Satisfaction after Valencia Norick Abe (Team Yamaha Motor France Ipone) had the best ever weekend of his Superbike World Championship career when he finished twice in 4th position of the last races in Valencia. Shinichi Nakatomi kept improving, scoring his first points with two 12th positions. Martial Garcia’s team is in good spirit coming to Monza. Thanks to his brilliant results, Norifumi Abe is now in the “Top 10″ of the World Championship standings with his 8th position. During the 6 races already done this year, Abe crossed the finish line 6 times. Out of the 27 permanent riders of the championship, only 6 could do it, including Abe and Troy Bayliss, James Toseland, Alex Barros, Andrew Pitt and Michel Fabrizio. The riders of the team finished 14 times out of 18 starts this year, without any technical problem. This proves the high quality of the Yamaha R1 and it is a reward for the technicians. For this Monza race, Sébastien Gimbert will be back with the Team Yamaha Motor France Ipone, coming from the 24 Hours of Le Mans where he was on the podium. For Martial Garcia (team-manager) “For his come back with us, Sébastien Gimbert will try to have better results here than last year. Our bike is actually working well. It was possible to see the progress in Valencia. Norick Abe should look for good results like this was the case in Spain. Shinichi Nakatomi is doing better and better at every track and we may see him shortly in the Top 10.” A track with a great history: Monza was built in 1922 (in only 100 days!) by the Milan Automobile Club. The “Autodromo Nazionale di Monza” is only 15 km from Milan. It is the oldest permanent racing circuit still used in Europe and the third such circuit to have been built after Brooklands (GB / 1907) and Indianapolis (USA 1909). The track is 5.793 km long and features a 2.405 km long oval, which is no longer used. The main straight is 1.195 km long. The first Grand Prix of the Nations (September 8, 1922) was won by Amadeo Ruggeri on a 1000 cc Harley-Davidson. In the 500 class, the winner was Italian Gnesa on 2-stroke 350 Garelli. A very special circuit: Monza is the fastest circuit on the World Superbike calendar. The track has two very slow chicanes, the “Prima variante” and the “Variante della Roggia”. It also has a long right-hander called the “Curva Parabolica”. Monza only has one real left-hander, the “Curva del Serraglio” after the Lesmo double right-hander. Monza is different because the bike is upright for so much of the lap, during acceleration, top speed and braking phases. Monza is unique in that the bikes are running more often in a straight line than in a corner, the opposite of the other World Superbike circuits. This is why Pirelli introduced 3 compound tyre especially designed for the track in 2005. World Championship standings: 1- Bayliss (125 points ), 2- Corser (103), 3- Toseland (86), 4- Haga (64), 5- Barros (62)”¦ 8- Abe (40)”¦ 20- Nakatomi (8)”¦23-Gimbert (3) Monza stats: Practice record (2003): 1’46.981 Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 194.940 kph 2005 Yamaha Motor France practice times: Norifumi Abe: 1’49.911 / 14th and Sébastien Gimbert: 1’50.353 / 16th Race 1 result 2005: 1-Corser (Suzuki), 2-Kagayama (Suzuki) 3- Toseland (Ducati) 4- Laconi (Ducati) 5- Pitt (Yamaha) 2005 Yamaha Motor France race 1 results: Norifumi Abe: 10th and Sébastien Gimbert: 17th Race 2 results 2005: 1- Vermeulen (Honda), 2-Laconi (Ducati), 3-Corser (Suzuki) 4-Muggeridge (Honda) 5- Toseland (Ducati) 2005 Yamaha Motor France race 2 results: Norifumi Abe: 12th and Sébastien Gimbert: DNF (retired on lap 6) Lap record (best race time 2002): 1’47.434 Bayliss (Ducati) 194.120 kph 5th round of the Supersport World Championship: May 28th at Silverstone (United Kingdom)