''FIGHTING'' FIFTH FOR PITT IN PHILLIP ISLAND
03 April 2005 - Yamaha Racing

Yamaha Motor Italia rider Andrew Pitt ended his race day at Phillip Island battered and bruised after crashes on race weekend, but his fifth place in the dry race one was the best individual result for his team and all the Yamaha entrants.

High winds made the opening world superbike race a true challenge for all riders involved and, adding to the complications and delays, the second race was a two-part race, the first leg dry and the second wet.

Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France IPONE) left Phillip Island with a biggest points haul of any Yamaha rider, with a sixth place finish, behind Pitt, and an eighth in the second race.

Yamaha Motor Italia rider Noriyuki Haga looked like producing one of the rides of the day in race one, but was forced to retire with an electrical problem on the main straight after 11 laps. The Japanese ace had started the race in 19th place after a nightmare qualifying session, but had charged through the pack to fourth place at the end of the first lap. Haga was fighting in the pack contesting fourth to eighth place when he retired. A crash at exactly the same spot as Pitt in the wet section of race two left him without a point after a difficult weekend.

Yamaha Motor France IPONE rider Norick Abe was well in contention, as high as fourth at one stage, but finishing in an eventual sixth place. His fellow Yamaha Motor France IPONE team-mate Sebastien Gimbert ended race one 11th and was forced to retire when his machine cut out, after an electrical connector came loose in race two following an off track excursion while avoiding a fallen rider.

Troy Corser (Suzuki) took both wins from team mate Yukio Kagayama and now leads the championship with 91 points. Abe holds sixth position in the championship table, with 33 points, two ahead of seventh place man Pitt, on 31. Haga''s no score sees him 11th, with the 16 points he brought from Qatar, while Gimbert is 14th, on 11 points.

Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia)
''I feel like I''ve been in a boxing ring for 15 rounds. I was very careful through turn eight and I just touched the throttle, to get ready for the corner, and I went straight over the handlebars. It was the first lap, the tyre was new and cold. The same thing happened to Haga. The weather conditions, with so much wind and then the rain, were as bad as any I''ve ridden in here.''

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia)
''We did not have a good weekend here. We chose the same wet tyre as this morning but the feeling was not the same as we had earlier. We just have to move on to Valencia and forget about today.''

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia)
''Up to yesterday Andrew was pretty good and finished fifth in the first race. Then it started to rain and he fell in the first lap of the re-start, same place as Noriyuki. Both riders say that they don''t know why and there were four riders off in total on exactly the same corner, so it seems strange. When it is wet anything can happen, but for me the dry result for Andrew was OK. Every time we ride with the new bike there is a small improvement.''

Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France IPONE)
''It has been a long time since I rode or practiced in the rain, so I did not have the right rain settings. We made the suspension much softer for the race but it was not enough. It was not bad in race one. I am sixth in the championship and that''s because I always make the most of things in the races. I think soon we can get to the podium.''

Sébastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France IPONE)
''I had to run off the track in race two when another rider crashed and then the bike started to misfire. Race one was not so good either, as I suffered clutch problems. It''s been a very disappointing weekend not good for me. I made a good start in race two, which is the hardest thing to accept.''

Martial Garcia (Team Manager - Yamaha Motor France IPONE)
''Abe was not in a bad situation until the rain came. He was in with the front runners in the dry but when it rained he slipped back a little, as he couldn''t get the grip. He is sixth in the championship so that''s not so bad. An unhappy weekend for Sébastien, but there will be better ones.''

Race classification WSB

Round: 2 - Australia
Circuit: Phillip Island
Circuit Length: 4448
Lap Record: 1'' 33.019 (Troy Corser, 2001)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1'' 32.193 (Troy Corser, 2001)

Race 1: 22 Laps
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 35'' 15.199
2 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN +8.279
3 C. Vermeulen Honda AUS +12.551
4 M. Neukirchner Honda GER +12.761
5 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS +13.204
6 N. Abe Yamaha JPN +15.116
7 R. Laconi Ducati FRA +17.195
8 K. Muggeridge Honda AUS +33.821
9 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR +34.010
10 G. Bussei Kawasaki ITA +42.594
11 S. Gimbert Yamaha FRA +42.851
12 L. Lanzi Ducati ITA +43.181
13 M. Sanchini Kawasaki ITA +44.556
14 I. Clementi Kawasaki ITA +44.804
15 J. Toseland Ducati GBR +1'' 1.011
17 M. Praia Yamaha POR +1 lap(s)

Race 2: 22 Laps
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 37'' 34.183
2 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN +5.822
3 M. Neukirchner Honda GER +10.897
4 C. Vermeulen Honda AUS +18.757
5 F. Nieto Ducati ESP +53.089
6 A. Corradi Ducati ITA +54.127
7 R. Laconi Ducati FRA +58.076
8 N. Abe Yamaha JPN +1'' 3.328
9 G. Bussei Kawasaki ITA +1'' 4.355
10 M. Sanchini Kawasaki ITA +1'' 8.754
11 B. Bostrom Honda USA +1'' 14.447
12 A. Stroud Suzuki NZL +1'' 16.710
13 L. Lanzi Ducati ITA +1'' 20.004
14 M. Praia Yamaha POR +2'' 44.473

Fastest Race Lap:
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 1'' 34.917

