Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo’s podium finishes at Valencia wrapped up the Triple Crown of Riders’, Teams’ and Constructors’ World titles for Yamaha for the second year running.

It has been another season full of success stories for Yamaha in 2009, with Sunday’s results at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana capping off a campaign which has yielded the Riders’ World title for Valentino Rossi, the Teams’ World Championship for Fiat Yamaha and top spot in the Constructers’ standings for the Japanese factory.

The final round of the year also saw Jorge Lorenzo seal the runner-up spot in the premier class standings in just his second year in MotoGP, after he put on a great show to challenge Rossi for the title over the course of the season.

Sunday was the ninth time that Rossi and Lorenzo have shared the podium this year and between them the Italian and the Spaniard have taken ten wins in 2009, in what has been Yamaha’s most successful season ever in MotoGP.

Reflecting on their achievements Yamaha Motor Racing’s Managing Director Lin Jarvis stated, “It gives me a great personal satisfaction for Yamaha and the Fiat Yamaha Team to have recorded ‘back-to-back’ titles for 2008 and 2009. Our strong performances throughout this year’s MotoGP championship are the result of a good cocktail of essential ingredients all being blended together in the right way. The performances of our riders have been incredible.”

“Valentino has won his ninth World Championship, making it four titles with Yamaha in his six seasons with us. Jorge has again surprised and thrilled us all year and made fantastic progress to claim the runner’s-up position in only his second MotoGP season.”

Jarvis continued, “Our engineers have used every single input from our riders’ feedback over the past years and throughout this season to develop the YZR-M1 bike into the bike of reference in the MotoGP paddock. Our team staff have worked tirelessly at every test and every Grand Prix to provide the optimum circumstances for our riders to be ready to win.”

source : motogp.com

Aboard his Yamaha M1 prototype, Jorge Lorenzo set the fastest lap on the second day at Valencia, in his final session of the three-day test.

Jorge Lorenzo was the only rider to break the 1’32” barrier on Tuesday at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit, as he set the quickest lap of the second day of the post-season test on his M1 prototype with a 1’31.939.

Taking his factory bike round for 62 laps as he and Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi tested a new chassis – a new engine is expected to be available to work with in the new year – the Spaniard was 0.256s faster than Monday’s quickest rider Casey Stoner.

On his Ducati Desmosedici meanwhile, Stoner was second fastest on the timesheet as he made 44 laps on the circuit, 12 more than he completed on Monday as the Australian continues to fine tune his 800cc race machinery.

World Champion Rossi emerged only in the afternoon, coming out onto the track just before 2pm to take his M1 out for the final time for this test, as he lapped at just over half a second slower than Lorenzo.

The focus of the Valencia test for Ben Spies remains acquainting himself with his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 bike as he tries various tyre and wheel options, but the experimental nature did not stop the Texan from posting the fourth-fastest time of the day at just under half a second behind Rossi. His team-mate Colin Edwards’ test appears to have come to a premature end however, as he failed to take part on Tuesday due to illness.

Nicky Hayden, who finished the season on a high with his fifth place in Sunday’s race, matched that placement on the timesheet as he recorded 84 laps on his factory Ducati. The 2006 World Champion was trying out the new rear spec Bridgestone tyres for 2010, along with several other riders.

Ohlins suspension was again tested by Dani Pedrosa, as both he and Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso took their 2010 RC212V prototypes out for the second day. Sunday’s race winner Pedrosa was sixth fastest on Tuesday, with Dovizioso 12th as he continued to adjust to the weight distribution caused by the realignment of his engine. The Italian crashed shortly after 1pm, but was back out on the track shortly afterwards.

Randy de Puniet took his RC212V out as the LCR Honda team tested suspension and electronics updates on the Frenchman’s 2009 machine, in a bid to improve the rear set-up of the bike.

Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing), testing a new aluminium swing arm and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) both came inside the top-ten lap times, as did Marco Melandri whose return to the San Carlo Honda Gresini team sees him riding the RC212V after a two-year absence. New Pramac arrival Aleix Espargaró’s familiarisation with the Ducati continued as he builds on his 13th-placed race finish from Sunday.

The four riders making the graduation from the 250cc class were also gaining more track time, as Héctor Barberá recorded the quickest time of the quartet. The Valencian rider was using the Desmosedici GP9 as he becomes accustomed to the power delivery offered by the 800cc machines. The Aspar rider has also been assigned three new crew members by Ducati Corse, and he completed 100 laps, the most of any rider on Tuesday.

