Q+A with Tohru Ubukata

The San Marino and Riviera di Rimini Grand Prix gave Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi his sixth race win of the season and third in a row as he extended his lead of the world championship to 262 points with just five races remaining. The win represented the 30th MotoGP victory on Bridgestone tires and took Rossi to 68 premier class triumphs, equaling Giacomo Agostini's record.

For the second race in a row, Alice Team's Toni Elias fought comfortably towards the front of field to claim a well deserved podium finish. His third place in Misano means that the Spaniard has taken 36 points from a possible 50 in the last two events.

It was a weekend of close competition for MotoGP's tyre manufacturers with a 50-50 split in both qualifying and the race. It was, however, Bridgestone-shod riders who took top honors with Rossi winning Sunday's race and Ducati's Casey Stoner storming to an impressive seventh straight pole position on Saturday afternoon.

Other notable performances from the Rizla Suzuki duo of Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi made it another strong weekend for Bridgestone, but with such renewed competition from its rivals Bridgestone has vowed to continue its tyre development as the championship slowly edges towards its culmination.

Q+A with Tohru Ubukata - Bridgestone Motorsport - Manager Motorcycle Race Tyre Development

How was the San Marino and Riviera di Rimini GP from Bridgestone's point of view?

"It was a competitive weekend from a tire perspective with both manufacturers quite evenly matched over the entire weekend. From Friday practice, we could see that our rivals had returned to their usual high performance level, and there was a very balanced split on all three days of the weekend. Ambient and track temperatures were very high, more so than last year, so the consistency of the tires over the race distance was quite pleasing. Naturally, Valentino's win was an excellent result for us and our tenth win of the season, but our rivals were not far behind." Did you notice an improvement in qualifying tire performance?

"On the whole, we have been a bit behind in terms of qualifying results this season, even if Casey has taken pole for seven races in a row. Whenever he has a good feeling from his bike in race trim, he can usually find a similar competitiveness on qualifying tires. His race tire pace in Misano was so strong that his fastest lap on race tires in qualifying would still have been good enough for the second row. It was an exciting qualifying session and it was our strongest all round performance of the season with three riders in the top five, which will hopefully lead to further improvements in coming races."

Privateer Team, Slednecks Racing, Experiences a Tough Ending to what was Otherwise an Outstanding AMA Season

September 2, 2008, Braselton, Georgia: Slednecks Racing will end their debut AMA season a little early after a string of tough luck hit riders, Josh Galster and Misti Hurst.

During Sunday's AMA Supersport race at Road Atlanta, Galster suffered a bad crash that has left him with a severely broken wrist and left hand, as well as a fractured C2-vertebrae in his neck. Also known as a "hangman's fracture," this type of break in the neck could have easily resulted in full or partial paralysis.

Galster will be fitted with a halo to stabilize the neck before flying out to California where he will undergo surgery for his wrist and where they will make the final decision of whether or not to perform surgery on his neck. He is expected to make a complete recovery and is in good spirits. "I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers." He said. "People have been so supportive and awesome. Thanks."

The weekend was a difficult one for Galster who was in the running for the Rookie of the Year award. Chasing bike problems for the last three weekends in a row, the team spent most of the practice sessions working out the main issues and had little time left over to set up the bike and suspension before the start of the Supersport Race.

Qualifying in 28th position with a time of 1:32.4, Galster got a poor start and was left pushing his way through the pack when the race was red flagged due to a crash that involved several riders.

"The second start was much better." Said Galster. "I was feeling really good, the bike was running awesome and I was gaining on some guys." Galster dropped his times down to a 1:31.7 and was running as high up as 20th place when suddenly he lost the rear coming out of turn 5 and was launched high into the air.

"I flipped a bunch of times," He explained from the hospital, "people almost ran over me, and I jumped up and walked off the track, yelling at the corner workers and telling them NOT to red flag the race, that I would walk back to the pits. I knew my hand was bust because my ring finger was pointed to my thumb, and my neck hurt a bit. It wasn't until they did the CT Scan and X-Ray that I found out it was actually broken."

Galster's teammate Hurst, who withdrew from the race at VIR and was not in attendance at Road Atlanta due to unexpected circumstances, was relieved to hear that Josh was fairing OK. "I was watching the race on Live Timing when I saw that he went down. It is a helpless feeling to not know what is happening and I was on the phone immediately waiting to hear the news. I'm just glad that he is alright."

NAKANO AND DE ANGELIS WORK ON BRIDGESTONE QUALIFERS AT MISANO TEST

Team San Carlo Honda Gresini were back on track at the Misano circuit yesterday for a test session with both riders, who concentrated principally on Bridgestone's qualifying tires.

Shinya Nakano completed 53 laps and was the faster of the two, ending the day second on the overall time sheets. The Japanese rider declared himself happy with the work done together with the team and after gathering plenty of data he is confident that the hard work will bear fruit in the next race at Indianapolis.

Alex De Angelis also worked closely with the motorcycle team and Bridgestone with the objective of improving his qualifying performances, an area he feels has plenty of room for improvement.

#56 Shinya Nakano (53 laps -- 1'35''446)

"Yesterday's work was focused on testing different types of qualifying tires and I'm happy because we've found the right direction to follow. I'm sure we've given Bridgestone useful information for the next Grand Prix. We had a few problems in the last race so we completed a few laps on a variety of race tires and the situation improved. Obviously we'll have to adapt our findings to the conditions we find in the USA for the race at Indianapolis but either way I'm sure the data we've gathered will help us to improve."

#15 Alex De Angelis (41 laps -- 1'36''120)

"Yesterday we focused on qualifying tires and practice starts because at the moment they are the two areas we need to improve on the most and where we need to work. I have to say that with regard to the tires Bridgestone gave us we found a better feeling and the bike performed better. We definitely have to keep working and I'm sure that the data we've given Bridgestone will allow them to come up with new material that should help us even more. I'm also happy with the practice starts -- they were probably my best of the season."

Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa had an intensive day of testing at Misano today, making his debut with Bridgestone tyres and testing Honda’s pneumatic-valve RC212V. He enjoyed a positive feeling with the tyres and set a fast pace at the end of the day using the pneumatic-valve machine.

Pedrosa rode from 13.30 to 18.15, starting out with the spring-valve RCV that he used during the weekend’s San Marino GP. The Spaniard began the process of adjusting bike set-up to suit the Bridgestones and got on well with the tyres. He rode a best lap of 1m 35.555s, then later in the day switched to the pneumatic-valve RCV and clocked a 1m 34.652s, learning more about his new tyres and gaining valuable data for ongoing machine development. Conditions were once again hot and sunny, with ambient temperature at 34 degrees and track temperature at 42 degrees.

Pedrosa’s first day with Bridgestone was very encouraging. Now his team will analyse what they’ve learned today to prepare for the next MotoGP round at Indianapolis on September 12/13/14.

Dani Pedrosa, fastest lap: 1m 34.652s (81 laps)
“I’m happy starting this new challenge and I would like to thank Bridgestone. Today we also made an important step forward in developing the 2009 bike, but now my first priority is to be fully competitive again. Of course, there is a lot of work to do but I am determined to win again this year. Today we worked hard on bike set-up. The feeling with the new tyres on my RC212V is different, both for settings and for riding style, but I just tried to follow my feelings and adjust the set-up accordingly.

“Today was only the first day of this new challenge but I am happy. I also tested the pneumatic-valve engine. The engine character is different, the power delivery is a bit more aggressive, but the engine has some good points. I have no experience on this latest bike, so I had to test many new things today. This has been an important test. Now we will analyse all the data and we look forward to the next race at Indianapolis.”

Kazuhiko Yamano - Team Manager
“Today’s test session was important and Dani’s feeling with the Bridgestone tyres was positive. He started the session with the valve-spring engine and then switched to the pneumatic-valve engine. The character of these two bikes is different but Dani was faster with the pneumatic-valve engine, his lap times improved a lot. Of course, there are positive and negative points with the engine which we will now analyse.”
FREE PRACTICE LAP TIMES
1. Pedrosa (Spa-Honda) 1'3”652 (81 laps)
2. Nakano (Jap-Honda) 1'35”446 (53)
3. Hopkins (Usa-Kawasaki) 1'35”879 (70)
4. De Puniet (Fra-Honda) 1'35”972 (48)
5. West (Aus-Kawasaki) 1'36”101 (77)
6. De Angelis (Rsm-Honda) 1'36”120 (41)

KAWASAKI CONTINUES DEVELOPMENT AT MISANO

Kawasaki's John Hopkins and Anthony West (featured in motorcycle stunt clips) returned to the Misano circuit today for a one-day post-race test, to continue development of their upgraded Ninja ZX-RR race machines.

Hopkins was keen to make up for track time lost recently to his Assen and Brno injuries, and spent the five hours on track running through an extensive test programme, concentrating particularly on improving the front-end stability of his machine.

The 25-year-old Anglo-American worked mainly on enhancing his set-up to accommodate a newer specification Bridgestone front tyre option that many of the MotoGP front-runners now use. This brought a new direction for the team, but with only a short time out on track today, he will not be able to add it to his tyre allocation without further set-up development of his Ninja ZX-RR. The Kawasaki pilot spent the last few hours refining the chassis setting of his machine using his current tyre options, and ended the day confident of improvements.

This weekend's MotoGP San Marino GP at Misano proved that lightning can strike twice. Valentino Rossi took the win as Casey Stoner retired, eerily mirroring the Czech GP which was held two weeks ago. This time around Fiat Yamaha has a fantastic day, not only did their points leading driver take first, but rookie teammate Jorge Lorenzo returned to the podium in second place. Toni Elis made Alice Team proud by finishing in third place, scoring his second podium finish in as many races. Dani Pedrosa was fourth, he started sixth and at one time was in second before the Yamahas and Elis picked him off.

Rossi couldn't have asked for a better day. The Italian won at his home track and made the local fans go crazy in typical fashion. What wasn't typical was which race win this was in Rossi's career. This was his 68th victory in MotoGP, tying him for the most wins in the series with Giacomo Agostini, another Italian. One more win and Rossi will set the record and most likely will be immortalized as a Motorcycle legend.

"Today is a truly fantastic day," smiled Rossi, "and I can't believe that I have matched Agostini's record! He was one of my heroes so it's quite incredible to have made it to 68 wins. This was quite a difficult weekend for us from the start and there has been the added pressure of a home race, which makes it harder to concentrate because there is so much distraction!

"I got a good start but then Dani came past me very fast and I then lost a lot of time getting past him and had to take some big risks -- I had a big slide! Once I was past him I could see Casey, although I have to admit that today I wasn't as confident as I was in Brno that I could win. Anyway I kept pushing because it's not in my nature to ride for second place and I think it still could have been a battle; I was very fast once I found my rhythm. Then I saw Casey slide out. I'm sorry for him once again but this is very good for our championship so I am happy for our team.

