SECOND FOR ROSSI
20 August 2006 - Yamaha Racing

Valentino Rossi picked up 20 vital points in the Czech Republic today after taking second place in a race which saw series leader Nicky Hayden (Honda) stumble to ninth - a result which reduces the gap between the pair to 38 points with five rounds remaining.

Loris Capirossi (Ducati) took a dominant victory, leading from the first corner to finish with a 4.902 second advantage, whilst Rossi had to fend off a valiant challenge from rookie Dani Pedrosa (Honda) four laps from the end before comfortably sealing the runner-up spot.

It was an even tougher afternoon for Colin Edwards, who started out in equally impressive fashion to his team-mate but faded in the second half of the race to finish in tenth. The Texan started from eighth on the grid and was keen to get in touch with the leading riders as soon as possible, making up three places on the opening three laps. However, his efforts took their toll on the rear Michelin tyre of his YZR-M1 machine and, without the perfect set-up to rely on in the latter stages of the race, he was forced to drop back and settle for another top-ten finish.

Valentino Rossi (2nd; + 4.902)
''It was a good race today and I am very happy with the weekend. Obviously starting from pole position you hope that you can win but today Loris had a completely different pace to the rest of us and I couldn''t believe the gap he made! We weren''t perfect today and we still had a few problems, but anyway I was able to do a good race and fight hard to the end. I had a great battle with Pedrosa with many good overtakes, which was great fun, especially since I finally managed to finish in front of him! Even though I didn''t win today this is a very important result for the championship; we are now third and we''ve gained on Pedrosa and Hayden. After this weekend the situation is much clearer for us with the bike and the tyres and now we have two days of testing, during which we have some new things to try in order to help us be even more competitive for the final five races. This weekend my M1 worked well from Friday morning, which is very encouraging after the problems we''ve had during practice this season. Everyone at Yamaha has worked so hard to come back to this level so I want to thank my team and all the engineers. Now there are five more races and five riders who can still fight for the championship, so I think it''s going to be a very exciting end to the season!''

Colin Edwards

Colin Edward (10th; + 19.435)
''At the beginning things felt alright and over the first few laps I was actually quite excited. I was able to be quite aggressive and pass a few people, but then after a while things just went downhill. The balance of the bike didn''t feel right and I just couldn''t keep the same level. Then the tyre started to go off after about eight laps and that just acted as a limiter and my pace went right down. I was fighting really hard just to keep the pace I was running and it was nowhere near fast enough to be competitive. The bike didn''t feel perfect under braking either and that makes life difficult here! We''ve spent all weekend playing around, trying to find the right balance but we just couldn''t find exactly what we needed. Honestly we''ve worked hard all weekend but things just weren''t right today. We''ve got two days of testing now and plenty of work to do if we''re going to improve for the final few races.''

Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director
''This has been a good weekend, despite the fact that we didn''t win. We''ve achieved the most important goal of taking a lot of points back from Hayden and also gaining on Pedrosa. Valentino starting from pole position is a great improvement after the previous weekends and it''s a good sign for the final part of the season. There are five riders now that can win the championship and it''s clearly going to be a hard fight to the end, for which we need to be fully prepared! This weekend has shown how well Yamaha can react to problems and everyone has worked extremely hard to solve them, so a big thank you to the mechanics, engineers and of course Valentino! Colin made some big changes before the race and in the first part of it he looked very good. Unfortunately he couldn''t keep that pace up and now these two days of testing for him will be very important in order to come up with some things that can help him finish the season well.''

Circuit Length: 5403
Temp: 23
Crowd: 81.000
Weather: Dry

2006 MotoGP Brno 20/08/2006
Race 1 - 22 Laps

Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time

1 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 43''40.145
2 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0''4.902
3 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0''8.012
4 Kenny Roberts Team Robert KR USA 0''14.800
5 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0''15.025
6 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 0''15.699
7 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0''16.775
8 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 0''16.942
9 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 0''17.061
10 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0''19.435
11 Toni Elias Honda ESP 0''22.215
12 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 0''23.978
13 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 0''24.967
14 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 0''28.961
15 Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 0''29.296
17 James Ellison Yamaha GBR 1''2.982

Best Lap
Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time
Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 1''58.157

Rider Standings 20/08/2006

Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points
1. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 201
2. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 176
3. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 163
4. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 161
5. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 151
6. Casey Stoner Honda AUS 101
7. Kenny Roberts Team Robert KR USA 92
8. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 90
9. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 83
10. Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 75
11. Makato Tamada Honda JPN 67
12. Toni Elias Honda ESP 64
13. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 61
14. Sete Gibernau Ducati ESP 58
15. Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 54
18. James Ellison Yamaha GBR 20

Team Standings 20/08/2006

Pos. Team Points
1. Repsol Honda Team 377
2. Camel Yamaha Team 253
3. Fortuna Honda Team 225
4. Ducati Marlboro Team 216
5. Rizla Suzuki 144
6. Honda LCR 101
7. Kawasaki Racing Team 98
8. Team Roberts KR 92
9. Tech3 Yamaha 74
10. Konica Minolta Honda 67
11. Pramac D''Antin 22

Manufacturer Standings 20/08/2006

Pos. Manufacturer Points
1. Honda 262
2. Yamaha 201
3. Ducati 160
4. Suzuki 101
5. Team Robert KR 92
6. Kawasaki 83

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