Motourage

With just more a month off since the last round of the World Supersport Chapionship in Monza, the Yamaha ParkinGò Team is geared up and all ready to hit the Adriatic coast for this weekend’s racing at the Misano World Circuit. Following the high of the spectacular double podium at the team’s home race in Monza, Chaz Davies and his team are aiming to replicate victory at the second of the three Italian rounds while Luca Scassa is forced to sit it out following an infringement of the regulations prior to the last round in Monza.

Chaz Davies began the season in less-than-perfect fashion in Australia being forced to retire from the race, losing out on the opportunity to gain precious points. The Welshman has since made up for it with two race victories and a second in the last three rounds to comfortably take him to the top of the 2011 Championship standings, a place he stares with teammate Scassa. Davies is eager to head to Misano, get back on his powerful R6 machine, which has delivered two consecutive victories, confident on his ability to pocket the third win of the season and reconfirm his leading status.

Scassa will be present in Misano to encourage his teammate while losing out on precious points and inevitably risking his position in the standings. The Italian was refused entry to the race by the Superbike race direction following an error on the rider’s behalf, unaware that conducting his riding school in Misano was an infringement of the regulations. Scassa is disappointed but further motivated to be back with a blast in Aragon next week as competitive as ever, on a track he recently successfully tested with his YZF-R6.

The Yamaha ParkinGò Team have spectacularly won all four rounds of the 2011 World Supersport championship so far and have sights on making it an impressive five in a row this weekend in Misano.

Just less than two weeks after the US calendar stop off in Salt Lake City, the Yamaha World Superbike Team are preparing for Round Six of the WSBK Championship, closer to home on the well know Italian Romagnola Riviera. The Misano World Circuit, situated on the Adriatic coast is to host the second of three Italian rounds on the 2011 World Superbike Championship, this weekend. This stop-off marks the home race for Marco Melandri, who is based just more than 30 minutes from the track. The Misano World Circuit, formerly known as the International circuit of Santa Monica, has undergone massive renovations over the years since Melandri first became acquainted with the layout in the early days of his racing career, with the most recent modifications in 2007. The newly renovated and modernized track has ten right turns, six left turns and 1850 meters of straights. The most significant changes were made to the Del Rio and Del Carro turns to ensure improved safety but also a reversal in the direction of travel from counterclockwise to clockwise is an added feature.

Marco Melandri experienced a less-than-perfect race weekend in Miller, USA where he struggled to find a suitable set up providing sufficient stability to be on top form. Intent on capitalizing on his familiarity with the track, Melandri is confident that Misano is the ideal place to bounce back and display his true potential, gain valuable points and re-confirm his position in the World standings where he currently sits in second place behind Carlos Checa. Team-mate Laverty is also familiar with the track where he has been victorious on the Supersport bike in previous years. The Irishman, currently fourth in the classification after climbing even further up the ladder at Miller, is determined to continue on the consistently strong and competitive path which has been evident in the previous races and deliver another victory on his powerful YZF-R1.

Marco Melandri, Yamaha World Superbike Team
“I’m delighted to be heading to Misano. It’s really near home for me and it’s a track I like and I know really well. I’ve ridden the track many times since I first started riding when I was a kid. I’ve also always had relatively good results there in the past and I think it’s the perfect track where I can get over the difficult weekend I had in the USA and put that behind me. The team and I have since had the chance to work out what the problem was in Miller and I’m pretty sure we are heading in the right direction. I’m really looking forward to trying my Yamaha R1, hopefully to our full potential, this weekend in Misano.”
 
Eugene Laverty, Yamaha World Superbike Team
“I’m really looking forward to Misano. Last year on the Supersport bike I won the race with a significant margin so I have fond memories. Some of the Superbike teams have tested there earlier in the season so it’ll definitely be a challenging race weekend. It’s really important for me to continue on the good run that I’ve been on since Monza so I’ll be pushing my hardest and doing my best to get back on the podium again. I’m particularly excited about riding my Superbike through the fast section at the end of the back straight. That was very enjoyable on the Supersport bike and I’m sure it will be even more so on my R1.”

