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Wednesday, 25 January 2006 |
Yamaha Motor Germany today completed their final test before next month's opening round of the Supersport World Championship. The team spent three days at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia, with riders Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes both completing over 1000 trouble-free kilometres and lapping their home circuit at lap record pace.
Having given their machines a shakedown test in Valencia last month, the team travelled to Australia with updated machines fitted with a range of new Öhlins suspension parts.
Good weather greeted the riders present at the legendary circuit, with the strong winds that blighted Yamaha Motor France's test a few days earlier all but gone. Riding alongside Yamaha's Australian national superbike team, Curtain was the fastest of the Yamaha Motor Germany riders clocking a best of 1:35.6, Parkes was less than a second behind his experienced team-mate with a 1:36.4.
Having found a good base setting at Valencia, the team worked on fine-tuning the R6 package, experimenting with the bike's electronics and slipper clutch in a bid to improve corner speed. Tyre supplier Pirelli brought along a range of new rubber for the test, while the new suspension parts proved an improvement over the off-the-shelf components used at the Valencia test. Both riders declared themselves happy with developments and have found a satisfactory base setting for next month's opening race. |
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Wednesday, 25 January 2006 |
The Italian based UFO Corse Yamaha enduro team are pleased to announce details of the riders that will represent them in the eight-round 2006 World Enduro Championship (WEC), which starts in Sweden on March 18-19. Bringing together riders from three of Europe's leading enduro nations, the UFO Corse Yamaha team will again compete in two of the WEC's three senior classes and is this year represented by Italian, Spanish and French riders. With the new-look squad, an exciting mix of experience and youth, the UFO Corse Yamaha team are hoping to repeat the successes of past seasons while guiding the squad's enduro newcomers through their first year of World Enduro Championship competition.
In the Enduro 1 class, Italian rider Maurizio Micheluz and Spaniard Arnau Vilanova will compete aboard Yamaha WR250F machines as they bid to stamp their mark on what will be one of the most competitive WEC classes. For Micheluz 2006 will be the start of his second season with the UFO Corse Yamaha team following a strong seventh place finish in the 2005 E1 world championship. Joining Micheluz in the E1 class is Arnau Vilanova, one of Spain's most promising young riders.
After bursting onto the WEC scene in 2004, where he placed third in the highly competitive Enduro 2 class as a privateer, 2006 will see Arnau compete aboard a Yamaha for the first time in his professional career. Having already proved to have the speed to compete against the world's best, Arnau is looking to improve on his previous WEC successes and will be the UFO Corse Yamaha team's number one rider in the Enduro 1 class. |
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Wednesday, 25 January 2006 |
Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards both made progress on the development of the 2006-spec YZR-M1 in Malaysia today, despite the day being cut short by rain. The morning saw high temperatures and building humidity at the Sepang track before it gave way to a rainstorm in the mid-afternoon. Both riders decided not to carry on testing and now hope for good weather tomorrow in order to make the most of the final day.
Ducati riders Sete Gibernau and Loris Capirossi both set fast times under the 2'02 marker today, but Edwards was close behind with a best lap of 2'02.00 after 58 laps. Rossi, who set a lap of 2'02.14 yesterday, was ninth fastest today with a best time of 2'02.62 after 41 laps
Colin Edwards (2'02.00, 58 Laps)
"Today went really well and I'm excited about the progress we're making already. Usually with a new bike you have to compromise in some areas to improve others, but it seems that with this bike they've improved it all over. Yamaha has done a really great job on it over the winter. The traction especially is much better. The crash yesterday has actually helped us to make progress and now we've found a setting that I really like. We've still got a tiny bit of chatter, but only in about three corners so we're not so worried and I am confident we can find a way to fix it."
Valentino Rossi (2'02.62, 41 Laps)
"Today was not perfect because the rain interrupted everything this afternoon and we didn't do as much work as we wanted to. Up to then we had concentrated mostly on fixing the chatter that we experienced yesterday and in the end we were successful. We realised that the problem was in the rear shock and now it's okay. I ran a lot on old tyres today and then it started to rain so we weren't able to try any of the new race tyres Michelin had brought. Tomorrow we will probably do a long run and hopefully we will also get the chance to try some of these new tyres."