"We have 75 points," reminded the Doctor, "which is a lot, but there are still five races and I will ride to win at every one, as I always have done throughout my career. Thanks to my fantastic Yamaha team, to Bridgestone and of course congratulations to Jorge as well, he kept pushing me today and I wasn't able to relax even for one minute! It is a great day for us all."

After his latest spill, which happned at Laguna Seca in America, Lorenzo had been slowly coming back up to speed. At one time this rookie was the points leader before multiple injuries from more than one race kept him down. The Spaniard never gave up and today's second tells Rossi and the rest of the riders that Lorenzo is back.

"Seeing the party Valentino's fans were making for him around the track today reminded me how much I want to start winning again," admitted Lorenzo, "but as a start this second place is fantastic for us! I lost some ground at the early on but then I took my rhythm, passed Dani and started to push, and then I kept pushing until the end. To be one and two on the podium again, like in Le Mans, is wonderful and after four months of problems I am enjoying this moment very much -- it's perfect. Since the Brno test and with the improvements that Michelin have made here my confidence has being going up all the time and my riding style has improved as well, so I want to say thank you to them. I hope the situation is the same at the next races, then we can continue to be strong like this. Thanks to all of my team and congratulations to Valentino and Toni."

The hand Stoner broke last year was bothering him here in Italy. The Ducati rider was on a mix of pain-killers and antibiotics for the weekend. Even feeling ill the Aussie was fastest on both Friday and Saturday. With another pole Stoner looked to finally end Rossi's winning streak. Unfortunately, the front got away from him and he was off into the gravel on lap six while he was in the lead. Rossi was closing in so the pressure was on and Stoner knew it. It was a bitter end to a strong weekend when the reigning champ watched Rossi drive off in the distance.

Even with an old injury back to haunt him, Casey Stoner cannot be kept off the pole for the San Marino GP. The reigning MotoGP champ beat Valentino Rossi by half a second to earn his seventh consecutive pole. The rivalry between the two will stay intense as they fight off the front row. Joining them will be Jorge Lorenzo, the rookie is back to his fast ways after healing from his latest of multiple injuries.

Stoner has been fast all weekend and was the favorite for pole today. The Aussie did not disappoint, only needed two sets of qualifying shoes to lock down the top spot. His hand his causing him a great deal of discomfort but it's obviously not bad enough to restrain the red Ducati.

"The hand wasn't too much of a problem today although I didn't want to risk working it too hard," admitted Stoner. "There is a bit of bone floating around in there and when my wrist gets into a certain position in some of the corners the nerves get trapped and I get a shooting pain up my arm. I can deal with that though and we have an important job to do this weekend."

Amazing Stoner thinks he had more under him, "the lap time could have been better but all in all I'm delighted to be on pole again. It's going to be a long, tough race tomorrow but I'm looking forward to it."

This is Rossi's home track and the Italian tried his best to get pole. The bike wasn't suited for the hot and dry temperatures but throughout the day the Fiat Yamaha team dialed in his bike. By the end of qualifying Rossi had picked off his teammate for the second spot. The bike and the rider will no doubt be ready for an assault on Stoner. A few more precious points for Rossi and Stoner will be feeling miles away for the championship.

"This weather is amazing, but I think maybe it's better if you're at the beach than at the track; we're in the wrong place! I definitely prefer this to rain though so after the recent races, when we have never been sure about the weather, this is great," Rossi said. "I'm happy about our work because we did a good job with the qualifying tyres this afternoon and we were able to improve with each one, which is important."

Lorenzo is happy to be back to the front of the field. He was looking strong on his motorcycle for the whole session. What remains to be seen is if the Spaniard can keep the pace all full race distance before his injuries start complaining.

"It feels really good to be back on the front row again and I am very happy today," said Lorenzo. "It is clear that to stay with Stoner and Valentino is going to be very hard, but the important thing is that we have been able to compete with them today and we're in a good position to try again tomorrow. I'm still not thinking about results but I will just do my best, try to take a good rhythm and try to put on a good race for all the fans!"

The second row will be made up of Randy De Puniet for LCR Honda in fourth, Toni Elias qualified strongly for Alice Team again in fifth and Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa will start sixth. Pedrosa is third in the title hunt and used to being on the front row. Unfortunately his crash at the German GP has taken some wind from his sails.

Reigning motorcycle world champion Casey Stoner kick-started the San Marino and Riviera di Rimini Grand Prix in style on the opening day of action at the Misano World Circuit today, topping both free practice sessions and ending the day four-tenths-of-a-second quicker than his nearest challenger.

The Misano circuit has been slightly modified for this year's event, extending the overall lap to 4.226km. The new layout has rendered all existing lap records obsolete, but Stoner's best practice lap today was still just 0.2s slower than the fastest lap in last year's race, which he himself set.

The Ducati rider's best lap of 1m34.806s made him the only man to dip under the 1m35 mark today with Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi in second place and Rizla Suzuki's Loris Capirossi right behind in third.

Chris Vermeulen, who scored a podium at last year's Misano race, was in sixth place at the end of the day after another encouraging performance for the Rizla Suzuki team, while San Carlo Honda Gresini riders Alex de Angelis and Shinya Nakano set the eighth and ninth fastest times of the day.

Competition for the top positions is tough with five different teams represented in the top five in the combined practice standings and a closely-matched performance from both tyre manufacturers.

Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata - Bridgestone Motorsport - Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development

Were you pleased with the performance in today's practice?

"We have had two trouble-free sessions with some excellent weather conditions, so it has been a positive day's work. I am quite pleased with the level of our tyre performance and happy to see such a close competition throughout the field. We knew from last year's event that we would have to work on improving some problems with graining and initial results today suggest this is less of an issue. The slight modifications to the track layout do not really affect tyre performance and we were able to have a solid day of work, following our usual method of tyre evaluation."

What tyres did Bridgestone evaluate over the day?

"We tested a range of compounds from soft, medium and hard tyres over the course of the day. We looked at harder compound tyres in this afternoon's session due to the higher track temperatures which reached over 40 degrees Celsius. Temperatures are similar to what we expected heading into this race weekend, but we hope to carry out longer runs tomorrow to assess the durability of our tyres. Casey has again shown a very competitive pace right from the start and there are other Bridgestone riders who have set good lap times today. A lot of riders set their quickest times towards the end of the afternoon session, and I am sure there is more performance to be found tomorrow."

Weather:
Session 1 / Dry - Air 28C, Track 30-35C (Bridgestone measurement)
Session 2 / Dry - Air 31C, Track 45C (Bridgestone measurement)

Suzuki Superbike Showdown presented by Rockstar

PICKERINGTON, Ohio - The AMA Superbike Championship heads to Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia on August 29-31 for the penultimate round of the 2008 season. The weekend could very well have the feel of a finale, due to the strong likelihood of one or more title races being decided a round early.

The AMA Superbikes first challenged Road Atlanta in June of 1980, where the legendary Eddie Lawson claimed the first win at the circuit. However, the venue didn't become a mainstay on the calendar until 1998 when it kicked off the current trend of weekend Superbike doubleheaders.

AMA SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY PARTS UNLIMITED

Post-Race Drama Following VIR
While Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Mat Mladin dominated on the track at VIRginia International Raceway, crossing the finish line first for the fifth and sixth consecutive races, the drama didn't end there.

Following the post-race technical inspection, Mladin's crankshaft was deemed illegal and he was disqualified, stripping him of two victories.

The six-time AMA Superbike champ has appealed the decision, the final outcome of which could play an extremely important role in series history. If denied, the Australian will not be in contention to claim a record-setting eight AMA Superbike race wins in a row at Road Atlanta, and even more importantly, it will pave the way for his teammate, Ben Spies, to clinch his third-straight AMA Superbike title with a safe ride on Saturday.

The Numbers
If Mladin's DQ stands, Spies needs just 12 points -- a 19th-place effort -- to lock up the crown. Should he manage that, he'll join Reg Pridmore, Fred Merkel, and Mladin as the only riders in AMA Superbike history to win three consecutive titles.

Even if Mladin's appeal is successful, Spies will still be solidly in control, although his road to the throne won't be quite as simple. He'd need to continue finishing in the top two in the season's final three races to assure him a third championship.

Road Matlanta
While Mladin has done his fair share of winning at just about every circuit the series has visited during his illustrious career, he has been particularly dominant at Road Atlanta. The former Cagiva 500GP pilot has won eight of the last nine Superbike races at the venue and 11 in all.

Suzuki has won the most recent ten AMA Superbike races at Road Atlanta.

However, two-time defending champion Spies has yet to claim a Superbike victory at the circuit -- a track he's logged many miles on over his career. Despite his strong title position, Spies claims he'll be out to change that this weekend. If he clinches the championship on Saturday, he'd be free to go all out on Sunday in his quest for the win.

After the Fact Double Podium
Yamaha Factory Racing's Eric Bostrom enjoyed his strongest outing of the season at VIR, crossing the line in fourth both times out. Those results got even stronger following the decision to disqualify Mladin, elevating the Californian's finishes to a pair of thirds, his first two (podium-less) podiums of the year on the YZF-R1 Superbike.

AMA PRO HONDA OILS SUPERSPORT CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY SHOEI

Another Shot at an Early Title
Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Ben Bostrom has been the leading player in the Pro Honda Oils Supersport title race all season long.

If he can score his seventh win of the season -- and do so in perfect fashion as he's done three times already this season -- Bostrom will put the pressure on second-ranked Erion Honda's Jake Zemke, who currently trails the Californian by 28 points (299-271). Zemke would need to finish on the podium in that case, otherwise Bostrom would already be celebrating his championship season by the time the series traveled back to one of his best tracks, Laguna Seca, for the season finale.

The Return of Hayes
While Bostrom and Zemke have been the headliners much of the season, Erion Honda's Josh Hayes reminded everyone why he won more races than any rider in the class last year, dominating the Supersport race at VIR. Another outing like that from the Mississippian could help keep his teammate in the points race for another weekend.

Herrin Back on the Box
Meanwhile, Bostrom may get some help of his own, as teammate Josh Herrin showed a return to form at VIR as well. The rising star finished third, his first podium since opening the year with three podium results, including a win at Barber Motorsports Park.

AMA FORMULA XTREME

On the Verge
While Zemke is just hoping to stay alive in Supersport, he's on the verge of his taking the Formula Xtreme title.

Misano was a frequent destination for premier class motorcycle racing in the 1980s and early 1990s with a total of ten events held at the venue until 1993. After a fourteen-year sojourn, MotoGP made a welcome return to the track last season at a new-look and extended circuit, in the guise of the San Marino and Riviera di Rimini Grand Prix.

Further modifications have been made to the circuit for this year's event which sees the track length increase from 4.180km to 4.226km, Misano's longest configuration yet. As a result, all existing circuit records, held by last year's winner Casey Stoner, will be invalidated by first practice on Friday.

