Challenging start to the season for Yamaha Sterilgarda at Phillip Island

RACE REPORT 28/02/2010 Challenging start to the season for Yamaha Sterilgarda at Phillip Island It wasn't an easy start for Cal Crutchlow and James Toseland today at the season opening race in Phillip Island Australia. Race one saw both riders crash out, Crutchlow losing the front having run wide on onto a dirty section of track on lap two and Toseland highsiding on the fifth lap. Race two saw a fiercely contested battle for points with both riders fighting off riders including Biaggi, Corser and others to stay within the top ten. Combined with a less than perfect set up on both bikes and struggling for grip the riders put in an incredible ride to bring their bikes home in the points, Crutchlow in ninth and Toseland tenth. Crutchlow moves on to round two in Portimao in 12th position in the championship on seven points, team-mate Toseland sits just behind in 13th with six points. Cal Crutchlow Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (DNF, 9th) "Race one was unfortunate, I felt we had good pace and were running up in the top five quite comfortably, I just made a little mistake. I was a bit better than Rea into the hairpin so had to run wide to avoid him and lost the front on the dirt. The second race was hard, I felt like I had no grip from the start and still some chattering. If we had better grip we could have pulled more out of it. We need to go back to the drawing board and work some stuff out." James Toseland James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (DNF, 10th) "I really needed to finish the second race after the crash in the first. To only finish 14 seconds from the front with the issues we've had this weekend is not so bad. I was really disappointed with the first race, with my injury on Friday I wanted to have two good finishes today. Full credit to the team they've tried so hard but unfortunately we haven't had the software here to solve the issue. We know what the problem is and I've given enough feedback and input to give the guys a direction to go in. We've got a lot of work to do, no doubt, but even with all the problems we're not actually that far away. The package, the power, the balance and the suspension have come on leaps and bounds. On to Portimao now, it's a long season so we can do it." Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager "It was definitely a really tough weekend for us. We solved some problems, and some we still have to work on. As we spent the two day test and the first day of the race weekend resolving the chatter issue, qualifying and race day was our first opportunity to really test the 2010 bike set up. We've seen that we have the potential to do well so we will go home and start working on the solutions to be ready to fight for the Portimao races. The team have worked really hard over the last few days to try and solve the issues and both Cal and James have given 100% to meet the challenges." Circuit Length: 4.445 Weather: Windy Lap Record: 1'32.402 (Troy Bayliss, 01/01/2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'31.069 (Ben Spies, 01/03/2009) Last Years Winner: Ben Spies 2010 WSB Australia - Phillip Island 28/02/2010 Race 1 - 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 34'13.435 2 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 0'00.004 3 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 0'00.769 4 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 0'10.201 5 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 0'10.782 6 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 0'11.079 7 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 0'11.208 8 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0'16.522 9 Troy Corser BMW AUS 0'20.291 10 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'26.352 11 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 0'29.775 12 Max Neukirchner Honda GER 0'30.155 13 Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 0'31.951 14 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 0'31.957 15 Andrew Pitt BMW AUS 0'55.082 Race 2 - 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 34'16.428 2 Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 0'00.307 3 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 0'00.434 4 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 0'00.837 5 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 0'03.453 6 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 0'11.530 7 Troy Corser BMW AUS 0'12.026 8 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 0'13.068 9 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 0'14.401 10 James Toseland Yamaha GBR 0'14.707 11 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 0'14.743 12 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 0'14.851 13 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'15.143 14 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 0'30.947 15 Andrew Pitt BMW AUS 0'41.855 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 1'32.193 Rider Standings 28/02/2010 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 45 2. Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 36 3. Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 34 4. Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 27 5. Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 23 6. Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 23 7. Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 19 8. Troy Corser BMW AUS 16 9. Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 10 10. Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 9 11. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 8 12. Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 7 13. James Toseland Yamaha GBR 6 14. Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 6 15. Max Neukirchner Honda GER 4 Manufacturer Standings 28/02/2010 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 45 2. Suzuki 45 3. Honda 23 4. Aprilia 19 5. BMW 16 6. Yamaha 7 7. Kawasaki 3 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