Silvano Galbusera, Marco Melandri’s crew chief
“In Miller, Marco struggled to get the right feeling with the front of the bike, so after analyzing the data we gathered there we have a good idea of how to improve on this. We know the Misano World Circuit quite well. It’s a track that requires good rear grip and bike handling. We’ll start with our base setting which is similar to that used in Donington and see where to go from there, depending on the weather conditions. We also intend trying a different traction control setting to improve tire life ahead of Sunday’s races. Let’s hope the weather will be good.”

Frankie Carchedi, Eugene Laverty’s crew chief
“Misano is a technically difficult track which requires a good set-up for the higher track temperatures. Our recent changes in making Eugene comfortable on the bike will be important as it is a track which is physically demanding as there is no time to rest during a lap. We made good improvements on the front suspension during Miller and will be looking to improve this further. We will start with our base set-up on one bike and on the other we have a different link to try and absorb the bumps better. During the last three races only Carlos has scored more points than Eugene, our target is to continue this consistency and try and gain more valuable points towards the championship.”

Andrea Dosoli , Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager
“It will be important to try and reduce the gap between both Marco and Eugene and Checa who is in the lead. I hope we’ll get stable weather conditions for the weekend in order to provide the riders with enough track time to enable their crews to find the ideal race set up ahead of Sunday’s races but also and very importantly to have sufficient consistent track conditions to guarantee that the tires are providing the stable performance expected and required over the full race distance.”

FTR Moto is looking to add to its tally of podium finishes this year in this weekend’s 11th round of the Moto2 World Championship at the Misano circuit near Rimini on Italy’s Adriatic coast.

FTR is also hoping to add to the two race victories with its M210 and also to complement the 13 top six finishes so far in 2010 as a reduced line-up of three M210 riders embark on the San Marino round at Misano.

The Fimmco Speed Up Team’s Andrea Iannone and Gabor Talmacsi are joined by Cardion AB Motoracing Team M210 rider Karel Abraham but Spaniard Alex Debon, of the Aeroport de Castello-Ajo Team, will be missing after further injuring the shoulder he broke at Assen two months ago when Ukrainian Vladimir Ivanov took him out of last Sunday’s Indianapolis round.

Gabor Talmacsi

Talmacsi’s consistent point-scoring is matched only by series leader Toni Elias with Hungarian Talmacsi finishing in the top 10 in seven of the 10 races so far and having just one non finish, at Silverstone.

His team-mate Iannone – with six Grand Prix wins to his name – arrives from Indianapolis in confident mood after setting the fastest time in last Sunday’s American race, finishing fourth and knowing that only a qualifying crash robbed him of a potential third win of the year on the Fimmco Speed Up M210.

The concussion suffered in a crash at his home Czech Republic Grand Prix last month was sufficient to rule Karel Abraham out of the Indianapolis race last Sunday but the Cardion AB Motoracing Team rider is expected to return to action at Misano.

FTR’s Steve Bones continued: “I’m disappointed for Alex Debon as the crash last week and the one in Assen were not his fault. Hopefully he will be fit for the Aragon round in Spain in two weeks. The Speed Up guys have done a good job this year and last weekend put in a really impressive display.

“Andrea Iannone qualified on the front row for the 125cc race at Misano last year so we’d expect him to be on the pace and Gabor Talmacsi’s efforts so far this year deserve a podium finish which he will surely get very soon. We’re pleased Karel Abraham is feeling a lot better and hopefully able to go into Friday’s free practice at Misano in the kind of mood that brought him fourth place at Catalunya.”

Valentino Rossi will ride a Yamaha YZF-R1 at a private test in Misano, Italy this afternoon. The Italian has made an excellent recovery so far since breaking his leg at Mugello on 5th June and he has decided to proceed with the test ride today in order to better understand his current physical condition. Riding a racing motorcycle will help Valentino and his doctors to plan the next stage of his rehabilitation program in order that he may return to racing as soon as he feels confident to do so.

The test will take place using a YZF-R1 WSB machine provided by the Yamaha World Superbike Team to the Fiat Yamaha Team. Yamaha will inform the media later today of the results of the test and of Valentino’s condition.

Leon Haslam maintained his run of podiums at every World Superbike round this year with a second place in yesterday’s World Superbike Championship eighth round at Misano.