Marco Simoncelli’s (79 laps) education on the Gresini Honda, Álvaro Bautista’s (74) on the Rizla Suzuki and Hiroshi Aoyama’s (88) on the Interwetten Honda all carried on as well.

MotoGP Valencia Test, Spain

Session 2 - 10/11/09

source : motogp.com

Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, first and second in the 2009 MotoGP World Championship, were impressed by the latest prototype version of the 2010 YZR-M1 during testing at Valencia on Monday.

The Fiat Yamaha riders, second (Rossi) and third (Lorenzo) behind Honda’s Dani Pedrosa in Sunday’s season finale, evaluated the new machine alongside the 2009 bike – and felt clear benefits.

Lorenzo finished the day second fastest behind Ducati’s Casey Stoner, with Rossi was just behind Lorenzo in third.

“I was really excited to try this new version of the M1 today and I had a lot of motivation to get back to work,” said Lorenzo, who lapped just 0.025sec behind Stoner and 0.396sec under his best race lap.

“The feeling out of the corner is much better and we have more grip already in the rear so it’s a big improvement for me. We still need to work on acceleration but I like what we have so far and I think we will continue to be competitive like this year.

“We have to wait and see the comparison between the old and new bike at a different track next year, but I am excited. I’m quite tired because this is already our fourth day riding here, but I am happy to have one more day of testing,” he added.

Seven time MotoGP champion Rossi set a best lap time 0.166sec from Stoner and a few thousandths under his best race lap.

“It was quite hard work to get back on the bike today but it’s a very important test for us,” said the Italian, who was riding with a new helmet (pictured). “The new prototype we have already feels better than what we tried in Brno, so this is positive.

“I was faster than with the old bike straight away so we know we’re working in the right way and hopefully we can improve some more tomorrow. Of course we still have a 2009 specification engine and we won’t have an update until the next test in February, but the bike already feels more stable and has more rear grip.

“Tomorrow we have quite a lot to get through and it will be an important day before we can finally relax.”

MotoGP Valencia Test, Spain

Session 1 - 09/11/09

source : motogp.com & crash.net

Ben Spies had a productive wildcard debut weekend for Yamaha at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana.

Before becoming incorporated into his the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team on Monday in the post-race Valencia test American rider Ben Spies did a good job for Yamaha in Sunday’s final MotoGP contest of the year, crossing the line in seventh place – just ahead of Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso to help future team-mate Colin Edwards up the standings.

Edwards finished the race in fourth place himself, to leapfrog Dovizioso for fifth in the final 2009 classification, and then embraced and thanked his fellow Texan Spies after the Valencian extravaganza had concluded.

Riding in the colours of the Sterilgarda Yamaha Team this weekend and starting the race from ninth on the grid Spies rode a sensible but impressive race and will now enjoy three days with his new team in high spirits.

Reviewing the race he told motogp.com, “It was pretty good. I actually got a better start than I expected but in the first few laps I got shuffled around and bullied a little bit. I guessed that would be the case as I haven’t figured out how to get comfortable quickly on the tyres. Eventually I slowly picked off some people with some smart passes, as I didn’t want to mess up anyone else’s championship position and I wanted to be clean, but still ride as hard as I could.”

He continued, “I saw Dovizioso and then I was thinking about him and Colin (Edwards) and their battle and I managed to get past him. Then I kept my head down and tried to keep the laps fast and I recorded my best time on the last lap, so it was good. I didn’t do anything stupid and stack it up (crash), it was a good weekend and we got a top ten.”

“This result is like winning a World Superbike race for me in terms of the amount of satisfaction it has given me. These are the fastest guys in the world,” concluded Spies.

source : motogp.com

The traditional end of season FIM MotoGP Awards were hosted in Valencia and broadcast around the globe on Sunday evening.

Valentino Rossi was the star of the show once again on Sunday evening at the traditional gala ceremony in Valencia which closes the MotoGP season, as he was officially presented with his 2009 FIM MotoGP World Championship trophy, in the Spanish city’s Palacio de Congresos.

At the conclusion of the 2009 FIM MotoGP Awards Ceremony, which was presented by the BBC’s Matthew Roberts and TVE’s Ainhoa Arbizu and broadcast across the globe, Rossi was presented with the trophy by Mr. Francisco Camps, President of the Generalitat Valenciana and Rita Barberá Nolla, the Mayoress of Valencia.

