Yamaha Racing

Philippaerts continues victory run

Yamaha Motocross Team rider David Philippaerts won both motos at a bright Castiglione Del Lago for the second round of the Italian championship.

Philippaerts was busy stamping his authority over the MX1 class of the Italian Championship and proved the YZ450FM’s prowess from the start-line by hole-shotting both motos. Yamaha Red Bull De Carli ace Antonio Cairoli took positions of 7th and 4th in the two heats and pushed Philippaerts in the first sprint until a mistake saw him crash and lose places. 24-year-old Philippaerts was able to forge ahead of Alex Salvini in the second affair.

“I could not be happier with how things are going,” said the Italian, who also picked up overall victory with his Yamaha debut at the Mantova International two weeks ago. “I took two holeshots, that made things easier, but Toni was chasing me and I had to ride well to keep ahead. I pushed hard for a few laps and made the break. We used the same set-up as Montevarchi and the Yamaha is really working well for me.”

“I was doing well and holding onto the back of leader Philippaerts until I caught the wrong rut on a jump and crashed,” commented MX2-GP World Champion Cairoli. “It was a freak thing because I was not taking any risks. I suffered a bit from this in the second moto because I felt tired. Overall at this stage of my preparation for the season I am not yet ready to push 100% but my sensation with the 450 is improving.”

The MX2 class was once more an all-Yamaha story as 3C Racing’s Manuel Monni claimed the chequered flag in the first moto and Yamaha Team Ricci’s Davide Guarneri guided his YZ250F to victory in the second outing. Red Bull De Carli’s Matteo Bonini was also well-placed with second and fourth positions while highly-rated teenager Alessandro Lupino secured a brace of top six finishes with fifth and sixth places. A close championship tussle looks most certainly on the cards as Monni heads the standings by just five points from Guarneri and nine points from Bonini.

The next round of the Italian series will take place in two weeks at Ponte a Egola, while the Yamaha Motocross Team will travel to the UK for the last major International meeting of the pre-season period at the sandy Hawkstone Park next Sunday.

“We will head to Belgium this week,” said Team Co-ordinator Mino Raspanti “as we have a sandy race for both riders at Hawkstone Park so we will use Tuesday and Wednesday to test some suspension ahead of that meeting.”



Beursfoon Suzuki Team
TOP 10 RACE RESULT FOR TERREBLANCHE IN ITALY

Racing is a strange pastime. To some people it may seem senseless and a waste of time, to others it is a passion akin to an addiction and the very core of their existence. Those in favour of racing could do worse than travel to Italy. The hot-blooded descendants of the Romans have competition in their very genes, and a passion for racing is very much part of the national psyche. It holds true for all forms of racing, and certainly for motocross, with numerous teams, plentiful tuning firms and countless fans originating from Italy. The Italian Championship is traditionally the first in Europe to get into full swing, and therefore a popular destination for world championship teams wishing to prepare for the Grand Prix season.

The Dutch-based Beursfoon Suzuki team spent a protracted period during the first months of 2008 in Italy. Shannon Terreblanche and team-mate Erik Eggens got their spent hours preparing on the hard tracks in the South of Italy. After a points-scoring result in the first round of the Italian series in Montevarchi, Shannon accompanied his team to Castiglione Del Lago to see if the last weeks' worth of saddle time had wrought any improvement.

The South African teenager certainly displayed an enhanced turn of speed during the qualifying sessions. He qualified in 12th position in his group, in the process more than halving his time deficit to the pole qualifier compared to the week before. Significantly, he was only slightly more than a second adrift from a top level GP campaigner such as local rocket man Davide Guarneri, which augured well for his Sunday race outing.

Shannon launched out of the gate with near perfection, and arrived in the first corner bundled with the top 5. Unfortunately for him, Finnish rider Matti Seistola cut across to make it into the corner, taking down Shannon as well as team-mate Erik Eggens. Shannon remounted and set off in pursuit again, but the pack was long gone by now. To compound his problems, the crash had left the front disk on his bike bent, and braking on the treacherous circuit became very much a hit and miss affair. Nevertheless, the game teenager pushed on, but under the circumstances, the best he could achieve was 25th position by the time the flag fell.

Shanter was incensed by the mishap in the first race and determined to still achieve his goal of a top 10 finish before the Italian sojourn was over. In race 2 he had a more careful start, hovering in around 15th position as the racers went snarling around the hilly track. Lap by lap he made progress, which was undone to some extent when a small crash at mid-race distance dropped him back again somewhat. Shannon had all the determination of a bullterrier in pursuit of a burglar, however, and reeled in the opposition one by one. He was relentless in pursuit of his goal, and despite an indifferent start and a crash, a very satisfied young man crossed the line in ninth position as the slanting sun drew water from the shining lake.

The first race crash compromised the overall result somewhat, but still a fifteenth overall against some illustrious company is nothing to sneeze at. Shannon also manage to clamber up to 13th position in the Italian championship series, but seeing as the Italian adventure is now over, he will not advance any further in this series.

Shannon was undoubtedly happy about the last race of the day. "I was aiming for a top 10 result in at least one heat in Italy, and in the last race I was able to race to that position," he enthused. "It's a pity that Seistola came across me in the first race, because my start in that race was much better. We spent an awesome couple of weeks with the team in Italy, and it's helped me so much with my preparations."

The team will now return to its base in Holland to prepare for the international race at Hawkstone Park next weekend.