Davinde Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director
"Unfortunately it rained this afternoon so we couldn't finish the day's work. Despite this both riders made some progress and Colin's times especially were quite fast. Tomorrow we hope that we have good weather and that we can complete everything that we need to do."
Unofficial lap times
1. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Ducati 2'01.50
2. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 2'01.80
3. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 2'02.00
4. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 2'02.02
5. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 2'02.26
6. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 2'02.40
6. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki 2'02.40
8. Casey Stoner (AUS) Honda 2'02.57
9. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 2'02.62
10. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda 2'02.70
11. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda 2'03.26
12. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki 2'03.43
13. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 2'03.80
14. Kenny Roberts (USA) Honda 2'04.10
15. James Ellison (GBR) Yamaha 2'04.15
16. Alex Hofmann (GER) Ducati 2'04.49
17. Jose Luis Cardoso (SPA) Ducati 2'06.06
Lap Record: Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2005 - 2'02.993
Best Lap: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2005 - 2'01.731
Ambient temperature: 29.2 degrees
Track temperature: 43 degrees
Humidity: 64.4% |
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Monday, 23 January 2006 |
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Rossi and Edwards get underway at first test of 2006 The Camel Yamaha Team launched its 2006 campaign today, with the first of three-days of testing in Sepang, Malaysia. After a six-week holiday the team is back at its favourite testing venue alongside other MotoGP Teams from Yamaha, Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki. A cloudy morning with a few spots of rain at one stage gave way to a sunny afternoon and Yamaha's Factory Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards were able to complete a full day of testing on their new 2006-spec YZR-M1s.
Both riders concentrated on getting a feel for the new version of the M1, which they first tested in November last year. According to the unofficial lap times, Rossi was fastest with a time of 2'02.14, after 74 laps. Edwards meanwhile had a fall in the afternoon at turn nine, but was unhurt and able to continue for the rest of the afternoon on his second bike, setting a best lap of 2'02.61 after 69 laps.
Valentino Rossi (2'02.14, 74 Laps)
"It's always a little difficult to start again after the holidays, and I am never sure if I will be able to ride well straight away! Today however everything has felt good right from the start and I am already quite fast. The new M1 is a good bike, I like it and I can see that Yamaha has worked very hard over the winter. We had a few problems with it today; some chattering, but in reality it is good for this stage of the year. We still have a lot of work to do on it of course. The new bike is not so different from the 2005 bike, but still we have to understand completely its character and I have to get more confidence in it, then we can begin to make the modifications needed in order to improve it. Today has just been about understanding the bike, tomorrow we will concentrate more on tyres with Michelin."
Colin Edwards (2'02.61, 69 Laps)
"I came out this morning and felt good immediately. Straight away I felt happy on the bike and could notice all the improvements that Yamaha has made. I'm so accustomed to the 2005 bike at this track, but it was clear today that the new one is better in many ways. I am a bit out of practice after the holiday but once I got going I felt very comfortable to be back on the bike. After a few laps we began to play around with some fork settings and spring rates and in doing so we lost a little bit of feel. Then after lunch I had the crash.it was at turn nine and I just lost the front on the brakes. It all happened pretty slowly and I was fine, luckily. After that we didn't have time to go back to our good fork setting but anyway the times were still okay. Despite the mishap today I feel like I want to go faster and faster, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director
"We begin this test with many new things, but the most important is that the new bike is at a good starting point and the riders have been able to do good work straight away. Of course we have many jobs ahead of us to work on the set-up and to test tyres for Michelin, but it has been a good start. Colin's crash was unfortunate and also something new, since he doesn't do it very often! Despite this we have had a more than satisfactory day and we hope to get some more important work done over the next two days."
Unofficial Lap Times:
1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 2'02.14
2. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda 2'02.21
3. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 2'02.23
4. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 2'02.46
5. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 2'02.55
6. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 2'02.61
7. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Ducati 2'02.77
8. Casey Stoner (AUS) Honda 2'03'57
9. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki 2'03.77
10. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda 2'03.80
11. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 2'03.90
12. Alex Hoffman (GER) Ducati 2'04.63
13. James Ellison (GBR) Yamaha 2'06.40
14. Jose Luis Cardosa (SPA) Ducati 2'07.70
Sepang Lap Record: Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2005 - 2'02.993
Sepang Best Lap: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2005 - 2'01.731 Ambient temperature: 30 degrees
Track temperature: 49 degreesumidity: 49%
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