Yamaha riders ready for Assen

From Yamaha Racing

The fourth round of the 2008 World Superbike Championship takes place at Assen on Sunday and for the second year in succession this popular race meeting occupies an early season position on the calendar.

The legendary Circuit van Drenthe has been much revised over its long lifespan and the last reduction in its overall length took place in 2006, forming what is now a 4.555km ribbon of asphalt. It still features many unique aspects in its design and layout, including a few trademark positive cambers in some of its untouched corners.

The track is now, however, much more like a purpose-built venue than the open road circuit it once was, even if the recent work was entirely necessary to provide much-needed space for spectators and parking areas.

After a podium for Troy Corser, and then a stunning win for Noriyuki Haga in race two at the previous round in Valencia the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team is determined to secure even more points and podiums, to help Corser move on from fourth in the championship and get Haga back on the same points level as his main championship rivals.

Having weathered some early season issues Haga was back to his old best in the second race in Spain, and to add to his pre-race confidence this weekend he already has experience of standing on the top step of the podium at Assen, after winning race two there in the 2000 season.

Both Corser and Haga can be lifted further by the fact that four-cylinder power in general has had great recent success at Assen, with 1000cc fours of some kind winning five of the last seven individual legs.

Haga said, in the run-up to the Assen meeting, "At the previous race in Valencia we changed our machine settings on Saturday night and I got a lot better feel for the bike. Even though I fell in race one we got our first win of the 2008 season right after, and that has given me real confidence to take to Assen."

Valencia saw the Yamaha World Supersport Team move onwards and upwards in the championship fight, with Broc Parkes now second in the championship and Fabien Foret leading a group of riders in third place. A recent test at Assen has already provided the team technicians and the riders with some valuable information, which should speed up the task of setting up the all-new Yamaha YZF-R6 machine come race weekend.

Davide De Gea from the Yamaha Spain World Supersport team will once more be unable to line up alongside his fellow team regular Davide Salom after taking medical advice not to ride at the Assen event. His leg injuries are still not healed enough for him to try and race, and he will be substituted by experienced former 125 GP rider Angel Rodriguez who finished eight during the Valencia round.