Mr. Vito Ippolito, the President of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme and Mr. Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna Sports, were also in attendance as an array of prizes were awarded over the course of the evening, marking the achievements of those riders who have excelled on-track this year.

Newly crowned 250cc World Champion Hiroshi Aoyama - who clinched the title at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana earlier on Sunday - and the 2009 125cc World title winner Julián Simón were both also presented with their respective trophies.

Additional prize categories included Rookie of the Year, Tissot Pole of Poles for best qualifier in each class, BMW M Award for best MotoGP qualifier and the Teams’ and Manufacturers’ World Championships.

source : motogp.com

Dani Pedrosa doubled his race-victory tally for the season in the final race of the year with a win at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit on Sunday, as Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo completed the podium.

It was a victory on home soil for Dani Pedrosa at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana, as the Repsol Honda man enjoyed a start-to-finish win in the final race of the 2009 season.

The drama started before the race had even commenced, as pole position holder Casey Stoner’s high-side crash on the warm-up lap meant he was unable to take his place on the grid. That allowed Pedrosa to lead the charge from his position on the front row, and after taking the first corner in the lead the Repsol Honda rider never relinquished it, sealing third spot in the overall standings in the process.

World Champion Valentino Rossi followed the Spaniard home in second place, finishing 2.630s behind Pedrosa as he ended his title-winning season with his 13th podium of the campaign.

The Italian’s Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who did well to hold onto his bike when a moment on the opening lap almost threw him off, was a further 0.283s behind as he took third, having already sealed second spot in the Championship by virtue of Stoner’s non-start.

The Australian ended the season in fourth place overall, with Colin Edwards’ fourth place in the race allowing him to snatch fifth in the 2009 standings from Andrea Dovizioso.

The top five on the day was completed by Stoner’s Ducati Marlboro team-mate Nicky Hayden, who held off the challenge of Toni Elías as the Spaniard came in sixth in his final race with the San Carlo Honda Gresini team.

Wildcard rider Ben Spies rode to an impressive seventh-placed finish, and in depriving Dovizioso of that spot – the Italian finished eighth – played a direct role in helping his future Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team-mate Edwards take fifth in the Championship.

There were also top-ten finishes for Rookie of the Year Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) and Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini).

source : motogp.com

LONDON (August 12th, 2009) – Sports Interactive & SEGA® Europe Ltd. can today announce that Football Manager™ 2010 for PC and Apple Macintosh, and Football Manager™ Handheld 2010 for Sony PSP will be released on October 30th.

Football Manager 2009 is the most successful in the Football Manager series to date, clocking up 22 weeks at No.1 in the UK (PC charts) and selling in excess of 1 million copies worldwide, as well as being voted the 2nd best video game of all time in a recent Radio 1 poll.

According to data gathered from Football Manager 2009, people played the game for an average of 240 hours each and developer Sports Interactive has spent the last year working closely with consumers and the Football Manager community to implement key improvements to this year’s game. Football Manager 2010 features new tools and changes across the board including some big additions to improve ease of use, navigation and feedback from the game with the introduction of a brand new match tactics system, the debut of a Match Analysis tool, a completely new look and new User Interface among other features.

“We have worked very hard with the Football Manager community to target not only the areas of the game that needed re-working but also what we could add to improve what’s already there. We’ve also conducted extensive usability studies which has led us to overhaul the whole presentation of the game, which we’re really excited about,” said Miles Jacobson, Studio Director at Sports Interactive. “There has been a lot of polish to existing areas of the game but it’s also driven us to introduce changes to answer some of the feedback. We’re very confident that having done that we will deliver the very best Football Manager to date in October.”

The introduction of a Tactics Creator makes it easier to instruct the team to play the way the manager wants, alongside the introduction of touchline ‘shouts’ and quick tactic changes for instantly altering your team’s playing style during the match. Working with coaches from various levels of football, alongside some of the Football Manager communities most respected independent tacticians, the game now has an extensive array of pre-set tactical options allowing the user to select a player’s role in the team (such as ‘Ball winning midfielder’ or ‘Deep lying playmaker’), however the option to use the old ‘slider’ controls remains.

