Motorcycles and news

The Brands Hatch event starts the last third of the season, with only three races to go after the British round at Lausitz, Vallelunga and Magny-Cours. James Toseland (Honda) leads the championship, 43 points in front of Max Biaggi (Suzuki), 45 in front of Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) and 56 in front of Troy Bayliss (Ducati). But nothing is for sure yet about the title because any rider who would win the remaining eight races would earn 200 points.

Only for this one race, the Team YZF Yamaha is very happy to welcome Steve Martin. He was born on December 2, 1968 in Adelaide. With Sandra, they are the proud parents of Axel, born on October 25, 2006. Steve was Australian Superbike Champion in 1999 on a 996 Ducati. During his brilliant career in the Superbike World Championship, he was 3 times the fastest man in Superpole (Misano, Laguna Seca and Brands Hatch 2004), finishing 5 times on the podium (Valencia, Misano, Laguna Seca, Brands Hatch and Imola) and having the fastest lap 2 times (Lausitz 2001 and Magny-Cours 2004).

Martial Garcia (team manager): “We hope that Shinichi Nakatomi will confirm his great rides of Brno. With some good results during the end of this season, we can reasonably think that we can continue on gaining positions in the standings. We can do better than the 16th position where we are at right now. It would be very nice if we could go as far as the 12th place. We welcome this weekend Steve Martin to help another Yamaha team. Steve will continue his season riding in British Superbike for ‘Virgin Media Optoma Loans Yamaha’ and we wish to help this team as much as we can.”

The track

Brands Hatch was opened in 1928 and lengthened in 1953 by taking advantage of the hill leading to Druid’s Bend. In 1960, the Hawthorn and Westfield corners were added. That gave the track the required length (4.19 km) to get it homologated for international events. The first Brands Hatch F1 Grand Prix was held in 1964. Ideally located only 32 kms from London, Brands is an extremely popular venue. Sometimes, as many as 120 000 spectators flocked to the circuit for the world Superbike.

The way Brands Hatch has evolved explains why there are two types of asphalt here. Grip on the Grand Prix track is not the same as that of the â¤smallâ¤? circuit and that can take riders by surprise as they go from one to the other, especially in the wet. Grip is better in the Grand Prix section than on the part where the pits and the grandstands are. Brands Hatch is quite a demanding circuit. It heats up the tyres in a similar way to tracks like Phillip Island or Monza, but that heat build up doesn’t happen in the same part of the tyre.

World Championship standings:
1- Toseland (Honda) 305 points, 2-Biaggi (Suzuki) 262, 3- Haga (Yamaha) 260, 4-Bayliss (Ducati) 249, 5-Corser (Yamaha) 191�16- Nakatomi (Yamaha) 37

Brands Hatch stats

Practice record (2006):
1′25.449 Troy Bayliss (Ducati) 156.010 kph

Lap record (best race time 2006):
1′26.351 James Toseland (Honda) 154.380 kph

2006 Yamaha Motor France practice times:
Nakatomi: 1′28.896 / 26th; Abe: 1′27.940 / 19th; Gimbert: 1′27.102 / 15th

Race 1 result 2006:
1- Bayliss (Ducati), 2-Toseland (Honda), 3-Haga (Yamaha), 4-Pitt (Yamaha), 5-Kagayama (Suzuki)

2006 Yamaha Motor France race 1 results:
Nakatomi: 19th; Abe: 13th; Gimbert: 15th

Race 2 result 2006:
1- Haga (Yamaha), 2-Bayliss (Ducati), 3- Pitt (Yamaha), 4-Laconi (Kawasaki), 5- Toseland (Honda)

2006 Yamaha Motor France race 2 results:
Nakatomi: 17th; Abe: 13th; Gimbert: 14th

11th round of the Superbike World Championship: September 9th at EuroSpeedway / Lausitz (Germany)