Seven-time Spies breaks the all-time Superpole record

QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 30/05/2009 Seven-time Spies breaks the all-time Superpole record Yamaha World Superbike phenomenon Ben Spies made it seven Superpoles in a row today at the Miller Motorsports Park, he is now the only rider ever in the history of Superbike to take seven consecutive poles in a row. Spies had spent the first qualifying session and free practice working and fine tuning the set-up of the bike, as the Superpole heats started, it was clear his hard work with the team had paid off as he laid down the fastest lap of each session to comfortably end on pole position for tomorrow's races. It was a fitting scene as thunder and lightning broke dramatically over the circuit as the 'Texan Terror' showed everyone how it should be done. Team-mate Tom Sykes had struggled with his set-up during the morning practice and following qualifying session, ending with a 22nd position start on the grid for race day. After making several changes Sykes went out again for the afternoon free practice session and found the set up he was looking for. Finding another second and a half on his earlier times he was running in tenth for the free session. Although not an ideal start position the new settings will give him a good race pace and the opportunity to fight through the pack. Ben Spies Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team (1st, 1'48.344) "It was a good set of sessions for us, the last few minutes of Superpole there was some drops coming down and I was pretty nervous but we had worked hard in free practice and qualifying on the tyres we were on and just went into Superpole and stuck to the plan and everything worked out. I think we'll have a good race pace for tomorrow, I think there's a few guys who have good pace as well so I think the race is going to be pretty interesting. " Tom Sykes Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team (22nd, 1'50.807) "In qualifying we really missed out, we didn't find the right direction fast enough and unfortunately didn't get to Superpole which was a big shame. For the final free practice we found an area of real improvement, the time was good enough for Superpole. So hopefully we can forget today and although we've got a bad starting position we can come out tomorrow focused and make the most of what we've got." Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager "One more pole for Ben, seven in a row is fantastic. The pace is really good and for sure we are able to fight for the race win tomorrow. I think there are two or three guys who will be tough so it should be a good race. On the other side of the garage Tom improved this afternoon with a better set-up in free practice, he made up almost a half second so this will give some motivation to push very hard tomorrow and fight to make up positions. In the end it's all about race day so lets see what happens." Circuit Length: 4905 Fastest Lap Ever: 1'48.193 (Carlos Checa, 01/06/2008) Last Years Winner: Carlos Checa 2009 WSB United States - Salt Lake City 30/05/2009 Superpole Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Ben Spies Yamaha USA 1'48.344 2 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 1'48.908 3 Ryuichi Kiyonari Honda JPN 1'49.845 4 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 1'49.434 5 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 1'49.658 6 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 1'49.982 7 Broc Parkes Kawasaki AUS 1'51.328 8 Jamie Hacking Kawasaki USA 1'51.438 9 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 1'49.516 10 Shinya Nakano Aprilia JPN 1'49.528 11 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 1'49.541 12 Leon Haslam Honda GBR 1'49.765 13 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'50.114 14 Fonsi Nieto Suzuki ESP 1'50.488 15 Luca Scassa Kawasaki ITA 1'50.987 22 Tom Sykes Yamaha GBR 1'50.807 Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Nat. QUAL I QUAL II 1 Michel Fabrizio ITA 1'50.457 1'49.204 2 Jakub Smrz CZE 1'50.282 1'49.329 3 Ben Spies USA 1'49.901 1'49.773 4 Max Biaggi ITA 1'49.820 1'50.214 5 Ryuichi Kiyonari JPN 1'50.701 1'49.845 6 Carlos Checa ESP 1'50.144 1'50.033 7 Jonathan Rea GBR 1'50.740 1'50.086 8 Noriyuki Haga JPN 1'50.755 1'50.094 9 Fonsi Nieto ESP 1'52.037 1'50.347 10 Karl Muggeridge AUS 1'50.757 1'50.391 11 Jamie Hacking USA 1'50.466 1'50.427 12 Shinya Nakano JPN 1'51.228 1'50.458 13 Leon Haslam GBR 1'51.389 1'50.505 14 Shane Byrne GBR 1'50.512 1'50.580 15 Broc Parkes AUS 1'50.961 1'50.532 22 Tom Sykes GBR 1'51.387 1'50.807 26 Erwan Nigon FRA 1'52.932 1'52.137 QUALIFYING 1 REPORT 30/05/2009 Yamaha Supersport riders take first and second row starts for race day Yamaha World Supersport rider Cal Crutchlow endured a frustrating qualifying session today at the Miller circuit in Salt Lake City. The British rider worked hard and was on the pace for the duration of the qualifying heat however on several attempts at a flying lap came up against slower riders who thwarted attempts to lay down the perfect pole position time. As a result Crutchlow will start the race tomorrow in third position on the front row of the grid. Crutchlow's team-mate Fabien Foret had much of the same trouble today. Having started the weekend's practice yesterday with an outstanding pace and adapting to the circuit quickly Foret also struggled today with some of the slower traffic during the qualifying session and will start the race tomorrow in eighth position from the second row of the grid. Cal Crutchlow Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team (3rd, 1'52.051) "Today was really hard work. The last two days have been the hardest I've had so far this year. We're not feeling too comfortable here at Miller but maybe for the race tomorrow we'll be able to pull out the stops and there's no reason why we shouldn't be on the podium. Winning the race is going to be hard but I'm going to be fighting for it definitely. " Fabien Foret Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team (8th, 1'52.827) "I'm not really satisfied with my qualifying session. On my fastest lap I got stuck behind an American rider and was held up. I then waited too long to go for another good lap time on fresh tyres and messed up my session a bit. I'm on the second row though so it's not the end of the world and I'm feeling really good with the bike and everything so tomorrow will be different." Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team Manager "It didn't go really smoothly today, with the red flags and slow US riders blocking both riders when they were on good laps it's been a frustrating session. But we have two good guys and tomorrow is race day so we'll see. No matter what happened today in qualifying it's going to be a battle tomorrow, hopefully nobody will get away." Circuit Length: 4905 Fastest Lap Ever: 1'51.749 (Joan Lascorz, 31/05/2009) 2009 WSS United States - Salt Lake City 30/05/2009

