WSB : Pitt tops Yamahas in Monza
Round: 4 - Italy - Monza
Circuit: Monza
Date: 8 May 2005
Crowd: 93000
Temp: 39ºC
Weather: Sunny

Yamaha Motor Italia rider Andrew Pitt put in two strong performances to end the day as Yamaha's top points scorer at Monza. The Australian recorded a fifth and sixth place finish. Making two good starts he pushed hard at his team's home circuit, forming part of an eight rider freight train in race two, only a fraction of a second behind James Toseland at the culmination of his day's work.

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) ground out a ninth place in race two, following on from 11th in the opening race, with the second race reduced by one lap after the start was delayed due to a problem for home favourite Pierfrancesco Chili (Honda).

The opening 18-lap high speed superbike battle saw Troy Corser (Suzuki) take his sixth win of the year, with Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) second and James Toseland (Ducati) third. Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France IPONE) earned a top ten finish in his inaugural Monza meeting, following up with 12th, after set-up changes between races did not work out as planned. His team-mate Sebastien Gimbert had a tough superbike baptism at Monza, 17th in race one, while a damaged radiator in race two put him out of the follow-up. Chris Vermeulen (Honda) won race two, from long time leader Regis Laconi (Ducati), with Corser third.

Corser nonetheless improved his championship lead, with the top Yamaha that of Pitt, in fifth place with 60 points. Abe narrowly leads Haga, 54 points to 52 in the battle for eighth, with Gimbert 14th, on 26.

Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) - "We are chipping away at it every weekend and improving every time out. I just couldn't get right with Toseland in race two, because I didn't have the drive out of the corner that he had. I could make it up in the entries but he would get it back on the exits. The main thing is that we're getting the front tyres to last now and that has given me confidence in the front for the whole race."

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) - "I changed to a medium tyre on the rear and I think it worked well but we still don't have a perfect balance on the bike. So it was not enough to let me challenge. The engine was better in the first race but in race two I changed the bike and it was not quite so quick as the first one."

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "Like Andrew says, every time we are making improvements and when I saw how difficult it was for the Ducatis to pass Andrew on the straights I could see that we are working in the right direction. If we continue like this then I think the podium is a possibility."

Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) - "It was the first time for me at Monza but every day I improved. In the first race things were not so bad but I did not have a good feeling from the front end. If this was fixed I think I could have gone five tenths faster each lap. So we modified the settings for race two - but it was even worse than race one."

Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) - "A grim weekend for me I'm afraid, and the stone holing the radiator summed it up. In race one I cut the Ascari chicane with Bussei and that made it a problem for me. I'm disappointed with the weekend."

Martial Garcia (Team Manager - Yamaha Motor France) - "For the first time we were happy about qualifying at the right time because at the end the riders both made superpole. But for the race we expected more. It was a real shame for Sebastien because a stone went through his radiator and all the water leaked out. After the first lap the temperature went almost to maximum. We have to forget about this one and move on to Silverstone."

Yamaha Motor Germany riders Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes scored valuable points after a tough round four of the Supersport World Championship at Monza today. The Australians failed to find the optimum settings for their YZF-R6s but fought hard to the line to secure valuable championship points, in fifth and eighth places respectively. Curtain stays third in the championship with Parkes tying with Fabien Foret (Honda) for fifth.

Curtain had been running with the leading pack of Sèbastien Charpentier (Honda), Katsuaki Fujiwara (Honda) and Gianluca Nannelli (Ducati) in the opening stages, but slowly slipped back and into the clutches of Michel Fabrizio (Honda) as the tyres wore. Fabrizio moved into fourth place on lap 10 of 16 and although Curtain was able to stay in the Italian's slipstream he was unable to make a pass, finishing the race just a tenth of a second behind his rival.

Fujiwara's victory takes him to within seven points of Charpentier at the top of the championship, with Curtain a further 23 behind in third. Round five takes place at the Silverstone circuit in the United Kingdom in three weeks time.

