because it is our home round and we are based very close to here. The atmosphere was exciting and I am sure we gave the fans some good racing. I am really sorry for Troy - the positions he finished in today are not a true reflection of his capability and the effort he is putting in. We have a two-day test at Misano next week and we are going to work really hard to sort out the problem. I would like to thank everyone involved in the team for all their hard work - today has been a good reward for us all." Circuit Length: 5792 Temp: 26 Crowd: 108,000 Weather: Dry 2007 WSB Monza 13/05/2007 Race 1 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 32'4.428 2 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 0'8.403 3 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 0'9.703 4 James Toseland Honda GBR 0'13.587 5 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 0'14.898 6 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 0'14.954 7 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'19.517 8 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 0'24.120 9 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 0'24.682 10 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 0'29.197 11 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 0'32.654 12 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 0'34.054 13 Marco Borciani Ducati ITA 0'37.386 14 Alessandro Polita Suzuki ITA 0'37.704 15 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0'41.377 Race 2 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 32'5.318 2 James Toseland Honda GBR 0'2.691 3 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 0'2.841 4 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 0'3.188 5 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 0'3.551 6 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 0'13.034 7 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 0'17.246 8 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 0'18.410 9 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 0'29.017 10 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0'29.686 11 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 0'30.371 12 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 0'31.982 13 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 0'32.165 14 Robertino Pietri Yamaha VEN 1'32.292 15 Dean Ellison Ducati GBR 1'41.840 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'46.172 Rider Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. James Toseland Honda GBR 229 2. Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 194 3. Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 191 4. Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 164 5. Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 135 6. Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 107 7. Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 106 8. Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 81 9. Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 77 10. Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 60 11. Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 60 12. Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 51 13. Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 46 14. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 44 15. Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 40 17. Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 19 Manufacturer Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 238 2. Yamaha 217 3. Ducati 209 4. Suzuki 191 5. Kawasaki 77 RACE REPORT 13/05/2007 West takes third for Yamaha in World Supersport This weekend's newcomer, Anthony West, to the Yamaha World Supersport Team rode a gutsy race today to come third in the sixth round of the World Supersport Championship. Until this weekend Anthony West had not ridden a four-stroke bike since 2004 or ever ridden the Monza circuit before. Broc Parkes was running in second and looking confident when a technical fault ended his race early. West got off to a bad start and moved down from 14th to 18th as he got entangled in a first chicane scrum. But undeterred he put his head down and had moved up to sixth by lap six. He then found himself in a three-way battle with Veneman and Fujiwara but had passed both riders within two laps to then focus on Charpentier. Within one lap he had made up the 1.2 seconds on Charpentier and out-braked him going into the chicane. By this point in the race the young Australian was putting his fastest laps of the race, consistently hitting the 1'50s. With only three laps to go West then challenged Foret and Nannelli for second place with the riders swapping places every lap until on the last lap when West made a late challenge for second at the chicane only to be retaken aggressively by Foret at the Parabolica. Having had such a successful start to the weekend and after qualifying fourth Parkes had an unlucky end today. In the race he got off to a good start and took the lead at the first corner. He lost the lead to Sofuoglu on lap three but was sitting confidently behind him waiting for the right opportunity to overtake when a technical fault caused his bike to stop, ending his race. Roccoli had a disappointing race after qualifying in eighth yesterday. He started well enough but then made a mistake and lost several places. He finished in 11th taking five points away. Anthony West (3rd - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "That was a tough race - I had to fight very hard out there but it was good. I was happy when I got to eighth place and started to relax into the race. I then realized I could catch the front runners so focused on them. When I caught up with Foret and Nannelli I could feel my tyres were wearing off so let them fight it out in front of me with a view to making a late challenge. The bike feels really good now I've had a weekend to get to know it, it is fast too. I couldn't have done so well without such a good bike, it gave me lots of confidence. And the team is one of the most professional teams I have worked with - I would like to thank them for their efforts this weekend." Broc Parkes (DNF - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I can't believe the bad we had today. I had a really good bike and got a good start making sure I didn't go too crazy on the first lap. Sofuoglu came past me but I could see he wasn't consistent so I tagged onto him and was starting to get into a flow when the bike just stopped. The team and I have worked so hard to get the bike set up and this was shaping up to be the perfect opportunity for my first race win of the season. Now we just have to put this behind us and look forward to the next race which is at Silverstone. I normally go well there and have got second there before." Massimo Roccoli (11th - Yamaha Team Italia) "I made a braking mistake at one point and I lost six places. Normally I prefer to have no one in front of me to be fast, but that cannot always be. The damage wasn't too bad but my expectation for today was higher than my results. I am not happy with today's race." Circuit Length: 5792 Temp: 23 Crowd: 108,000 Weather: Dry 2007 WSS Monza 13/05/2007 Race 1 - 16 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 29'44.471 2 Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 0'3.992 3 Anthony West Yamaha AUS 0'4.043 4 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 0'4.598 5 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 0'8.348 6 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 0'10.323 7 Yoann Tiberio Honda FRA 0'22.621 8 Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 0'25.613 9 David Salom Yamaha ESP 0'25.668 10 Simone Sanna Honda ITA 0'25.702 11 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 0'25.857 12 Miguel Praia Honda POR 0'26.562 13 Vesa Kallio Suzuki FIN 0'26.618 14 David Checa Yamaha ESP 0'31.074 15 Joan Lascorz Honda ESP 0'33.737 17 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 0'43.971 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'50.550 Rider Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 145 2. Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 87 3. Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 53 4. Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 43 5. Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 41 6. Andrew Pitt Honda AUS 40 7. Robbin Harms Honda DNK 39 8. David Salom Yamaha ESP 34 9. Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 33 10. Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 27 11. Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 26 12. Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 26 13. Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 25 14. Craig Jones Honda GBR 25 15. Vesa Kallio Suzuki FIN 24 19. David Checa Yamaha ESP 20 23. Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 9 Manufacturer Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 145 2. Kawasaki 97 3. Yamaha 82 4. Suzuki 48 5. Ducati 43 RACE REPORT 13/05/2007 Baiocco takes Monza Superstock win for Yamaha Today's FIM Superstock 1000 Cup race was always going to be exciting following on from the drama at the last round in Assen but no one could have predicted the result as Matteo Baiocco took the win at his home round while Yamaha Team Italia team mates Corti and Pirro both crashed out. Pirro, Corti, Van Keymeulen and Baiocco had been running in the top five throughout the weekend in qualifying with Pirro taking his second pole position of the season and Corti taking second. Baiocco qualified in fourth with Didier Van Keymeulen rounding up the Yamaha domination in fifth. All four Yamaha-shod riders got good starts in the race with Corti taking the lead early on from Pirro. In the first three laps Corti, Pirro and Van Keymeulen all fought hard for the lead, with each taking the top slot at some stage. On lap four Corti high-sided whilst in the lead ending his race and just missing Van Keymeulen in the process, who had to take to the grass. Pirro took this chance to grab the lead and proceeded to build a good gap between him and Van Keymeulen. Meanwhile Baiocco, riding for the Umbria Bike Team, was in his own battle for third with Dionisi until he managed to break away on lap eight to pass Van Keymeulen for second place. Van Keymeulen found himself heading back to fifth as his tyres started to wear off which allowed Dionisi and Aitchison through. Pirro was all set to take the win when he crashed on the penultimate lap. Baiocco took up the lead position on his 2007 R1 and held off the other riders to take his first race win in the Superstock championship. Today's result means that Baiocco now leads the championship with 60 points. Pirro and Corti both still have 45 points but have moved down to fifth and sixth respectively but Van Keymeulen has now joined them on 45 points in seventh position. In the manufacturer standings Yamaha lead with 90 points. With only four rounds gone the 2007 Superstock Championship is certainly close and the next round is in two weeks at Silverstone, UK. Matteo Baiocco (1st - Umbria Bike) "This is a dream come true to win on this track in front of this crowd. I had a perfect last lap - I overtook Aitchison at the chicane and then Dionisi at the Ascari corner. I must thank the team because my R1 was perfect." Michele Pirro (DNF - Yamaha Team Italia) "I don't know why I crashed, I am so disappointed. It was an important occasion for me to take a step forward in the championship standings. But I don't want to cry now because the season is so long and I must focus on going forward." Claudio Corti (DNF - Yamaha Team Italia) "I have some pain in my hand and back but nothing serious. I let a very good result go but I am already thinking forward to the next race. Congratulations to Baiocco, his victory is certainly a good prize for him." Circuit Length: 5792 Temp: 22 Crowd: 108,000 Weather: Dry 2007 Superstock Monza 13/05/2007 Race 1 - 11 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 20'19.109 2 Mark Aitchison Suzuki AUS 0'0.004 3 Ilario Dionisi Suzuki ITA 0'0.136 4 Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha BEL 0'0.510 5 Xavier Simeon Suzuki BEL 0'5.949 6 Marko Jerman Suzuki SVK 0'7.712 7 Sheridan Morais Ducati RSA 0'8.132 8 Rene Mahr Yamaha GER 0'14.693 9 Danilo Dell'omo MV Agusta ITA 0'14.743 10 Nicolo Canepa Ducati ITA 0'15.193 11 Daniel Sutter Yamaha CHE 0'20.413 12 Arne Tode Honda GER 0'20.731 13 Cederic Tangre Yamaha FRA 0'21.135 14 Marko Rohtlaan Honda EST 0'21.565 15 Brendan Roberts Ducati AUS 0'21.794 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Mark Aitchison Suzuki AUS 1'49.575 Rider Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 60 2. Mark Aitchison Suzuki AUS 58 3. Nicolo Canepa Ducati ITA 57 4. Ilario Dionisi Suzuki ITA 50 5. Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha BEL 45 6. Michele Pirro Yamaha ITA 45 7. Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 45 8. Xavier Simeon Suzuki BEL 38 9. Rene Mahr Yamaha GER 26 10. Marko Jerman Suzuki SVK 21 11. Sheridan Morais Ducati RSA 19 12. Matej Smrz Honda CZE 15 13. Cederic Tangre Yamaha FRA 14 14. Arne Tode Honda GER 13 15. Danilo Dell'omo MV Agusta ITA 13 Manufacturer Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 90 2. Suzuki 71 3. Ducati 60 4. Honda 27 5. MV Agusta 17 6. Kawasaki 4

Yamaha's emphatic presence in the MX1 and MX2 World Championship continues as Yamaha Motocross Team's Josh Coppins won his third Grand Prix of the year and Yamaha De Carli's Antonio Cairoli maintained a 100% record with his fourth consecutive success at a sunny and warm Mantova circuit for the Italian round and the fourth meeting of fifteen in the FIM competition. The Mantova layout had been altered slightly from the course that opened the off-road racing calendar in February. The track, with its rough, sandy terrain and many jumps, won praise from most of the riders for the challenge it offered. The facility is unique in the way it is compacted in a squared 'stadium' setting, allowing wide views of most of the circuit. The first MX1 moto was a collection of incidents. Marc De Reuver started brightly and held fourth position behind Coppins in the early stages. On a surge of confidence the Dutchman took off to challenge David Philippaerts for the lead but the pair collided in a tight left-hander and both went down. Ken de Dycker moved through to head a four rider group but Coppins attacked right away and the duo swapped positions for several laps until De Dycker faded. For the last third of the race Coppins was not overtaken, although Tanel Leok kept him close company; the 30 year old rode comfortably to his fifth triumph from seven motos. De Reuver re-started outside of the top ten and eventually took the chequered flag in a humble twenty-third and out of the points. Coppins again faced the threat of De Dycker in the second sprint. The former team-mates tangled before the New Zealander backed off to observe his rival. After four laps he was able to regain ground on the Belgian and swiftly relegated the 22 year old to second spot. The Rinaldi squad were naturally thrilled with victory at their home Grand Prix and Coppins cited the triumph as the best of his career after battling some set-up problems on Saturday. Further good news lay in store when De Reuver (sporting a close-cut hairstyle instead of his traditional lengthy locks) crossed the line in third spot for his second top three MX1 moto finish with Yamaha. Tanel Leok in second place and Sebastien Pourcel in third both made their first appearances on the podium, Coppins was able to extend his lead in the MX1 series by 17 points over Kevin Strijbos (who was fourth overall) and now enjoys a 36 point advantage. De Reuver's efforts leave him tenth. Josh Coppins, Yamaha Motocross Team: "I'm pretty happy. It is no secret that I don't like this track and it looked obvious yesterday but we worked hard with the team, and Yamaha were really smart and made some good decisions for me. We really improved the bike over the two days. I knew my race pace was good but I could not go that little bit extra for a flying lap. Today I had to be a little bit clever and head-strong and fight to the end. The first moto was crazy because a lot of guys were trying to win the race in the first ten minutes. I let them do their own thing. I almost got caught up with Marc when he fell and that was a near miss. I started to ride better after that and gave my best. I had a pretty good idea that I could pass Ken again in the second moto. He had a couple of better lines so I let him go but I wondered how much energy he had left and when he started to slow I was confident I could lead again. I think this is the best win ever for me simply because I have never done well at this track and today went much better than I expected." Marc de Reuver, Yamaha Motocross Team: "I felt really good from the first practice and I really thought this was going to be my weekend. I got the first corners right in the first moto and moved into fifth. I found it really easy to overtake from there and got up to second place. I then got a bit over-excited when I wanted to pass Philippaerts. It was not totally my fault. It was just a racing accident. It took a while before we got untangled and I was at the back and really disappointed. In the second race my start was good and I wanted to follow Josh because it is easy to blow yourself up on this track if you go crazy. We both moved past Mike Brown, but Ken de Dycker came through. At the end he tired and I thought I might be able to get him but I made some mistakes and decided to have a safe finish. Third is not so bad and lifts my results and points in the right direction again." Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team: "It has been a very good home GP and I am very happy mainly because the weekend did not start in the best way. Josh did not feel very comfortable on this track and we struggled on Saturday to get him running well with the bike, so we were not expecting such a good race. Josh showed one of his very positive characteristics though and reacted strongly. With good starts he had the patience to wait for the right moment to attack and won both motos. About Marc, I am pleased because physically he is getting better and speed-wise he is there, but I was disappointed when he crashed in the first moto and threw away a big chance for the race win. He proved that he was ready to win, but maybe he wasn't patient enough and that's a pity. He made up for it with a consistent race in the second moto and third place was very good for him because he needs the points." Temp: 26 Crowd: 29000 Weather: Sunny 2006 2007 GP of Mantova, Italy 06/05/2007 Race 1 - 19 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 40'20.318 2 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'10.494 3 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'16.085 4 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'29.880 5 James Noble Honda GBR 0'34.911 6 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'38.195 7 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'42.294 8 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 0'46.664 9 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'49.336 10 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 0'55.145 11 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 1'10.513 12 Manuel Priem TM BEL 1'15.256 13 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 1'28.505 14 Mike Brown Honda USA 1'31.926 15 Julien Bill Kawasaki CHE 1'32.921 16 Alex Salvini Yamaha ITA 1'34.455 17 Christian Beggi Honda ITA 1'43.475 18 Antti Pyrhonen Kawasaki FIN 1'48.314 19 Marko Kovalainen Honda FIN 1'52.786 20 Christian Stevanini Yamaha ITA 1'56.134 Race 2 - 19 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 40'56.507 2 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'5.757 3 Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 0'10.669 4 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'13.407 5 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'15.793 6 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'19.242 7 James Noble Honda GBR 0'28.599 8 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'39.096 9 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'49.588 10 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'59.306 11 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 1'3.127 12 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 1'6.985 13 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 1'21.234 14 Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 1'25.998 15 Antti Pyrhonen Kawasaki FIN 1'43.079 16 Marko Kovalainen Honda FIN 1'45.801 17 Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 1'57.507 18 Christian Beggi Honda ITA 2'28.389 19 Julien Bill Kawasaki CHE -1 Laps 20 Scott Columb Suzuki NZL -1 Laps Rider Standings 06/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 194 2. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 158 3. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 116 4. Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 106 5. Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 103 6. Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 100 7. Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 98 8. James Noble Honda GBR 91 9. Mike Brown Honda USA 81 10. Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 80 11. David Philippaerts KTM ITA 74 12. Manuel Priem TM BEL 70 13. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 63 14. Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 62 15. Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 61 16. Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 45 17. Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 45 18. Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 35 19. Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 32 20. Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 27 Manufacturer Standings 06/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 194 2. Suzuki 165 3. KTM 140 4. Honda 129 5. Kawasaki 127 6. TM 70 7. Aprilia 2 RACE REPORT 06/05/2007 Cairoli scores quartet of GP wins The traditionally enthusiastic crowd were driven wild by Cairoli's third clean-sweep of both motos this season. The Sicilian, on the De Carli tuned YZ250F, has now won five from six and finished second in the other race categories, winnig all GP's thusfar in the 2007 season. Antonio was so dominant in his qualification heat Saturday that he could afford to make a good show for the crowd over the many Mantova jumps, he blitzed the first Grand Prix moto and held a lead of four seconds by the end of the second lap. From that point onwards the 2005 World Champion raced the track alone with the cheers of his many fans for company. He repeated his excellence in the second race and his sheer speed on the opening lap after another ideal start was the deciding factor in delivering his fifteenth career success. There is little more to say about Cairoli's form this season except that the 21 year old is currently operating in a different league to his peers. His increased his margin to 55 points which means that he can afford two DNFs and still be leading the championship. With Tyla Rattray and Tommy Searle filling the other two podium steps Yamaha's next best placed representative was Yamaha Team Ricci's talent Nicolas Aubin with sixth overall. The French youngster - who looked so stylish over the table-top jumps - was eleventh and sixth in the two motos. Team-mate Kenneth Gundersen ran as high as fourth for long stretches of the first moto but was passed by an energetic Gareth Swanepoel. His fifth position would be his only finish of the day as a heavy crash after landing awkwardly from a double jump forced the Norwegian to retire with a bruised left side of his body. Davide Guarneri was back in action and attempting his first Grand Prix of the season after sustaining an ankle injury. The Italian could not continue after his gear lever was smashed in the first moto but took a conservative thirteenth in the second outing. Both Bike it Yamaha Dixon Racing rider's score points today. Martin Barr completed the best weekend of his short GP career (started with appearances in 2006) by taking thirteenth overall with twelfth and fifteenth positions. British Champion Carl Nunn is coming back to full fitness and should have had a top ten result after running near the first five in the opening moto but slipped off and took four points for seventeenth. He was hit by another rider on the first lap of the second Moto and had to pit to change a bent rear brake lever. He finished the race, but out of the points. Antonio Cairoli, Team De Carli Yamaha: "I am really happy with this race and I feel very good with my riding and also mentally. I had a great feeling with the bike at this track even though we made some changes for the second heat and I could win that race even easier. It helped to have pole position from Saturday as I could hold the inside line even if I did not get away in first from the gate. I was surprised that Christophe could not go with me in the second moto but after two laps I saw that I had a good enough gap and could control it from there. It was an important race for me as I know Motocross is getting more popular now in Italy; I have many fans and I'm really happy about this and to be able to win for them is fantastic." Nicolas Aubin, Yamaha Team Ricci: "Sixth overall was not so bad today as my goal is to always be in the top ten. The first race my start was not very good but I could not find my rhythm and struggled to get the good lines. Things were better in the second race but I was on the limit sometimes and close to crashing. I got near to Searle but couldn't find a way through. I dropped back to get my rhythm going again and pushed hard to overtake but then crashed. I was lucky that the bike kept running and there was no damage." Kenneth Gundersen, Yamaha Team Ricci: "In the first race I had a good start but got a bit tired towards the end so I thought I would make sure of fifth and see what I could do in the second moto. I had a poor start when we went out again but I was coming through well and reached the top ten before the crash. I'm sure the overall result would have been good but I just lost control." The fifth meeting of the year takes place in just seven days time with the Grand Prix of Germany at the Talkessel circuit in Teutschenthal. The teams will cut through Europe this week to head to the east of the country and the venue near the city of Halle. Temp: 27 Crowd: 29000 Weather: Sunny 2006 2007 GP of Mantova, Italy 06/05/2007 Race 1 - 19 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 40'29.827 2 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'8.985 3 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'11.718 4 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'13.575 5 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 0'32.325 6 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'41.013 7 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'46.640 8 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 0'55.326 9 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 0'56.844 10 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 0'57.270 11 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 0'57.807 12 Martin Barr Yamaha GBR 1'7.415 13 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 1'13.097 14 Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 1'17.216 15 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 1'18.799 16 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 1'25.239 17 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'29.917 18 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'32.600 19 Gregory Aranda Kawasaki FRA 1'34.173 20 Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 1'36.827 Race 2 - 19 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 41'12.692 2 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'15.981 3 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'19.661 4 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'21.469 5 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'22.998 6 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 0'45.140 7 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 0'51.466 8 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 1'0.340 9 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 1'6.121 10 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 1'6.449 11 Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 1'8.807 12 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 1'16.883 13 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 1'21.212 14 Avis Wyatt KTM RSA 1'25.093 15 Martin Barr Yamaha GBR 1'25.739 16 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 1'26.468 17 Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 1'41.997 18 Gregory Aranda Kawasaki FRA 1'45.542 19 Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 2'0.415 20 Jeremy Tarroux Yamaha FRA -1 Laps Rider Standings 06/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 197 2. Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 142 3. Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 137 4. Tommy Searle KTM GBR 117 5. Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 110 6. Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 107 7. Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 94 8. Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 91 9. Matti Seistola Honda FIN 78 10. Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 70 11. Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 58 12. Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 57 13. Erik Eggens Suzuki NED 54 14. Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 46 15. Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 45 16. Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 45 17. Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 42 18. Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 35 19. Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 35 20. Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 34 21. Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 31 29. Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 8 Manufacturer Standings 06/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 197 2. Kawasaki 165 3. KTM 161 4. Honda 115 5. Suzuki 82

Noriyuki Haga put in an exceptionally fast lap in today's Superpole at Monza to take his first pole of the season. This success at the team's home circuit was made even better by Troy Corser completing the front row of tomorrow's grid in fourth. The team now goes into tomorrow's race ready to fight for the World Superbike Championship. The day started well with both riders making good progress in this morning's qualifying session. Haga put in several long runs during the qualifying session to check his set-up and took third qualifying position going into Superpole. Corser and his team worked on improving the braking and front end set-up of his bike with the results quickly showing as he moved up from 12th to finish in sixth, with only 0.3 seconds gap up to second. Corser was the first rider in the team to do his Superpole lap and comfortably beat the Superpole lap record he had set last year. He just missed the top of the leader board by under 0.09 seconds. Haga was one of the final riders to complete his lap and took the pole position as well as setting a new Superpole lap record of 1'44.941 - taking off almost 2 seconds from the standing record. Today's track action puts both Yamaha Motor Italia riders on the front row which will be important as they go into the first tight chicane. Both riders will need to be in front when they reach this corner if they are to contend for the lead. The front row grid is completed by Bayliss in second and Biaggi in third. Shinichi Nakatomi's weekend took a turn for the worse today as he crashed out of qualifying and ended his race hopes for Monza. He had been progressing well in this morning's qualifying practice and had secured 20th qualifying place when he lost the front of the bike and crashed into the gravel trap at the Ascari corner. He re-mounted and re-joined the circuit but a collision with another rider sent him back into the gravel where the bike fell on his foot, braking two toes and cutting short his weekend. It is hoped he will return at Silverstone. Noriyuki Haga (1st - Yamaha Motor Italia) "I am very happy with pole but tomorrow is the most important day - that is when it all counts. The weekend so far has gone very well for myself and the team and I am confident for tomorrow. We have already fixed a race setting and tyre and have only a few minor suspension changes to do before the race." Troy Corser (4th - Yamaha Motor Italia) "Today has gone well. We got a good set-up in practice this morning and put in some good lap times. Then Superpole went well, I was just a bit cautious going into the first chicane as I have overshot there twice already this weekend. It feels good to be on the front row at the team's home round. The bike feels really good and I am looking forward to tomorrow a lot." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator Yamaha Motor Italia) "This round is at the team's home of Monza. To have both riders on the front row with good set-ups and tyre choices done is excellent. Haga's Superpole lap was fantastic and I am very happy that we have solved Corser's problems from yesterday. The weekend has come together very well so far and we are now ready to fight for the championship tomorrow." Circuit Length: 5792 Temp: 30 Weather: Hot and Sunny 2007 WSB Monza 12/05/2007 Superpole Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'44.941 2 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'45.345 3 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'45.415 4 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'45.430 5 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'45.824 6 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'46.232 7 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'46.437 8 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'46.696 9 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'46.753 10 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 1'46.758 11 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 1'46.948 12 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'46.067 13 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'47.145 14 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'47.146 15 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'47.553 Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Nat. QUAL I QUAL II 1 Regis Laconi FRA 1'46.548 1'45.593 2 James Toseland GBR 1'45.953 1'46.691 3 Noriyuki Haga JPN 1'46.316 1'46.097 4 Max Biaggi ITA 1'47.205 1'46.155 5 Roberto Rolfo ITA 1'46.960 1'46.173 6 Troy Corser AUS 1'47.321 1'46.277 7 Troy Bayliss AUS 1'46.918 1'46.361 8 Karl Muggeridge AUS 1'46.462 1'47.137 9 Michel Fabrizio ITA 1'47.384 1'46.475 10 Joshua Brookes AUS 1'46.686 1'48.050 11 Max Neukirchner GER 1'47.351 1'46.705 12 Ruben Xaus ESP 1'46.775 1'47.199 13 Fonsi Nieto ESP 1'47.125 1'46.827 14 Yukio Kagayama JPN 1'46.972 1'46.875 15 Marco Borciani ITA 1'47.828 1'47.267 20 Shinichi Nakatomi JPN 1'48.384 1'48.093 Rider Standings 29/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. James Toseland Honda GBR 196 2. Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 164 3. Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 144 4. Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 128 5. Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 114 6. Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 99 7. Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 98 8. Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 71 9. Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 64 10. Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 47 11. Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 46 12. Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 43 13. Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 41 14. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 37 15. Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 35 16. Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 19 Manufacturer Standings 29/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 205 2. Ducati 173 3. Yamaha 167 4. Suzuki 164 5. Kawasaki 69 QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 12/05/2007 Yamaha on front row for Supersport race The Yamaha World Supersport Team showed its determination today and was rewarded with a front row start position for tomorrow's race. Having spent the morning practice session focusing on finding the right race setting, Parkes went on to claim fourth position on tomorrow's grid. Parkes spent the morning practice trying a series of small setting changes and was looking positive in second position for most of the session. In this afternoon's qualifying session he went on to knock 0.5 seconds off his best time from yesterday to move up to fourth slot. The front row tomorrow is headed by Sofuoglu (Honda) with fellow team mates Charpentier and Fujiwara completing the grid alongside Parkes. Anthony West, who is standing in this weekend for the injured Kevin Curtain, had only his second day on the YZF-R6 and spent the morning session continuing to familiarise himself the bike's handling and weight characteristics. As the pace quickened throughout the day the 250 GP star found himself hampered by his non-standard leathers and was unable to improve upon his time from yesterday, eventually qualifying in 14th place. Massimo Roccoli made better progress today after completely reviewing and revising his set up from yesterday. In qualifying he rapidly moved up from 13th place to eighth, taking almost a second off his best time so far this weekend. Broc Parkes (4th - 1'50.903 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "Today has been good, especially as the lap times have been so fast this weekend. We have made a series of small changes and found a good direction in today's qualifying. A new front fork setting and other changes have given me much better braking feeling, which we have been trying to solve since Assen. The team has worked hard to achieve this and I feel we have a pretty good bike for tomorrow's race now. It's going to be tough out there tomorrow but I'm looking forward to it." Anthony West (14th - 1'51.867 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I have learnt a lot more about the bike today and I have a much better understanding of what needs to be done to set it up for me. We are very short on time though. The biggest things for me to get used to have been the weight of the bike and the way it handles when flicking from corner to corner. I'm not happy with fourteenth by any means. I want to be in the top five tomorrow and I need to get a good start tomorrow to have any chance of achieving that." Massimo Roccoli (8th - 1'51.420 - Yamaha Team Italia) "This morning I went back to the beginning and slowly changed everything about the set up of my bike and it worked because I have got a much better setting than yesterday now. The second row is a decent place to start and the front row is very close. I need to get a good start tomorrow which I am confident I can do." Circuit Length: 5792 Weather: Sunny 2007 WSS Monza 12/05/2007 Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Nat. QUAL I QUAL II 1 Kenan Sofuoglu TUR 1'50.791 1'50.459 2 Sebastien Charpentier FRA 1'50.711 1'51.167 3 Katsuaki Fujiwara JPN 1'50.866 1'50.817 4 Broc Parkes AUS 1'51.557 1'50.903 5 Gianluca Nannelli ITA 1'51.889 1'51.006 6 Fabien Foret FRA 1'51.098 1'51.071 7 Barry Veneman NED 1'51.837 1'51.370 8 Massimo Roccoli ITA 1'52.315 1'51.420 9 Robbin Harms DNK 1'52.570 1'51.664 10 David Salom ESP 1'52.851 1'51.711 11 Gianluca Vizziello ITA 1'52.148 1'51.766 12 Joan Lascorz ESP 1'52.989 1'51.833 13 Pere Riba ESP 1'51.848 1'52.256 14 Anthony West AUS 1'51.867 1'51.937 15 Vesa Kallio FIN 1'52.672 1'51.873 20 David Checa ESP 1'52.960 1'52.167 25 Sebastien Gimbert FRA 1'53.148 1'52.872 Rider Standings 29/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 120 2. Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 67 3. Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 43 4. Andrew Pitt Honda AUS 40 5. Robbin Harms Honda DNK 39 6. Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 30 7. Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 30 8. Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 28 9. Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 27 10. David Salom Yamaha ESP 27 11. Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 26 12. Craig Jones Honda GBR 25 13. Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 25 14. Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 23 15. Vesa Kallio Suzuki FIN 21 17. David Checa Yamaha ESP 18 22. Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 9 Manufacturer Standings 29/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 120 2. Kawasaki 77 3. Yamaha 66 4. Suzuki 37 5. Ducati 30

Noriyuki Haga showed what is to come in today's practice and qualifying sessions ending in second place. He set the pace in this morning's free practice finishing it in the top slot and having led it for most of the session as well as setting the session's fastest lap five times. It didn't stop there though and in the first qualifying session of the weekend he held the top slot until Toseland knocked him down to second towards the end. Corser did not have as much luck as his team mate today, suffering a couple of problems throughout the day. The morning practice session went smoothly with the seasoned Australian getting down to the job of finding the right set-up. It was in the afternoon session that problems struck the #11 rider but he continued to ride through them to gather data for the team, riding almost race distance. He also posted his fastest time of the day and finished the session in 12th. Shinichi Nakatomi riding for the Team Yamaha YZF squad also had technical issues to resolve during today's two riding sessions. The Japanese rider, who will start his 33rd race this weekend, stopped at one point on the track but rejoined the session later on to secure 19th place. Toseland heads the board going into tomorrow's final qualifying session with Haga close behind and Karl Muggeridge in third. Noriyuki Haga (2nd - 1'46.316 - Yamaha Motor Italia) "Second is good although I am not too concerned with where I am on the grid at the moment. Tomorrow is the most important with the second qualifying and Superpole. I have learnt from Assen that I need to be on the front row going in to Superpole in case of having any problems! The bike is feeling good and I have already made a long run on a tyre today which I am happy with." Troy Corser (12th - 1'47.321 - Yamaha Motor Italia) "I am not happy as you can probably understand. We didn't get enough track time and we have some braking problems with the bike that need to be solved before tomorrow. It's going to be a long night with the team checking all the data to identify and resolve the problem. All I know is that I have to go faster tomorrow and I know we can do better than twelfth." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator Yamaha Motor Italia) "We tried to prepare for this race as best as possible. Noriyuki had a good practice and he is quite confident in his and the bike's potential this weekend. With regard to Troy, we discovered a couple of problems today which we are resolving now. We believe he is be able achieve the same good result as he did last year. We have a lot of guests here at our home round and we are hopeful of providing them with a good result." Shinichi Nakatomi (19th - 1'48.384 - Team Yamaha YZF) "I didn't expect to be right on the pace today but I didn't expect to have technical problems either. But despite technical issues I feel we have made some slow progress today. We have already identified the issues and are working to resolve them in time for tomorrow's second qualifying session. I am positive for tomorrow." Circuit Length: 5792 Weather: Dry 2007 WSB Monza 11/05/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'45.953 2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'46.316 3 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'46.462 4 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'46.548 5 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 1'46.686 6 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'46.775 7 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'46.918 8 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 1'46.960 9 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'46.972 10 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'47.125 11 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'47.205 12 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'47.321 13 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'47.351 14 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'47.384 15 Marco Borciani Ducati ITA 1'47.828 19 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1'48.384 QUALIFYING 1 REPORT 11/05/2007 Steady Start for Yamaha World Supersport Team The Yamaha World Supersport Team played it cool and calm today with the focus on bedding in a new rider and finding the right race setting. They might have been playing it calm but the team still walked away with fifth and eighth qualifying places, Parkes and West respectively. Parkes had a good morning going fourth fastest in today's free practice. He then spent the afternoon qualifying session finding the right set-up for this weekend and was in the top five for the whole 45 minute session. He ended the day in a comfortable fifth. Newcomer to the bike, the team and the championship this weekend is Anthony West. Anthony replaces Kevin Curtain here at Monza while Kevin continues his recuperation back home in Australia. Curtain had been hoping to return to the saddle at this round but has been set back due to an infection in his leg wound. West is currently riding in the 250 GP Championship. West had his first ride of the 2007 YZF-R6 today and also his first ride of the Monza circuit so the team was expecting it to take a little bit of time for him to get on the pace. But with seconds to go in this morning's free practice the young Australian leapt into sixth place. He proceeded to make good progress in the afternoon qualifying session claiming eighth qualifying place. In the process of finding the limit West suffered a low-side crash just before the end of the qualifying session at the infamous Parabolica corner but didn't suffer any injuries and is fired up for tomorrow. Massimo Roccoli riding for the Yamaha Team Italia squad was not able to show his full riding potential today as he struggled with front end problems during practice and qualifying. He finished in 13th today. Broc Parkes (5th - 1'51.557 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I missed out on using my last rear tyre because I came in too late at the end of the session, but it's not the end of the world. Today was more about finding a good set-up for the whole bike not just about setting a good time. That will come tomorrow. The bike felt good today and I am positive of getting up there in the second qualifying session tomorrow." Anthony West (5th - 1'51.867 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "Having been riding a 250 two-stroke the bike felt really strange for the first few laps and I thought it was going to take longer to get used to it than it has. The R6 feels a lot easier to ride than the last time I rode a 600cc bike in 2004. It just shows how much these bikes have developed. The biggest things for me to get used are the weight and way it moves when cornering compared to a two-stroke. It is a lot more physical but I am finding my style pretty quickly. I am very happy with eighth considering it is a strange track and bike to me. I'm looking forward to tomorrow as I know I have more to give." Massimo Roccoli (13th - 1'52.315 - Yamaha Team Italia) "I have a very fast machine and I made some good steps in the Italian national championship last weekend but I still have some problems with the front end of the bike. We will be working on fixing it overnight as I need to start on the first or second row not in thirteenth this weekend. That is my goal for tomorrow's qualifying - first or second row." Circuit Length: 5792 Temp: 25 Weather: Sunny 2007 WSS Monza 11/05/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 1'50.711 2 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'50.791 3 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 1'50.866 4 Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 1'51.098 5 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 1'51.557 6 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 1'51.837 7 Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 1'51.848 8 Anthony West Yamaha AUS 1'51.867 9 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 1'51.889 10 Yoann Tiberio Honda FRA 1'52.088 11 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1'52.148 12 Matthieu Lagrive Honda FRA 1'52.195 13 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1'52.315 14 Gilles Boccolini Kawasaki ITA 1'52.393 15 Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 1'52.412 22 David Checa Yamaha ESP 1'52.960 24 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1'53.148

The World Superbike Championship's next stop this coming weekend is the historic circuit of Monza in Italy for the sixth round in the 2007 series. The championship first came to the circuit in 1990 and this year will be its 14th visit. The Monza circuit is located northeast of Milan and was built in 1922 by 3,500 workers with funding from the Milan Automobile Club. Monza is the fastest track to appear on the World Superbike calendar with riders often reaching speeds of over 300kph on the start/finish straight. As well as hosting the WSB Championship, the circuit features on the Formula 1 calendar. The circuit actually consists of three tracks - GP, Junior and the Speed track which includes the oval banking for which the circuit is famous - though WSB uses the GP circuit. The track has been modified many times over the years to increase safety and provide better facilities for race teams and spectators. The last modification was in 2000 when amendments were made to the two chicanes to improve safety. Grandstand seating was also increased in 1997 to 51,000. Monza is the home circuit for the Yamaha Motor Italia Team, who will be hoping for better luck than at Assen. In a weekend of mixed fortune at the last round Haga took second in race one but failed to finish race two. Corser had an equally turbulent time crashing out of third on the penultimate lap when fluid was sprayed on the rear tyre. Despite pain from the injuries he received in the accident Corser went on to finish fourth in race two and take away some much needed points. Haga finished third and fourth last year at Monza. Though he is yet to win there Haga goes to Monza determined to provide the team with a win following his second place at Assen. "Even though Monza is the team's home circuit it is not my favourite track because it has a long start/finish straight but not many corners. This makes it more of a machine's track than a rider's track," says Haga of the circuit. "After the disappointment of Assen though, the show must go on. I need to win at Monza to keep my championship fight alive and to erase the bad memories of the last round. I am always looking to win and nowhere more so than at Monza." Monza was a good round for Corser in 2006 with second and third position finishes in addition to taking pole position and setting a new Superpole record. He also won there in 2005. For 2007 Corser goes to Monza with the opportunity to take his 40th pole of his Superbike career. "I've been checked out by a sports therapist and nothing's broken from the crash in Assen, there's just a lot of deep bruising. I've had worse in a lot of other crashes so I'll be fine for Monza," he says of his injuries. "Monza should be a good race. The circuit is all about speed and the bike has enough of it so I'm confident of what we can achieve there. I've got a good history at that place. As for my 40th pole, well I'd love to get it at Monza for the team but my focus is more on getting on the front row. Pole would be an added bonus. The race is the most important thing." The Yamaha World Supersport Team also had a mixed round at Assen with Parkes crashing out of the race in second place when he lost the front on the penultimate lap. Steve Martin stood in for Kevin Curtain who is recovering from a leg injury sustained at Valencia, and finished in a credible tenth place considering he had only had three hours on the bike prior to the race. Parkes goes to Monza knowing he needs to finish on the podium and claim points to get him back in contention for the championship. He has shown his capability at Monza finishing second previously. "We need to get some points on the board and I am aiming for some wins now to get myself back into the championship fight. We were heading in the right direction at Assen until the crash," he says. "There are still eight rounds to go and catching Sofuoglu is going to be tough but not impossible. If I had got second at Assen then I would have been third in the championship now. It's that tight so I'm confident I can move up the championship board if I can get a good finish. Anything can happen when everyone is this close in the points." Regarding Monza, Parkes says, "I like Monza and even though the last couple of years there haven't been great for me I have finished second there in the past so I know I can do it again. Monza is all about horsepower and set-up and we've got a few more chassis and suspension adjustments to try that we didn't get time to do at Assen." The Yamaha World Supersport Team had been hoping to welcome back Kevin Curtain at Monza but his recovery is taking longer than expected. He is still resting in Australia where he is seeing a specialist following an accident at Valencia in mid April when he cut the muscle in his right thigh. Kevin is making a good recovery and is now walking without crutches though he has recently got an infection in the wound which has delayed his return to the championship. Following a course of antibiotics it is hoped that he will be back for the Silverstone round later this month but he may need a further operation on the wound if the antibiotics don't work. WSB rider Steve Martin stood in for Kevin at the last round in Assen but has not been released by the DFX squad for the Monza round. Instead, 250 GP race winner Anthony West will be stepping in to Curtain's shoes for Monza. Yet another Australian, West is racing in the 2007 250 GP Championship though he has raced in the World Supersport Championship previously at Brands Hatch in 2004. His biggest challenge this weekend will be to get used to the four-stroke engine characteristic against the two-stroke he is used to. The weight of the bike will also be a difference for him with the 600cc bike much heavier than the 250cc machine. "I'm excited to be riding in Kevin's place this weekend though I wish him well. It will be good to ride a different bike in a different championship and at a track that I have never been to before. My GP season hasn't been great so far so this will be a good chance for me to have a really good race," he says. "Though I have ridden four-stroke bikes before, it's quite a while since I slung my leg over one. I would like to finish in the top five this weekend." Massimo Roccoli, riding in the Yamaha Team Italia squad, went to Assen boosted by a win in the national Italian championship at Mugello the week before. Although he qualified in fifth Roccoli finished the race in 14th due to a wrong tyre choice. Roccoli goes to Monza determined to put in a good performance throughout the whole weekend. Yamaha had great success in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup at Assen, walking away with first, second and third place on the 2007 new YZF-R1. Pirro took his first Superstock win after moving up this year from the 125 MotoGP World Championship. Team mate Corti came second after being penalized for overtaking under a yellow flag and Belgian rider Didier van Keymeulen took the third podium space. Pirro and Corti go into this third round both on 45 points and are second and third in the championship respectively. Van Keymeulen lies in seventh but with only a small points margin up to the Yamaha Team Italia riders. All three riders will be targeting the top spot at this weekend's round ensuring some close race action. Track length: 5792m Track opened: 1922 2006 winner: Bayliss (Ducati), Bayliss (Ducati) 2006 fastest lap: 2'00.061 (Haga, Yamaha) WSB lap record: 1'59.696 (Bayliss, Ducati) Circuit tel: +39 039 24821 Circuit website: www.monzanet.it

