German Disappointment For PBM MotoGP Round eight of the MotoGP World Championship took place at Sachsenring in Germany this weekend and it proved ultimately disappointing for the Penrith-based PBM MotoGP Team. After a pair of finishes in 19th and 22nd place for Colombian Yonny Hernandez and Ulsterman Michael Laverty respectively two weeks ago at Assen, the pair were hoping to add to both their own World Championship points scores and to improve their CRT and Manufacturer placings. The weekend started off on a promising note as both Hernandez, from Medellin, on the Rapid Solicitors and Minxflix.com-sponsored Aprilia ART and Laverty, from Toome in County Antrim, on the Rapid Solicitors and Minxflix.com-sponsored PBM machine showed good pace in Free Practice to both end up in the top 16. Despite adding a crash apiece to the numerous fallers over the weekend, the PBM duo excelled in Qualifying to end up with Laverty in sixth to record his best of the campaign with Hernandez in seventh going into the 30-lap race. Hernandez’s cause wasn’t helped when he crashed out during warm up but worse was to follow in the race when on the opening lap, he crashed for the third time in the weekend to end his hopes of increasing his points tally. Meanwhile, Laverty gamely battled on and gradually climbed from 18th place where he occupied for most of the race to 16th at the flag, in another race devoid of attrition, to record his seventh finish of the season and in doing so just missed out on adding to the points he scored at Jerez earlier in the season. Hernandez still occupies 19th overall in the MotoGP World Championship standings with Laverty maintaining his 21st in his debut season. In the Claiming Rules Teams (CRT) class, Hernandez still holds sixth with Laverty in eighth whereas PBM occupy eighth in the Constructors Championship and 12th in the Teams Championship in their debut season with their brand new British-built machine. Paul Bird, Team Owner: “A bit of a disappointing weekend if we are being honest. We had high hopes of some good results as the track seemed to suit our bikes and I was pleased we qualified well. It seems that Yonny has the speed but we just need to find a way of stopping him crashing, maybe some glue on the seat would help. He committed the cardinal sin of crashing in warm up too and that has put us on the back foot for Laguna Seca. Michael continued his good progress on the PBM machine and was unlucky to miss out on the points but we really need to start raising our game as you look at what other CRTs are doing and that’s where we need to be aiming for.” Round nine of the MotoGP World Championship takes place on Sunday 21st July at Laguna Seca in California. For more information, please visit the team’s brand new website www.pbmuk.net and www.motogp.com. More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Crutchlow and Smith equal season best in Germany Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith equalled their season best results at Germany’s Sachsenring today, the British duo storming to a fantastic double top six finish for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team. Crutchlow raced to an outstanding fourth podium in the last five races to continue his amazing record-breaking exploits in the 2013 World Championship, while Smith showed tremendous speed and consistency to secure a second top six finish in his rookie campaign. On form Crutchlow produced a scintillating surge through the field after he’d been dropped back to sixth in a frenetic opening to the 30-lap race. The 27-year-old’s brilliant charge gathered momentum on lap four when he dived underneath Alvaro Bautista to slot into fourth at the final corner. He then pressured home crowd favourite Stefan Bradl into a mistake at the final corner on lap 10 to move into the top three. With adrenaline and the non-stop action taking his mind of numerous cuts, bruises and friction burns he suffered in two heavy practice crashes, he then executed a brave but perfect pass on Valentino Rossi at Turn 12 on lap 16 to snatch second. At that stage of the race, Marc Marquez had established a comfortable advantage of 2.8s. But demonstrating his never give up attitude and fighting spirit, Crutchlow launched a relentless pursuit of the Spaniard that kept fans on the edge of their seats right to the chequered flag. Crutchlow narrowed the gap to 1.5s but Marquez was unflappable, though Crutchlow’s second place helped him secure another personal milestone in his third premier class season. Today’s result saw him become the first British rider to score four or more podium MotoGP finishes since the legendary Barry Sheene in 1982. Not be to be outdone, Smith’s eye-catching ride ensured he played an important role in a landmark result, with today’s race the first time two British riders have finished inside the top six in a premier class encounter since the Donington Park round back 1993. Starting from seventh on the grid, the 22-year-old held onto that place while he was comfortably able to streak away from a chasing pack that included MotoGP race winners Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden. He moved into the top six on lap seven and feeling comfortable and confident on the YZR-M1 machine he pushed hard to try and bridge a gap of close to three seconds to Bautista in fifth. He kept the Spaniard firmly in his sights throughout the race but was happy to settle for a richly deserved top six. The most pleasing aspect for the rookie was the 25-second gap to race winner Marquez, which was the closest Smith has finished to first place in 2013, and provides further proof of his rapidly growing confidence with the YZR-M1 machine. Cal Crutchlow 2nd– 107 points : “I am really happy to be on the podium again because it was a hard race in my physical condition. The two crashes in practice took a lot out of me but I dug deep and it is great to get another podium for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team. I actually made a really good start but I had to roll off the throttle when Marc came towards me and that cost me a few places. The bike worked really well in the first few laps and I was able to fight my way through and I really enjoyed it. In the second half of the race the bike felt great and I was fast. I came on strong and pulled away from Valentino and I did absolutely everything I could to close down Marc. I couldn’t have done anything more but credit to him because he didn’t make a mistake, he controlled the gap to me very well and he deserved to win. I just kept on pushing and at the end second is another fantastic result. It is my fourth podium and I am not so far back in the Championship, so I can’t really ask for anything more. Now we go to Laguna trying to fight for another podium and hopefully that first win.” Bradley Smith 6th– 51 points : “I am truely happy with this sixth place. I got a good start and I was really pleased with my pace for most of the race. It is particularly pleasing because this is a track where I expected to struggle more because it has a lot of left-hand corners and you are constantly pushing with the left part of your body. That’s where my injury is but I felt strong for the whole race. I’m also pleased that we managed to reduce the gap to the winner by another seven seconds and I think 25 seconds is not too bad at the moment. There were so many positives but I had a little bit of an issue with rear grip and I think we can still improve our setting to make that better. I still believe I did a really good job and now the next objective is to get closer to Bautista on the satellite Honda. This result has given me a lot of confidence and I am really looking forward to going to Laguna Seca. It is a very difficult track and while I did test there earlier this year on a production bike I am still expecting a tough weekend.” Herve Poncharal – Team Manager : “That was another great weekend for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team. I’m really proud of Cal and Bradley because since the beginning of the season they have both been doing an incredible job. Cal was awesome today because even if he had two high-speed crashes on Friday he showed incredible determination yesterday to finish second in qualifying. We knew it was possible to get another big result in the race and he didn’t disappoint us. In the early stages the situation seemed to be tricky, but Cal showed once again his fighting spirit and he made some incredible moves and for a lot of the race it was obvious he was the fastest rider. It was fantastic to see him catching Valentino and finally passing him and he could immediately open up a gap. When I saw him second I thought it might be enough, but I knew it would not be enough for him and reduced the gap to Marc. It really was exciting to watch but Marc managed the situation very well, though we can’t be disappointed not to win because Cal again demonstrated why he is one of the best in MotoGP now. Bradley too did an incredible job. He is still not 100% fit with his wrist and hand but he has never complained about his injury and today he showed a fantastic pace and great concentration. He was very close to Alvaro, who is a very experienced MotoGP rider, and he fought right from the first to the last lap. And when you see the gap to Marc at the end, he was losing less than a second a lap to him and that is a sure sign of his progress in MotoGP. Now we make the long trip to Laguna Seca full of confidence for what is always a memorable event.”