PITT HEADS YAMAHA CHARGE IN QATAR
28 February 2005 - Yamaha Racing

Yamaha''s return to the Superbike World Championship got under way at the Losail circuit in Qatar, with Yamaha Motor Italia rider Andrew Pitt finishing fourth and ninth in today''s two races to leave the Middle East fifth in the championship standings.

Not only did the Yamaha prove to be the most popular bike on the grid, with 10 of the 29 riders using R1s, it also proved its outright speed with Sébastien Gimbert establishing the Losail superbike lap record and Pitt leading the early laps of race two. Rain throughout the race weekend meant lack of testing time to find perfect engine and chassis settings meant that performance dropped off as the race wore on.

Pitt finished fourth in an aggregate 18-lap first race. He then led race two before slipping back due to a lack of front end grip. Team-mate Noriyuki Haga finished fifth, also experiencing front end grip problems.

Race one, a rain-stopped aggregate affair with the first section comprising ten laps and the re-start of eight, was won by Troy Corser (Suzuki) from his team-mate Yukio Kagayama and Ducati rider Regis Laconi.

The Yamaha Motor France IPONE pairing of Norick Abe and Gimbert enjoyed contrasting fortunes in the first race of 24 this season, with Abe having electronic gearchange problems during warm-up on the re-start, yet finishing tenth. Gimbert ended his opening race clashing with two other riders to record a DNF after a front row start.

In the second contest of the day, run in dry and sunny conditions, Abe was top Yamaha finisher, in seventh place, after a multi-rider fight for fourth. At the end Pitt led Gimbert and Haga from ninth to 11th places, with Gimbert experiencing clutch slip after what were three race starts in a single afternoon.

After the opening two races, Kagayama leads on 45 points with team-mate Corser four adrift. Pitt lies fifth, with Haga seventh and Abe eighth.

Yamaha''s superbike teams will now travel to the Valencia circuit for an official FGSport test on the weekend of 12-13 March, with the following round held at Phillip Island three weeks later (1-3 April).

Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) - (fourth, ninth)
''Race one was good for the result but in race two my front tyre felt like it was finished too early. I fought as hard as I could to keep other riders behind me but I had a couple of big front-end pushes and I really didn''t want to crash. The speed of the bike is not too bad, pretty much on par with most other bikes. It''s a good result though. We always said that we might have to settle for solid points in the opening rounds and that''s what we achieved today.''

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) - (fifth, 11th)
''So far so good but we have some set-up difficulties. The rain interfering in race one was good for us. The front tyre did not seem so suitable in the second race, for us at least. I had a good start in both races, but I was not able to keep positions. This is only the first race so I hope to improve the set-up in the coming tests and to challenge for top positions in the next round.''

Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France IPONE) - (tenth, seventh)
''I think today I did not have good luck, especially in the first race. I went fourth then the next lap it started to rain. Afterwards the electronics on the quickshifter broke and I needed to make a pitlane start. In the beginning of race two the start was not bad but the engine was not quite as fast as normal. I finally passed some other riders but if I had more speed I would have taken many more top riders.''

Sébastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France IPONE) - (DNF, tenth)
''It''s a real shame because I got taken out by another rider in race one, and in race two I burned the clutch a bit on the start and could not use all the engine power. It was OK to ride on my own but not to pass, as I could not run out of the slipstream on my own.''

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia)
''The only thing we can do is say that we are paying for some delays in testing, in terms of set-up. Andrew knows this bike a little bit better than Noriyuki, and the bike set-up is not yet perfect. But we had four finishes and some good points. At this track we have had some problems so we expected some difficulty today.''

Martial Garcia (Team Manager - Yamaha Motor France IPONE) ''Sébastien made the best lap time and he said he had very good tyres and good chassis settings. We wanted to get a fine start in the first race and except for our bad luck we have had an encouraging first couple of races. We took some points and showed our power - and we have another 22 races.''

Race classification WSB

Round: 1 - Qatar
Circuit: Qatar
Circuit Length: 5400
Lap Record: 2'' 1.852 (Sebastien Gimbert, 2005)
Fastest Lap Ever: 2'' 1.244 (Troy Corser, 2005)

Race 1: 18 Laps
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 37'' 10.394
2 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN +3.065
3 R. Laconi Ducati FRA +3.496
4 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS +14.714
5 N. Haga Yamaha JPN +20.300
6 J. Toseland Ducati GBR +20.562
7 I. Silva Yamaha ESP +22.031
8 C. Vermeulen Honda AUS +22.188
9 K. Muggeridge Honda AUS +26.929
10 N. Abe Yamaha JPN +27.231
11 G. Bussei Kawasaki ITA +38.995
12 M. Borciani Yamaha ITA +42.208
13 F. Nieto Ducati ESP +43.494
14 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR +44.894
15 S. Martin Petronas AUS +49.673
19 G. Vizziello Yamaha ITA +1'' 5.885
20 M. Praia Yamaha POR +1'' 27.742