Bridgestone had a highly competitive MotoGP debut at the Misano circuit last year with a sensational podium clean sweep and securing the top five positions in the 28-lap race.

Bridgestone heads to Misano this year following five consecutive wins on its tyres in Donington, Assen, Sachsenring, Laguna Seca and Brno with 12 podiums from a possible 15 taken by Bridgestone-shod stunt riders in the last five events.

With his win in Brno, Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi extended his grasp of the championship to 50 points with 150 left to play for, while last year's Misano victor Casey Stoner still holds second place.

Hiroshi Yamada - Bridgestone Motorsport - Manager, Motorcycle Sport Unit

"After the wet German race, the cool Laguna Seca weekend, and the resurfaced Brno, we now move to Misano which will hopefully be a more typical race weekend for everybody. Misano was anything but typical last year with extremely heavy rain that restricted track time on Friday, so I think we all hope for a fully dry weekend this year. We had a good first trip to Misano with Casey winning the race and the top five riders all on our tyres. However, success is not automatically transferable from one season to the next and I am sure our rivals will be back in contention this weekend. We carried out extensive tyre testing in the post-race test at Brno which will form the basis of our race preparations for the final six events of the year, and which we hope will help keep Bridgestone riders at the top of the championship by the end of the season."

Tohru Ubukata - Bridgestone Motorsport - Manager, Race Tyre Development

"The character of the asphalt at Misano is quite slippery, and we suffered from quite bad graining over longer runs in the race, so we have to accommodate for that this year by producing stronger tyres. The circuit itself has been extended slightly for this year's race with changes to the third corner which increase the overall lap slightly to 4.226km. This should not have any real effect on tyre performance. There are a lot of slow and tight corners, and the main straight is also not too long, so the focus will be on finding good braking stability and traction over the lap. We will bring updated race specification tyres to Misano with compound adjustments made to counter the demands of the track. We also have new qualifying tyres for this weekend in a bid to get our riders as high up the grid as possible, since overtaking is not particularly easy at Misano."

SIXTH ROW START FOR MARTIN AT CADWELL AS ELLISON WITHDRAWS

Hydrex Bike Animal Honda riders James Ellison and Guy Martin qualified in sixteenth and seventeenth place respectively following on today's historic new F1 style knock-out qualifying at round nine of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship held at Cadwell Park today.

Now segregated into three qualifying sessions, the pair made it into Q2 but couldn't progress any further for various reasons.

Ellison, who has scored in every round of the Championship to date had been previously injured in a training accident and was suffering with torn ligaments in his right wrist meaning he spent a minimal amount of time on the Shaun Muir Racing Honda Fireblade and despite bravely battling on, had to settle for sixteenth at the end of the session.

Meanwhile Guy Martin showed a resurgence of short circuit form to qualify for Q2 and at one point was running on the verges of the final ten Q1 positions, but by the end of the session he had slipped to seventeenth and will line up on the sixth row of the grid.

However, Ellison will take no further part in the weekend's proceedings as he has been declared unfit to race so will now concentrate on getting fit for the next round at Croft in three week's time.

Ellison's withdrawal now means that Martin is left to uphold honour whereby the rider from nearby Kirmington is hoping to impress at his local circuit.

In the Metzeler Superstock 1000cc category, Kieran Clarke qualified 21st for tomorrow's race whereby he will be looking to add to his points tally from his last two outings.

James Ellison: "I injured my hand when I was training in Spain last week and whereas I thought it would be OK, having ridden the bike around a demanding track as Cadwell, it's proving to be a bit of a problem and it's just getting worse and worse. I wanted to get into the top ten and then I could have made a decision tomorrow. But really the only way I can get ready for Croft is by resting it and hopefully it should be healed in around 7 to 10 days. I have to think about the rest of the season, and I'm chasing third in the Championship so I don't really want to miss a round, it's just really disappointing. The guys in the team have worked so hard and I'm just disappointed for them too."

Guy Martin: "The weather hasn't helped the job, I've still got loads of harvesting to do and my combine blew up last night! I'm happy on the bike side of things though. We're at the point where we're making just a little change each time and we're getting faster each time so it's building my confidence up with the team and with the bike. We're finding that the settings are more like a TT stunt bike now. I don't think we'd be cheeky in asking for a couple of top ten places tomorrow, that would be mint."

Shaun Muir (Team Owner): "We have taken the decision to withdraw James so he won't be riding tomorrow so I'm just disappointed really, especially for the team who have all worked so hard. BSB is our priority so we need to consider the bigger picture and get James back up to full fitness in time for Croft. We need Guy to pull a rabbit out of the bag for us now so we're looking for him to score a good result for us, like we are Kieran in the Superstock race."

The first of the two 18-lap Bennetts British Superbike races gets underway at 1.45pm on Sunday with the second at 4.30pm. The Metzeler Superstock 1000 race is scheduled for 5.20pm. The British Eurosport 2 live broadcast window is 1.30pm to 6.30pm.

The concluding part of the Pietro Caprara interview - Chief Technician for JiR Team Scot in MotoGP and Andrea Dovizioso's crew chief - addresses topics such as what work goes on in the pits and how the bike is set up in testing and practice.

What has the transition from 990cc to 800cc been like?

"With the advent of the 990cc machines, this was initially greeted with many uncertainties related to the competitiveness of the machines, but soon we saw an escalation of the dizzying performance, which led to a reduction in engine capacity - all in the name of safety of the riders, as the power looked as if it was going to be difficult to manage. Since the switch, you watch the stopwatch and now the times are equaling the 990cc machines, but the intervention of important electronics has helped here. Security and safety is a factor to which the team, riders, Dorna and IRTA have given more and more attention."

Engine, tires and suspension are the three parameters that must be balanced with each other to the needs of the riders. Can you identify a priority among these elements?

"Certainly suspension and tires hold a crucial role and must work in 'balance', with each other. And - particularly in the light of the benefits that we have with today's tires - the set up of the bike has to be made very carefully. It is no less important the role of an engine, but with the advent of the four-strokes, the electronic management is the core in order to maximize the performance of the bike tires and suspension."

We often hear that there is no such thing as the perfect bike, but instead a rider must adapt to the machine to influence the results.

"Yes, it's true, but you can reach a good final compromise. In general we try to develop a balanced motorcycle, whose base is exploitable on all circuits. For sure, it is better to have a bike, which is adaptable, than one, which gives 100% but only under certain conditions. A rider of talent is an element that integrates into this context and he may be able to cover any gaps in the bike and ride around problems."

During practice, in the final twenty minutes riders are battling together and locked in the frenzy of using qualifying tires. In just one lap the rider must give his maximum. How do you adapt the bike for this and how much comes from the rider himself?

"The preparation of the bike does not change too much, as you might think, with regard to the overall geometry of the bike. The suspension is used as it would be for the race, but possibly 'hardened' up a little to exploit the qualifying tire a little more, which is only usable for one lap, sometimes only a lap and a half. Instead, it's more the rider who tends to change his style of riding to exploit the increased grip, which is often disproportionate to the rubber used in the race. Think about it, if in any corner the rider can make up a tenth of a second on qualifying rubber and the circuit has ten corners, then a perfect lap would mean you're a whole second faster. The rider who can better exploit this advantage of qualifying tires takes pole - in theory!"

Pietro Caprara, born in 1967, is the Chief Technician of JiR Team Scot in MotoGP. He has extensive experience in world competition, which began in 1996 with the Yamaha YZR500 in the Blue Riband class before moving to MotoGP with Team Yamaha and then Aprilia where he spent three years in the 250cc category.

His extensive experience makes for an interesting interview as to how things have changed over the years from 500cc two-strokes to the MotoGP four-strokes and what a technician can do to put their rider in a position to win.

Pietro Caprara
Chief Technician, JiR Team Scot

Since the mid-seventies, two-strokes dominated the 500 class, before the four-strokes came along at the end of 2001. What are the characteristics and differences between the two technologies?

"The differences between the two types of motors have both construction implications and mechanical, environmental, how the motorcycle is driven, as well as construction and maintenance cost issues. Mechanically the two-stroke engine is simple, the piston, with its alternating motion, opens and closes the ports of the intake and exhaust from which the mixture of air/petrol and oil and exhaust gases enters and leaves.

In comparison, the four-stroke motor is complex and heavier than its two-stroke equivalent. The upper part of the engine is the 'head', which holds the intake and exhaust valves, driven by camshafts. Engine power comes from petrol shot into the engine via injectors.

The lubrication of the two-strokes engine, crankshaft and connecting rods, is entrusted to the fuel. The power is normally governed by a carburetor that has a mechanical operation typically controlled by the depression created by the movement of the piston.

The lubrication of the various mechanisms of the four-strokes is entrusted to oil and this can be collected in a reservoir, built in the lower part of the engine called a sump, which can either be a ‘dry' or ‘wet' sump depending on whether the oil is collected in a separate tank."

How have these differences changed the way you work in the pit garage?

"The maintenance and alteration of a two-stroke is very different from a four-stroke and can be carried out completely in the field, given the simple nature of its construction. Historically these changes used to be made by the team, even in satellite squads.

The maintenance of the four-stroke is complex and only factory technicians are entrusted to work on the engine, while mechanics from satellite teams are only allowed to do maintenance that doesn't involve opening up the engines."

So, with these two very different technological characteristics with these powerplants, what are the different feelings for the rider using them?

"The peculiarity of the two-stroke engine, in principle, is that it produces very little torque low down in the rev range but lots at high revs. In 500ccGPs maximum torque was very close to that of maximum power on the rev counter, but in modern MotoGP the release of both torque and power is more linear and more progressive and so is more exploitable and has wider powerband than that of a two-stroke. To give the two-stroke more flexibility exhaust powervalves were adopted to broaden where the power and torque came in, giving more drive when you opened the gas. The differences on the track were that riding the two-strokes smoothness on the throttle and through the corner was the best way to ride and the bike had almost no engine braking and the weight of the machine was lower too. In MotoGP you can break the smooth trajectory through the corner as you've so much torque and power, you can accelerate away out of the turn. With a 500, the acceleration phase was the most delicate operation, because the violence with which the power came in meant that rider error would lead to sudden loss of adhesion of the rear tyre and a subsequent classic high-side. The two-stroke motorcycles required sensitivity from the rider: especially on the throttle. With the four-strokes, the relatively large amount of power is offset by the electronic management and traction control system. This year for example, beginners in the MotoGP class coming from the 250cc two-stroke category have adapted quickly, getting good results in the race, although they are generally the riders who have been the best in the category they have just left."