The Suzuki Alstare rider struggled with problems in race one but carried on fighting hard and took eighth place. The team came up with some ideas to improve his GSX-R1000s settings for race two; they worked; and he battled from seventh on the grid to second place and his 11th podium of the season in front of 69,000 race fans.

Teammate Sylvain Guintoli had his best result of the year since the opening round in Australia in February: The French rider took fifth in race one and sixth in race two.

Local favorite Max Biaggi (Aprilia) won both races: In race one, he narrowly beat Carlos Checa (Ducati) with Troy Corser (BMW) third, but race two was much more comfortable. He took his second checkered flag of the day, over four seconds ahead of Haslam, with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) third.

Leon Haslam – Race 1: 8th, Race 2: 2nd:
“After the issues we’ve had this weekend to do with the clutch and electronics, I thought that 8th in race one was probably the best we’d get this weekend. But, all credit to the team – because they went back to a setting that we used in USA and South Africa – the bike was much better in the second race. Race two felt like normal and the bike felt a million times better than race one, but I’ve got so many blisters on my hands because I was trying so hard. I took a lap or two too long to pass Troy Corser and Michel Fabrizio in the second race and by then Max was too far ahead to catch. Max is riding well, and the Aprilia is currently the package to beat, but I’m confident that – as long as we all work hard – we can beat him. We do all our own development work and it’s because of all the hard work that we are competitive. I’m going to keeping fighting for more podiums; that was my aim before the season began, and it’s still the same now.

Sylvain Guintoli – Race 1: 5th, Race 2: 6th:
“Well this has been a pretty good weekend for me and I feel I am now becoming a better Superbike rider. This Championship is so competitive that you have to be right on your game in every practice, qualifying and race and it’s not something that comes easily – it requires a lot of work, from me and the team. That’s not say that we have not been working hard up to now, because we have been working hard. It’s just that WSBK is different to BSB and I have to work in a different way. Today, I had a better feeling with the bike in race one, but funnily enough my lap times were better in race two! The good news though, is that today I had the podium-pace and I really enjoyed my racing. Now, I just need to keep this feeling up and be even more competitive next time. Next up is Brno. It is a track I know and like a lot, so I am expecting a lot.”

Misano Results:

Read more…

Crutchlow fights hard for fourth in a hot second race at Misano

There were no easy points to be had today for the Yamaha Sterilgarda team as a hot track surface and rapidly disappearing grip tested the skills of both riders. Despite being mobbed by riders in the first corner of race two, Cal Crutchlow fought back with an inspired push, coming from ninth all the way up to take third from Michel Fabrizio by lap 19. He held for a further three laps but was passed back with two laps to go, taking fourth at the line. Race one had seen Crutchlow lose the front early on as he pushed on to catch the leaders, forcing retirement from the race. Race two also saw Crutchlow make the new lap record as he worked his way through the pack, scoring an impressive 1’36.546. Teammate James Toseland also experienced a tough race day at the Misano circuit. Starting from a less than perfect 13th on the grid on the hard to overtake track, Toseland fought to pass several riders, taking tenth at the line. Race two saw him losing the front end going into a corner on the tenth lap and forcing early retirement. Crutchlow leaves Misano in tenth place in the championship standings on 120 points, just ten behind Leon Camier in ninth. Team mate Toseland sits in seventh on 138 points, just 23 points adrift of Checa in fifth as they head to Brno in two weeks time.

Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (DNF, 4th)
“I had an ok start in race two, but got beaten up a bit in the first corner on the first lap and basically had to recover from then on. I was disappointed to lose out to Fabrizio at the end, I just lost a bit of drive out of the corner and he managed to get back under me. To come here and do the race pace we did at these grip levels was incredible, hopefully we can make some improvements at this week’s Imola test and be even better. Race one was a stupid mistake, I had a full tank of fuel and just pushed the front a bit too hard trying to catch the front runners and lost the front, but I think I redeemed myself in race two.”

