Yamaha ready for Brno challenge

From Yamaha Racing

After a successful two-day test at Vallelunga between July 8-9 both Noriyuki Haga and Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) are fully prepared to meet the challenge of a resurfaced Brno circuit on Sunday.

The ninth round of the 2008 season sees Haga arrive in fourth place in the overall championship fight, only six points ahead of his teammate Corser. Haga has won four races so far, while Corser has been desperately unfortunate not have taken at least one win among his six podiums.

Each rider has recorded successes at Brno, with Corser having won three races there and Haga one. Each took a Brno victory in 2005, Corser the first and Haga the second. The Yamaha duo traded the fastest lap in the two Czech races last year.

The Automotodrom Brno itself, in the southern regions of the Czech Republic, is nothing less than a modern classic and features constant elevation changes along its 5.403km length, the fastest chicanes in WSB, and a power-sapping 7.5% gradient uphill straight towards the last chicane, which really tests who has the strongest engine.

Haga has good and not so good memories of Brno, but being 68 points behind the series lead at present all he is thinking about this weekend is how many points he will score.

"For Brno I have to work hard to keep the points scores high and move up," he said. "We had a decent test at Vallelunga recently, and got good results when running a full race set-up, so we are happy with that, of course. Our goal this weekend is consistency while staying fast. My physical situation is better but where I broke my collarbone is kind of 'itchy', I think because it is healing."

Corser knows Brno as intimately as any rider in the series, and wants to get back to winning ways there.

"Brno should be good this year and last year wasn't too bad for us at some stages," he said. "The bike is certainly better this year as well. It will all come down to the tires, how many laps we can get out of them at full pace. We'll see how the track temperature is because Brno's been resurfaced and it's usually a hot weekend over there."

Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Team YZF) will arrive in the Czech republic in overall 19th place after a top 10 finish in Misano, David Checa (Yamaha GMT94) is now 23rd, tied on points with his teammate Sebastien Gimbert.

The wide corners and testing uphill straight of Brno should prove a fertile venue for Yamaha World Supersport Team riders Fabien Foret and Broc Parkes this weekend and after a successful two-day test last week each has a genuine chance of victory once again.

The top two Yamaha riders have scored one race win apiece on the new YZF-R6 so far in 2008, Parkes in round one at Losail and Foret at the speed bowl of Monza in round five.

In the recent Vallelunga test, the team successfully found not only a stronger base set-up for the cutting-edge R6 but a wider spectrum of possible settings to match in with different track conditions, offering a greater margin of safety at the very limit.

In the most closely contested WSS series for some years, Andrew Pitt leads on 113 points right now, with Foret and Parkes in close company, on 97 and 87 points respectively.

Michele Pirro (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) is the best-placed official Yamaha Superstock 1000 rider at present, overall fourth on 63 points, with the leader Xavier Simeon on 84. Pirro has two podium finishes to his credit so far in 2008, with only his Monza no-score holding back his championship challenge at the half-way mark.

Loris Baz (Yamaha YZF Junior Team) continues to lead the 600 Superstock division, by 12 points from the other big find of the 2008 season, Patrick Vostarek.