AMA Toyota Motocross Championship Heads to New England for Kicker Audio Southwick Motocross National

SOUTHWICK, Mass. (August 19, 2008) -- Motocross 338, New England's pro motocross facility, welcomes the AMA Toyota Motocross Championship Presented by FMF for the penultimate round of the 2008 season with the Kicker Audio Southwick Motocross National. On August 23-24, the world's best riders will tackle the "Sandbox" for round 11 of the 12-race championship.

Moving from its traditional mid-season date, the circuit's only sand track will present new challenges for the competitors with weather conditions expected to be at their warmest ever. Since hosting its first AMA Pro National in 1976, Motocross 338 has seen many of the sports greatest riders grace the winners circle. However, no rider has been more dominant at Southwick than Ricky Carmichael, whose nine overall victories are five more than any other rider. For the first time since 1999, a new face will sit atop the podium.

Monster Energy Kawasaki's James Stewart and Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto have been the men to beat in the AMA Motocross and AMA Motocross Lites classes and both riders clinched their respective championships last weekend in Millville, Minn. For Stewart, it was his first career AMA Motocross title while Villopoto claimed AMA Motocross Lites crown number three. Heading into Southwick, Stewart is just four moto wins away from being the second rider in history to complete a perfect season while Rockstar/Makita Suzuki's Ryan Dungey guns for his third consecutive victory in AMA Motocross Lites.

Track manager Ralph Pittello has made significant strides to make the 2008 event at Southwick available to more fans, expanding the track's VIP area as well as adding a large, yet limited number of bleacher seating free for those in attendance.

In addition to the excitement of the AMA Toyota Motocross Championship, the AMA/WMA Women's National Motocross Championship Presented by Kawasaki competes in round five of its six-race season. Points leader Ashley Fiolek will lead the way while Massachusetts local Katlyn Crowley will have the hometown crowd on her side.

The Kawasaki Racing Team brought to a conclusion a successful two-day test at the Brno circuit today, where perfect testing conditions allowed Anthony West and Olivier Jacque to work their way through an intensive evaluation programme aboard their Ninja ZX-RR machines.

As Kawasaki's test and development rider, it was Jacque who shouldered most of the testing duties over the course of the two days. The former 250cc world champion completed a total of 87 laps of the 5.403km Brno circuit, as he worked with his crew to further refine the same upgrades on his Ninja ZX-RR that helped West to a career best fifth place finish in Sunday's Czech Republic Grand Prix.

The two Kawasaki pilots also evaluated chassis settings which, when combined with a different front tyre option to that run by both West and Hopkins in Sunday's race, gave both riders improved feeling from, and more confidence in, the front end of their Ninja ZX-RR machines.

John Hopkins made a brief appearance on track during the first day of testing, but decided to sit out the remainder of the test after struggling with a minor, but painful, injury sustained in a practice crash on Friday. The 26-year-old Anglo-American displaced an intercostal muscle in his rib cage (often happens doing motorcycle stunts), which was affecting his breathing on the bike.

With Misano just ten days away, it was decided that Hopkins would withdraw from the test in order to give him maximum recovery time ahead of the next race.

Anthony West - #13 - 65 Laps - 1'59.010

"I didn't test yesterday because Olivier was evaluating various different parts on my machine, however we have managed to achieve quite a lot during today's track time. We focused mainly on setting up the bike to suit a front tyre option that we've not used so much but has been put to good use by a few other Bridgestone riders recently. Previously we've not been able to make this tire work effectively, but with the changes in chassis set-up we've made, it is now a viable option for us to use. In the race this weekend I had to push hard every lap to be fast, but with the advances we've made at this test, the bike feels much more rideable. I'm now really looking forward to furthering our improvements next time out."

Jacque - #19 - 87 Laps - 1'58.483

"The last two days have been very useful to us and we've gathered a lot of data. We firstly worked with our base chassis setting to see where we could make adjustments to improve the stability and balance of the machine. We also had a new swing-arm and some electronic components to test today, which have both brought interesting results. This track is quite grippy so it's difficult to see exactly where this puts us with regards to some of the other circuits, but I am confident that we've made many forward steps. We now need to spend time reviewing the data to assess fully everything we've evaluated in the last two days."

DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM STAY AT BRNO FOR FIRST DAY OF TESTS

The Ducati Marlboro Team completed the first of two days of post-race testing today at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic, with the warm sunshine returning to make for much higher temperatures than during the Grand Prix weekend.

Casey Stoner completed 55 laps on race tyres, carrying out a variety of positive set-up and tyre tests and maintaining a consistently quick pace - well inside the circuit record he set in Sunday's race.

Marco Melandri also worked on his set-up, completing 71 laps as he looked to continue improving the feeling with his machine as he has done over the past few races.

Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Team): 1'56.261 (race tires)

"It has been a really positive day. We didn't have too much to test - a couple of new tyres and that's about it - but we managed to find a new setting to improve on what was already a very good situation. I managed to drop my lap times by almost a second on yesterday and that's really positive. Unfortunately my physical condition on Friday and the rain on Saturday meant that we didn't head into the race in the best possible shape. In any case I'm happy because the things we've improved today will be useful for the upcoming races. Hopefully the weather's good to us again tomorrow so we can finish the job off with Bridgestone"

Marco Melandri (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1'58.325: (race tyres)

"Today we worked mainly on trying to understand why I struggled so much at the start of the race yesterday. My pace hasn't been particularly fast but I'm happy that it was consistent on both new and used tyres. We've taken a step forward and we'll work hard tomorrow to take another one. We'll probably modify the weight distribution a little to improve the overall feeling. We're working well and I can say that today has been a good day of tests."

Valentino Rossi walked away stronger than ever with victory at this weekend's Czech GP ar Brno. Casey Stoner, Rossi's main rival for the title, was leading the race when he went off into the gravel. Stoner is now fifty championship points down on the Italian. Second instead went to Toni Elias, Alice Team's best finish so far. Rizla Suzuki's Loris Capirossi rounded out the podium places.

Rossi is now one race away from Giacomo Agostini's record of all time wins in the MotoGP. With five races to go and the streak the Italian seems to be on this record might become his before the season is over. Rossi and Stoner were running away from the rest of the field when Stoner went off the track, giving Rossi's Fiat Yamaha a clean and clear path to the checkered flag.

"I lost about half a second getting past Hopkins at the start and Casey was incredibly fast at that stage," explained Rossi, "like he'd already done ten laps! For a short time I was worried but then, after two laps, I understood that my bike was working very well and that I was fast enough to try to catch him. I had closed a little bit already and gradually the red bike was becoming a bit bigger in front of me, and I think this is when he started to push harder and made his mistake. I was anticipating a very hard battle if I did catch him, so when I saw the red bike slide out I could hardly believe it - this made things a lot easier for me! After that I just enjoyed riding my bike; my Bridgestone tyres worked very well until the end and my M1 felt very good.

"Of course I can't count this as a complete victory because Casey fell, and I am sorry for him, but this is racing and I have to be happy with this result. We are 50 points clear which is a lot and I am very excited to be going to Misano in this situation. However we know that 50 points is still not always enough when you have someone as strong as Casey and so we won't relax," added the Italian.

Fifty points certainly is a lot of ground to make up with only five races to go. Stoner was strong the entire weekend and the crash was uncharacteristic of the reigning champ. In fact, Stoner had finished the last thirty consecutive races, ever since he started with Ducati Motorcycles in 2007. The streak ended here today, and so might have his hopes for a back-to-back championship.

"The crash came out of the blue, that corner was an easy one but I lost the front and it happened very quickly, very suddenly and I didn't manage to save it," admitted Stoner. "It's a hard one to explain and we will look at the data but sometimes this kind of crash happens at this level of racing and it was my mistake! We knew that we needed to win this race - and more - in order to close down Valentino's advantage so this makes the championship very difficult for us. Anything can happen in racing but fifty points is a big gap against such a strong and consistent competitor. Anyway I never throw in the towel, nor does anybody at Ducati, and we will keep fighting until the end. Misano is a home race for the factory and there will be lots of Ducatisti there, so my main thought now is to stay positive and bounce back with a good show for them in two weeks' time."

Rain and feeling sick couldn't keep Casey Stoner away from grabbing his sixth consecutive pole. The Ducati worked perfectly in combination with the Bridgestone tires to put the reigning champ right where he wanted to be for the Czech GP. His chief rival, Valentino Rossi, was a full second off Stoner's pace, and the rest of the top ten were separate by just tenths of a second. Lining up on the outside of the front row will be John Hopkins, a great recovery from his injury a few races ago.

"We went out at the start and tried to basically put a good few laps together because we still didn't really know what weather was going to do," explained Stoner. "It looked like it might clear up but it actually did the opposite. I still wasn't totally happy with the set-up so I came in to make some changes but when we went back out there was two or three inches of standing water in some places and the bike was aquaplaning everywhere. We knew that as long as the rain kept coming as it did then nobody was going to be able to go much quicker because the track conditions were so difficult.

"The points are not dished out until tomorrow and anything can happen," added the Aussie, "especially in the wet, so we'll just stay focused, stay relaxed, and hope the weather stays dry!"

Rossi dodged the accumulating puddles on his Fiat Yamaha around to score another front row start. In the morning the Italian was only fifth fastest on the damp track but things looked better has the weather looked worse. The session was effectively over half-way when standing water made it impossible to improve.

"I hope that we are in good shape for tomorrow," said Rossi, "if it's wet or dry. For sure though, like everyone else, I hope it will be dry because the conditions today were really terrible! After twenty minutes this afternoon there was too much water and it was impossible to improve the setting of the bike or the time, so I am glad I was able to do some good laps at the beginning. I think I can be more competitive in the dry, because also we have a few modifications to try, so hopefully it will be dry all day tomorrow to give us the best chance. Let's keep hoping and see how we go!"

Tomorrow calls for the chance of more rain which can play into Rossi's favor even though wants a dry track. Stoner isn't feeling well and a full race distance might be too much for him. Rossi, on the other hand, is feeling 100% for tomorrow's race at Brno.

The American rider John Hopkins had to sit out his home race at Leguna Seca before the short summer break. Now he is back and looking to make up some lost ground but his knee is still sore after the surgery. Hopkins took a chance that the weather was going to get worse and headed out with soft tire on his Kawasaki to set fast times right away. His tactic was the right one and put him on the front row for the first time since 2007.

After a bit of a summer break the MotoGP riders have crossed the pond back to Europe to try their hand at the newly resurfaced Brno circuit for the Czech GP. A few riders used the time off to mend broken bones and sore joints, trying to get ready for the back-half of the season. All teams took the time to test and evolve their bikes, with the season this competitive no one can afford a lazy summer day.

Rain clouds loomed overhead as the bikes took to the track, their tire evaluations would have to be completed as fast as possible before the rain made it impractical to collect any worthwhile data. More showers are forecasted tomorrow during qualifying. Proper setups will be hard to come by; the team that's quick on their feet will gain the upper hand.