Qualifying 1

Pos.	Rider	Manu.	Nat.	Total Time
1	Joan Lascorz	Kawasaki	ESP	1'51.749
2	Eugene Laverty	Honda	GBR	1'51.829
3	Cal Crutchlow	Yamaha	GBR	1'52.051
4	Gianluca Nannelli	Triumph	ITA	1'52.659
5	Massimo Roccoli	Honda	ITA	1'52.726
6	Kenan Sofuoglu	Honda	TUR	1'52.755
7	Garry McCoy	Triumph	AUS	1'52.794
8	Fabien Foret	Yamaha	FRA	1'52.827
9	Mark Aitchison	Honda	AUS	1'52.951
10	Katsuaki Fujiwara	Kawasaki	JPN	1'53.171
11	Robbin Harms	Honda	DNK	1'53.516
12	Michele Pirro	Yamaha	ITA	1'53.630
13	Matthieu Lagrive	Honda	FRA	1'53.799
14	Miguel Praia	Honda	POR	1'53.919
15	Barry Veneman	Suzuki	NED	1'54.303
21	Doni Tata Pradita	Yamaha	IDN	1'54.901
26	Yannick Guerra	Yamaha	ESP	1'56.954
27	Melissa Paris	Yamaha	USA	1'57.079
28	Andrew Nelson	Yamaha	CAN	1'57.587
29	Oleg Pianykh	Yamaha	RUS	1'57.856

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2009 MotoGP - Mugello Qualifying