UFO Corse Yamaha mounted Spaniard Cristobal Guerrero produced two well deserved podium finishes at the GP of Portugal, staged in Marc de Canaveses, to once again show that he is the most exciting young talent in the Enduro 1 class in '07. Having claimed a career best result of fourth and third at his home round of the '07 WEC series, the GP of Spain, the former Enduro Junior World Champion placed in third and second in Portugal to claim his first ever double podium result. With Finn Juha Salminen topping the E1 class results in Portugal as he has in both Spain and Sweden, it was Yamaha France rider Marc Germain who placed as runner-up on day one placing just under one and a half seconds ahead of Guerrero. Placing as runner-up in the three opening special tests on day one Cristobal set himself up well for a good result despite then falling in the opening enduro test. Despite his small mistake the Spaniard went on to perform consistently and placed a creditable third. On day two Cristobal started in the best possible way by winning the first extreme test and in doing so made his intensions of another good result crystal clear. Going on to post the second fastest E1 class time on three of the day's tests Cristobal spent much of day two locked in a battle with Poland's Bartosz Oblucki. With little to separate the two riders Cristobal managed to claim the upper hand as the day neared its close and in beating Oblucki in the final three tests he ensured that he had done enough to claim the runner-up spot behind Juha Salminen and claim a career best result. Also performing well in Portugal, despite failing to make it onto the podium on either day, was UFO Corse Yamaha rider Simone Albergoni. Fourth on both days Simone placed less than 11 seconds behind second placed rider Marc Germain on day one and then just 10 seconds away from team-mate Guerrero on day two. Performing well on the second and third laps on both days Simone's slow start to both days ultimately affected his results. Disappointingly for the UFO Corse Yamaha team's third rider Maurizio Micheluz a seventh place finish on day one was followed by an 18th place finish on day two as the Italian's WR250 took water into its engine as he crossed a river. Due to losing time while working on drying out his bike's engine Maurizio received a 10 minute penalty, which dropped him to 18th position. Cristobal Guerrero (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Third, Day 2 Second: "It's been a really good race for me and to finish on the podium on both days is fantastic. At the start of the season I wanted to finish inside the top five so finishing third on day one and second on the second day is great, I'm really happy with my results. I didn't have too many problems although I had a few small crashes on both days. The start of the season has been great so I hope I can continue to finish with good results." Simone Albergoni (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Fourth, Day 2 Fourth: "My problem this weekend has been my first laps. On both days I was sleeping a little on the opening lap and lost some time there. After that I was able to find my rhythm and my speed. My problem was not being fast enough in the first lap. I won one test on day one and had some good times on both days but I can't afford to be slow on the first lap, not against a rider like Juha Salminen. My results weren't so bad but if my first laps were better then my result would have been better." Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Seventh, Day 2 18th: "It's not been a good weekend for me. The first day wasn't so bad but I had a really bad extreme test on the second lap, which cost me a lot of time. Day two was a disaster. I managed to get some water into my engine on one of the river crossings and I took a 10 minute penalty trying to fix it. After that I had some ok tests but with a 10 minutes penalty there was no way I could get a good result. I finished so at least I took some points." Circuit Length: 4555 Crowd: 6500 Weather: Sunny 2007 Enduro 1 Portugal 07/05/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 44'17.800 2 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 0'31.430 3 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 0'32.800 4 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 0'42.720 5 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 0'45.340 6 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 0'48.040 7 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 1'42.040 8 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 2'16.150 9 Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 2'31.150 10 Damien Miquel Kawasaki FRA 2'56.590 11 Luca Cherubini TM ITA 3'20.510 12 Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 3'32.720 13 Jordi Figueras KTM ESP 3'43.890 14 Joan Jou Yamaha ESP 3'48.930 15 Pedro Enes Yamaha POR 3'52.910 Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 54'41.680 2 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 0'40.090 3 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 0'41.720 4 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 0'48.940 5 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 0'49.640 6 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 1'40.520 7 Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 3'21.860 8 Damien Miquel Kawasaki FRA 3'37.930 9 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 4'5.840 10 Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 4'48.490 11 Jordi Figueras KTM ESP 5'4.190 12 Pedro Enes Yamaha POR 5'13.450 13 Fernando Ferreira Yamaha POR 5'47.380 14 Joan Jou Yamaha ESP 5'50.460 15 Tim Lewis TM GBR 6'2.250 18 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 12'31.120 Rider Standings 05/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Juha Salminen KTM FIN 150 2. Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 108 3. Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 104 4. Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 103 5. Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 98 6. Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 97 7. Mike Hartmann KTM GER 66 8. Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 66 9. Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 59 10. Damien Miquel Kawasaki FRA 40 11. Tomi Peltola Suzuki FIN 38 12. Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 36 13. Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 36 14. Luca Cherubini TM ITA 34 15. Niklas Gustafsson KTM SWE 34 Manufacturer Standings 05/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. KTM 150 2. Yamaha 116 3. Husqvarna 104 4. Honda 69 5. Kawasaki 40 6. TM 40 7. Suzuki 38 RACE REPORT 07/05/2007 Johnny Aubert wins second consecutive GP UFO Corse Yamaha rider Johnny Aubert claimed his second consecutive double Enduro 2 class win of the '07 World Enduro Championship season by twice topping the podium at the GP of Portugal, staged in Marco de Canaveses. With his confidence running high having claimed two impressive E2 class wins at the GP of Spain one week earlier Aubert opened up an early lead on day one, which was never headed. Winning the first five tests of the opening day Aubert never looked like being beaten on his WR450 and despite constant pressure from reigning E2 world champion Samuli Aro, Finn Mika Ahola and Australian Stefan Merriman the former motocross racer remained in control and claimed a deserved win finishing just under 12 seconds ahead of his nearest rival. Putting his aggressive riding style to good work Aubert showed, as he did at the GP of Spain, that he has the speed to win the Enduro 2 world championship in '07. Placing second behind Aubert was Finn Mika Ahola who placed close to 30 seconds ahead of Merriman with Aro fourth. On day two Aubert had to work a little harder for his victory, despite going on to win by close to 40 seconds. Placing eighth on the day's opening special test he then set about his winning ways topping seven of the day's 10 tests. Setting a pace that no other rider could match Aubert made light work of the rough, rutted and demanding special tests and finished the second day, as he had the first, as the fastest overall rider in the event. As he did on day one Finn Mika Ahola placed in second to Aubert on day two with Samuli Aro claiming third. The UFO Corse Yamaha team's second E2 class rider Italian Fabrizio Dini placed in eighth on day one before moving one place higher with a seventh place result on day two. Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1 First, Day 2 First: "At the beginning of the race I was a little bit nervous. I was looking forward to the race after winning last weekend and although I didn't feel 100 per cent relaxed from the start on the first day after a few special tests I felt good. I opened up a good lead and began to ride smooth. I crashed once in the motocross test, but I only lost a few seconds. "Day two also went well but I crashed twice in the extreme test, which cost me some time. I had to push hard all day and from the second lap on I felt good. It was a hard race though because the special tests got really rough. Winning both days in Spain was great and winning both days here in Portugal is just fantastic. I'm so happy, and a little surprised. I'm really looking forward to the Italian GP now." Circuit Length: 4555 Crowd: 6500 Weather: Sunny 2007 Enduro 2 Portugal 07/05/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 43'55.040 2 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 0'11.190 3 Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 0'37.750 4 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 1'4.290 5 Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 1'22.640 6 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 1'31.530 7 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 1'47.960 8 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 1'57.170 9 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 2'15.520 10 Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 2'26.360 11 Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 3'3.170 12 Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 3'11.140 13 Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 4'16.300 14 Victor Oliveira HusaBerg POR 8'54.850 15 Vito Carvalho HusaBerg POR 11'7.910 Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 54'19.390 2 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 0'37.540 3 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 0'46.770 4 Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 1'26.430 5 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 2'3.350 6 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 2'23.580 7 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 2'37.320 8 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 2'44.220 9 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 3'19.390 10 Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 3'53.020 11 Patrick Caps GasGas BEL 4'7.830 12 Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 4'15.470 13 Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 4'39.290 14 Felipe Zanol Yamaha ESP 10'16.420 15 Victor Oliveira HusaBerg POR 13'47.130 Rider Standings 05/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Mika Ahola Honda FIN 133 2. Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 132 3. Samuli Aro KTM FIN 123 4. Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 100 5. Fabien Planet KTM FRA 92 6. Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 77 7. Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 75 8. Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 67 9. Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 63 10. Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 55 11. Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 51 12. Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 51 13. Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 37 14. Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 35 15. Patrik Wicksell KTM SWE 33 Manufacturer Standings 05/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 133 2. Yamaha 132 3. KTM 125 4. Aprilia 101 5. Beta 77 6. HusaBerg 67 7. Husqvarna 62 8. Suzuki 55 9. Sherco 51 10. GasGas 32 11. BMW 12 12. TM 9

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi fought a race-long battle with Casey Stoner during the Grand Prix of China today, the pair providing a thrilling spectacle until the 16th lap when Rossi was forced to concede victory to the Australian after a small mistake. Despite starting from the front row alongside pole-sitter Rossi, Colin Edwards had a less successful day as he suffered tyre problems from the start and dropped steadily down the order, eventually finishing a disappointing 11th. John Hopkins took the lead into turn one but Rossi passed him on the first lap to cross the line in front. Edwards however had already slipped down to sixth and was unable to make up anymore ground from then on. By lap three Rossi had dropped behind both Stoner and Marco Melandri but before long Rossi had despatched his fellow countryman and set off after Stoner, eliciting a thrilling game of cat-and-mouse which kept everyone on the edge of their seats. Rossi's M1 worked perfectly throughout and the Italian was never more than a few tenths down on Stoner, exploiting the agility and corner speed of his Yamaha in the earlier sections to close the gap and often pass Stoner, but relinquishing ground down the long back straight where the Ducati had the advantage. The pair kept up a blistering pace and only Hopkins could stay with them, closing the gap to half a second at one point in pursuit of his first podium. With seven laps to go and Rossi doing everything in his powers to find a way to make a pass stick on Stoner, the Yamaha rider made a mistake braking into the hairpin at the end of the back straight and ran off the track, letting Hopkins through. Rossi kept fighting and was able to pass the American back again to consolidate second place, but Stoner was too far ahead and took the flag three seconds in front. Edwards, meanwhile, had a difficult race as his package failed to work today and he was una ble to use the potential of his Yamaha, crossing the line 35 seconds behind the winner. Valentino Rossi Position: 2ndTime: +3.036 "I enjoyed today a lot, it was a great race, a really exciting battle and my Yamaha was fantastic to the end. We knew that this track would be difficult for us so to be able to fight with Stoner at 100% for the entire race was a great feeling. Of course it's not a win, but I think second place is a very good result for us here. I didn't want to give up and just ride for second, I wanted to try to pass him and I made some good overtaking manoeuvres but wasn't able to stay in front down the straight. Then I made a mistake when I hit a bump when braking, had to release the brake and ran off track. It was a pity, but when you're riding on the limit lap after lap then things like this can happen; that's racing! Anyway I knew I couldn't give up, I had a nice battle with John and then was able to take second. I think these twenty points are really important and we're still second in the championship. I'm really more sad for what happened in Turkey because if we hadn't had the problem there then I might have been level with Stoner in the championship now. But the season is long and now we have several races in Europe at some of my favourite tracks and I think we're in good shape for them!" Colin Edwards Position: 11thTime: +35.053 "I don't have much positive stuff to say about today's race! I had hoped that I would be able to try for a podium but right from the start I didn't have any rear grip and it was all I could do to keep it upright throughout the race. I genuinely believe that our bike is the best on the grid and I've never felt happier with it, but unfortunately the package as a whole isn't working for me at the moment and we need to understand why. I had a slightly different tyre to Valentino but he really showed his class again today. I just want to forget about this race and look forward to Le Mans, where I've always gone well." Davide Brivio - Team Director "If you had told us before we got here that we would take second place, we would have been happy with that. Then of course on Friday and Saturday we realised that we could in fact battle for the victory! Valentino was perfect today and he couldn't have done anything better. His mistake was due to his fighting spirit, his refusal to give up and his will to fight until the end; this is the mark of a champion. We showed we have huge potential, we lack a little bit of top speed and we must improve the performance of the engine so this is what we will be working on in the next few weeks. Colin showed with his performance yesterday that he has the ability to do well this season, but he used a different tyre and a different set-up to Valentino and unfortunately it didn't work for him today. Valentino and Yamaha are in perfect shape and Colin has proved that he too can do great things when everything's working well for him. The championship is still young and we will keep on fighting like we did today." Season best result for Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team The Yamaha Tech 3 Team scored its best result of the year to date as Sylvain Guintoli finished in 13th position at the Grand Prix of China held in Shanghai. The result for the team could have been a lot better but unfortunately, his team mate Makoto Tamada was involved in an accident on the fourth lap of the race with fellow Japanese rider Shinya Nakano which forced his retirement. Among the positives that the team will take to the next Grand Prix is the fact that Sylvain was able to stay with defending world champion, Nicky Hayden, for several laps. Sylvain Guintoli Position: 13thTime: +50.705 I'm very happy with the race and the weekend. It was a good boost for me to be so close to Nicky for so long after he was caught up in that first lap incident and I had a lot of fun racing with him. Unfortunately I made a little mistake towards the end of the race that allowed the gap to open up. Anyway, I am satisfied as the weekend didn't start very well as we had a lot more trouble than Jerez and Turkey to get the right tyre but we worked hard and managed to find a good tyre for the race. At the end of the day it is my best result in MotoGP, I was able to follow Rossi for a couple of laps during practice learning a few things and I managed to stay with the world champion for half the race so this has given me a good boost of confidence for my home Grand Prix in Le Mans in two weeks time. I am really looking forward to that and after testing with Dunlop and the Yamaha Tech 3 Team last year feel that the tyres should work well there and it a track I particularly like so hopefully I can score some more good points in front of my home crowd. Makoto Tamada Position: DNF It was a shame my race only lasted three laps as I had a very good feeling with the bike and the tyres. I felt that this was going to be the best race of the year for me so far I am very disappointed that I crashed as we had good speed but I am also sorry for Shinya. I wasn't expecting to be going to pass him then but he was going a lot