For today the two top riders were not surprisingly Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner. The rivals traded fast laps with Stoner setting the better time in the second practice. Rossi was quickest in the morning and a mere tenth of the Aussie's afternoon fast lap. Stoner isn't feeling well this weekend but that hasn't stopped him from pushing his Ducati hard to keep Rossi behind him. Yet not everything looks good for the reigning champ, he is having a hard time staying out for long periods of time, his race pace will suffer if he can't keep his strength the full distance.

"Unfortunately I've not been feeling well for a few days and I felt very weak today - I even felt sapped of energy just putting my gloves on. I can deal with a bit of tiredness but this afternoon I could only ride a handful of laps before I started to feel cramps in my stomach," explained Stoner. "The guys improved the bike every time I came in so it was frustrating not to be able to put it all together with a long run. We still have a lot of work to do so hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow and the weather holds out for us."

Things are looking a lot more optimistic in Rossi's Fiat Yamaha camp. The Italian has a decent points lead after Stoner's falter at the US GP. Both riders are on Bridgestone tires, the hard compound provided by the manufacturer seems to be the best choice for the new surface.

"I've had a good holiday but it's fun to be back on the bike again! Today has started very well and I am very happy with my bike and with our tires, it seems the Bridgestones are working very well here so far," said Rossi. "The new asphalt is good, much better than last year and the grip improved throughout the day so I think that they have done a good job."

Loris Capirossi was a half second slower than the faster pair. The Rizla Suzuki rider seems to have recovered from his injury sustained at Assen this June. Capirossi is also running on Bridgestone tires, the Michelin boys better find a way to get back into the top three.

"My lap-time is not too bad, but I think we can improve on that," admitted Capirossi, "we have the power and I need to work on my rhythm a bit. One of the best things today is that I am nearly at 100% after the injury, my condition is great and this weekend I want to give the team something good because after recent races they really need it!"

Gresini Racing's Shinya Nakano was third fastest in the morning and ended today with the fourth fastest time. The Japanese motorcycle rider was just a little faster than teammate Alex De Angelis who had an accident today. It would seem the Gresini Honda team has found a bit of speed over the break on their new RC212V bike.

"It has been a positive day and I can say that Shinya has started out really well with the new bike," said Team Manager Fausto Gresini. "He is very happy with it and with this being only the first day he still needs more time to get used to it. Obviously we will keep working to make more improvements and there is certainly margin for that. Alex did well today and despite the crash he was fast all afternoon, once again showing his great potential."

An update on a few injured riders, John Hopkins is back in his Kawasaki saddle after sitting out the Sachsenring and Laguna Seca races. The American had a spill in both practice sessions today but reports that his knee is staying strong and the evolved bike looks good. He set the eighth fastest time today and looks to improve for qualifying.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (August 13, 2008) - Fresh from a doubleheader triumph at Barber Motorsports Park, Touring Sport Ducati has every intention of making it two-in-a-row when the SunTrust MOTO-ST Series thunders into action, August 16-17 at Heartland Park Topeka.

Running in the Buell Motorcycle Company SuperSport class (SST) and the BMW GrandSport Twins class (GST) class, Touring Sport Ducati sits in second place in both classes.

"We are currently seven points out of the lead in SST and one point out of first in GST," explains team manager Frank Shockley who, along with teammates Brad Phillips and Peter Friedland, earned the GST title last season. "Winning at Barber was a huge morale booster for all of us and really got us going. Now we're ready to do it all over again at Heartland Park."

Piloting the team's No. 75 Ducati 848 in the SST Class will be Ryan Gordon of Clemson, S.C. and two-time World Superbike and World Endurance Champion Doug Polen.

"I'm looking forward to Heartland Park," says Polen, who lives in Camarillo, Calif. "It will be my first time on the track and my first time running with Gordon. It will all be new and that will make it fun. I'm pretty much used to adapting to anything so I don't foresee any problems. I missed running at Barber due to a prior commitment, so it was Gordon and Elleby who took the win. I know I better have my act together as everyone on the team will definitely give me a bad time if I make a mistake."

"Doug always does an excellent job for us," continues Shockley. "He and Ryan (Gordon) are going to make a good pair. I've known Ryan for a few years. He actually burst on the scene in 2004 and immediately began winning. He rode here and in Europe and then two years ago he retired for awhile. Now, he's back and riding for us."

Leading the charge for GST points will be Frank Shockley and Brad Phillips aboard the team's No. 77 Ducati PS1000LE.

"This time out Peter Friedland has a prior commitment and will unfortunately miss this round," explains Shockley. "So it is all up to me and Brad. We definitely want to put our Ducati on the top of the Podium again. We like being there so that is our plan. One of the good things about this race is that we have a promoter's practice day on Friday. This will give us ample time to set up our bikes and learn the track which is cool. I have ridden there before and I really like the track layout. All in all, this is definitely gong to be a fun event."

There is literally no other form of motorsports that can be compared to the spectacle of this type of professional team two-wheeled competition. It is unique. It is fast and unbelievably exciting. Unprotected by metal or heavy roll bars, knee-dragging riders wrestle heavy machines about corners, leaning over at impossible angles, then rocket down straights at speeds over 150 mph, sometimes so close that they trade the paint off their fairings. It is definitely team road racing at its very best...

Repsol Honda RC212V riders Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden roar back into action at Brno following MotoGP's traditional three-weekend summer break. The Czech Grand Prix commences the crucial second part of the MotoGP season, with just seven of 18 races remaining, three in Europe and four outside Europe.

The sport's 25 day recess between the US and Czech GPs is no real holiday for the riders -- Pedrosa, Hayden and their rivals have all been working through much of the break. Pedrosa has been recuperating from the fractured left wrist and fractured left index finger he suffered at last month's German GP which prevented him from competing in the US GP. Hayden meanwhile has been training back home in Kentucky, USA, working to keep in prime physical condition. The 2006 MotoGP champ also took part in the Supermoto event at the X Games (Including lots of Motorcycle Stunts) in Los Angeles. Hayden hurt his right heel when he made a heavy landing during practice for the event on Friday August 1 but is hopeful the injury won't prevent him from riding at Brno. Further details will be released as soon as they are available.

Brno has been part of the World Championship calendar since the mid 1960s, when the nation's grand prix was staged around a 10.92km/6.785 mile street circuit on the outskirts of the city. Mike Hailwood won the 1966 and 1967 500 GPs there on his Honda RC181 four, but eventually the circuit was deemed too dangerous and hosted its last premier-class GP in 1977. It took a decade before the current Brno circuit was completed. Honda has enjoyed great success at this fast, undulating circuit which features many tricky downhill corners that require a perfect chassis set-up. Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan, Tadayuki Okada, Valentino Rossi and Sete Gibernau have all won races with Honda at the modern Brno venue.

The Repsol Honda Team will remain at Brno for crucial post-race tests, during which Pedrosa is likely to try the pneumatic-valve RC212V engine that Hayden been using since June's British GP.

Dani Pedrosa

"The holiday period gave me a good chance to relax and recover, so I hope I will be fine for Brno. When I returned from Laguna Seca my doctor told me I needed a week and a half of complete rest. I couldn't train so I spent an enjoyable few days in Mallorca, disconnecting from everything and resting both my hand and foot. I had the stitches removed from my hand in Barcelona and then I started rehabilitation. The hand still hurts but the wrist has good mobility and the fingers are no longer swollen. The foot is still taped, just to avoid rough movements. I started training last week, mostly on my bicycle. I hope I can have a good race at Brno to start the second part of the championship in the best possible way. Brno is a good circuit, with some interesting uphill and downhill sections, very much in the style of the classic circuits. The track is medium speed to very high speed with some good corners and fast straights. It's the kind of circuit that demands a gentle, fine riding style, you don't need to be aggressive when taking the corners. It has just been resurfaced, so we will have to wait and see what the grip is like. The atmosphere is always great, with a big and enthusiastic crowd on race day. Getting the set-up right for this track is always a delicate operation, aiming to get the best compromise between cornering ability and braking stability."

With batteries recharged after three weekends of no racing action, MotoGP makes a welcome return in Brno where the fierce battle for this year's thrilling championship will recommence.

Brno is the second most visited city in premier class history with a total of 31 events held since 1965. 11 races were held on the old road course which was used until 1977. After a ten-year break, a new-look 5.4km Brno circuit was introduced to the championship, where, with the sole exception of the 1992 season, it has remained ever since.

The track has been resurfaced for this year's event, which will offer tyre manufacturers a new challenge, but Bridgestone can draw from several seasons of success at the Czech track. Loris Capirossi was victorious for Ducati in 2006, taking pole position and the fastest lap of the race, while Casey Stoner repeated the feat one year later, leading a Bridgestone 1-2 with John Hopkins taking a career-best second place for Suzuki.

Bridgestone heads into the final third of the season with two of its riders at the head of the championship classification. Valentino Rossi's win in Laguna Seca extended his lead of the series to 212 points, while Casey Stoner continued his championship revival to claim second in the table.

Hiroshi Yamada - Bridgestone Motorsport - Manager, Motorcycle Stunts Sport Unit

"Brno is a track that has been quite favourable for Bridgestone in recent years, and we have celebrated victory there for the previous two seasons with the Ducati team, first with Loris Capirossi in 2006 and again last year with Casey Stoner. We have two very formidable riders at the top of the table with Valentino and Casey, but there are still 175 points available over the next seven races, so the championship is far from over. This weekend's race has the added complications of a new track surface, but I am sure we will see a competitive battle at the front, especially with our rivals more determined than ever to renew their championship challenge."

Tohru Ubukata - Bridgestone Motorsport - Manager, Race Tyre Development

"Brno has been resurfaced since last year's event so we have had to revise our approach to the weekend. Even if we have been competitive in recent seasons, we have had to produce different tyre compounds for this year's event compared to the usual Brno-spec in order to adapt to the new surface. In accordance with the sporting regulations, and thanks to IRTA, tyre manufacturers were permitted to test at the circuit for two days back in June, and this allowed us the chance to acquire data from this new asphalt, which appears less grippy than before. The track itself is renowned for its elevation changes, which put a real focus on bike set-up and rider confidence, so all elements of the bike-rider-tyre package will be put to the test this weekend."

SZOKE EDGES MCBAIN AT AMP

SHUBENACADIE, N.S. (August 9) -- Two-time defending Parts Canada Superbike champion Jordan Szoke edged Clint McBain for a dramatic victory in the fifth round of the series at Atlantic Motorsport Park on Saturday.

Riding his Canadian Kawasaki Motors Kawasaki ZX-10R, Szoke passed McBain heading into turn one on the final lap of the 22-lap race and held on to beat the Acceleration Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000 by just 0.055 seconds.

Calgary's Chris Peris took third on his Team Suzuki / Blackfoot / Picotte Racing Suzuki GSX-R750.