Kevin Curtain - "I did the best I could today and I'm happy to get the points for fifth place at a track that hasn't really suited us. Our bike is a match for anyone in terms of top end power but I felt that some of the other guys just had the edge on us jumping out of the corners. It was ok when the tyres were new, but when the rear started to wear they were just able to edge away out of the corners. There were a few places where I could make up time on the brakes but as I said, this is the best we could do today and we can take a lot of positives away with us. The front tyre was good right to the end and we've made progress with the suspension. We've got 11 points from here so I'm satisfied with that."

Broc Parkes - "It's the same story really: finishing a few places behind Kevin. I think the Hondas had an advantage on us out of the corners, maybe due to the gearing, and it made it hard work. I've struggled all weekend and to make it worse I got a terrible start which gave me too much work to do in the race. On the upside, we've got a new suspension technician come in directly from WP and he has been able to bring in some new ideas. Already we saw the benefit this weekend and I'm sure that with more time he will be able to bring us even more improvements."

Terrell Thien (Team Manager) - "Our mechanics all worked so hard this weekend and were often up to one or two o'clock in the morning changing the gearbox settings and the like, so it was a shame that we could not deliver a podium. I was pleased that in the end the gap between us and the winner was less than eight seconds and there are many good things that we can take from this weekend. Silverstone is next and this is a circuit that Kevin likes and where Broc was on the podium last year, so we have every reason to look forward to this race."

Yamaha's R6 Cup graduates served up a thrilling appetiser for the Monza tifosi today, with Yamaha Motor Germany's Kenan Sofuoglu and Team Lorenzini by Leoni's Massimo Roccoli taking the top two places in a superb head-to-head battle for round two of the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup.

R1 riders Sofuoglu, the 2002 German R6 Cup champion, and Roccoli, winner of the 2003 Italian series, spent the entire 11-lap race separated by only fractions of a second as they passed and repassed each other around the high speed Formula One circuit.

Sofuoglu grabbed the holeshot to take the early lead, while pole sitter Roccoli broke the lap record on lap two to briefly pass him. From then on the two Yamaha riders rode in each other's slipstream, although their battle did allow former Australian superbike champion Craig Coxhell to catch up and indeed briefly lead going into the chicane on the final lap.

Sofuoglu looked like he would have to settle for third when he outbraked himself going into the Variante della Roggia chicane for the final time, but the Turkish rider kept his composure and was able to take Coxhell for second with a spectacular move into Ascari, before passing Roccoli on the approach to Parabolica to take his second win of the season.

Yamaha Motor Germany's Didier van Keymeulen held third place for most of the race but was forced back to fifth at the flag. The Belgian rider did not find a machine set-up to his liking at Monza, but is still very much in contention for the title. He lies third in the championship on 31 points, Roccoli is just ahead of him on 36 with Sofuoglu's win giving him a perfect 50 points after two rounds.

Yamaha Motor Italia supported youngster Claudio Corti took victory in Saturday's European Superstock 600 championship. With a second placed finish at the opening round in Valencia, the 17-year-old YZF-R6 rider from Como now ties for the championship lead with French Honda rider Yoann Tiberio.

Kenan Sofuoglu (Yamaha Motor Germany) - "That was a great race. I had a bit of a problem with chatter throughout the race but I just got my head down and rode as hard as I could. I made a mistake on the last lap and that meant I had to change my race tactics. I'm really happy and very focussed this year. I know that I must show people what I can do this season, so my aim is not only to win the championship but also to win as many races as possible."

Massimo Roccoli (Lorenzini by Leoni) - "I took the tight line into the final corner but unfortunately I hit a dip in the tarmac and I lost traction - which allowed Kenan to carry more speed onto the straight. It was a tough race, like a war, and Kenan is a very strong rider who has a little more experience than me, so I can have no complaints."

Didier van Keymeulen (Yamaha Motor Germany) - "I had a lot of fans here from Belgium this weekend so I am disappointed only to finish fifth. Last year I finished on the podium here but all this weekend I have struggled to get a good feeling with the bike. I got an ok start but Chiarello held me up for a bit and that gave Kenan and Roccoli the chance to get away. The next round is at Silverstone and that is one of my favourite tracks, so hopefully I can find an improvement there."