Brno: Yamaha preview

Yamaha head to Brno looking for more points before the summer break

Yamaha World Superbike Team riders Ben Spies and Tom Sykes head to Brno this weekend for their first race on the Czech Republic circuit. Both Spies and Sykes are on confident form having given their 2009 R1 race bikes a thorough shakedown and test at the official World Superbike test at Imola last week. Spies comes to Brno just 14 points behind championship leader Noriyuki Haga with everything to play for whilst team mate Sykes has his eyes fixed firmly on the top five with five rounds left to run in the 2009 championship.

The Automotodrom Brno is a 5.403km circuit that features constant elevation changes and the fastest chicane in WSB. The uphill straight towards the last chicane features an incredible power sapping 7.5% gradient, which will test the strongest engines on the grid.

"We had a good test at Imola last week so I'm in a confident mood," said Ben Spies. "Brno is yet again another new track for us so I'm really looking forward to running around the circuit this week and then getting out on the bike on Friday to get a feel for it. We only have ten races left now to the end of the championship so we need to make every one count. Everybody is going to be working hard to be up front this weekend so it's going to be a tough race but I'm excited about it." "I'm really looking forward to showing some more of my recent pace," said Tom Sykes. "I've been getting faster and faster all year as we've resolved some issues with the set up and now I feel we've got a package I can use to challenge and stay with the front pack. I haven't ridden Brno before but I think we can pick it up quickly on Friday and get cracking on the bike set up."

Brno technically speaking according to Tom Houseworth, Ben Spies Crew Chief

"We've just finished a very productive test at Imola. We were working on some suspension components, a couple of new Pirelli tyres and the overall race setup of the bike. We have been having a small problem keeping the rear wheel of our Yamaha R1 on the ground during very heavy braking however the combination of our fork specification along with some of the components we tested at Imola should help with this issue for Ben moving forward. We will start the Brno weekend on bike 1 with a comfortable base setting (std link, offset and ride heights etc.) with the exception of the test components which we will start with straight away to get as much data as possible and make sure the feeling is the way we want to go. If everything feels good we will continue to fine tune our race setup paying attention to the weather as it's possible that Bruno will be hot. It will be important to find the right tyre combination that will last the race, allowing us to be near the front."

Brno technically speaking according to Sergio Verbena, Tom Sykes Crew Chief

"For Brno we'll start with the same setting we used at Imola last week, which is similar to the Donington set up as well. It worked well for us in Italy so we'll use that as a base. Brno is a smooth track, with fast chicanes and only one hairpin, so doesn't necessarily need something special in the settings. We're feeling confident because Tom had a good race pace in Misano and Donington, and also in Imola. It looks like the setting we found in Misano is working well everywhere, so that's pretty much our base setting now, we just hope the temperature won't be too hot!"

We are going to a really nice circuit so I think we can do well there," said Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager. "In the past Yamaha has worked well there and we've had a lot of podiums so I think we will continue to do well. When we moved from to Supersport to Superbike racing Brno was where we won our first race so it's a significant place. The test at Imola last week also gave us some good results so we left there feeling optimistic and looking forward to this weekend."

-credit: yamaha