"He [McBain] fought me hard to the end," said Brantford, Ont.'s Szoke after his third victory of the season. "He didn't give it to me. When we got down to the last couple of laps I thought, 'I'm going for it. This is my win.'"

The victory was Szoke's 26th career Canadian Superbike triumph, tying him with Steve Crevier for the most all-time wins.

"It's an amazing feat to match Steve," Szoke said. "He was so dominant in the '90s. I feel like I still have a good 10 years left in me and I can extend that run."

Szoke also stretched his lead in the Parts Canada Superbike point standings. He now has 250 points to the 193 of Cochrane, Alta.'s McBain with two races remaining in the seven-race season, including Sunday's second half of the doubleheader weekend.

Kevin Lacombe, who came to AMP second in the Superbike standings, finished 10th on Saturday on his Team Toyota Yamaha / Fast Company Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 after sustaining a suspected broken wrist in a fall earlier in the day. The Granby, Que. racer is now third in the standings with 180 points.

Szoke and McBain traded the lead throughout the race. After Szoke got the lead from the start McBain grabbed the top spot entering the hairpin on lap four. Three laps later Szoke got inside the Suzuki rider in turn two and the pair ran side-by-side up to corner three before Szoke took control.

Szoke stayed in the lead until lap 21, when McBain passed him in turn two, setting up Szoke's final lap heroics.

"I thought I had it," McBain said. "I was tight into turn one but Jordan found some room. I thought I could get him again at the end of the backstraight but I didn't have quite enough. We came up just a wee bit short today, but we'll try again tomorrow."

Peris ran close behind Szoke and McBain for the first half of the race before slipping off the pace.

After starting from his first career pole position 16-year-old Brett McCormick of Saskatoon finished fourth on the other Canadian Kawasaki Motors Kawasaki ZX-10R.

Next up were the Team Suzuki / Blackfoot / Picotte Racing duo of Francis Martin and Matt McBride, with Martin finishing just ahead of his teammate.

Right behind them was Truro, N.S.'s Brian Blaauwendraat (T.R. Petroleum Enterprises / Lougheed's Heating Oils Honda CBR600RR) in seventh. Maple Ridge, B.C.'s Steve Crevier placed eighth on the Deeley Harley-Davidson / Ruthless Racing Buell 1125R and Ross Millson of Hamilton, Ont. took ninth aboard his RMP Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R1000.

In other action at AMP, Andrew Nelson (Nelson Racing Yamaha YZF-R6) scored his first Yoshimura Pro 600 Sport Bike win of the season while Szoke took a major step toward clinching his third straight class title.

Nelson took the lead when Peris (Suzuki GSX-R600) crashed on lap 11 of the 18-lap race and beat Szoke (Kawasaki ZX-6R) by 2.387 secs.

Szoke extended his championship lead to 66 points over Lacombe, who crashed his Yamaha YZF-R6 out of second place on lap nine.

McCormick (Kawasaki ZX-6R) finished third.

Valter Bartolini of Bologna, Italy extended his lead in the Canadian Thunder class with a convincing victory on his NCR-Ducati 848. Bartolini finished 9.748 secs. ahead of the KTM Canada KTM Super Duke R 990 of Beaconsfield, Que.'s Michael Leon, with Michael Ferreira of Kitchener, Ont. third on a BMW Motorrad Canada BMW HP2 Sport.

MCCORMICK CLAIMS FIRST CAREER POLE

SHUBENACADIE, N.S. (August 8) -- Brett McCormick of Saskatoon claimed his first career pole position in the Parts Canada Superbike in qualifying for the fifth and sixth rounds of the series at Atlantic Motorsport Park on Friday.

The 16-year-old took his Canadian Kawasaki Motors Kawasaki ZX-10R around the 2.56km (1.6-mile) track in one minute, 7.728 seconds during the Pirelli SuperPole session to lock up the $500 Inside Motorcycles Pole Position Award.

"I did corner two well, I was able to carry great corner speed," said McCormick, whose previous best qualifying effort was second at last year's season finale. "We made a couple of changes to the front end just before the session. It was a gutsy call by my crew chief Jeremy Sharrard but the bike felt fine."

Kevin Lacombe of Granby, Que. qualified second on the Team Toyota Yamaha / Fast Company Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 with a time of 1:07.766 and series points leader Jordan Szoke of Brantford, Ont. qualified third with a 1:07.772 on his Canadian Kawasaki Motors Kawasaki ZX-10R.

McCormick was forced onto teammate Szoke's back-up bike after crashing his Kawasaki in the morning prequalifying period.

"I have to give a big thanks to Jordan and the rest of the Canadian Kawasaki team," McCormick said. "We just swapped my settings over to the 'B' bike. The team worked really hard to get things ready for me."

Lacombe was the last rider to take to the track during the single bike session after setting the pace during Saturday morning's prequalifying but was unable to match his earlier time of 1:07.510.

"I made two mistakes that lap," said Lacombe, who has won the Inside Motorcycles Pole Position Award twice this year. "I missed my exit out of the hairpin and I had a big wobble on the backstraight. But I know we have a good set-up for the race tomorrow."

Lacombe did manage to gain a point on Szoke in the Parts Canada Superbike Championship standings. He now has 161 points to the 198 of Szoke heading into this weekend's pair of races. A race win is worth a maximum of 52 points and there is one round remaining after this weekend, Aug. 29-31 at Shannonville Motorsport Park.

Szoke said he almost crashed exiting turn two on his qualifying lap.

"I almost highsided," said the two-time defending Parts Canada Superbike champion. "The tire spun up and I was thrown up in the air. We're lucky we got what we did. But we have a great bike for the race. I just wanted to be on the front row.

Clint McBain of Cochrane, Alta. completes the front row for the Superbike races after turning a lap of 1:07.880 on the Acceleration Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000.

The second row consists of Calgary's Chris Peris (Team Suzuki / Blackfoot / Picotte Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000), Truro, N.S. rider Brian Blaauwendraat ((T.R. Petroleum Enterprises / Lougheed's Heating Oils Honda CBR600RR) and Francis Martin of Sherbrooke, Que. (Team Suzuki / Blackfoot / Picotte Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000).

Blaauwendraat turned a sensational lap on his three-year-old Honda in his first appearance in the Pirelli SuperPole session. The 23-year-old privateer is a contender for the HJC Pro Rookie of the Year award on the national tour.

Mid-season Review with Masao Furusawa - Executive Officer, Engineering Operations for Yamaha Motor Company

1 -- What's been the biggest change to the M1 this year?

"We have made many changes to the 2008 M1 compared to the 2007 version and we have improved it a lot; Valentino is satisfied with our work so far. Of course the biggest change for us has affected Valentino's side only -- the change of tyre manufacturer. After the switch we had a hard time learning how to get the best performance from the new tyres and of course we had no data. Last however year Valentino predicted that changing would be the right thing for him and he was right, although of course we weren't able to predict how differently the tyre would behave."

2 -- What else have you changed on Valentino's bike?

"We have had to work a lot on the chassis setting and we have also changed the geometry of the bike in order to get a good balance with the tyre character. Since we moved from 990cc to 800cc higher corner speed is needed in order to get faster lap times and to win. Therefore we have tried many different chassis settings in order to find out the best of bike geometry, centre of gravity, rider position, wheel-base length, chassis stiffness and so on."

3 -- Do you think that your development since the start of the season has been a success?

"MotoGP bikes are not production bikes and that's why I always say that Valentino, Jorge and all MotoGP riders are not human beings! Valentino has become more and more satisfied race by race and we have been able to find an ideal set-up for him that enabled him to win three races in a row. Since then, Casey Stoner and his team have found new solutions that have allowed them to make a big step forward and now of course we know that the remaining races will be tough, although we are still leading by 25 points after the excellent win in Laguna Seca."

4 -- What is the aim for the rest of the season regarding bike development?

"Our competitor's great performances is a big push to all of us to improve our M1 further, maybe even more than we did during last winter. I would especially like to progress the electronic control system and the engine power. At the moment there is no need to work more on the chassis, although this is something we will have to consider for next season. Lately we have been experiencing some problems with acceleration on the exit of the corner, so we need to work to find better bike geometry and chassis setting alongside the development of the engine control system."

5 -- What is your opinion about the electronics in MotoGP or Motorcycle Stunts now? Do you think the rules need to be changed?

"This is a popular discussion at the moment and we are looking at the overall situation; do we need to change the rules? It's true that many riders have crashed this year, including Jorge, who had a very bad series of crashes, and also Dani Pedrosa. The question is if these crashes have something to do with the current bike technology. We moved from 990cc to 800cc to have safer bikes, but the new bikes have a higher cornering speed and this might present a danger for some riders. I think that we need to do something and the biggest issue is the electronic control system. In any case, it is clear that we at Yamaha will have to develop a better and better ECS, in order to beat our rivals. I still think that the M1 is best bike out there, although Casey has had a string of very impressive results."

6 -- Valentino has re-signed for two more years and has cited his relationship with you as one of the main reasons he will continue with Yamaha. How do you feel about you relationship with him?

Rizla Suzuki is refreshed and ready to race

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP travels to Eastern Europe next weekend fully refreshed from the mid-season break and with all the team ready to attack the second half of the season with confidence.

Chris Vermeulen heads to the 5,403m Brno circuit in the Czech Republic as very much one of the in-form riders in the MotoGP paddock. Vermeulen went into the break with back-to-back podiums in Germany and America and will be giving his all to get a hat-trick at a circuit where he performed well last year. Vermeulen finished fifth at Brno in 2007 following a race-long battle for that position with present team-mate Loris Capirossi and current World Championship leader Valentino Rossi.

Capirossi will equal the record for racing at Grand Prix events -- currently held by Alex Barros - when he starts Sunday's race. It will be his 276th start since his debut in 1990. The vastly experienced Italian has an incredible record at the Brno circuit during his career with five podiums, including a win in 2006 and 10 front-row starts including three pole positions. Capirossi has only finished a race at Brno outside the top-six on one occasion from his 17 races there, and is currently the lap-record holder. Although he is still feeling the after-effects of the injury he sustained at Assen in June, he is 100% focussed and prepared to give it all he has got next weekend to add to the impressive results he has already achieved at Brno.

Brno is situated in the south-east of the Czech Republic, in close proximity to Austria, Hungary and Poland, and it is this location that enables Brno to be one of the best attended races of the season. Up to -- and possibly in excess of - a quarter-of-a-million fans are expected to pass through the gates over the weekend and if recent races there are anything to go by they will be treated to a great spectacle and motorcycle stunts.

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP takes to the track on Friday 15th August for the first two free practice sessions, with another hour of practice on the following morning. Saturday afternoon will see the all-important qualifying session where grid places will be decided for Sunday's 22-lap race. Round 12 of the 2008 MotoGP World Championship gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT) on Sunday 17th August.

