MEDIA RELEASE from Yamaha
18 September 2006
Yamaha Racing Team clean sweep Phillip Is MotoGP Support Races

Yamaha Racing Team's series dominating Superbike and Supersport teams have taken comprehensive victories in all six Superbike and Supersport support races at this weekend's Australian round of the Moto GP World Championship at Phillip Island.

The event which is a non-championship round for the Australian teams saw Yamaha mounted riders fill an astonishing five of the six podium positions with four of those going to the Yamaha Racing Team.

Jamie Stauffer once again dominated both the Supersport and Superbike categories claiming pole position in each class then taking overall honours in both after a clean sweep of the Superbike races and a race victory and two second placing's in the Supersport races.

"It was a very good weekend all round," Stauffer said. "Not only for myself but for everyone at the Yamaha Racing Team," Stauffer said.

"If you are going to get beaten you want it to be by your team mates and the fact all three of us shared race wins in the Supersport classes shows how dominant the Yamaha YZF-R6 package is."

"I also noticed big improvements in my YZF-R1 since the last time we were here. The team have really done a fantastic job in developing the bike and it is now working really well with Dunlop tyres," Stauffer commented.

Stauffer was joined on the Superbike podium by sibling Dan Stauffer who was second overall after consistently finishing each race in the top three.

"Personally it was a great weekend for me," Stauffer said. "We are really starting to make some ground with bike setup and I am now starting to close the gap on track to Jamie (Stauffer) and Russell (Holland)."

"These non-championship rounds are really valuable especially at Phillip Island as it is the ideal track to draw out any necessary changes."

"We made a lot of improvements to the bike over the course of the weekend which is very positive heading into the next round of the Australian Superbike Championship at Winton next month," Stauffer added.

Yamaha completely dominated the Supersport category with privateer rider Jeremy Crowe qualifying second and joining the Yamaha Racing Team factory riders to give the leading manufacturer the first four grid positions.

Yamaha Racing Team Supersport riders Jason O'Halloran, Mark Aitchison and Jamie Stauffer all won one race a piece and as well as dominating the whole weekend Stauffer and Atchison recorded times quicker than those set by their World Supersport counterparts earlier this year with Aitchison setting a new Supersport lap record.

"I had a very productive weekend," Aitchison said. "It was great to come away with top three results in each race."

"To set a new lap record that is quicker than that set by the World Superbikes earlier this year just shows how much development the team have done in such a short period of time."

"I now need to take this weekend's consistency and apply it to the next round of the Australian championship at Winton," Aitchison remarked.

A race win in the final Supersport race salvaged team mate Jason O'Halloran's weekend after he was knocked off his bike by another rider in the opening race while sitting in second place.

O'Halloran re-mounted his YZF-R6 and finished twelfth then went on to finish the second race in fourth place. Victory in the final race elevated him to fourth overall only one point behind Yamaha mounted privateer Crowe who joined Stauffer and Atchison on the podium.

"The weekend wasn't too bad," O'Halloran commented. "I managed to salvage a race win at the end but Race 1 was disappointing as I was in second and chasing Jamie when I was taken out."

"I had a good dice with Jamie in the third race we swapped the lead a few times before I passed at Honda and managed to pull away."

The Yamaha Racing Team factory Superbike and Supersport teams will now prepare for an intensive test at Winton Motor Raceway on (insert date) ahead of the sixth round of the YMF Loan Australian Superbike Championship to be held at the circuit October 20-22.