Double podium for Laverty and Melandri

Yamaha World Superbike Team riders Eugene Laverty and Marco Melandri were on top form at Silverstone today claiming an impressive double podium a head in the warm British sunshine. Laverty and Melandri completed two solid races in second and third places respectively at the historic track where the Yamaha R1 has proved it’s strength yet again.

In race one, Eugene Laverty shot off his second place on the grid to immediately take the lead, a position he proceeded to hold until the last turn of the sixth lap when he surrendered to the championship leader, Checa. The 25 year old World Superbike rookie pushed hard, holding off advances from Hopkins and Camier behind to complete the first race of this home round in second place, in front of an enthusiastic crowd. Fellow Teammate Marco Melandri was on equally impressive form, moving up to fifth place off the grid.

Lorenzo wins Jerez Moto GP festival

The Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez won't be remembered for the winner - it was Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo in a perfect ride in difficult conditions - but for the number of riders who couldn't cope.
Chief among them was Valentino Rossi, the nine-time World Champion whose ambition outweighed his talent as he entered the first turn on the eighth of 27 laps. Rossi cleaned Repsol Honda's Casey Stoner out of second place with most of the race to run. Stoner was finished and furious, while Rossi remounted to begin a process that would eventually take him to a fifth-place finish.
As soon as the race ended, Rossi, trailed by a huge media horde, made his way to the Repsol Honda garage, where he apologized to Stoner, who, through a wide grin and already in street clothes, was overheard to say that "your ambition outweighed your talent."

Casey Stoner fastest time at final practice at Commericalbank Grand Prix of Qatar.

Stoner steals the spotlight in MotoGP FP3. At the Losail International Circuit, the Australian again dominated practice this evening. He recorded the best time of the weekend with a 1’55:035. It was a Repsol Honda one- two-three, with Dani Pedrosa second and Italian Andrea Dovizioso third. The Spaniard was only 0.158 off Stoner’s quickest lap, whilst Dovizioso was a further 0.705 behind.

There was a marked improvement for the current World Champion, Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) as he got the edge over his team-mate Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) for the first time this weekend. He claimed the fourth quickest time and was very close to the lap time set by third placed Honda.

Melandri impresses with maiden World Superbike podium

Melandri Impresses with Maiden World Superbike Podium at Phillip Island. Yamaha World Superbike Team rider Marco Melandri ended his podium drought this afternoon, stepping up to take third position in the second World Superbike race, his first podium since 2009. The World Superbike rookie started well from his second row position, closing in on defending World Champion Max Biaggi and pushing him to the race finale, interchanging for second position a number of times before finally settling for third at the line, less than 1.5 seconds from double race winner Carlos Checa.

The first race of the day saw both Melandri and his teammate Eugene Laverty start well, Laverty impressing by leading the first two laps of his first ever Superbike race, before dropping back to swap positions with Melandri several times.