Chris Vermeulen:

"I have had a good break and am now ready to get back into the saddle and start riding again. We finished the first-half of the season with good rewards from our efforts and I am sure we can continue that momentum at Brno. I got a good result there last year after a hard battle with Loris, and the Suzuki GSV-R was on the podium as well with John on board, so it all looks good for a strong performance from the whole garage. We also have a test after the race when we have a new bike featuring chassis and engine developments, we have a lot of confidence and high hopes for the changes, and I'm looking forward to see how all our thoughts and ideas will translate on the track, but the main thing is the race and I am fully focused on keeping my podium run going!"

SZOKE NEARS FIFTH TITLE AT AMP

HALIFAX, N.S. (August 6) -- There will be plenty on the line for Jordan Szoke when the Parts Canada Superbike Championship makes its penultimate stop of the 2008 season at Atlantic Motorsport Park in Shubenacadie, N.S. this weekend.

The 29-year-old from Brantford, Ont. is closing in on a possible third straight national Superbike title, and fifth in his career. He comes into this weekend's doubleheader round 38 points clear of Kevin Lacombe in the standings with three races remaining. A win is worth 50 points.

Szoke would be the first rider since Steve Crevier in the early 1990s to win three straight championships, and a fifth title would move Szoke to within one of Crevier's record total of six.

The Canadian Kawasaki Motors factory rider also has more immediate goals available to him. A Superbike win at AMP would tie him with Crevier for top spot in all-time victories with 26, and a sweep of the doubleheader would put Szoke alone at the top.

But it will not be clear sailing for Szoke this weekend, as he battles one of the deepest fields in the history of the Canadian national championship.

His closest rival in the point standings, Lacombe has been the most successful racer at AMP over the last few years, with victories in 2004, 2005 and 2006. The 25-year-old from Granby, Que. hasn't won yet this season on the Team Toyota Yamaha / Fast Company Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 but he has two pole positions to his credit.

Third in the standings and the only racer besides Szoke to win this year is Cochrane, Alta.'s Clint McBain. The rider of the Acceleration Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000 is only eight points behind Lacombe despite missing the opening round of the series with a separated shoulder.

Also worth watching at AMP will be the trio of Team Suzuki / Blackfoot / Picotte Racing entries of Francis Martin, Chris Peris and Matt McBride.

Martin, a two-time Canadian champion, stood on the podium at the most recent event at Mosport International Raceway and the 34-year-old from Sherbrooke, Que. has grown to enjoy the tight and twisty, 2.56km (1.6-mile) AMP circuit.

Peris, a 21-year-old from Calgary, comes to Nova Scotia fifth in the Parts Canada Superbike point standings while Mississauga, Ont.'s McBride, 23, qualified on the front row for the most recent event at Mosport.

Szoke's Canadian Kawasaki Motors factory teammate Brett McCormick will be looking to get back on track after missing the previous round due to injury. The 16-year-old from Saskatoon is the defending HJC Pro Rookie of the Year.

A real wildcard this weekend will be Maple Ridge, B.C.'s Crevier on the Deeley Harley-Davidson Canada / Ruthless Racing Buell 1125R. The 42-year-old finished third in the season opener and the AMP track will suit the twin-cylinder bike.

Additionally, Crevier is a seven-time Superbike winner at AMP, which includes victory in last year's race.

MARTIN GAINING MOMENTUM

HALIFAX, N.S. (August 5) -- After a slow start, the 2008 Parts Canada Superbike Championship season has been getting better and better for Francis Martin, and he expects the momentum to carry into this weekend's key doubleheader at Atlantic Motorsport Park in Shubenacadie, N.S.

The rider of the Team Suzuki / Blackfoot / Picotte Racing Suzuki GSX- R1000 is coming off his best weekend of the year in the previous event at Mosport International Raceway, where he scored third and fifth place finishes in the two races.

"For sure I'm pretty confident coming into Shubie," says the two-time Canadian Superbike champion from Sherbrooke, Que. "I think I can definitely get two podiums."

The 34-year-old Martin comes into this weekend fourth in the Parts Canada Superbike Championship standings, 25 points behind third place Clint McBain. And he has been one of the most consistent riders this season, finishing in the top six in all four rounds of the series so far.

Martin battled illness to salvage a fourth place finish when the 2008 national tour opened at Calabogie Motorsport Park at the end of May, holding off Steve Crevier for the final podium spot until the closing laps of the race.

"I'm not sure what it was at Calabogie," he says, "but I think I only slept about five hours the whole weekend. I had a lot of difficulty concentrating when I was on the track."

In the following round at Calgary's Race City Motorsport Park, Martin finished sixth, again losing a spot in the late going, but had been part of a four-bike scrap for third for most of the race.

Next up was Mosport's doubleheader weekend, the halfway point in the seven-race Canadian championship. Martin scored an excellent third in the first race and was running fifth in the other when rain starting falling just after half distance and the race was stopped.

"I think I would have had another shot at the podium if we had gone the full race," he maintains.

It's not that long ago Martin dreaded the annual visit to Atlantic Motorsport Park, instead of looking forward to it. But that all changed in 2005, when he and his crew chief at the time, Patrice Goyette, came out east early and Martin spent time racking up the laps.

"Me and Patrice, we tested two weeks before the race in '05," Martin explains, "and I really started to enjoy the track. And after that I've had some strong results there."

AMP also hosted a doubleheader in 2005 and Martin finished third in both Superbike races, on his way to his second Canadian national crown.

He improved to second in the Superbike race in 2006, but crashed in last year's race due to what he describes as a front tire problem and crossed the line in 14th.

Martin has also been pleased with the pace of development of his Suzuki GSX-R1000 this year. The bike is now in its second year of service, meaning the Team Suzuki / Blackfoot / Picotte Racing squad has a good idea of what set-ups will suit it at each stop on the national tour.

"It makes things a lot easier," Martin says. "At Mosport, for example, we already had a good base set-up to work with and we just had to make little changes from there. It's a lot easier to go through a weekend when you have that."

Rounds 5 and 6 of the 2008 Parts Canada Superbike Championship will be held at Atlantic Motorsport Park in Shubenacadie, N.S. Aug. 8-10. The doubleheader weekend will feature the fifth and sixth of seven races for Canada's premier motorcycle road racing series.

Classes: The Parts Canada Superbike Championship consists of seven classes for Pro and Amateur racers. The headline Pro division is Parts Canada Superbike, for motorcycles up to 1000cc in capacity.

Other classes include the Yoshimura Pro 600 Sport Bike Championship for motorcycles up to 600cc and the Canadian Thunder and Canadian Sport Twins categories for twin-cylinder motorcycle stunts.

The Armour Bodies Amateur 600 Sport Bike Championship is the top class for Amateur racers in the series.

The Suzuki SV650 National Cup and Honda CBR125R Challenge are starter classes designed for up and coming racers.

The Track: Atlantic Motorsport Park is a 2.56km (1.6-mile), 11-turn road course. This weekend's races will be the 23rd and 24th Canadian Superbike events at the track.

Favorites: Riding for the Canadian Kawasaki Motors team, Jordan Szoke of Brantford, Ont. currently leads the Parts Canada Superbike Championship standings with two wins and two runner-up finishes to his credit in the first four races. He is trying for his fifth national Superbike title and his third in a row.

Kevin Lacombe of Granby, Que. (Team Toyota Yamaha / Fast Company Racing) is second in the series standings, 38 points behind Szoke. Lacombe has won the Superbike national at AMP three times.

Clint McBain of Cochrane, Alta. (Acceleration Racing Suzuki) has two wins to his credit this season and currently lies third in the series standings, just eight points behind Lacombe. McBain is the defending AMP track champion.

Steve Crevier of Maple Ridge, B.C. finished a superb third in the season opener in the debut of the Deeley Harley-Davidson Canada / Ruthless Racing Buell. Crevier is a six-time Canadian Superbike champion.

Defending HJC Pro Rookie of the Year Brett McCormick of Saskatoon is considered one of Canada's most exciting up and coming racing talents. Still only 16 years old, McCormick is Szoke's teammate on the Canadian Kawasaki Motors team.

Local Stars: Brian Blaauwendraat of Truro, N.S. currently lies ninth in the Yoshimura Pro 600 Sport Bike standings and is second in the chase for the HJC Pro Rookie of the Year. The 23-year-old Honda rider won last year's Amateur 600 Sport Bike national at AMP.

Also from Truro, Andrew Dunlap is eighth in the Parts Canada Superbike standings and is coming off a season high seventh place finish on the Fundy Power Sports Kawasaki ZX-10R in the previous round at Mosport International Raceway.

Frankie Horwath of Dartmouth, N.S. is fifth in the Armour Bodies Amateur 600 Sport Bike standings riding the Freedom Cycle/Vicious Cycle Kawasaki ZX-6R.

Other Stories: Montreal's Marie-Josee Boucher is the only female competing in the Pro ranks. Riding for the Excel Moto Honda team, the 27-year-old is fourth in the Pro Rookie of the Year rankings.

The engine in Steve Crevier's Buell 1125R was designed by the Austrian firm Rotax, which is a subsidiary of Canada's Bombardier Recreational Products. Buell is a division of The Harley-Davidson Motor Company.

Crevier, a six-time Canadian Superbike champion, also has more national Superbike wins at AMP than any other rider with seven to his credit.

Kiyonari grabs sensational double win in World Superbike round 10 at Brands Hatch

Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) crowned a triumphant week of racing with two sensational wins in the tenth round of the HANNspree FIM Superbike World Championship at Brands Hatch in front of 97,000 spectators, just a few days after winning the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race in Japan. The 25 year-old, reigning BSB champion, got the better of Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) in race 1, before completing a day of triumph with a second win over Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) in race 2.

Race 1

Bayliss led for most of the race with Kiyonari right behind but the Honda man passed the points leader on lap 22 and held on for the win. Second place went to Bayliss and third to Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati), who was the fastest rider on the track in the final stages after making up more than 3 seconds on the leaders in eight laps. At the flag Kiyonari, Bayliss and Biaggi were separated by two-tenths. Two Suzukis were next up, with Yukio Kagayama fourth and Fonsi Nieto fifth, while Max Neukirchner finished seventh after being passed by Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) towards the end. It was a disappointing race for the factory Yamaha team, with Troy Corser only managing eighth and Noriyuki Haga crashing out while fighting for the top positions. British wild-card Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) was also running well but had to retire with a holed radiator while in third. It was a disappointing race for Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) in twelfth, while Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) was weakened by flu and failed to take the start.

Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda): "I am very happy today, I started badly in the early laps but my bike had a really good set-up so I could keep lapping in 1m26s laps. Then I pushed and pushed and finally I got the win."

Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox): "I was feeling quite comfortable for most of the race and everything was working quite well, but I haven't actually spent much time racing with Kiyonari and wasn't sure how it was going to pan out. He was very strong on the first split and when he came past I would have been very happy for second, but when he did I realized he was in the same trouble as me. Then I saw Max coming so fast and had to push really hard and it became a bit of a dogfight towards the end."

Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati Motorcycle Stunts): "I'm quite satisfied with the result. I started good then went backwards as some other riders came through. The first laps were very hard, then I got into a good rhythm and overtook one by one. At the end I couldn't believe I came close to these two guys, but there was not enough time to try and take Troy or Kiyonari, but it was a good race."

Race 2

The second race also had a Japanese flavour about it as Kiyonari powered ahead to win from Haga after a race-long battle. The final podium slot went to Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB), who ran a steady race but was unable to challenge the top pair, while Neukirchner scored a good result in fourth. The German finished ahead of his team-mate Nieto, who passed Fabrizio on the last lap, while Sykes this time managed to hold off Checa for seventh. Bayliss was out of luck after changing to a different compound for race 2 and could only finish eleventh, one place ahead of Biaggi, who dropped down to 28th position in the early stages after an off-track excursion.

BAYLISS TAKES FIFTH POLE OF THE SEASON AFTER A "WET" SUPERPOLE AT BRANDS

Brands Hatch (UK): After mixed conditions throughout the day it came as no real surprise when this afternoon's Superpole was declared "wet". Rain ceased almost immediately however which meant that all of the sixteen participants adopted the same strategy, waiting until the final fifteen minutes of the fifty minute session before exiting on what had already become a drier track.

The strategy worked perfectly for Troy Bayliss, whose final three laps were also his fastest, thus awarding him his fifth pole position of the season. It is the third year running that Troy has taken pole at Brands, and tomorrow will also see the fiftieth front row start of his World Superbike career. Joining him on tomorrow's front row are Haga, Kiyonari and Smrz.

Troy's Ducati Xerox team-mate Michel Fabrizio had a more difficult day, qualifying for Superpole in sixteenth place. He did however make up several places during the Superpole and will start tomorrow's races from the third row of the grid, in twelfth place.

Troy Bayliss 1m25.6s

"I'm very happy to take pole today in such mixed conditions. The wet Superpole meant we had twelve laps available during the fifty minute session. We decided to wait until the end of the session when the track would have had chance to dry out a bit, and then I went out and did one lap to take a look at the track before going out on a qualifier, with which I did three laps, the last of which was my fastest and just fast enough to take pole. We're looking good on the race tyre for tomorrow so I'm pretty confident. I'd like tomorrow to be dry of course, it would make for great racing, motorcycle stunts and be good for all the fans and hopefully we can get a good result!"

Michel Fabrizio 1m26.8s

"Today I had a few problems. I was never totally confident with the front of the bike and at two corners in particular I wasn't able to control it. We worked with two different tyres and changed a few different things during the session but it didn't make a lot of difference and I just never felt completely comfortable really. We hope to do much better tomorrow, in fact we are confident we will do so, though I also hope it will be dry for the races."

SETE GIBERNAU ENDS THE DUCATI TESTING SESSION AT MUGELLO

Sete Gibernau finished a two-days testing session he was taking part in at Mugello together with the Official Testers Vittoriano Guareschi and Niccoli Canepa that will continue tomorrow for the final day.

The Spanish rider, back in action for the third time after retiring almost two years ago, kept up an excellent pace, lapping consistently in around 1m50.5 with race tire. Despite the difficult climatic conditions, with scorching air and track temperatures, Gibernau clocked an impressive fastest lap time in 1'48.9 with qualifying tires. A motorcycle stunts crash around the end of the day, luckily without consequences, has nevertheless suggested to end the test early given the good job already made during two days.

"It has been great trying again a qualifying tires after almost two years," said a smiling Gibernau, "But the most important thing is that the feeling with the bike in race trim was perfect almost straight away. Despite the crash it has been a very positive test. I wish to thank again Ducati for the chance of riding again the MotoGP. We will see together whether and how there will be the chance to continue our cooperation. Today I have experience again the 'thrill' of a crash and.. I'm fine. I have decided together with Filippo not to ride tomorrow just because we are satisfied already with the good job we did in two days."

"A special thanks again to Sete who was as usual very helpful," echoed Filippo Preziosi. "I have been impressed with him getting on pace straight away and lapping on very interesting times both with race and qualifying tires. We are evaluate together the chance to cooperate again and I hope we will be able to find an option interesting for everybody."

The testing session will end tomorrow with Vittoriano Guareschi and Niccoli Canepa, who has been very quick and consistent also. Today he didn't try qualifying tyres but concentrated on the bike in race attire with which he lapped several times under 1'51 with a personal best lap time of 1'50.2. Tomorrow he has a race simulation on schedule.

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP rolling out for the fans

Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen will be back in action this weekend as they travel to Assen in The Netherlands to attend the Rizla Racing Day.

While the rest of the paddock is on a mid-season break, Capirossi and Vermeulen will be taking time out of their well-earned holiday to entertain the thousands of fans expected at the Assen circuit on Sunday 3rd August.

The Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers will demonstrate the awesome power of the Suzuki GSV-R around the 4,555m Dutch circuit during two five-lap sessions. This will give the army of Rizla fans at trackside the chance to experience the sight - and especially the sound - of Suzuki's MotoGP machine.

The Rizla Racing Day is supported by Suzuki and is an annual event held every August at the Assen TT circuit. It is unique in that it features many forms of motorsport during the same day including karts, motorcycle stunts, supercars and a round of the ATS Formel-3-cup.

The all-day long event gets underway at 10.00am local time with Capirossi and Vermeulen taking to the track at 12.10 for the first of their two runs. Admission to Rizla Racing Day is free for all, with tickets and more information available online at www.rizla.nl

Loris Capirossi:

"I am really looking forward to this event as I have heard many good things about it. It will be great to see all the cars and bikes that are there and be able to witness them out on track. I have had a couple of weeks off the bike now and my arm is a lot better so this will give me a chance to see how well it is recovering -- I know it is only a demonstration but I will give the bike a good run to show all the fans what it can do!"

Chris Vermeulen:

"This is the second year that I have attended the Rizla Race Day and I am really looking forward to going back -- I am even flying back from Australia so I can participate in the day! We got a great reception there last year, especially from people who had never seen or heard a MotoGP bike and I'd like to think we converted them into not only MotoGP fans, but Rizla Suzuki fans as well. I'll certainly be putting on a show for all the people there and make sure they leave with a positive experience of what a MotoGP bike is all about."

First Australian team confirmed for end-of-season spectacular.

Double Superbike World Champion signs up to take on Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button, Andy Priaulx and more.

Webber becomes third current F1 star to be announced.

The Race of Champions will feature an all-Australian team for the first time when the spectacular event returns to Wembley Stadium on December 14, with Ducati's Double Superbike World Champion, Troy Bayliss, partnering Red Bull Racing F1 driver, Mark Webber.

The 'Duo from Down Under' will go head-to-head with competitors from the world of Formula 1, World Rally, Le Mans and motorbike racing, as they battle in identical cars on a specially-built circuit inside Wembley Stadium. Names already confirmed include seven-times F1 World Champion, Michael Schumacher, and triple World Touring Car Champion, Andy Priaulx.

Bayliss last entered The Race of Champions when the event took place in Gran Canaria in 2001, when he was part of an All-Star team that reached the finals of The ROC Nations Cup. This will be the first time a Team Australia has been entered, however, and Webber is relishing the challenge.

"I've been watching The Race of Champions for the last few years and have always been really keen to do it, as the concept looks great," said Webber. "This year I can, so flying the flag for Australia will be loads of fun - especially with a two wheel legend in Troy as my team-mate. I'm sure there will be some laughs on the night for both of us!"

Bayliss, who currently leads the Superbike Stunts World Championship as it heads to Brands Hatch this weekend, is also looking forward to the chance to fight for his country.

"I am really excited to be part of the Australian team alongside Mark Webber this year at The Race of Champions," said Bayliss. "It's the first time there has been an Aussie contingent so we will be looking forward to having a good time there."

Bayliss isn't the only bike racer to have tackled the event before -- MotoGP stars Valentino Rossi and James Toseland have both competed in the past, while Motocross ace and eight-times X Games Champion Travis Pastrana has fought against -- and beaten - many stars from the world of four-wheel racing over the past three years.

Kawasaki Riders Stewart and Villopoto Pace Saturday Practice at The Motosport.com National from Washougal

WASHOUGAL, Wash. (July 26, 2008) -- AMA Toyota Motocross Championship Presented by FMF class points leaders James Stewart, of Monster Energy Kawasaki, and Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto set the pace on Saturday for practice and qualifying at The Motosport.com National at Washougal Motocross Park Presented by Yamaha and Scott USA.

Stewart jumped to the top of the board in the AMA Motocross class early in the first session of the day and stayed there throughout both sessions. His time of 2:16.263 was two seconds faster than Red Bull Honda's Andrew Short at 2:18.349.

"It's a little slick out there," said Stewart. "I think it will be a little better tomorrow. I'm just going to stay within myself. All season I've taken it one moto at time and I'm just going to keep that mindset tomorrow."

Rockstar/Makita Suzuki's Michael Byrne followed Short in third at 2:18.594.

In the AMA Motocross Lites class, Villopoto's top time of 2:16.868 from the first practice session set the tone, edging out Geico Powersports Honda's Trey Canard at 2:17.366.

"The track is in good shape," said Villopoto. "It's always good to race near your house and I've already seen a lot of signs cheering me on. I just need to get a good start, so I can get my first overall win at my home race."

Rockstar/Makita Suzuki's Ryan Dungey rounded out the top three with a time of 2:17.872.

Sunday's main event action for The Motosport.com National at Washougal Motocross Park Presented by Yamaha and Scott USA kicks off at 1 p.m. ET. Live audio coverage of the event can be heard on live.motocross.com. SPEED will televise the action for the AMA Motocross class on August 2 at 10 p.m. ET and the AMA Motocross Lites class on August 6 at 2 p.m. ET.

WALKER TO RACE IN WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP FOR PAUL BIRD

Paul Bird Motorsport wishes to announce the signing of British rider Chris Walker to race for the Vent Axia VK team for the rest of the 2008 Hannspree World Superbike Championship.

The 36 year old from Nottinghamshire will join existing rider Gregorio Lavilla in the team for the remaining five rounds commencing at Brands Hatch over the weekend of August 1/2/3rd.

Walker, four times a runner-up in the British Superbike Championship, has been racing in the World Supersport Championship this season but hasn't enjoyed the best of luck on his Kawasaki so the rider who has 138 WSB races and twelve podiums under his belt is relishing the opportunity of racing a superbike again.

After a successful test at Oulton Park yesterday aboard the team's recently built 1000cc Honda Fireblade, both Walker and team owner Paul Bird were delighted to shake on the deal which will see 'The Stalker' as