James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team, (10th, DNF)
“What can you say, another tough weekend. I’ve got the pace when the tire grip is good but just find it difficult when losing the grip on the bike to keep with the other bikes coming off the corners. We need to work hard on this area as it’s so important. We’ll meet about it tonight, if we can improve that it’ll be a big help. The time I’m losing on the corners to the others means I have to keep catching up on the brakes which means pushing the front, which is why I crashed in the second. Brno is a little bit faster and flowing so if we can keep the revs high we shouldn’t have too many problems.”

Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager
“After the test last week we were expecting better results. By Friday we realized this weekend was going to be tougher than we thought. Cal did a good job in the second race, although unfortunately he crashed in the first. He didn’t have the best start in the second and he was pushing really hard to catch the front pack. Unfortunately this meant he destroyed his rear tire which meant at the end the rear grip was suffering but he pushed to the line for fourth. James had a difficult weekend, for sure starting from the fourth row is always hard. He did what he could and unfortunately he didn’t finish the second race due to a crash. Fortunately he is not hurt. Tuesday and Wednesday we will go to Imola to test and hopefully we can fix some of the issues we have.”

Circuit Length: 4060
Weather: Hot and Sunny

Lap Record: 1’37.135 (Noriyuki Haga, 01/01/2009)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1’35.001 (Troy Corser, 27/06/2010)
Last Year’s Winner: Jonathan Rea

After almost a month away from racing, Team Suzuki Alstare riders Leon Haslam and Sylvain Guintoli will line up at the Misano Circuit this weekend for round eight of the Superbike World Championship.

Leon Haslam gets a ride to the paddock after a lowside crash in race 2 ended his weekend in Utah

Leon Haslam:
“The Misano tests went pretty well even though we did lose some time due to rain on one of the days. We still managed to get through a lot of stuff – new forks, different clutch settings and we were all happy enough at the end. I like Misano and although it is a tough track, I’m sure that we’re in for a lot of hard battles – but I like that! Everybody has tested there recently, so I’m expecting all the riders to be quick off the mark right from the start of first practice.
I had the stitches taken out of my left elbow just before the recent tests and I’ve got full movement in the arm, so I don’t think there’ll be any problems in that area. There’s a little bit of discomfort because of where the stitches rub against my leathers, bit it’s definitely not going to be a problem. Max Biaggi will want to do well in his home country, but I’ll be going all out to give him a tough time of it and spoil his party.”

Sylvain Guintoli:
“At least, I have raced at Misano before, so I will not have to start the first practice learning a new track, as has been the case so many times this year. Also we tested here recently and that has given me more track information and knowledge. I’m hoping that all of this means that I will not be chasing the rest of the riders on the first day of practice and I will be more competitive right from the start. I want to get back to the way I was at the start of the season and be on it right from day one and qualify well. Poor qualifying has held me up quite a few times this season, so it’s about time I did the business on Friday and Saturday and got myself in a good position on the grid on race day.”

2009 results:
Race 1: 1 Ben Spies (USA-Yamaha), 2 Shane Byrne (GBR-Ducati), 3 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Ducati). 12 Leon Haslam (GBR-Honda). Sylvain Guintoli DNS.
Race 2: 1 Jonathan Rea (GBR-Honda), 2 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Ducati), 3 Noriyuki Haga (JPN-Ducati). 8 Leon Haslam (GBR-Honda). Sylvain Guintoli DNS.

After two long-haul races in a row, the official Kawasaki Supersport Team returns to European operations with Joan Lascorz and Katsuaki Fujiwara ready to post strong finishes at Misano.

The often-tricky layout of Misano holds no fears for Lascorz and Fujiwara, who have returned from their unofficial summer break fit and more motivated than ever to go for podium places. Thus far Joan has only been off the podium once in seven races, while Katsuaki is searching only for that missing spark of good fortune to put him back into the top three.

The team had planned a test in Spain between Miller and Misano, but rain washed out their plans, and the technicians spent their time working on suspension and electronic advances to take to Italy. The team will now test after the Misano round, in the official IMS tests at Imola, on June 29 and 30.

Lascorz currently holds third place in the overall rankings – 14 points from the lead – with Katsuaki ninth and only 10 points from a top-five ranking – meaning there is everything to play for at Misano and beyond.

Joan Lascorz: “We got a top three finish in America last time out, and that was not so bad, but we want even more at Misano. It would have been good to get a test in before this weekend, but it was not to be because of the weather. I know the track at Misano, I know the competition and I know our team, so I am expecting the usual tough race – but I also expect to be competitive.”