QUALIFYING 1 REPORT 30/05/2009 Lorenzo grabs last-minute Mugello pole as Rossi is edged onto second row Jorge Lorenzo Jorge Lorenzo took his second pole and fifth front row of the season after a scintillating qualifying session in Italy this afternoon, which left the top four riders separated by less than two tenths of a second. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi qualified fourth and finds himself off the front row at Mugello for the first time since 1999, when he was still in 250s. After topping the time sheets yesterday Lorenzo played second fiddle to his team-mate for most of this afternoon's session and it was Rossi who sat at the top of the leader board for most of the hour. The Spaniard was consistently fast around the first three quarters of the track but was losing time in the final section, leaving him a few tenths behind the Italian. With five minutes to go and with all riders on fresh Bridgestone tyres the qualifying session looked to be a four-way battle between the Fiat Yamaha duo, Loris Capirossi and Casey Stoner but it was championship leader Lorenzo who came out on top, with an inch-perfect lap which edged him into pole by two hundredths of a second from Stoner. Rossi has had no less than eleven front row starts at this track and today he looked a sure bet for another as he effortlessly improved his time lap by lap, looking as comfortable as ever in the Italian sunshine. He came out worst in the last-lap showdown however as he lost out to compatriot Capirossi by 0.027 seconds, meaning the world champion will have to start from fourth as he seeks his seventh consecutive win here tomorrow when the lights go out at 1400. Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 1Time: 1'48.987Laps: 30 "I'm really happy about this because it's a great pole position and I'm really excited to be starting from the front at Mugello. During the session we had some problems in T4 and we still need to try to improve a bit in that section, but I am fast with both types of tyre and in the end I was able to do one very fast lap. My race pace is good and I think that I have the possibility to fight with Valentino tomorrow; in my mind he is still the favourite here. My target is to get a good start and then try to stay with Valentino and Casey, and then I am sure I can be a part of the race. I am very excited and I hope for a great battle." Valentino Rossi Valentino Rossi - Position: 4Time: 1'49.148Laps: 28 "Sincerely I am quite disappointed to miss out on the first row! Usually I don't mind so much but here, in Mugello, it's special so I am sorry for this. It was a great fight today and we had good potential for the pole position but in the end we lost the front row to Loris, who did a great lap. Our setting is good, we have some small details to check but our race pace with the harder tyre is very good so I am not too worried. Of course starting from the second row makes life a little more difficult but we don't think about this. The weather situation is very important because if it's like this then we know we are fast but if it changes, which seems possible from the forecast, then it will be a bit more difficult." Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager "We couldn't ask for a better qualifying session than this! Our race setting is pretty good but we still need to improve our time a little in the final sector, which is where we were losing out today. Jorge did brilliantly with the softer tyre on the final run and this is a very important pole position for us. We hope this good weather continues because if it's like this then it's going to be a very exciting race." Davide Brivio - Team Manager "As far as race preparation goes that was a good session, because we were always fast. In the hot laps with the soft tyres at the end we just missed out on the front row but this is not the end of the world. Our race set-up is very good and, although starting from fourth makes our job a little harder, we know that Valentino will be in the fight tomorrow. We're looking forward to a great race." Super sixth for Edwards in scorching hot Mugello Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards was in sparkling form during qualifying for the Italian MotoGP to secure a place on the second row of the grid for tomorrow's eagerly anticipated Mugello race. The Texan made a blistering start to the session, immediately fighting his way into the top three as Yamaha dominated the early stages with Jorge Lorenzo and home hero Valentino Rossi also in early contention for pole position. Working on front-end geometry settings to improve the agility of his YZR-M1 machine for the fast changes of