slower than I thought. I tried to avoid him by diving for the inside to take the corner but unfortunately we hit and we both went down and my bike was too badly damaged to continue The tyres are also getting better so I am feeling better on the bike everytime I ride it. Hopefully we can continue the progress at the next race and I can get a good result for myself and the team. Herve Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Director It wasn't such a bad weekend for us but firstly I would like to say that we have to qualify better because during the entire weekend, apart for the last 30 minutes of the qualifying session, we were always quicker than a few riders who eventually qualified in front of us. Once we get to the race we go back to the same pace we had during the practices. Makoto was catching and passing a few guys and doing very well. He had a great start, was very aggressive but wasn't involved in the first lap crash. He was up to 11th as he was able to catch and pass a few riders but unfortunately - and we apologise to Shinya Nakano and his team - he was caught a bit by surprise as he was a lot faster but he didn't expect Shinya to brake so early at the end of the back straight and hit him from behind. It's a pity because when we see what Sylvain has done it was possible to have both riders score some good points. For myself personally, the best part of the weekend was Sylvain as he managed to stay right behind the world champion, Nicky Hayden for over 10 laps turning in the same lap times and this will be excellent for his confidence. He showed to many in the MotoGP paddock that he can race with anyone. The work we did at Istanbul is paying off so I hope that we will have many people come and support us at our home Grand Prix at Le Mans in two weeks time. Circuit Length: 5451 Temp: 23 Weather: Dry 2007 MotoGP China - Shanghai 06/05/2007 Race 1 - 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 44'12.891 2 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0'3.036 3 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0'6.663 4 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0'14.090 5 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'17.276 6 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 0'26.256 7 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 0'26.591 8 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 0'27.025 9 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 0'28.108 10 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 0'32.957 11 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'35.053 12 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 0'37.327 13 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 0'50.705 14 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 0'55.264 15 Kenny Roberts KR212V USA 0'57.736 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1'59.857 Rider Standings 06/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 86 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 71 3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 49 4. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 41 5. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 39 6. Toni Elias Honda ESP 35 7. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 31 8. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 30 9. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 30 10. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 30 11. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 27 12. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 20 13. Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 19 14. Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 19 15. Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 15 16. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 6 17. Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 4 Team Standings 06/05/2007 Pos. Team Points 1. Ducati Marlboro Team 116 2. FIAT Yamaha Team 102 3. Repsol Honda Team 79 4. Honda Gresini 76 5. Rizla Suzuki 69 6. Pramac D'Antin 46 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 23 8. Honda LCR 20 9. Konica Minolta Honda 15 10. Tech3 Yamaha 10 11. Team Roberts 4 Manufacturer Standings 06/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 86 2. Yamaha 71 3. Honda 69 4. Suzuki 46 5. Kawasaki 23 6. KR212V 4

An incredible flying lap from Valentino Rossi saw the Fiat Yamaha Team rider take his third pole of the season in China this afternoon, the Italian bettering last year's pole time by more than half a second with a perfect lap around the 5.2km Shanghai International Circuit. For the third time this season Rossi is also joined on the front row by his team-mate Colin Edwards, who qualified third, with the Yamaha pair separated by Edwards' fellow American John Hopkins. The promised rain once again failed to appear and the hour-long qualifying session was played out on a dry track with the clouds giving way to bright sunshine by the end. The first 45 minutes passed busily for the Yamaha duo, who were intent on using all the available time to fine-tune their set-up and gather information about tyres before concentrating on their qualifying laps in the final stages. Edwards' first run with a soft Michelin qualifying tyre moved him close to the top of the order but it was Rossi's first flying lap that left everyone amazed, the Italian completing a faultless lap right on the limit of his Yamaha's capabilities to put in an incredible time of 1'58.424. Edwards' second flying lap was good enough to move him into second but he was eventually pushed down one place by Hopkins. Although Rossi's lap proved well out of the striking distance of his rivals, he showed it was no fluke by going within 0.1 seconds of his own time on his second qualifying tyre just minutes later. Valentino Rossi Position: 1stTime: 1'58.424Laps: 24 "That was sincerely an incredibly exciting feeling for me; to ride my M1 right on the limit and make such a perfect lap at 100%. When I saw the time on the television I was quite surprised because I didn't know it was that fast, but I had pushed the bike to the maximum and I knew that it was a good lap. I had great grip from my Michelin qualifying tyre and my Yamaha worked perfectly, so a big thank you to everyone involved. I was able to arrive at every corner very fast and to brake at the last possible moment; a couple of times I was worried I was too late but every time my bike responded perfectly and I had great grip. I felt a lot of adrenalin from this lap! Despite both of us being on the front row, maybe we're not favourites for tomorrow and the race is a very different story. Anyway we've all done very well today. We need to make a couple more small modifications to the setting and then we will just hope for good weather again, a good start and a good race." Colin Edwards Position: 3rdTime: 1'59.406Laps: 18 "Well done to the team, once again they've done a really good job, worked their tails off and here we are again on the front row alongside Valentino. The qualifying tyres are working really well this year and with the extra grip they give us we can really push hard. As for the race setting, we've changed a few things with the geometry today and it seems to have improved things a fair bit, although we've still got to make a final decision with regards to the race tyre. It's always going to be a little bit of a gamble but hopefully we'll make the right choice. The bike feels very good and a podium is definitely a realistic aim, but it's going to be a very long and hard race. Starting from the front row will be pretty important here and hopefully we can make the most of this advantage, avoid any repeats of the first-lap pile-up in Turkey and try to better last year's podium!" Davide Brivio - Team Director "It's great for the team to have both riders on the front row once again, after the problems we had last year it's very encouraging that this is becoming a regular occurrence. When everything is working well our riders are always at the top so this shows the great potential of our package. Valentino's lap was exceptional today and Colin is also in good shape and riding very well; we're especially happy for him to be on the front row again after his unlucky crash in Turkey. Despite this qualifying result we know that tomorrow's race is going to be very difficult and our riders will have to fight at 100% throughout it. The team have done a great job and now they just need to make a few final preparations in the morning and then we'll be ready for an exciting race!" 2007 MotoGP China - Shanghai 05/05/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'58.424 2 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 1'59.315 3 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'59.406 4 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1'59.516 5 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'59.602 6 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 1'59.863 7 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 1'59.985 8 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 2'0.052 9 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 2'0.087 10 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 2'0.157 11 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 2'0.175 12 Toni Elias Honda ESP 2'0.205 13 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 2'0.319 14 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 2'0.369 15 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 2'0.680 17 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 2'1.157 18 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 2'1.178

A weekend of close racing beckons at the Grand Prix of China as the first day of practice finished with the top fourteen MotoGP riders separated by less than a second in Shanghai today. Fiat Yamaha team-mates Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards were right in the mix and ended the day sixth and seventh fastest respectively in the combined standings, with Edwards just 0.2 seconds off the day's fastest time, set by John Hopkins. With rain forecast for the afternoon this morning's Free Practice looked like being a crucial one and Rossi got things off to a strong start by finishing third fastest. Despite overcast skies and humid conditions however the rain stayed away and this afternoon's practice remained dry throughout, giving the riders further time to concentrate on set-up and tyre work with Michelin, conscious that bad weather could still arrive tomorrow to play havoc during Qualifying. Both riders were pleased with how quickly they were able to adapt their YZR-M1's to the demands of the stop-and-go circuit and will aim to make further improvements tomorrow, aware that every tiny advantage here could spell the key to success over their rivals. Valentino Rossi Position: 6thTime: 2'01.390Laps: 47 "I'm not so happy with sixth position but the difference from the top is very small, only 0.18 seconds, and so the actual time is not so bad. All the riders are very close and already you can see that it's going to be a hard battle. For this reason we have to find every millimetre of difference in every corner of the track in order to have an advantage and it's also going to be important to start from the front. We're working hard to get the bike in the best possible shape but I can already ride my M1 quite well. We are missing a little bit of top speed on the straight but we're obviously making it up in other areas of the track where our bike is strong, because our overall times are similar to our rivals. Of course we've also been working closely with Michelin on the tyres and tomorrow we have a few more things to try; a couple of possibilities remain for us and from them we will decide our final race tyre. We were lucky with the weather today because we were waiting for rain but now it looks like it will come tomorrow or on Sunday instead. It's a pity; of course it's always better to race in the dry but we have had success here before under the rain and I think our bike is fast in the wet this year so lets wait and see." Colin Edwards Position: 7thTime: 2'01.409Laps: 46 "I've got a small engine modification to try here but actually I only managed a few laps with it at the end of the second session today. Tomorrow we'll use it a bit more and see how we get on with that. Anyway my time wasn't too bad today; it's ridiculously close amongst the top group so it looks like we could see some pretty exciting racing this weekend! I feel pretty good overall - we made a small modification to the geometry this afternoon and that's improved things a bit and we've got a couple more ideas just to finally tweak the setting a little more tomorrow. As for the tyres, we've found something good but we've got a couple more things to check before we make our final decision about the race tyre. However what we can do tomorrow might well depend on the weather!" Davide Brivio - Team Director "All the riders are very close today so it's going to be very important to really fine-tune the bike and try to find the perfect setting. We've got both Valentino and Colin in the first group of riders and so far the bike seems to be working quite well for both of them. Now we need to work on the final tyre selection for both riders. Today we were expecting some rain but luckily it didn't come and we were able to use all the practice time we had. Now it looks like tomorrow could be wet so the information we got today is going to be very important for us." Circuit Length: 5451 Temp: 24 Weather: Hazy 2007 MotoGP China - Shanghai 04/05/2007 Free Practice Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 2'1.204 2 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 2'1.303 3 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 2'1.333 4 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 2'1.346 5 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 2'1.365 6 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 2'1.390 7 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 2'1.409 8 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 2'1.460 9 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 2'1.771 10 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 2'1.881 11 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 2'1.896 12 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 2'1.991 13 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 2'2.051 14 Toni Elias Honda ESP 2'2.114 15 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 2'2.242 17 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 2'2.768

After the disappointment of an unrewarding weekend in Istanbul, the Fiat Yamaha Team take their quest for glory even further east this week as the MotoGP World Championship points-chase stops off in Shanghai. The Grand Prix of China is the fourth round of eighteen on this year's gruelling calendar and it promises to be one of the most challenging, with the horsepower-sapping nature of the circuit and the unpredictable weather of the world's ninth largest city sure to play their part. The past two visits to Shanghai have provided almost polar extremes in the conditions, with a torrential downpour virtually flooding the circuit in the inaugural event of 2005 and then the intense heat of a year ago, when ambient temperatures during the race touched 31ºC, presenting an altogether different challenge. The event has also seen stark contrasts in fortunes for Valentino Rossi, who navigated his way to victory ahead of Olivier Jacque two years ago but suffered front tyre problems in the heat-wave of 2006 and was forced to retire from the race. Colin Edwards provided some cheer for the team last year by clinching third place in what would prove to be his only podium finish of the campaign. This year the Texan heads to China with a rostrum already under his belt, thanks to his third place at Jerez, following an encouraging start to the season that was only spoiled by an unfortunate crash in Turkey, when he was knocked out of the leading group by another rider on the first lap. Edwards suffered a cut and swollen knee in the incident and was forced to skip a day of testing at Istanbul Park last Monday but he will be fit to resume action in Friday morning's opening free practice session. Despite being drawn by the same hand as the Istanbul Park Circuit in Turkey, Shanghai has different characteristics that bring to mind closer comparisons with the other Herman Tilke circuit of Sepang. Combining fast straights and hard braking zones with a series of slow and difficult corners, bike set-up is a question of finding a compromised balance and enough horsepower to deal with the longest straight on the calendar, measuring 1202 metres. The unpredictable conditions and mixed data from previous seasons mean grip levels will be a complete mystery, making life even more difficult for Michelin's engineers as they try to adapt to new tyre restrictions in the most demanding of circumstances. Valentino Rossi - "Mixed memories but clear focus" Valentino Rossi heads to Shanghai with his mind still fully focused on the job despite tyre problems at Istanbul and in this race last year. Other than when he fell and re-mounted to take 14th at Jerez last season, tenth place in Turkey was the Italian's worst-ever dry weather result since his rookie premier-class season in 2000 and he is keen to make amends this Sunday. "We had a bad result in Turkey which we weren't expecting after being on pole, but Michelin have been working very hard to understand what went wrong and to ensure that it won't happen again," says Rossi. "We had a good test on Monday and tried a lot of new tyre combinations with China in mind, so we are going there with some ideas about what we think will work. Now it's a case of making what is hopefully the right tyre choice and then seeing how things go on Friday morning. "Last year we had a big problem in China and I couldn't finish the race, but in 2005 I had a great victory there in the wet so I have some nice memories of this track as well as some bad ones! We know it's not ideal for our bike and maybe they're going to have to split the main straight in two - one part for Ducati and one part for the rest of us! Joking aside though, it's a very long straight and we know that we're going to lack some top speed on it but the new engine modifications we had in Turkey worked well and there's a good improvement, so hopefully it won't be too serious. We're second in the championship and we've lost a few points so we need to aim for a podium to get back on track." Colin Edwards - "Punching back!" Colin Edwards insists he will be back up and fighting in China despite being knocked to the canvas on the first lap of the Grand Prix of Turkey. The Texan has boxed clever throughout testing and the opening three rounds of the season to give himself an optimum chance of success this season and he is hoping his excellent relationship with Michelin can pay dividends in a race that will place huge emphasis on tyre choice. "Turkey was a real shame because I felt I could have challenged