After a successful two-day test at Vallelunga between 8th and 9th July both Noriyuki Haga and Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) are fully prepared to meet the challenge of a resurfaced Brno circuit on Sunday 20th July. The 9th round of the 2008 season sees Haga arrive in fourth place in the overall championship fight, only six points ahead of his team-mate Corser. Now the most effective team-mates in the field once again, Haga has won four races so far, while Corser has been desperately unfortunate not have taken at least one win among his six podiums. Each rider has recorded successes at Brno, with Corser having won three races there and Haga one. Each took a Brno victory in 2005, Corser the first and Haga the second. The Yamaha duo traded the fastest lap in the two Czech races last year. The Automotodrom Brno itself, in the southern regions of the Czech Republic, is nothing less than a modern classic and features constant elevation changes along its 5.403km length, the fastest chicanes in WSB, and a power-sapping 7.5% gradient uphill straight towards the last chicane, which really tests who has the strongest engine. Haga has good and not so good memories of Brno, but being 68 points behind the series lead at present all he is thinking about this weekend is how many points he will score. “For Brno I have to work hard to keep the points scores high and move up. We had a decent test at Vallelunga recently, and got good results when running a full race set-up, so we are happy with that, of course. Our goal this weekend is consistency while staying fast. My physical situation is better but where I broke my collarbone is kind of ‘itchy’, I think because it is healing! For Brno practice has been good in the past but some of the races have gone a strange way. But for sure we cannot lose any more points. We need some more consistent races now.” Corser knows Brno as intimately as any rider in the series, and wants to get back to winning ways there. “Brno should be good this year and last year wasn’t too bad for us at some stages. The bike is certainly better this year as well. It will all come down to the tyres, how many laps we can get out of them at full pace. We’ll see how the track temperature is because Brno’s been resurfaced and it’s usually a hot weekend over there.” Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Team YZF) will arrive in the Czech republic in overall 19th place after a top ten finish in Misano, David Checa (Yamaha GMT94) is now 23rd, tied on points with his team-mate Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha GMT94). Technically speaking – Brno according to Massimo Meregalli (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team Manager) “After speaking to the guys in the team it seems obvious that we were all pleased with the race pace shown by both riders in last week’s Vallelunga test. The outright best lap times were not so good but they were not pushing 100%. It is a test, after all, not a race. Everybody in the team thinks they will be ready. The track surface at Brno has been changed and although we have not seen it with our own eyes we know that it will almost definitely be harder on tyres. Our Junior Team went there with Claudio Corti and they confirmed that the tyre life is not so good because of the new surface. Max Biaggi’s team went there to test and to do a race simulation he had to use the hardest tyres. But we will see. We may have the new Akrapovic exhausts for Brno that we found improvements with at Vallelunga, but there has not been very much time for Akrapovic to make the numbers so it’s not confirmed at this point. They are trying very hard as always. No matter what, we are ready and we will be out to make up some ground this weekend. WSS The wide corners and testing uphill straight of Brno should prove a fertile venue for Yamaha World Supersport Team riders Fabien Foret and Broc Parkes this weekend and after a successful two day test last week each has a genuine chance of victory once again. The top two Yamaha riders have scored one race win apiece on the new YZF-R6 so far in 2008, Parkes in round one at Losail and Foret at the speed bowl of Monza in round five. As round eight approaches, Yamaha’s premier Supersport riders have every reason to think they can add to their winning totals at this recently resurfaced 5.403km circuit. In the recent Vallelunga test, the team successfully found not only a stronger base set-up for the cutting-edge R6 but a wider spectrum of possible settings to match in with different track conditions, offering a greater margin of safety at the very limit. In the most closely contested WSS series for some years, Andrew Pitt leads on 113 points right now, with Foret and Parkes in close company, on 97 and 87 points respectively. Looking back on previous Brno form shows that each rider has been classified on the podium once; Parkes in 2006, and Foret last year. Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) made progress in the championship standings with his seventh place in the last round at Misano, the site of his only WSS win so far, in 2006. The Yamaha Spain World Supersport Team has David Salom placed 23rd at present as David De Gea continues to recover from his complicated double leg break. Foret “I think what we found at the test in Vallelunga could be a good solution to use at Brno, particularly in hot conditions. It could be hot there at this time of year, it usually is, so it is good to get more information on something that really works in testing, rather than during a busy race weekend. Our aim is to take more points and get closer to the lead rider. As always I will be trying to win the race.” Parkes, “Brno will be a little bit new because it has a fresh track surface and it’s said to offer up a bit more grip. Our bike usually works well there so I’m looking forward to it. We got a good chance to work with the bike on used tyres at the test a week or so ago in Italy, and it went pretty well. That test was to let us find a bit more ‘give’ on the bike, to let us play around with lines a bit more during races. That’s what we worked on before this race. Basically, to allow us more room for error. Brno is usually good for me and I’m ready for it. In general, bigger tracks are good for us, so you can use the horsepower at the top end on our Yamaha. Now, we need to claim some points back.” Wilco Zeelenberg, the Yamaha World Supersport Team Manager, sees the Brno round as a strong venue for the team’s YZF-R6 machine. “We found out some very interesting things during our tests and we made some progress with both Fabien’s and Broc’s set-ups.” SUPERSTOCK Michele Pirro (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) is the best-placed official Yamaha Superstock 1000 rider at present, overall fourth on 63 points, with the leader Xavier Simeon on 84. Pirro has two podium finishes to his credit so far in 2008, with only his Monza no-score holding back his championship challenge at the half-way mark. Claudio Corti (Yamaha Motor Italia Junior Team) is tenth right now, while Sylvain Barrier (Yamaha YZF Junior Team) has been struggling this year, down in 25th place. Loris Baz (Yamaha YZF Junior Team) continues to lead the 600 Superstock division, by 12 points from the other big find of the 2008 season, Patrick Vostarek.