direction at the spectacular Mugello circuit, Edwards clocked his best time of 1.49.547 with 13 minutes remaining. That put him third quickest, but in an enthralling final ten minutes of a session run in sunny conditions, the 35-year-old slipped down to the second row for tomorrow's 23-lap race, ending just 0.4s off the front row. British rider James Toseland had to settle for 14th place on the grid with a best time of 1.50.537, though he is confident he has the pace on race tyres to mount an assault on the top eight tomorrow. Toseland found it difficult to find a comfortable rear shock setting to help the 28-year-old take full advantage of the extra grip from the soft rear Bridgestone tyre. He set his best time on his last flying lap and he was only 0.5s away from a place on the third row and 0.2s outside of the top ten. Colin Edwards 6th 1.49.547 - 23 laps "I never plan on going out and following anybody but right at the start of the session Valentino (Rossi) was right in front of me and he had no problem with me following. So taking into account he's the Mugello expert I got in behind him to see if I could learn something and I picked up a couple of tricks. In a couple of places like the chicanes he hits the apex later at the first part to get a better drive out of the second part. I was more sweeping through them without getting a really good drive, so that helped me a bit. I was out on an old front tyre and a new rear and my race times were pretty consistent and I'm sure I can run 1.49s in the race. For me the harder rear tyre, which we'll have to use because of the high track temperature, has just as much grip as the softer one, which shows what a great job Bridgestone has done. I had a couple of small issues with front-end movement, which we improved and that's a big bonus. We changed the geometry to help with the front stability and it helped make the bike much more agile. And that's crucial here with the fast changes of direction. You really need to flow round here without having to muscle the bike around because that gets pretty tough for 23 laps. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow and putting on a good show for my guys at Tech 3 who have been awesome again." James Toseland 14th 1.50.537- 24 laps "I'm pretty frustrated because I feel I should be much higher up the grid. As I know from other races earlier this season, while I can run the lap times from around sixth to tenth place, the times in this class are so close that it can be hard to fight your way through in the race. So being on the fifth row makes it incredibly difficult. We were playing around with the suspension settings all weekend and been going in the right direction, but when I upped my pace on the softer compound tyre the rear shock setting wasn't quite right. When the rear tyre was loaded as I opened the throttle it just had a harsh feeling with little movement, so we weren't finding as much grip from the tyre as we could do. We made some changes in the session without making any big progress and right at the end on my last soft tyre we found something a bit better. But it was too late unfortunately and if we had found that direction a bit earlier it would have given me more time to build up my pace on the softer tyre. I'm frustrated because I feel I can be strong at this track, but I'll work hard with my guys tonight to try and find a better setting. I'm still confident that I can do good times in the race and gain a few places for a good result and as always I'll never give up." Circuit Length: 5245 Weather: Dry Lap Record: 1'50.117 (Max Biaggi, 01/01/2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'42.837 (Valentino Rossi, 04/06/2006) Last Years Winner: Valentino Rossi 2005 MotoGP Italy - Mugello 30/05/2009 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 1'48.987 2 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1'49.008 3 Loris Capirossi Suzuki ITA 1'49.121 4 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'49.148 5 Randy De Puniet Honda FRA 1'49.499 6 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'49.547 7 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 1'49.648 8 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'50.073 9 Toni Elias Honda ESP 1'50.078 10 Yuki Takahashi Honda JPN 1'50.305 11 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1'50.405 12 Alex De Angelis Honda SMR 1'50.448 13 Niccolo Canepa Ducati ITA 1'50.528 14 James Toseland Yamaha GBR 1'50.537 15 Marco Melandri Kawasaki ITA 1'50.710 Yamaha Racing Communications Hoogte Kadijk 61 HS / 1018 BE Amsterdam / The Netherlands T. +31 (0) 20 330 2709 / F. +31 (0) 20 420 9470 E. office@yrc.nl W. www.yamaha-racing.com