Feedback from matches has been improved to give the user better insight into where their team is going wrong, or right. A new Match Analysis tool lets players see where shots, passes, crosses, headers, tackles, fouls and interceptions have been made on the field for all players on the pitch. Managers can view this analysis both live in-game and post match, allowing them to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of both their team and their opponent’s and adjust their tactics accordingly.

Football Manager 2010 features a brand new User Interface, with a light and a dark skin to choose from as part of a vibrant new look and has undergone a complete navigational overhaul. The side bar navigation of previous years has been replaced by an intuitive tab system at the top of the screen, making Football Manager’s famed depth easier to navigate and will make the game more accessible to new players.

A brand new Data Editor will allow the addition of new divisions to existing leagues and of entirely new leagues as well as making it easier than ever to keep the game up to date, and do so for free. The delivery of information to the manager has been refined with users now able to sign up to the News Centre, an in-game subscription based newspaper that lets you get the news that you want about the football world and filter out the stories that you do not need, making the football world as immersive as you want it to be.

Following the debut of a 3D match view in Football Manager 2009, this year’s release sees a revamp with improved AI, over 100 new animations for the 3D pitch view, new stadiums, crowds, realistic pitch degradation and better lighting, creating an even more realistic match experience.

Further new features will be announced via a series of blogs in the months leading up to the game’s October 30th release date which will ensure that Football Manager retains its position as the most realistic, most played, highest reviewed and best selling football management simulation in the world.

Ben Spies The Sterilgarda Yamaha Team have unveiled the special one-off livery for 2009 World Superbike Champion Ben Spies ahead of his wildcard ride at the final MotoGP race in Valencia this weekend. Spies will be riding the Yamaha YZR-M1 prior to joining the Tech3 Yamaha Team next Monday to start testing for the 2010 season. The American rider has achieved astonishing success in his rookie year in World Superbike, bringing the first ever World Superbike Championship victory for Yamaha. Over the 2009 season he scored 14 race wins and 11 pole position starts in the class, becoming the all-time greatest rookie in the process.

Ben Spies and YZR-M1 “I’m really excited for the opportunity to race at Valencia this weekend,” said Spies. “I’m fully aware that MotoGP is a big step up from World Superbike and realize it’s not going to be possible to achieve the same results in my first year there. I see this weekend as an opportunity to spend some time on the bike and start learning it for next season, and to have some fun as well!”

source : yamaha-racing.com

Juventus menjaga peluang menjadi juara dengan menundukkan Atalanta di kandang lawan.

Juventus tampil sempurna di Atleti Azzurri  d’Italia, Minggu (8/11) dinihari WIB. Menghadapi tuan rumah Atalanta, Juventus menang dengan skor meyakinkan, 5-2.

Kemenangan ini memantapkan posisi Juventus di posisi runner up dan menjaga jarak angka dengan Inter yang masih unggul empat poin sejauh ini.

Namun Inter, yang kini memimpin dengan 28 angka, bisa kembali menjauh jika mampu menaklukkan Roma nanti malam.

Juventus langsung tampil menekan sejak dimulainya pertandingan. Namun Atalanta juga bisa menunjukkan perlawanan, setidaknya hingga pertengahan pertandingan.

Di menit 36, tekanan bertubi-tubi Juventus membuahkan hasil setelah Mauro Camoranesi berhasil menyambut umpan silang Diego dengan kepalanya.

Skor kembali berubah semenit kemudian, dan lagi-lagi Camoranesi menjadi pencetak gol. Gelandang Juventus itu berhasil mencuri bola untuk kemudian dilesakkannya ke gawang Atalanta yang dikawal Andrea Consigli.

Atalanta yang tak ingin dipermalukan di kandang sendiri akhirnya bisa membalas lewat sepakan Jamie Zapata Valdes yang tak mampu dihentikan Gigi Buffon di menit 51. Akan tetapi Juventus kembali menjauh lima menit kemudian lewat tendangan keras Felipe Melo dari luar kotak penalti.

Atalanta masih belum menyerah. Upaya untuk memperkecil ketertinggalan pun berakhir sukses setelah tendangan Fabio Ceravolo kembali memaksa Buffon mengambil bola dari gawangnya. Skor 3-2 muncul di menit 71, dengan keunggulan masih di kubu Juve.

Tim tamu masih menunjukkan permainan penuh agresifitas di 20 menit terakhir pertandingan. Hasilnya, dua gol tambahan tercipta, masing-masing di menit 84 dan 87.

