CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM READY TO BEGIN TITLE DEFENCE AT JEREZ
The Camel Yamaha Team returns to southern Spain next weekend
to begin the defence of its MotoGP World Championship titles.
With Valentino Rossi taking the riders’ crown for the
fifth successive season, adding to both the team and manufacturers’
titles in the year of Yamaha’s 50th Anniversary, the
factory outfit faces a tough challenge to live up to its 2005
success but the team is approaching the new campaign with
optimism and fresh motivation.
This will be the 20th consecutive Grand Prix at Jerez since
the circuit was first used in 1987 - Assen and Donington are
the only other current venues boasting a longer association
with the series – and this year’s opening round
sees Rossi hunting for his seventh win there in all classes.
Victory next Sunday would be his fifth in the premier-class
and make him the most successful MotoGP rider ever at Jerez;
with one more win than the legendary Mick Doohan.
Colin Edwards has enjoyed limited success at the Andalucian
track since racing there for the first time in 2003. His best
result is a seventh-place finish two years ago but an encouraging
pre-season with the 2006 version YZR-M1 has given the ‘Texas
Tornado’ realistic hopes of producing his best form
this time around.
ROSSI: NEW ARRIVALS AND NEW RIVALS
Valentino Rossi defends his MotoGP title from a host of new
riders this year after an influx of young talent from the
250cc and World Superbike categories. Dani Pedrosa (Honda),
Casey Stoner (Honda), Randy de Puniet (Kawasaki) and Chris
Vermeulen (Suzuki) have all demonstrated rapid progress during
the pre-season tests and Rossi is looking forward to the fresh
challenges they will present.
“This year my main rivals have changed and the average
age is much younger, so I will have to work out their strengths
and weaknesses,” said Rossi. “I have watched the
career of Dani Pedrosa very closely since he was in 125cc
and I have always been impressed by him and I expect him to
be strong from the first race. Besides him, there are many
different riders, manufacturers and teams that have been fast
at different times throughout the pre-season so I hope that
we can have some really good battles for the fans!”
If Rossi needs further motivation to open his fifth consecutive
title defence with a victory, he has the added target of protecting
an impressive record of opening-round successes in recent
years. The Italian has been victorious in round one of each
of the last five seasons, all of which have ended with championship
success, but he says that work must be done to improve the
performance of his 2006-specification YZR-M1 at Jerez after
recent tests at the same circuit.
“We need to find more grip when the tyre is on the
side,” he explains. “At the test our speed in
the corner was down considerably in some places so, where
we usually have an advantage with the Yamaha, we were behind.
Anyway, now the Yamaha engineers understand what has happened
and they have a lot of data and information to fix it for
the race. I have confidence in them, in Jeremy Burgess and
in Michelin and I know that when we can use our bike at 100%,
as we showed in Barcelona, it is the best bike on the grid.
I love racing in Spain and I have many fans there, so I always
look forward to the race in Jerez!”
COLIN EDWARDS: DRIVING TOWARDS SUCCESS
Colin Edwards is entering his second season with Yamaha, the
first for him in MotoGP without a switch of team and bike
during the winter. Lengthy pre-season tests, as well as valuable
data gathered last year, have given the American a crucial
platform for the new campaign – as evidenced by his
form at the Official Test in Barcelona two weeks ago when
he set the fastest time in the ‘Qualifying’ practice
and drove away with the prize of a new car.
“It’s been a pretty intense few months testing
and I am really happy that we’ve finally made it to
the first race - this is where the fun starts!” smiled
Edwards. “The car was a massive confidence boost to
me and a validation of all the hard work that everyone’s
put in, but we have to use it as a trampoline to bigger and
better things. As everyone knows, we had a bit of a setback
at the Jerez test but I’ve said from the first time
I rode the new M1 that it’s a great bike and pretty
much better in every way to the old one, so I have confidence
that we will be okay come the race.
“Jerez is a great race, it’s a fantastic place
to kick off the season and the atmosphere is always something
special. As for the season in general, I have said that I
am ready to win races and I stand by that. Of course, I’ve
got to beat my team-mate and that’s the hardest part!
This is the first time in MotoGP that I’ve begun the
season on the same bike and with the same team so I’m
way ahead of where I have been every other year. I’m
really looking forward to the new season!”
VALENTINO ROSSI: INFORMATION
Age: 27
Lives: London, UK
Bike: Camel Yamaha Team YZR-M1
GP victories: 81 (42 x MotoGP, 13 x 500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12
x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First
GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 157 (65 x MotoGP, 32
x 500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) Pole positions: 40 World
Championships – 7 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc,
1 x 500cc, 4
x MotoGP)
COLIN EDWARDS: INFORMATION
Age: 32
Lives: Conroe, Texas
Bike: Camel Yamaha Team YZR-M1
First GP: Japan, 2003 (MotoGP)
GP starts: 49 x MotoGP
World Championships - 2 World Superbike
DAVIDE BRIVIO: MOTIVATED AND EXCITED
Camel Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio has enjoyed a busy
winter, with new title-sponsor Camel coming on board as well
as an intense pre-season testing schedule in Malaysia and
Qatar. The Italian has been pleased with the form shown by
his riders despite recent problems at Jerez and says he is
expecting another exciting and successful season.
“Our winter programme went quite well, apart from the
most recent session at Jerez when we faced a few problems,”
admits Brivio. “We weren’t able to use the bike
to its full potential but, thankfully, that was only a test
and we were able to collect a lot of data that will be useful
to us as we try to iron out those problems for the race. We
have some ideas so hopefully they will turn into solutions
on Friday morning. In any case we are very aware that this
is just the first race of seventeen and it will be another
long season.
“As far as the team is concerned I would say they are
even more motivated than last season. Obviously Valentino
wants to win the title again and Colin is also very happy
with the way the bike has performed in the winter. It is his
second year in the team and we all want to take advantage
of that. I would say that altogether the team is motivated,
excited and very much looking forward to the start of the
new season next weekend.”
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING: DANIELE ROMAGNOLI ON JEREZ
With few hard braking points and little opportunity to fully
open the throttle, the key to Jerez is about the rider’s
skill in picking the most effective racing line. The 4.423km
track features five left and eight right hand corners with
regular and quick changes in direction, meaning that the rider
requires a responsive overall package and, above all, precise
chassis set-up.
“The most important and difficult aspect of set-up
at Jerez is the chassis,” explains Daniele Romagnoli,
Chief Mechanic to Colin Edwards. “It is a particular
circuit because the bike spends a lot of time at maximum lean
and there are very few points that require maximum throttle,
so the engine and the gearbox settings are not as important
here as they are at other tracks. There are many high-speed
corners with fast entry so the chassis has to be good, as
do the suspension and the tyres. The riders need good grip
at maximum lean so we work on the weight balance, spring rates
and finding a good tyre.”
CIRCUIT INFORMATION
Length: 4.423 km
Pole Position: Left.
Left corners: Five.
Right corners: Eight.
Width: 11m
Longest Straight: 600m
Constructed: 1986
Best Pole Position: Valentino Ross (2005
-Yamaha) 1m39.419s – 160.158
km/h
Record lap: Valentino Rossi (2005 - Yamaha) 1m40.596s –
158.284 km/h.
2005 Podium
Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 45m43.156s
Sete Gibernau (Honda) + 8.631s
Marco Melandri (Honda) +18.460s
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