Spies shows there’s no place like home in the Utah sunshine

QUALIFYING 1 REPORT 29/05/2009 Spies shows there's no place like home in the Utah sunshine As the Superbike riders got down to the first day of qualifying at the Miller circuit today it was no surprises for Yamaha World Superbike rider Ben Spies as he showed the form that's seen him win here in five of his last six visits in the AMA Championship. The Texan's smooth lines and confident pace saw him finish the first free practice session of the day top of the leader boards. The afternoon qualifying session saw much of the same as Spies laid down consistently fast laps to end the day one place off provisional pole with a time of 1'49.901. Team-mate Tom Sykes spent the free practice session working hard to familiarize himself with what is another new circuit for him in the 2009 championship. The afternoon's qualifying saw him capitalize on the earlier session, finding an extra second and a half through qualifying whilst he worked hard with his team to find a good set up for the track. Ben Spies Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team (2nd, 1'49.901) "today went really good, we got down to some decent times and we were working on the race set up. We definitely can improve it though. We were stuck with the gearbox setting today and didn't have time to change it before the end of the session, it wasn't ideal but it was good to get some good times with what we had. Tomorrow we'll go in and make some changes with the bike and come out swinging." Tom Sykes Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (19th, 1'51.387) "It was quite a steady day, but I think we have a lot of improvements to make. We found 1.5 seconds in the last session from this morning which is great, I'm sure we can make another significant step tomorrow. We'll go to bed tonight, have time to sleep on it and think about the circuit, take it all in and am pretty confident the boys and I will have something even better tomorrow." Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team "Part of the day went well for us. We have some more time to spend on Tom's side. The track is not so easy to learn and it's his first time riding here. We will maybe make some comparisons between Tom and Ben and help Tom find where he's missing something on the lap. We will continue to work hard on both sides of the garage to find improvements for tomorrow's sessions." Circuit Length: 4905 Fastest Lap Ever: 1'48.193 (Carlos Checa, 01/06/2008) Last Years Winner: Carlos Checa 2009 WSB United States - Salt Lake City 29/05/2009 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 1'49.820 2 Ben Spies Yamaha USA 1'49.901 3 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 1'50.144 4 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 1'50.282 5 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 1'50.457 6 Jamie Hacking Kawasaki USA 1'50.466 7 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 1'50.512 8 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'50.556 9 Ryuichi Kiyonari Honda JPN 1'50.701 10 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 1'50.740 11 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 1'50.755 12 Karl Muggeridge Suzuki AUS 1'50.757 13 Broc Parkes Kawasaki AUS 1'50.961 14 Troy Corser BMW AUS 1'51.002 15 Gregorio Lavilla Ducati ESP 1'51.046 19 Tom Sykes Yamaha GBR 1'51.387 26 Erwan Nigon Yamaha FRA 1'52.932 FREE PRACTICE REPORT 29/05/2009 Yamaha World Supersport make short work of their first US session Yamaha rider Cal Crutchlow took to the Miller circuit for the first time today for Friday's free practice session. As with all Supersport riders with the exception of Sofuoglu this is Crutchlow's first visit to the track. As usual the young British rider showed his natural flair for adapting quickly and took no time to get to into the top half of the time sheet in the first free session, laying down consistently fast laps. The second session was not so smooth, some issues meant changing to the second bike mid-way and Crutchlow struggled to find the pace again before the end. Team-mate Fabien Foret was on top form, with 20 minutes to go to the end of the first session he posted the fastest time and went straight into the top slot with a 1'54.99 lap. The French rider has continued to get faster and faster over the season, proving last year's crash at Brno is now well and truly behind him. As the first session drew to a close Foret was in fifth. The second free practice session saw more of the same confident pace as Foret continued to enjoy the circuit, laying down consistently fast laps to finish with a provisional third and a front row start. Fabien Foret Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team, (3rd, 1'53.573) "I'm actually really enjoying the track and my bike too. I'm very happy with how the bike is right now. I did quite a few laps and I think my race pace is pretty ok. Until now it's all good, we'll keep working and try to make the bike a bit better in a few places. Basically it's a good first day." Cal Crutchlow Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team (6th, 1'53.956) "It was a poor day for us to be honest, we're normally a lot more up there than that but we had a few problems over the day, and in the last session especially so we'll have to try and make sure we work on our areas where we're not the best for tomorrow and hopefully we'll be up there again." Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team "both riders liked the track and settings wise we are quite pleased especially Fabien I have to say, he's really happy with the set up and the track especially which is good because since Kyalami he needed a bit of a lift. It's good he's started with the same pace as South Africa. Cal had a little bit of a problem with one bike so needed to change bikes halfway through the session and he was still trying to find the right gearing so he was a little bit slower than the morning session. For tomorrow I think everything will be fine." Circuit Length: 4905 2009 WSS United States - Salt Lake City 29/05/2009

Free Practice

Pos.	Rider	Manu.	Nat.	Total Time
1	Joan Lascorz	Kawasaki	ESP	1'53.350
2	Eugene Laverty	Honda	GBR	1'53.549
3	Fabien Foret	Yamaha	FRA	1'53.573
4	Kenan Sofuoglu	Honda	TUR	1'53.637
5	Andrew Pitt	Honda	AUS	1'53.844
6	Cal Crutchlow	Yamaha	GBR	1'53.956
7	Mark Aitchison	Honda	AUS	1'54.333
8	Garry McCoy	Triumph	AUS	1'54.339
9	Miguel Praia	Honda	POR	1'54.475
10	Katsuaki Fujiwara	Kawasaki	JPN	1'54.598
11	Michele Pirro	Yamaha	ITA	1'54.599
12	Gianluca Nannelli	Triumph	ITA	1'54.614
13	Anthony West	Honda	AUS	1'55.012
14	Matthieu Lagrive	Honda	FRA	1'55.076
15	Barry Veneman	Suzuki	NED	1'55.287
16	Doni Tata Pradita	Yamaha	IDN	1'55.305
27	Yannick Guerra	Yamaha	ESP	1'58.093
28	Andrew Nelson	Yamaha	CAN	1'58.742
29	Oleg Pianykh	Yamaha	RUS	2'00.064
30	Melissa Paris	Yamaha	USA	2'00.018
31	Chip Yates	Yamaha	USA	2'03.336

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Yamaha Racing Communications
Hoogte Kadijk 61 HS / 1018 BE Amsterdam / The Netherlands
T. +31 (0) 20 330 2709 / F. +31 (0) 20 420 9470
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