Katsuaki Fujiwara: “I was sixth at Miller last time out and we are making constant improvements to our machine, so I am confident we can have a good weekend in Misano. Our bike was very consistent in America and that made me really happy. Our aim is to get the bike working just as well in Italy because I want to finish the season in the top four or five places.”

Following a successful test last week where the Yamaha Sterilgarda riders recorded fast times and were the most competitive team pairing, both Cal Crutchlow and James Toseland are geared up and ready to take the fight to the competition this weekend.

James Toseland is hoping for better luck than he had in the USA in May where he recorded a 9th place and a DNF

The eighth round of the World Superbike Championship at the Misano Circuit in Rimini, bordering the small sovereign state of  San Marino, will start with an impressive street display; James Toseland will pilot his full race-spec YZF-R1 along with other WSB riders through the historic streets of San Marino for the assembled international media and race fans on Thursday morning. The Misano round is the first race back in Europe following races in South Africa and the USA. The circuit, on Italy’s Adriatic coast, was overhauled in 2007, including a change of direction to run clockwise, and a succession of right-handers at the end of the main straight. Having tested here twice this year both riders are familiar with the layout and have set ups prepared to be immediately competitive.

“I had a pole here in 2006 in Superbike,” said James Toseland, “and although there were circuit changes in 2007 I’ve tested twice here this year so I know the circuit well. That combined with all the hard work my crew chief Frankie and the Yamaha Team have been doing to get the best possible set up for the track gives me confidence that we’re on for a good result. We’ve proved we can be very fast here even on used race tires so I can’t wait to get on the bike and kick off the weekend.”

“I really enjoyed racing here last year even though it was a red flag race,” said Cal Crutchlow. “I know what it’s like to fight and win here on a Supersport bike so I’m looking forward to finding out what the battle is like on a Superbike! We’ve been working hard to get a really good set up for the track, so we have every reason to believe we’ll both be up there fighting at the front.”

Misano technically speaking according to Frankie Carchedi, James Toseland’s Crew Chief
“We’ve worked hard on tire life in the recent tests, doing a couple of race runs in different temperatures. We will be using a different link system for the Misano race to preserve the tire life, we’re going to start on Friday with the setting we finished with at the test and the other bike has a slightly different swing arm which we’ll be testing as it’s a little more rigid and stronger. It’s quite a twisty track so it’s important the bike changes direction well but also accelerates between the corners well without compromising the tires. Pirelli are bringing a new batch of tires to use so hopefully all the work we did in the test will prove valuable with the new rubber! Following our results in the test, expectations are high.” Read more…

The Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team completed a two-day test this afternoon at the San Marino circuit ahead of next week’s eighth round of the Superbike World Championship in Misano. At the close of the test riders Cal Crutchlow and James Toseland were the fastest riders on the board. The team spent the two days testing some different linkages on the bikes along with various electronic settings and also a new radiator design to aid cooling.

The first day started well with both riders posting competitive times – James Toseland in particular ending the morning session second fastest with a 1”36.7, and teammate Cal Crutchlow not far behind in fourth with a 1”36.8. The afternoon saw rainfall, which disrupted the test and made the track conditions slower this morning. The day gave very hot temperatures for most of the session, but cooled towards the end allowing the riders to post their fastest times.

Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (1st, 1”36.2 90 laps)
“It’s been a pretty good test for us, the weather’s been difficult, either really hot or wet which has been challenging. Still, we managed to get down to the fastest time here and I did that on a used tire which should stand us in good stead for next week’s races. I’m looking forward to getting stuck into it again.”

James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (2nd, 1”36.3, 90 laps)
“We tried a lot with the electronics; all in all it’s been a good test for Yamaha. I’m putting a lot of time into the bike to try and find some extra time in the second half of the race and be more consistent. Everyone is doing a great job but we’re busy trying to catch up with the Aprilia.”

Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager
“I am satisfied as the riders made their best times with used tires. If the race was tomorrow we are ready. I’m looking forward to the race weekend, it has been a very productive test and we are optimistic that we can build on this and produce some good results.”