for a podium, but that's racing and there's no point getting angry and stewing over it," reflects Edwards. "I didn't test on Monday because my knee was pretty painful but a few days resting up at home has helped a lot and it's feeling a lot better. After starting the season pretty well it was disappointing to have such a bad time in Turkey for the team but that's our 'bogey' circuit and now we're looking forward to punching back in China! "Shanghai last year was good for me and I ended up on the podium and of course I'm aiming to repeat that with improvement this year! We know it's going to be a tricky track for us with the long straight but hopefully we can make it up on the other parts of the track. Again the tyres are going to be a big factor but Valentino and Michelin worked seriously hard on Monday in Turkey, while I was chair-bound, and I think they've got some good plans about what's going to work." Davide Brivio - "Defence the priority" Fiat Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio says his riders face an uphill challenge in their battle for honours this weekend and admits the onus will be on defence rather than attack in the final 'flyaway' race before the start of the European term. The Italian pinpoints the long straights of Shanghai as a potential sticking point for the YZR-M1 but says his team are putting their faith in a new direction of development with Michelin tyres - aimed at an assault on the top positions during the decisive run of races up to summer. "Turkey was disappointing but at the same time very important to get information and data about where the limit of the tyres is with these new bikes and where they can be improved," says Brivio. "We had a very good meeting with Michelin and developed some ideas during the test last Monday. Time will tell but it seems we have identified a new direction to work in and we are all keen to get to China to verify those ideas and help Michelin find a tyre that is most suitable for our bike and for our riders' style. "China will be a very difficult race for us because of the long straight. It is not a track that allows us to maximise the potential of our bike, which is perhaps stronger at smaller, more 'rideable' circuits. We really have to go there and defend as much as possible and focus on getting the bike and tyres ready to attack when we return to Europe once more. Hopefully then we can be back fighting for the victory." Valentino Rossi : Information Age: 28 Lives: London, UK Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 GP victories: 85 (59 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 177 (117 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) Pole positions: 47 World Championships: 7 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP) Colin Edwards: Information Age: 33 Lives: Conroe, Texas Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 First GP: Japón, 2003 (MotoGP) GP starts: 69 x MotoGP World Championships: 2 World Superbike Shanghai: Lap Record D.Pedrosa (Honda) 2006, 1'59.318 Shanghai: Best Lap D. Pedrosa (Honda) 2006, 1'59.009 Grand Prix Results: Shanghai 2006 1. D. Pedrosa (Honda) 44'07.734 2. N. Hayden (Honda) +1.505 3. C. Edwards (Yamaha) +14.634 . Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha DNF

UFO Corse Yamaha rider Simone Albergoni put his disappointing result at the opening round of the '07 World Enduro Championship series behind him at round two of the series staged in Puerta Lumbreras, Spain, where the Italian placed in third and second position in the Enduro 1 class. Feeling completely at home on his WR250, and having recorded some strong results in the opening rounds of the Italian Enduro Championship ahead of the Spanish event, Simone showed that despite his frustrating start to the WEC series he now has the speed to battle for E1 class victory. With conditions much different to those found at the series' opening winter enduro in Sweden, day one proved to be extremely difficult in places as a result of heavy rain on Friday evening. Leaving each of the events three special tests extremely slippery it was Finn Juha Salminen who managed to deal with conditions the best and claimed victory ahead of Italian Alessandro Belometti with Albergoni 10 seconds behind in third. Winning the third timed test of the day had it not been for a costly mistake in the day's eighth timed tests Simone would have placed as runner-up. Following Albergoni home on day one, and finishing less than half a second behind his more experienced team-mate, was Spaniard Cristobal Guerrero. Encouraged by his home crowd Guerrero, like Albergoni, topped one special test to claim his best result since winning the Enduro Junior world championship in '05. On day two it was again Finn Salminen that set the pace winning all but four of the day's special tests in the E1 class. But behind the six-time enduro world champion both Simone Albergoni and Cristobal Guerrero managed to get ahead of Alessandro Belometti to claim the runner-up and third place positions respectively. With Albergoni winning two special tests to place 28 seconds behind Salminen. Guerrero again placed less than one second behind his team-mate in third. In finishing third Cristobal claimed his first ever podium finish in senior WEC competition. Disappointingly for the UFO Corse Yamaha team's third E1 class rider Maurizio Micheluz the second round of the '07 WEC series didn't go as well as the Italian had hoped. Having shown good speed in the Italian championship Maurizio struggled to get to grips with the conditions and as a result placed in seventh on both days. Simone Albergoni (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 third, Day 2 second: "I am really pleased with the way the GP of Spain has gone because the first round of the championship in Sweden was terrible. I am really happy because I now have a good feeling with the bike and am able to push hard. Finishing third on day one was really good. The start of the season was difficult for me because I struggled to adjust to my Yamaha as quickly as I hoped I would, but now I am really pleased with the performance of the bike. "The second day was tough - there were several riders that we really fast so to finish second is great. I had a really good fight with my team-mate Cristobal Guerrero, which was good. I am much happier with my result and the way I am riding." Cristobal Guerrero (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Fourth, Day 2 Third: "It's been a great weekend for me and my first podium finish in the WEC since I won the Enduro Junior championship in '05. On day one I missed the podium by one second, which was disappointing but at the same time it was good to know that my speed was good enough to fight with the riders at the top of the class. I only made one crash so it was a good day. "Day two was really tough. The tests were much rougher than on day one and it was really close between myself, Simone Albergoni, Bartosz Oblucki and Alessandro Albergoni. I could have finished second but Simone finished less than one second ahead of me. I am really pleased with the way the weekend has gone. I'm looking forward to Portugal now." Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Seventh, Day 2 Seventh: "It's been a bad weekend for me. I didn't feel good on the bike and just didn't have a good feeling with the special tests. I finished seventh on both days, which isn't good. I crashed many times on day one and things weren't much better on day two. I hope things will be better in Portugal." Temp: 20 Crowd: 5600 Weather: Sunny 2007 Enduro 1 Spain 29/04/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 50'3.520 2 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 50'14.070 3 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 50'44.690 4 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 50'45.140 5 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 51'8.520 6 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 51'33.690 7 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 51'50.430 8 Julien Gauthier Honda FRA 52'10.220 9 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 52'12.080 10 Luca Cherubini Honda ITA 52'47.890 11 Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 52'57.100 12 Miquel Damien Kawasaki FRA 53'40.870 13 Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 54'23.110 14 Gonzalo Reis KTM ITA 55'14.550 15 Gregory Eyries Yamaha FRA 55'35.030 Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 49'53.300 2 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 50'21.750 3 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 50'21.830 4 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 50'23.930 5 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 50'48.840 6 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 50'51.260 7 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 51'14.940 8 Luca Cherubini Honda ITA 52'17.090 9 Julien Gauthier Honda FRA 52'21.400 10 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 52'26.210 11 Fabio Mossini Honda ITA 53'15.260 12 Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 53'16.410 13 Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 53'49.770 14 Miquel Damien Kawasaki FRA 50'1.470 15 Gonzalo Reis KTM ITA 54'29.070 Rider Standings 28/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Juha Salminen KTM FIN 100 2. Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 72 3. Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 69 4. Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 66 5. Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 62 6. Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 59 7. Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 49 8. Mike Hartmann KTM GER 41 9. Tomi Peltola Suzuki FIN 38 10. Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 36 11. Niklas Gustafsson KTM SWE 34 12. Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 33 13. Julien Gauthier Honda FRA 25 14. Luca Cherubini Honda ITA 24 15. Tobias Burman KTM SWE 21 Manufacturer Standings 28/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. KTM 100 2. Yamaha 72 3. Husqvarna 69 4. Honda 44 5. Suzuki 38 6. Kawasaki 16 7. TM 3 RACE REPORT 29/04/2007 Johnny Aubert wins first Enduro 2 race Yamaha mounted Frenchman Johnny Aubert produced the best result of his enduro career to date at the second round of the '07 WEC series staged in Puerto Lumbreras where he topped the highly competitive Enduro 2 class on both days aboard his WR450. Hardly putting a foot wrong on day one, and then managing to claim victory on day two despite two falls and constant pressure from reigning E2 world champion Samuli Aro, Aubert signalled his intentions to claim his first enduro world title in '07. With conditions in Spain starting wet on day one following heavy rain on Friday evening Aubert started the event in the best possible way by winning the six opening special tests on day one. Dropping just a few seconds to his E2 championship rivals on the seventh test of the day the former motocross rider then returned to his winning ways and topped a further three special tests before the day's close to win by close to one minute. Placing along side Aubert on the podium were Finn Mika Ahola and Australian Stefan Merriman. With conditions much drier and much rougher on day two than they were on day one Aubert again started well and topped the first three tests on day two. Opening up a slender lead at the head of the E2 class only to lose it following two crashes, Johnny remained focused during the second half of the day and maintained his lead to claim a deserved win. Winning a total of eight special tests in the E2 class on day two Aubert also finished as the event's overall fastest competitor on both days one and two. Finishing on the podium alongside Aubert on day two were Finns Samuli Aro and Mika Ahola. Italian UFO Corse Yamaha team rider Fabrizio Dini recorded two top 10 results aboard his WR450 in Spain placing in 10th on day one and in ninth on day two. Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1 First, Day 2 First: "Day one was a little strange for me because I won the race quite easily. I didn't make any mistakes and felt really comfortable on all the special tests. Day two was a little harder because the special tests got really rough, but I still rode well. I crashed twice, and got stuck in a big rut in the extreme test on one lap, but still managed to stay at the top of the E2 results. Samuli Aro was also really fast, which meant that if I had made one more mistake I would have lost the lead, but I managed to stay in front and won like I did on day one. It's my first double victory so I am really pleased. I hope I can continue like this in Portugal next weekend." Temp: 20 Crowd: 5600 Weather: Sunny 2007 Enduro 2 Spain 29/04/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 49'10.520 2 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 50'8.540 3 Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 50'33.870 4 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 50'56.410 5 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 51'7.070 6 Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 51'25.170 7 Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 51'31.890 8 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 51'39.370 9 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 52'1.110 10 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 52'16.280 11 Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 52'37.570 12 Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 53'17.950 13 Joel Smets BMW BEL 54'32.560 14 Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 54'43.560 15 Sascha Eckert BMW GER 54'55.700 Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 49'16.350 2 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 49'23.310 3 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 49'42.130 4 Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 50'20.590 5 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 50'29.140 6 Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 50'50.750 7 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 51'8.130 8 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 51'11.360 9 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 51'18.680 10 Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 51'28.500 11 Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 52'34.310 12 Patrick Caps GasGas BEL 52'41.180 13 Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 52'54.010 14 Felipe Zanol Yamaha ESP 53'9.370 15 Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 53'35.290 Rider Standings 28/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Mika Ahola Honda FIN 89 2. Samuli Aro KTM FIN 85 3. Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 82 4. Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 62 5. Fabien Planet KTM FRA 62 6. Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 59 7. Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 45 8. Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 42 9. Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 39 10. Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 39 11. Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 36 12. Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 33 13. Patrik Wicksell KTM SWE 33 14. Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 32 15. Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 27 Manufacturer Standings 28/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 89 2. KTM 87 3. Yamaha 82 4. Aprilia 63 5. Beta 59 6. Husqvarna 42 7. HusaBerg 42 8. Suzuki 39 9. Sherco 33 10. GasGas 22 11. BMW 12 12. TM 9

UFO Corse Yamaha rider Simone Albergoni put his disappointing result at the opening round of the '07 World Enduro Championship series behind him at round two of the series staged in Puerta Lumbreras, Spain, where the Italian placed in third and second position in the Enduro 1 class. Feeling completely at home on his WR250, and having recorded some strong results in the opening rounds of the Italian Enduro Championship ahead of the Spanish event, Simone showed that despite his frustrating start to the WEC series he now has the speed to battle for E1 class victory. With conditions much different to those found at the series' opening winter enduro in Sweden, day one proved to be extremely difficult in places as a result of heavy rain on Friday evening. Leaving each of the events three special tests extremely slippery it was Finn Juha Salminen who managed to deal with conditions the best and claimed victory ahead of Italian Alessandro Belometti with Albergoni 10 seconds behind in third. Winning the third timed test of the day had it not been for a costly mistake in the day's eighth timed tests Simone would have placed as runner-up. Following Albergoni home on day one, and finishing less than half a second behind his more experienced team-mate, was Spaniard Cristobal Guerrero. Encouraged by his home crowd Guerrero, like Albergoni, topped one special test to claim his best result since winning the Enduro Junior world championship in '05. On day two it was again Finn Salminen that set the pace winning all but four of the day's special tests in the E1 class. But behind the six-time enduro world champion both Simone Albergoni and Cristobal Guerrero managed to get ahead of Alessandro Belometti to claim the runner-up and third place positions respectively. With Albergoni winning two special tests to place 28 seconds behind Salminen. Guerrero again placed less than one second behind his team-mate in third. In finishing third Cristobal claimed his first ever podium finish in senior WEC competition. Disappointingly for the UFO Corse Yamaha team's third E1 class rider Maurizio Micheluz the second round of the '07 WEC series didn't go as well as the Italian had hoped. Having shown good speed in the Italian championship Maurizio struggled to get to grips with the conditions and as a result placed in seventh on both days. Simone Albergoni (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 third, Day 2 second: "I am really pleased with the way the GP of Spain has gone because the first round of the championship in Sweden was terrible. I am really happy because I now have a good feeling with the bike and am able to push hard. Finishing third on day one was really good. The start of the season was difficult for me because I struggled to adjust to my Yamaha as quickly as I hoped I would, but now I am really pleased with the performance of the bike. "The second day was tough - there were several riders that we really fast so to finish second is great. I had a really good fight with my team-mate Cristobal Guerrero, which was good. I am much happier with my result and the way I am riding." Cristobal Guerrero (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Fourth, Day 2 Third: "It's been a great weekend for me and my first podium finish in the WEC since I won the Enduro Junior championship in '05. On day one I missed the podium by one second, which was disappointing but at the same time it was good to know that my speed was good enough to fight with the riders at the top of the class. I only made one crash so it was a good day. "Day two was really tough. The tests were much rougher than on day one and it was really close between myself, Simone Albergoni, Bartosz Oblucki and Alessandro Albergoni. I could have finished second but Simone finished less than one second ahead of me. I am really pleased with the way the weekend has gone. I'm looking forward to Portugal now." Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Seventh, Day 2 Seventh: "It's been a bad weekend for me. I didn't feel good on the bike and just didn't have a good feeling with the special tests. I finished seventh on both days, which isn't good. I crashed many times on day one and things weren't much better on day two. I hope things will be better in Portugal." Temp: 20 Crowd: 5600 Weather: Sunny 2007 Enduro 1 Spain 29/04/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 50'3.520 2 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 50'14.070 3 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 50'44.690 4 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 50'45.140 5 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 51'8.520 6 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 51'33.690 7 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 51'50.430 8 Julien Gauthier Honda FRA 52'10.220 9 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 52'12.080 10 Luca Cherubini Honda ITA 52'47.890 11 Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 52'57.100 12 Miquel Damien Kawasaki FRA 53'40.870 13 Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 54'23.110 14 Gonzalo Reis KTM ITA 55'14.550 15 Gregory Eyries Yamaha FRA 55'35.030 Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 49'53.300 2 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 50'21.750 3 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 50'21.830 4 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 50'23.930 5 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 50'48.840 6 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 50'51.260 7 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 51'14.940 8 Luca Cherubini Honda ITA 52'17.090 9 Julien Gauthier Honda FRA 52'21.400 10 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 52'26.210 11 Fabio Mossini Honda ITA 53'15.260 12 Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 53'16.410 13 Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 53'49.770 14 Miquel Damien Kawasaki FRA 50'1.470 15 Gonzalo Reis KTM ITA 54'29.070 Rider Standings 28/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Juha Salminen KTM FIN 100 2. Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 72 3. Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 69 4. Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 66 5. Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 62 6. Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 59 7. Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 49 8. Mike Hartmann KTM GER 41 9. Tomi Peltola Suzuki FIN 38 10. Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 36 11. Niklas Gustafsson KTM SWE 34 12. Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 33 13. Julien Gauthier Honda FRA 25 14. Luca Cherubini Honda ITA 24 15. Tobias Burman KTM SWE 21 Manufacturer Standings 28/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. KTM 100 2. Yamaha 72 3. Husqvarna 69 4. Honda 44 5. Suzuki 38 6. Kawasaki 16 7. TM 3 RACE REPORT 29/04/2007 Johnny Aubert wins first Enduro 2 race Yamaha mounted Frenchman Johnny Aubert produced the best result of his enduro career to date at the second round of the '07 WEC series staged in Puerto Lumbreras where he topped the highly competitive Enduro 2 class on both days aboard his WR450. Hardly putting a foot wrong on day one, and then managing to claim victory on day two despite two falls and constant pressure from reigning E2 world champion Samuli Aro, Aubert signalled his intentions to claim his first enduro world title in '07. With conditions in Spain starting wet on day one following heavy rain on Friday evening Aubert started the event in the best possible way by winning the six opening special tests on day one. Dropping just a few seconds to his E2 championship rivals on the seventh test of the day the former motocross rider then returned to his winning ways and topped a further three special tests before the day's close to win by close to one minute. Placing along side Aubert on the podium were Finn Mika Ahola and Australian Stefan Merriman. With conditions much drier and much rougher on day two than they were on day one Aubert again started well and topped the first three tests on day two. Opening up a slender lead at the head of the E2 class only to lose it following two crashes, Johnny remained focused during the second half of the day and maintained his lead to claim a deserved win. Winning a total of eight special tests in the E2 class on day two Aubert also finished as the event's overall fastest competitor on both days one and two. Finishing on the podium alongside Aubert on day two were Finns Samuli Aro and Mika Ahola. Italian UFO Corse Yamaha team rider Fabrizio Dini recorded two top 10 results aboard his WR450 in Spain placing in 10th on day one and in ninth on day two. Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1 First, Day 2 First: "Day one was a little strange for me because I won the race quite easily. I didn't make any mistakes and felt really comfortable on all the special tests. Day two was a little harder because the special tests got really rough, but I still rode well. I crashed twice, and got stuck in a big rut in the extreme test on one lap, but still managed to stay at the top of the E2 results. Samuli Aro was also really fast, which meant that if I had made one more mistake I would have lost the lead, but I managed to stay in front and won like I did on day one. It's my first double victory so I am really pleased. I hope I can continue like this in Portugal next weekend." Temp: 20 Crowd: 5600 Weather: Sunny 2007 Enduro 2 Spain 29/04/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 49'10.520 2 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 50'8.540 3 Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 50'33.870 4 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 50'56.410 5 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 51'7.070 6 Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 51'25.170 7 Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 51'31.890 8 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 51'39.370 9 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 52'1.110 10 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 52'16.280 11 Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 52'37.570 12 Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 53'17.950 13 Joel Smets BMW BEL 54'32.560 14 Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 54'43.560 15 Sascha Eckert BMW GER 54'55.700 Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 49'16.350 2 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 49'23.310 3 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 49'42.130 4 Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 50'20.590 5 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 50'29.140 6 Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 50'50.750 7 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 51'8.130 8 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 51'11.360 9 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 51'18.680 10 Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 51'28.500 11 Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 52'34.310 12 Patrick Caps GasGas BEL 52'41.180 13 Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 52'54.010 14 Felipe Zanol Yamaha ESP 53'9.370 15 Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 53'35.290 Rider Standings 28/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Mika Ahola Honda FIN 89 2. Samuli Aro KTM FIN 85 3. Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 82 4. Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 62 5. Fabien Planet KTM FRA 62 6. Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 59 7. Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 45 8. Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 42 9. Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 39 10. Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 39 11. Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 36 12. Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 33 13. Patrik Wicksell KTM SWE 33 14. Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 32 15. Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 27 Manufacturer Standings 28/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 89 2. KTM 87 3. Yamaha 82 4. Aprilia 63 5. Beta 59 6. Husqvarna 42 7. HusaBerg 42 8. Suzuki 39 9. Sherco 33 10. GasGas 22 11. BMW 12 12. TM 9

Both Haga and Corser suffered a day of ups and downs in today's round of the World Superbike Championship at Assen. Haga took second place in race one but suffered a technical failure in race two and was forced to retire. Corser suffered a mechanical fault in race one causing him to crash at high speed but rode through pain in race two to take fourth slot. Race one started so well for Haga, who had qualified in 15th following a mistake during his Superpole lap yesterday cost him valuable seconds. By the end of the first lap he had already pushed through the field to take seventh and he then carried on through to first place but settled back in fourth with team mate Corser just behind in fifth. On lap 15 Haga made another charge for the front of the pack and overtook Bayliss for second place with only two laps to go. He also contended for first place but had to settle for second. Corser put in a strong performance and was in a comfortable fifth place for much of the race, moving up to third on the penultimate lap when he overtook Bayliss and Xaus. Both riders were on track for podium finishes but Corser suffered a broken radiator hose clip causing fluid to spray over his rear tyre and making him high-side at a fast part of the circuit. Both riders got a good start in race two with Corser moving up to fourth and Haga taking fifth slot on lap one. Haga went through to challenge Lanzi and then Bayliss using his usual wild sliding riding style. Haga then focused on closing the gap between him and front man Toseland and he took the lead on lap nine. The two riders were battling for first place when Haga had to pull off the track on lap 11 with an electrical-based engine problem. Corser spent the main part of the race in a battle for fifth place with Lanzi but took fourth when Lanzi crashed out. The Australian fought the pain of his injuries received in race one to bring his bike home in fourth. The weekend finished on a good note for Team Yamaha YZF rider Shinichi Nakatomi with him finishing in the points in both races. Settings alterations made throughout the weekend gave the team one of their best results so far this season with the Japanese rider taking seven points away from Assen. The weekend's results means that Haga goes to Monza third in the championship, 20 points behind Biaggi who is in second. Corser lies in fifth in the championship. Noriyuki Haga (2nd and DNF - Yamaha Motor Italia) "In race one I got a good result considering where I started. From the fourth row to the podium isn't bad for one race! The bike was feeling good and the suspension modifications we made worked well. In race two I made a good start but then a problem forced me to retire which is unlucky as I was on target to get a good result again. This has been a bit of a mixed day but I am sure Monza will be better." Troy Corser (DNF and 4th - Yamaha Motor Italia) "The incident in race one was so unlucky. I can't believe that such a small part can do that - it shouldn't have happened. That just put me out of serious contention for race two. I have a very sore left hip which has been X-rayed and they say nothing is broken. I am going to get further checks tomorrow as I can't believe how sore it is. Everything else feels okay at the moment, we will see." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia) "Race one was going very well until a really minor problem on Troy's bike cost him a podium position and caused him some injuries. In the same race Haga got a really good start from fifteenth to finish second. It was a very mixed result for the team. In race two Haga was making similar progress as he had done in the first race but a different problem to Troy's forced him to retire and lose valuable points. Corser did a good job under the circumstances in race two. After his race one crash he had to have painkillers and was still in pain during the second race. He has definitely shown his determination today." Shinichi Nakatomi (13th and 12th - Team Yamaha YZF) "In race one I got a good start, gaining a couple of positions until I nearly had a high-side on the back part of the circuit. For race two we changed the front tyre compound and it was better. I am confident the next race will be better as we are working on some modifications which are sure will help." Martial Garcia (Team Manager, Tam Yamaha YZF) "Race one was satisfying, we are starting to bear the fruits of our hard work. We had the second top speed of the race even though we made a wrong choice for the front tyre. The bike is working well and Nakatomi's confidence is much improved. For race two we made some small modifications which helped further. Shinichi has better confidence with the frame and the engine now." Circuit Length: 4555 Temp: 19 Weather: Sunny 2007 WSB Assen 29/04/2007 Race 1 - 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 James Toseland Honda GBR 37'2.097 2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 0'0.663 3 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 0'3.698 4 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 0'7.134 5 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'9.312 6 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 0'9.534 7 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 0'18.286 8 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 0'18.403 9 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 0'19.873 10 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 0'22.914 11 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0'29.602 12 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 0'40.961 13 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 0'41.008 14 Dean Ellison Ducati GBR 1'12.714 15 Marek Svoboda Yamaha CZE -2 Laps Race 2 - 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 36'54.133 2 James Toseland Honda GBR 0'0.009 3 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 0'7.439 4 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 0'12.379 5 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 0'23.052 6 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 0'23.158 7 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 0'23.311 8 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 0'24.147 9 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0'29.660 10 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 0'32.301 11 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 0'32.389 12 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 0'39.091 13 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 0'39.128 14 Luca Morelli Ducati ITA -1 Laps 15 Marek Svoboda Yamaha CZE -1 Laps Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'39.906 Rider Standings 29/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. James Toseland Honda GBR 196 2. Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 164 3. Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 144 4. Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 128 5. Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 114 6. Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 99 7. Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 98 8. Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 70 9. Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 64 10. Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 47 11. Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 46 12. Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 43 13. Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 41 14. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 37 15. Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 35 16. Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 19 Manufacturer Standings 29/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 205 2. Ducati 173 3. Yamaha 167 4. Suzuki 164 5. Kawasaki 69 RACE REPORT 29/04/2007 Yamaha put up a spirited fight but are unlucky Everything was looking positive today for the Yamaha World Supersport Team when on the penultimate lap Parkes crashed out while in second, dashing the teams hopes of a podium finish. Up until that point the young Australian had been having a great race and was looking very strong. With Parkes crashed out it was left up to Steve Martin to grab six points for the team's championship cause. Broc got a good start from third and found himself in a race-long battle at the front between Sofuoglu, Pitt, Foret and Charpentier. A fierce fight with Charpentier on lap eight saw Parkes challenging for third position with the riders swapping places every turn but he was unable to maintain the pace and moved back to fifth place when Foret overtook. He settled in fifth for the middle part of the race waiting for the last few laps before making a charge on lap 17. It was on lap 20 that Parkes lost the front going into the left-hand bend of Strubben corner and crashed out. Martin had an unlucky start off the line from sixth place and went down to 14th. He then spent the remainder of the race trying to make up places and succeeded in overtaking to tenth place. This was a good achievement considering the rider had only had three hours on the bike since being taken on as a replacement rider for Kevin Curtain last week. After Parkes' crash Sofuoglu went on to win the race with Pitt behind in second and Foret in third. Roccoli had a disappointing result today after a very good weekend of practice and qualifying. Having qualified fifth the rider then struggled in the race due to a wrong tyre choice and had to settle for the points rather than the race win. He finished in 14th. Having come to Assen fifth in the championship Parkes goes into the sixth round in two weeks in ninth place with 27 points and everything to work for. Yamaha also had a very good result today in the FIM Superstock 600 Cup with eight R6-shod riders finishing in the top ten. Steve Martin (10th - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I got a very bad start and just couldn't come back from there. I got stuck in a group and didn't feel I had enough rear grip to really push it or brake hard. I wanted to be more aggressive but there wasn't much I could do. If I had to do that race again I would try and get more rear grip - that was the only problem on an otherwise good bike and set up. The team has been really good to work with all weekend, I'm sorry I couldn't re-pay their efforts with a higher end result." Broc Parkes (DNF - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I got away okay at the start and found myself in a big battle with the front runners. Some of the Honda guys in that group were very committed and I was just trying to avoid being taken out. I did my best to conserve my tyres and then make a late charge at the end. The problem was I wasn't confident in the front brakes and I lost the front as I started to push harder. I'm gutted to crash out of second place." Massimo Roccoli (14th - Yamaha Team Italia) "I decided to try a medium rear tyre in the race which was a gamble and didn't work because the tarmac temperature was lower today than yesterday. I was very fast at the beginning of the race but after the first three laps the rear tyre was finished. The second half of the race was very difficult and I focused on just finishing in order to provide the team some more data to work from." Circuit Length: 4555 Temp: 19 Weather: Sunny 2007 WSS Assen 29/04/2007 Race 1 - 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 36'4.418 2 Andrew Pitt Honda AUS 0'4.043 3 Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 0'5.479 4 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 0'8.140 5 David Salom Yamaha ESP 0'8.900 6 Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 0'11.090 7 David Checa Yamaha ESP 0'14.847 8 Vesa Kallio Suzuki FIN 0'19.545 9 Davide Giugliano Kawasaki ITA 0'19.880 10 Steve Martin Yamaha AUS 0'20.084 11 Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 0'21.940 12 Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 0'26.792 13 Simone Sanna Honda ITA 0'36.477 14 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 0'37.156 15 Arie Vos Honda NED 0'39.459 18 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 0'41.140 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'42.096 Rider Standings 29/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 120 2. Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 67 3. Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 43 4. Andrew Pitt Honda AUS 40 5. Robbin Harms Honda DNK 39 6. Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 30 7. Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 30 8. Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 28 9. Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 27 10. Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 26 11. Craig Jones Honda GBR 25 12. Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 25 13. David Salom Yamaha ESP 24 14. Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 23 15. Vesa Kallio Suzuki FIN 21 17. David Checa Yamaha ESP 18 21. Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 10 22. Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 9 Manufacturer Standings 29/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 120 2. Kawasaki 77 3. Yamaha 66 4. Suzuki 37 5. Ducati 30 RACE REPORT 29/04/2007 Yamaha 1, 2 and 3 in Superstock 1000 at Assen Yamaha dominated the podium in today's third round of the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup with the rookie rider Pirro taking his first win on the R1. Team mate Corti finished second and TTSL-MGM rider van Keymeulen took third to round up an excellent day for the three diapason manufacturer. The three Yamaha riders, all using the new 2007 R1, had already taken the top three qualifying slots in yesterday's qualifying session with Corti in pole, van Keymeulen second and Pirro third. Belgian rider van Keymeulen got a good race start to take the lead but was quickly overtaken by Pirro by lap three. Corti rounded up the front group. New to the Yamaha Team Italia squad this season, Pirro came to Assen keen to show that his second place at Valencia was no fluke and he proved this by setting the fastest lap twice by lap five before van Keymeulen responded to knock over two seconds off the lap record. By lap 11 the three Yamaha-shod riders had left the rest of the pack nine seconds behind and on lap 12 Corti took the opportunity to pass van Keymeulen before sizing up and passing his team mate for the race lead on the penultimate corner of the last lap. Corti took the race win but was subsequently penalized 0.3 seconds for overtaking van Keymeulen under a waved yellow flag. This penalty pushed Corti back into second, providing Pirro with his first win for Yamaha Team Italia in his first season on the YZF-R1. Matteo Baiocco, riding an R1 for the Umbria Bike Team, had an excellent weekend finishing in fifth. Pirro's win today means he leaps from sixth in the championship to second with 45 points where he is just six points behind Canepa. Corti lies in third, also on 45 points with Baiocco in fifth and van Keymeulen in seventh. Van Keymeulen's finish is a good result considering the rider came to Assen with injuries sustained at the Le Mans 24hr race last week. Yamaha now leads the championship with 65 points to Ducati who are on 51 points. The next round of the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup is in two weeks at Monza, Italy. Michele Pirro (1st - Yamaha Team Italia) "I am very happy. I think that my victory is my rightfully mine because I stayed in front for virtually the whole race. I lost the lead on the last lap because the back marker Corti and I were overtaking didn't respect the signals. I am sorry for Claudio for the penalty but those are the rules." Claudio Corti (2nd - Yamaha Team Italia) "I didn't see the yellow flag. I am very angry because to win was very important for me. The positive things are that I am now very near the top of the leader board and I am now in a position to challenge for the title." Didier van Keymeulen (3rd - TTSL-MGM Racing) "At Le Mans I burnt my foot badly because the exhaust made contact with the foot peg which got hot and burnt through my boot. I also have very sore arms because of the length of time I was riding for. I had five injections for the pain in my arms today which helped. In the race I was able to keep up well with the other riders but I started to lose control of the front from lap six onwards. I had to back off, which is when Pirro and Corti passed me. I know I can compete with both these riders but I felt it was wiser to finish on the podium today than to risk not finishing at all." Circuit Length: 4555 Temp: 19 Weather: Sunny 2007 Superstock Assen 29/04/2007 Race 1 - 13 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Michele Pirro Yamaha ITA 22'27.536 2 Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 0'0.920 3 Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha BEL 0'0.513 4 Ilario Dionisi Suzuki ITA 0'9.257 5 Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 0'13.319 6 Nicolo Canepa Ducati ITA 0'14.996 7 Brendan Roberts Ducati AUS 0'15.569 8 Xavier Simeon Suzuki BEL 0'15.796 9 Matej Smrz Honda CZE 0'19.816 10 Danilo Dell'omo MV Agusta ITA 0'20.396 11 Raymond Schouten Yamaha NED 0'27.508 12 Ronald ter Braake Kawasaki NED 0'28.404 13 Rene Mahr Yamaha GER 0'30.659 14 Cederic Tangre Yamaha FRA 0'30.863 15 Marko Rohtlaan Honda EST 0'35.346 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha BEL 1'42.548 Rider Standings 29/04/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Nicolo Canepa Ducati ITA 51 2. Michele Pirro Yamaha ITA 45 3. Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 45 4. Mark Aitchison Suzuki AUS 38 5. Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 35 6. Ilario Dionisi Suzuki ITA 34 7. Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha BEL 32 8. Xavier Simeon Suzuki BEL 27 9. Rene Mahr Yamaha GER 18 10. Matej Smrz Honda CZE 15 11. Cederic Tangre Yamaha FRA 11 12. Marko Jerman Suzuki SVK 11 13. Sheridan Morais Ducati RSA 10 14. Arne Tode Honda GER 9 15. Brendan Roberts Ducati AUS 9 Manufacturer Standings 29/04/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 65 2. Suzuki 51 3. Ducati 51 4. Honda 23 5. MV Agusta 10 6. Kawasaki 4

The World Superbike Championship goes to Assen this weekend and with Queen’s Day falling on the Monday after the race the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team will be celebrating this Dutch national holiday by wearing special team clothing over the weekend. Queen’s Day, or Koninginnedag as it is called in Dutch, is a day of celebration of the Dutch monarchy. Queen Juliana started the festival on the date of her birthday (30th April) and when Queen Beatrix succeeded the throne in 1980 she kept the same celebration date as the weather on her own birthday in January often prohibited outdoor festivities. The team shirts are orange and feature the Dutch coat of arms and will be worn by all team personnel in the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team. These shirts have been provided by team sponsor and clothing manufacturer DayGas Krum.Hero. “Race day at Assen is the day before Queen’s Day, when most of the Dutch population will be wearing orange. I’m sure that the Dutch crowd in Assen will appreciate the team for wearing a very appropriate uniform on this special occasion!” said Leon Oosterhof, Racing Communications Manager at Yamaha Motor Europe’s Racing Division. In preparation for the weekend celebrations, staff and riders from the World Superbike and Supersport teams visited the Yamaha Motor Europe’s head offices this week. During their two hour visit, Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga from the Superbike team along with Broc Parkes from the Supersport team answered questions from staff at Yamaha Motor Europe as well as signing shirts and memorabilia, prior to traveling to Assen for the fifth round of the World Superbike Championship. In addition, all employees were given one of the limited edition team shirts to proudly wear this weekend at the races. Talking about the visit, Leon said, “There are many Yamaha Motor Europe employees that follow Yamaha’s teams and riders in the World Superbike and World Supersport Championships. Many are passionate about racing and this was the perfect opportunity for them to meet the riders and teams in person and ask them questions. It was also nice for the teams to visit Yamaha's European headquarters and get an impression of all the activities and the atmosphere.”

The Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team had mixed fortunes in today's Superpole session but are confident of a good race tomorrow following a weekend of consistent lap times and good practice sessions. Having made some adjustment alterations overnight Corser was confident of improving his provisional fifth place from yesterday. This confidence was rewarded with a move up to second place in this morning's qualifying session. A small mistake on his Superpole lap saw Corser slip to sixth position. Haga's Superpole lap was looking good for a front row start until he almost lost the front tyre going into Mandeveen and had to take to the grass. He remained on board and re-joined the circuit but was unable to push for the remainder of the lap due to dirty tyres. Haga had been running in sixth place going into the Superpole session but had to accept the near miss putting him on the fourth row for his 137th race start with Yamaha. Shinichi Nakatomi had less success in today's qualifying when setting changes made prior to the morning's session failed to improve the rider's position. Even though Nakatomi managed to go almost half a second faster compared to yesterday's qualifying, he dropped to 17th overall as other teams made more progress than the Team Yamaha YZF squad. James Toseland will start in pole position with team mates Lanzi and Bayliss in second and third respectively. Biaggi rounds up the front row. Troy Corser (6th - 1'39.422 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "Superpole was disappointing, there's no denying it. I made a small mistake on the back part of the circuit and went into one corner a bit fast and ran a bit wide. But the second row is okay, I'm confident in the lap times so I just need to get a good start tomorrow. I'm happy with the race set up and I have done several long runs on the tyres in free practice so I am comfortable with those." Noriyuki Haga (15th - 1'41.093 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I lost the front tyre at Mandeveen corner in the middle section of the lap and I had to pick the bike up to save it. Up until that point the bike had been feeling good, though we still need to make some suspension modifications - the data from the Superpole lap will help us with that. I am not thinking about the race win tomorrow right now, I just want to focus on getting our set-up completely sorted and adding to my championship points." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I am still confident despite our Superpole results because we have been in the top five in practice all weekend. It will be okay for Troy because he starts from the second row and had more opportunity to push through to the front row. It will be more difficult for Nori but we have performed miracles in races before now. We will make some more adjustments overnight and I am sure we will be ready to race tomorrow." Shinichi Nakatomi (17th - 1'40.824 - Team Yamaha YZF) "I am disappointed today after such a good start yesterday. We just need to continue working on our set-up tomorrow morning to see where we can make improvements. Seventeenth is not a good start but we must focus on finishing in the points now." Circuit Length: 4555 Temp: 24 Weather: Sunny 2007 WSB Assen 28/04/2007 Superpole Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'38.603 2 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'39.226 3 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'39.256 4 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'39.320 5 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'39.411 6 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'39.422 7 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'39.648 8 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'39.928 9 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'40.057 10 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'40.288 11 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 1'40.328 12 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 1'40.376 13 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'40.561 14 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 1'40.674 15 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'41.093 Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Nat. QUAL I QUAL II 1 Troy Bayliss AUS 1'39.806 1'39.245 2 Troy Corser AUS 1'39.938 1'39.386 3 James Toseland GBR 1'39.603 1'39.391 4 Ruben Xaus ESP 1'39.765 1'39.567 5 Lorenzo Lanzi ITA 1'40.445 1'39.655 6 Noriyuki Haga JPN 1'39.750 1'40.111 7 Fonsi Nieto ESP 1'40.201 1'39.955 8 Jakub Smrz CZE 1'40.355 1'39.956 9 Max Neukirchner GER 1'40.537 1'39.987 10 Karl Muggeridge AUS 1'40.092 1'40.280 11 Regis Laconi FRA 1'41.155 1'40.377 12 Max Biaggi ITA 1'40.804 1'40.378 13 Joshua Brookes AUS 1'40.480 1'41.172 14 Michel Fabrizio ITA 1'40.844 1'40.480 15 Roberto Rolfo ITA 1'41.109 1'40.666 17 Shinichi Nakatomi JPN 1'41.032 1'40.824 QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 28/04/2007 First and second row starts tomorrow for Yamaha in World Supersport Both Parkes and replacement rider Steve Martin put in excellent performances today to take third and sixth qualifying places respectively on the grid for tomorrow's race. Having both done two long runs during this morning's free practice session to test out two tyre options for tomorrow, the riders went into the second qualifying session of the weekend confident of their setting choices. In qualifying Parkes lost his provisional second place that he achieved yesterday in the early stages of the session but sliced off over 0.4 seconds to take third qualifying slot in the last five minutes of the session - his highest qualifying position so far this season. This puts Broc in an ideal position to fight for the race win tomorrow and move up the championship standings board. Martin put in a strong show in only his second day on the YZF-R6 and came up from 13th, where he started the day, to sixth position. The ex-World Superbike rider has not ridden in the Supersport series since 2000 but has adapted to the team and the bike with speed and ease. He is replacing fellow Australian Kevin Curtain while he recuperates from the leg injury he suffered at Valencia two weeks ago. Just in front of Martin, Massimo Roccoli continued his positive weekend by securing fifth qualifying place this afternoon. The young Italian's confidence has been boosted by his win in the national championship at Mugello last week as well as finding a good set-up during the day. Broc Parkes (3rd - 1'41.595 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "This is my best qualifying result so far this year. I'm happy because it means I can get on the pace from the very start tomorrow rather than having to battle through the field first. This morning we did two long runs trying two tyre options for tomorrow but we have yet to decide which to use. We will now sit down and look over the data gathered and make the choice." Steve Martin (6th - 1'41.684 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I'm pretty happy with sixth considering this is only my second day on the bike. We have constantly made steps forward this weekend so far and if we keep doing that then tomorrow will be even better. I was going for the front row, naturally, but second row is okay. The team has made the transition for me really easy and that has helped enormously. We are in a good position for tomorrow's race." Massimo Roccoli (5th - 1'41.672 - Yamaha Team Italia) "Last week's win has been a huge boost to my confidence. I found my race set-up very quickly and I feel my bike is very competitive. I must thank my chief engineer Vanni Lorenzini for this. Today I did my best lap time with the rear tyre that we will use tomorrow so I am very optimistic. I normally get a good start and I am confident that will be the case tomorrow." Circuit Length: 4555 Temp: 24 Weather: Sunny 2007 WSS Assen 28/04/2007 Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Nat. QUAL I QUAL II 1 Kenan Sofuoglu TUR 1'42.482 1'41.144 2 Sebastien Charpentier FRA 1'42.174 1'41.192 3 Broc Parkes AUS 1'42.191 1'41.595 4 Fabien Foret FRA 1'42.755 1'41.618 5 Massimo Roccoli ITA 1'43.010 1'41.672 6 Steve Martin AUS 1'43.297 1'41.684 7 Andrew Pitt AUS 1'43.040 1'41.761 8 Katsuaki Fujiwara JPN 1'43.167 1'41.835 9 David Salom ESP 1'43.000 1'42.043 10 Vladimir Ivanov RUS 1'43.478 1'42.322 11 Vesa Kallio FIN 1'42.773 1'42.348 12 Pere Riba ESP 1'43.578 1'42.388 13 Barry Veneman NED 1'42.875 1'42.392 14 David Checa ESP 1'43.241 1'42.433 15 Davide Giugliano ITA 1'43.369 1'42.510 22 Sebastien Gimbert FRA 1'43.601 1'42.948 24 Gianluca Vizziello ITA 1'44.227 1'43.233