WSB : Haga grabs impressive sixths in Misano
Round: 6 - San Marino
Circuit: Misano
Date: 26 June 2005
Crowd: 52000
Temp: 45ºC
Weather: Sunny

Round six of the Superbike World Championship at Misano saw Yamaha Motor Italia rider Noriyuki Haga battle exceptionally hot track conditions to secure two sixth places under the burning Adriatic sunshine. With ambient temperatures into the mid-thirties, and track temperatures well over 50 degrees Celsius, rear grip and traction were at a premium for the YZF-R1 riders, who spent much of practice and qualifying trying to improve rear end grip.

Despite starting from a lowly 21st position on the grid, the hard-charging Japanese scythed through the field to gain 20 valuable points from the two races to move him up to sixth in the championship.

Race one was a two-parter, shortened by one lap to 24, after a crash brought out the red flags. For Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) the flags came out marginally too late, as an earlier crash had put him out of contention for the re-start. In race two a slipping clutch ruled him out of the results in the last few laps, and he pulled in with four to go.

Yamaha Motor France's Norick Abe scored a single finish, earning a point in race two after a crash in race one. Team-mate Sebastien Gimbert was forced to miss the Misano weekend after suffering a chipped bone in his lower right leg at the previous Silverstone round.

The first race win was taken by Regis Laconi (Ducati), from Chris Vermeulen (Honda) and Troy Corser (Suzuki). Race two delivered an identical top three, and was run in equally hot temperatures. Corser still leads the title chase, on 254 points to Vermeulen's 181. Haga sits sixth on 88, Pitt ninth on 70 and Abe 11th with 63.

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia)
"I made real progress in the early laps but it was not easy coming up from 21st position in qualifying. Right at the end of race two I had passed Chili but I entered the first corner a little too hot maybe and he got past me again. The conditions made it very difficult today, very hard work and lots of sliding. But we made a good job with what we had."

Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France)
"Again this was my first time at a new track but all weekend we have not had good grip from the rear. We tried so many settings and different suspension packages but everything was the same - no good. I used a qualifying tyre in practice but even here it was spinning all the time. I used the 200 section tyre all weekend, and it should have had more grip, but it didn't make any difference."

Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia)
"We spent a bit of time trying to choose a front tyre that would go the distance but I just had no grip, really strange. I was easing it into the entry of the last chicane, being careful, but it still went away. It's been hard all weekend, struggling to find settings that worked. We improved bit by bit but the conditions made it worse."

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "I think Noriyuki did remarkably well in race conditions but I think this weekend shows the problems of our team being new to this championship. Misano is a difficult circuit and it is hard for to go there with no information from previous races. We had a tough time finding good settings in qualifying but the team tried to understand what Nori's feelings about the bike were and last night we made real progress. We even made some positive changes between warm up and the first lap so I am very happy for the way that the team has worked this weekend."

WSS : Fourth and fifth in supersport
Round: 6 - San Marino
Circuit: Misano
Date: 26 June 2005
Crowd: 52000
Temp: 40ºC
Weather: Sunny

Yamaha Motor Germany riders Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes finished fourth and fifth respectively in a tough round six of the Supersport World Championship at Misano today, retaining their third and fifth places in the points standings.

Both riders had long and lonely races, lapping consistently in hot conditions that put grip at a premium around the demanding Italian circuit. Starting from the front row, Curtain settled into an early second position behind early leader Fabien Foret (Honda), but was forced to give second best to Sebastien Charpentier and Katsuaki Fujiwara (both Honda) after three laps, before settling down to a steady ride to the flag and 13 championship points.

Parkes, equaling his best result for the team to date, was a further six seconds adrift of his more experienced team-mate, riding around a similar traction handicap brought on by the exceptionally high ground temperatures.

The race was won by Charpentier from Foret and Fujiwara. With six rounds of the 12 race championship gone, Charpentier leads Fujiwara by 34 points, with Curtain a further 13 adrift in third.

Kevin Curtain
"I did all I could today. I tried to stick with the front three for as long as possible but there was just no grip at the rear - and the front was bouncing about a bit too - so I just had to bring her home for the points. It's a shame because we had the perfect set-up in free practice this morning but the temperature increased by 10 degrees for the race and this made such a massive difference to the amount of grip out there. But there are still a lot of races to go and after testing at Brno recently I am confident of a good result there."

Broc Parkes
"A tough race - I got off at the end and felt like I'd just done two races back to back. Like most guys I was struggling a lot for grip and although I felt that I rode well I can't get excited about finishing fifth. On the positive side we're finding a set-up more suited to my style and we're staying on here at Misano to do the Italian championship round next weekend where we will get in some more development time."

European Superstock : R1 riders move up in Misano
Round: 4 - San Marino
Circuit: Misano
Date: 26 June 2005
Crowd: 52000
Temp: 40ºC
Weather: Sunny

Yamaha riders consolidated their lead at the head of the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup at Misano today, with Yamaha Motor Germany rider Didier van Keymeulen taking a second place finish to ensure Yamaha riders leave Italy holding the top three places in the championship.

Starting from pole position, the Belgian led the opening laps before being joined by Riccardo Chiarello (Suzuki) and Vittorio Iannuzzo (MV Agusta) for a three way battle for the lead. Van Keymeulen held Chiarello in his sights for the remainder of the 15 lap race, but was unable to make a definitive move after encountering a lapped rider on the final lap. By the flag, Van Keymeulen finished less than a second behind the Italian to move up to third in the championship.

Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Lorenzini by Leoni) moved into the championship lead after taking fourth place at his local circuit. The diminutive Rimini youngster had a tough weekend after crashing during Friday's practice and experiencing grip problems in the hot conditions. Despite this Roccoli fought through from the second row, catching Iannuzzo and missing out on a podium finish by less than half a second.

Van Keymeulen's team-mate, Kenan Sofuoglu, dropped back to second in the championship after missing the Misano race due to a hand injury sustained in a training accident. The Turkish rider is expected to return for the next round in Brno, but trails Roccoli by eight points in the championship, with the consistent Van Keymeulen a further two points behind in third. Stefan Nebel, Sofuoglu's replacement for this race, did not start after suffering a back injury after crashing in practice.

Didier van Keymeulen (Yamaha Motor Germany) "After a few not so great races the good feeling is back. Misano is a tough track as you can't really push the front end so hard but I was feeling confident all weekend. I could run with Chiarello at the front but he rode well and pushed hard in the last two laps. I was able to go with him but I was aware that Roccoli and Coxhell were behind me and that, along with Kenan, they are my main rivals for the championship. I'm happy because today we closed the gap in the championship and next up is Brno, where we had a good test recently."

Massimo Roccoli (Lorenzini by Leoni)
"I wanted to win here at my home circuit but in the end it was not to be: the combination of the R1's power, my light weight and the hot conditions meant that I could not get good traction all weekend. But I am happy because I scored valuable points and have taken the championship. I plan to stay there now for the rest of the season!"