MCNEWS.COM.AU - The ultimate in motorcycle news Yamaha Racing Team hoping to be back up front
April 29th, 2005

 MCNEWS.COM.AU - The ultimate in motorcycle news

The second round of the 2005 YMF Loan Australian Superbike Championship makes its annual pilgrimage to Sydney’s Eastern Creek Grand Prix circuit this weekend (April 29 – May 1) and the Yamaha Racing Team is aiming to improve on the encouraging start it made at the opening round of this year’s title chase at Phillip Island earlier in the month.

The team came away with Superbike riders, Daniel Stauffer and Shannon Johnson, sitting in third and fifth positions respectively in the title chase, an impressive effort considering the rapid duo were riding last year’s potent Yamaha YZF-R1 as the ‘05 models were still undergoing development.

It will be a different story this weekend, however, as head tuning guru, Kevin Marshall has been hard at it, working his magic to bring out the unleashed potential of the latest offering from the ground breaking Yamaha factory with Yamaha Racing Team Manager John Redding explaining, “Kev has spent a lot of time in the workshop since Phillip Island – in fact I think he hasn’t left the workshop as he has been working day and night on the 05 models to get them prepped.

“We are still limited by a lack of track time but we felt that spending more time in the workshop would be more beneficial for progress than testing when so much work had to be done. Phillip Island was encouraging in that it gave us a benchmark as to where we stand against the latest model offerings from the other factories so we know there are better things in store now that the ‘05 development is progressing well.”

While there ha been plenty of action in the workshop, Dan and Shannon are pacing about in anticipation of jumping on the new bikes and getting back out on a track with Dan saying, “Phillip Island seems so long ago but it was a pretty successful start. I feel with the revised suspension and other mods that we have incorporated with the new team we have a lot to build on. I know that we will improve this weekend and none of us - especially Kev - will rest until the bikes are 100%.

“Eastern Creek was pretty good to me last year with a couple of wins so I’m hoping I can repeat the performance.”

Teammate, Shannon is equally enthused and while the technicians have been working on the bikes Johnson has been working on his fitness, “I’ve been training really hard and feel that I’m in perfect physical condition to ensure that I’m right on top of my game so we’ll see what the weekend has in store and hopefully the results will come our way now that we have the new bike.”

It’s not only the YMF Loan Superbikes that are the focus of the Yamaha Racing Team as evergreen, Robbie Baird will be flying the blue flag high in the Supersport class aboard the new YZF-R6 strike weapon after an up and down weekend in the first round that sees him come into the Eastern Creek round in eighth spot on 36points but well within striking distance to move up the leader board.

“Phillip Island wasn’t the best for me but we were improving all weekend,” Baird explained. “We had a little hiccup in the first race that put us behind but we were getting stronger as the weekend went on and my third place in the last race showed that we’re heading in the right direction.

“I like Eastern Creek and I know Kev and the team have been working hard to improve the R6 against the other bikes that have had a year’s development but I reckon it will be a different story at the Creek.

Friday will involve Free Practice for all classes with qualifying on Saturday while on Sunday both the YMF Loan Superbike and YMF Loan Supersport Championship categories will contest two races each.

A full day’s racing will commence at 10am on Sunday morning.

2005 YMF Loans Australian Superbike Championship pointscore after one (of seven) rounds: 1 J Brookes (Hon) 45pts; 2 S Giles (Suz) 43; 3 Daniel Stauffer (Yamaha Racing Team YZF-R1) 36; 4 S Charlton (Suz) 32; 5 Shannon Johnson (Yamaha Racing Team YZF-R1) 30.

 

2005 Australian Superbike Championship
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