Diego menyumbang satu gol dengan sontekannya, menyambut bola liar hasil tendangan Camoranesi. Sesaat kemudian David Trezeguet berhasil mencantumkan namanya di papan skor setelah bola hasil tendangan setengah voli miliknya tak bisa dihentikan Consigli. Skor 5-2 bertahan hingga berakhirnya pertandingan.

Di pertandingan lain, Napoli tak mampu meraih poin maksimal setelah ditahan imbang tanpa gol oleh tim papan bawah Catania. Hasil ini menghambat ambisi Napoli merangsek masuk ke empat besar. Napoli kini mengantungi 18 poin dalam 12 laga, sementara Catania masih di zona degradasi dengan delapan angka.

Ferrara: «Saya Senang dan Puas dengan Pertandingan Malam Ini

Ferrara punya asalan yang membuat dirinya puas setelah kemenangan melawan Atalanta dan 5 gol yang dicetak oleh timnnya: “Saya senang dan puas dengan pertandingan malam ini dan pada pertandingan malam ini kami bisa menunjukkan bahwa kami bisa meraih kemenangan walau kami masih dalam tekanan. Kami mencetak gol dan memberikan sinyal positif bagi tim. Anda dapat melihat bahwa kami sudah memperlihatkan mental yang benar dan secara fisik pemain sedang dalam kondisi puncak. Malam ini sangat indah terutama untuk David”.

Sang pelatih juga menanggapi kekuatan tim terkini tanpa diperkuat banyaknya pemain pilar: “Para pemain sangat kuat dan inilah yang kami percayai. Kami tidak akan melihat apa yang dilakukan Inter. Kami harus melihat performa kami sendiri. Kami mulai memikirkan posisi di klasmen di akhir musim. Setidaknya dalam 5 laga terakhir kami menang 4 kali dan kalah 1 kali saat dihajar Napoli. Saya rasa setelah ini kami akan melewati masa-masa indah. Memang faktanya kami banyak punya masalah dalam cedera pemain, walaupun begitu saya yakin mereka ada yang dapat menggantikan. Saya senang dengan usaha yang dilakukan pemain malam ini”.

Ferrara sudah mengalahkan Conte: “Hubungan dengan Antonio berlanjut setelah pertandingan malam ini. Saya senang Juve menang namun bukan berarti saya sudah mengalahkan Conte”

Diego: «Selalu Penting Untuk Mencetak Gol»

Permainan cantik dan kerjasama tim yang baik menjadi label yang sudah melekat pada diri Diego yang malam ini lebih spesial lagi karena dirinya membukukan sebuah gol: “Sangat penting untuk mencetak gol. Saya senang dengan gol yang saya cetak hari ini. Malam ini saya tidak banyak menderita tekel-tekel berbahaya. Saya berusaha untuk melepas diri saya dari tempelan pemain-pemain lawan dan lebih mendekati diri dengan kotak penalti lawan. Saya selalu senang karena bisa memberikan sesuatu kepada tim ini namun yang terpenting gol tadi malam memberikan saya rasa percaya diri”.

Pemain asal Brasil ini percaya penuh dengan tim ini: “Inilah tim yang saya banggakan. Penting untuk punya rasa percaya diri dan membawa pulang kemenangan penting ini”.

Cannavaro: «Kami Pantas Menang Besar Malam Ini»

Cannavaro tidak merasa lebih muda dan dia selalu bersemangat seperti biasanya: “Kami membukukan kemenangan besar malam ini karena kami memainkan pertandingan yang baik dan membawa pulang kemenangan penting ini. Sempat terjadi momen yang kami takutkan yakni Atalanta kembali bangkit namun dalam beberapa menit terakhir kami menambah keunggulan dan kami tidak pernah merasa khawatir lagi”.

Laga tandang tampaknya menjadi laga favorit Juve musim ini: “Faktanya bahwa kami melakukan kemenangan lebih banyak di laga tandang daripada kandang. Saya mengatakan kepada Giorgio bahwa dirinya kini seperti Thuram saat masa jayanya: berusaha ikut menyerang dan berbahaya di area lawan. Sangat sulit jika melihat terdapat dua gol yang bersarang di gawang kami. Kami harus menatap kedepan dan mempertahankan tren positif ini”.

Bagaimana tentang masa depan anda? “Saya merasa termotivasi dan ingin meraih tujuan yang lainnya”.