Race 2: 18 Laps
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN 37'' 0.062
2 R. Laconi Ducati FRA +2.454
3 T. Corser Suzuki AUS +5.959
4 C. Vermeulen Honda AUS +7.245
5 P. Chili Honda ITA +8.600
6 J. Toseland Ducati GBR +8.601
7 N. Abe Yamaha JPN +9.731
8 M. Neukirchner Honda GER +11.501
9 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS +11.790
10 S. Gimbert Yamaha FRA +11.808
11 N. Haga Yamaha JPN +21.364
12 L. Lanzi Ducati ITA +25.875
13 F. Nieto Ducati ESP +34.084
14 G. Bussei Kawasaki ITA +34.119
15 M. Sanchini Kawasaki ITA +47.446
17 G. Vizziello Yamaha ITA +1'' 3.995
18 M. Praia Yamaha POR +1'' 5.222

Fastest Race Lap:
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 S. Gimbert Yamaha FRA 2'' 1.852

Championship standings WSB


Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points
1 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 45
2 Troy Corser Suzuki AUS 41
3 Regis Laconi Ducati FRA 36
4 Chris Vermeulen Honda AUS 21
5 Andrew Pitt Yamaha AUS 20
6 James Toseland Ducati GBR 20
7 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 16
8 Norifumi Abe Yamaha JPN 15
9 Pierfrancesco Chili Honda ITA 11
10 Ivan Silva Yamaha ESP 9
11 Max Neukirchner Honda GER 8
12 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 7
13 Giovanni Bussei Kawasaki ITA 7
14 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 6
15 Fonsi Nieto Ducati ESP 6
16 Marco Borciani Yamaha ITA 4

Manufacturers standings WSB

Pos. Manufacturer Points
1 Suzuki 50
2 Ducati 36
3 Yamaha 22
4 Honda 21
5 Kawasaki 7
6 Petronas 1

WSS : Top six for tough Aussies
Round: 1 - Qatar
Circuit: Qatar
Date: 26 February 2005
Crowd: 1
Temp: 23ºC
Weather: Sunny

Yamaha Motor Germany riders Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes displayed true grit to overcome injuries and post top six finishes at round one of the Supersport World Championship at the Losail circuit in Qatar today. The Australians finished the 18 lap race in fourth and sixth places respectively.

Curtain overcame a bad start that saw him end the first lap down in 10th place, but a gritty ride saw the experienced Australian claw his way up to a lonely fourth place by half distance, despite suffering from a lack of front end grip and a shoulder injury sustained in testing last month.

Team-mate Broc Parkes put in a determined ride to finish in sixth place despite the pain of a broken bone in his right hand. The 23-year-old made a good start and ran as high as fourth in the early stages, only to slip back due to the pain in his hand.

The race was won by Katsuaki Fujiwara (Honda) who fought through after stalling on the grid. His team-mate Sébastien Charpentier was second, with Michel Fabrizio (Honda) third.

The next round takes place at Curtain and Parkes'' home circuit of Phillip Island on 3 April, although both should be fully fit when they take part in the official FGSport tests at Valencia on 12-13 March.

Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) - fourth
''It was hard work out there. We knew that we didn''t have a front tyre that would last the distance today and by the end of the race it felt like I was riding in the wet. A few of the other guys went down on right handers, so I guess that most people were having the same kind of problems. But I''m happy with the result, especially after I broke my collarbone last month. It''s a solid start to take to the next round in Phillip Island.''

Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) - sixth
''After four or five laps the pain in my hand really started to hit me. I got a good start but as the race went on my laptimes dropped off and there wasn''t a lot I could do about it. I had hoped to finish on the podium in my first race for Yamaha so I''m a little disappointed I didn''t manage that, but really sixth is a good result considering my condition.''

Race classification WSS

Round: 1 - Qatar
Circuit: Qatar
Circuit Length: 5400
Lap Record: 2'' 4.686 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2005)
Fastest Lap Ever: 2'' 3.747 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2005)

Race 1: 18 Laps
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 K. Fujiwara Honda JPN 37'' 54.414
2 S. Charpentier Honda FRA +5.462
3 M. Fabrizio Honda ITA +13.970
4 K. Curtain Yamaha AUS +28.713
5 F. Foret Honda FRA +31.316
6 B. Parkes Yamaha AUS +32.459
7 S. Chambon Honda FRA +36.842
8 X. Fores Suzuki ESP +42.491
9 G. Nannelli Ducati ITA +54.930
10 T. Lauslehto Honda FIN +59.092
11 A. Berta Ducati ITA +1'' 31.728
12 T. Miksovsky Honda CZE +1'' 36.071
13 P. Szkopek Honda POL +1'' 47.590
14 M. Baiocco Kawasaki ITA +1 lap(s)

Fastest Race Lap:
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 S. Charpentier Honda FRA 2'' 4.686

Championship standings WSS


Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points
1 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 25
2 Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 20
3 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 16
4 Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 13
5 Fabien Foret Honda FRA 11
6 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 10
7 Stephane Chambon Honda FRA 9
8 Xavi Fores Suzuki ESP 8
9 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 7
10 Tatu Lauslehto Honda FIN 6
11 Andrea Berta Ducati ITA 5
12 Tomas Miksovsky Honda CZE 4
13 Pawel Szkopek Honda POL 3
14 Matteo Baiocco Kawasaki ITA 2
15 Christophe Cogan Suzuki FRA 0

Manufacturers standings WSS

Pos. Manufacturer Points
1 Honda 25
2 Yamaha 13
3 Suzuki 8
4 Ducati 7
5 Kawasaki 2

www.yamaha-racing.com

More News
  For February 2005
  From Yamaha Racing
  For World Superbike
  Biker247.com Home Page