Championship standings WSB

Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points
1 Troy Corser Suzuki AUS 91
2 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 85
3 Regis Laconi Ducati FRA 54
4 Chris Vermeulen Honda AUS 50
5 Max Neukirchner Honda GER 37
6 Norifumi Abe Yamaha JPN 33
7 Andrew Pitt Yamaha AUS 31
8 James Toseland Ducati GBR 22
9 Giovanni Bussei Kawasaki ITA 20
10 Fonsi Nieto Ducati ESP 17
11 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 16
12 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 15
13 Pierfrancesco Chili Honda ITA 11
14 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 11
15 Mauro Sanchini Kawasaki ITA 11
20 Ivan Silva Yamaha ESP 9
22 Marco Borciani Yamaha ITA 4
24 Miguel Praia Yamaha POR 2

Manufacturers standings WSB

Pos. Manufacturer Points
1 Suzuki 100
2 Ducati 56
3 Honda 53
4 Yamaha 41
5 Kawasaki 21
6 Petronas 1

WSS : Curtain takes ''miracle'' podium
Round: 2 - Australia
Circuit: Phillip Island
Date: 3 April 2005
Crowd: 58000
Temp: 25ºC
Weather: Windy

Yamaha Motor Germany rider Kevin Curtain showed true determination to take second place in his home race at Phillip Island after a last minute decision to change the suspension settings on his YZF-R6 paid dividends.

Having suffered throughout the qualifying sessions with traction problems, Curtain''s mechanics fitted a new rear shock absorber for race day - but were unable to properly test the new settings due to wet conditions in the pre-race warm-up.

Starting from fourth on the grid, the experienced Australian traded the lead with Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) in the opening laps of the dry race, before the Frenchman started to pull a slight gap with 17 of the 21 laps completed. With a clear gap back to third place, Curtain was able to hold on for his second successive second place at Phillip Island and his first podium of the season.

Curtain''s team-mate Broc Parkes showed true Australian grit to ride bravely after a high-speed crash during the previous day''s free practice session. The youngster started down in 12th place after missing final qualifying but was able to ride a steady and professional race to come home in seventh place, moving him up to fifth overall in the championship standings.

The start of race was delayed due to high winds, which made the conditions difficult throughout the race. Frenchman Fabien Foret (Honda) took third place after a race-long battle with Katsuaki Fujiwara (Honda). The result ensures that both Curtain and Parkes move up one place in the championship positions, to third and fifth place respectively. With two rounds gone, Charpentier leads the championship with 45 points, ahead of Fujiwara on 38 and Curtain on 33.

Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany)
''It was a tough race, especially with the wind, which was probably the strongest I have ever experienced in my many years here. When I hit the front I thought that maybe, just maybe, I could win this one but again it wasn''t to be. I have to thank my team because all weekend we have had bike traction problems but today they found a miracle solution. As the practice was wet this morning I hadn''t been able to test changes, so I went into the race with an untried shock. Thankfully they went the right way and this is a great reward for all the hard work they''ve done this weekend.''

Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany)
''Last night I thought I wouldn''t be able to finish the race, so to get a seventh is actually a good result. I actually felt ok when I was on the bike but I felt my riding was off the pace. Still, when I lay on the track after crashing yesterday I was sure that I had broken some bones. It is important to get some good points so overall I am happy with how I went today.''

Terrell Thien (Team Manager - Yamaha Motor Germany)
''We''re really happy with Kevin''s result here although it was a shame that we did not have a dry free practice session this morning, because if we had we would have realized that we also needed to change the front suspension too. In the race the rear shock pushed the front so hard that Kevin''s front tyre was destroyed by the end. I was happy that Broc could enter first of all and, after 10 laps, he was in pain all over. But he rode clever and finished the race, and now we are all looking forward to the next race in Valencia. We are learning more about the bike every race and we made good progress in our recent Valencia test without actually being able to try everything we wanted to.''

Race classification WSS

Round: 2 - Australia
Circuit: Phillip Island
Circuit Length: 4448
Lap Record: 1'' 36.642 (Katsuaki Fujiwara, 2003)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1'' 35.291 (Chris Vermeulen, 2003)

Race 1: 21 Laps
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 S. Charpentier Honda FRA 34'' 28.920
2 K. Curtain Yamaha AUS +3.595
3 F. Foret Honda FRA +9.641
4 K. Fujiwara Honda JPN +9.664
5 J. van den Goorbergh Ducati NED +29.602
6 J. Stigefelt Honda SWE +34.168
7 B. Parkes Yamaha AUS +42.695
8 S. Chambon Honda FRA +46.360
9 T. Lauslehto Honda FIN +48.976
10 C. Cogan Suzuki FRA +56.859
11 X. Fores Suzuki ESP +1'' 20.356
12 D. Garcia Kawasaki ITA +1'' 20.461
13 T. Miksovsky Honda CZE +1'' 28.701
14 P. Szkopek Honda POL +1 lap(s)

Fastest Race Lap:
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time
1 S. Charpentier Honda FRA 1'' 37.438

Championship standings WSS

Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Points
1 Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 45
2 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 38
3 Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 33
4 Fabien Foret Honda FRA 27
5 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 19
6 Stephane Chambon Honda FRA 17
7 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 16
8 Xavi Fores Suzuki ESP 13
9 Tatu Lauslehto Honda FIN 13
10 Jurgen van den Goorbergh Ducati NED 11
11 Johan Stigefelt Honda SWE 10
12 Tomas Miksovsky Honda CZE 7
13 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 7
14 Christophe Cogan Suzuki FRA 6
15 Andrea Berta Ducati ITA 5

Manufacturers standings WSS

Pos. Manufacturer Points
1 Honda 50
2 Yamaha 33
3 Ducati 18
4 Suzuki 14
5 Kawasaki 6

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