Toseland takes his first podium at Valencia

James Toseland put in a solid performance in race one today on his Yamaha Sterilgarda R1, starting from ninth on the grid the British rider made short work of the field to take second by the ninth lap. He was hotly pursued by Aprilia rider Max Biaggi for the entire race duration and fought off a number of attacks, holding on to second until just two laps from the end.

He finished the race in third, claiming his well deserved first podium of the year, just 3.6 seconds off the race leader. Team mate Cal Crutchlow had a tougher first race. A less than perfect start saw him drop from pole to seventh going into the first corner of the race. He fought hard for the duration despite suffering from a lack of grip, riding as high as fifth before dropping back to claim seventh at the line.

Race two was marred with incident, three laps in a high speed crash into the pit wall caused the race to be red flagged. After a delay it was restarted under aggregate timing with Crutchlow and Toseland in ninth and 12th respectively. The hot track temperature proved challenging for grip levels, with both riders fighting hard for position. Toseland crossed the line in seventh having challenged for several positions, whilst team mate Crutchlow hung on to take ninth at the chequered flag.

Toseland goes to the next round in Assen with 50 championship points having jumped up the table from 11th to sixth. Team-mate Crutchlow remains in tenth as he heads to the Dutch round with 41 championship points.
  

James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team, (3rd, 7th)
"Race one was great, it's always nice when the team work so hard to be able to repay them with a result. I was probably the widest man out there because I certainly wasn't the quickest after half race distance, I was finding a few things a bit difficult with the bike. It was great though to dig deep and get a podium, my first podium this year and my first since Brands 2007 I think. It's been a while since I took a trophy home so I was very happy.

The team are working unbelievably hard, we've got some issues but we're making up a lot of ground in a short space of time. In the second race I got an average start when the clutch grabbed early on the line. I don't know where the front guys got their pace from on the re-start, mid 34's was a second faster than it was in the first race. Assen is next which is fast and flowing which will suit the bike better. We need to keep improving until we're strong at every track."
 

Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team, (7th, 9th)

"Race one was ok, I was just disappointed I lost the tow to the leaders at the start. We've got bad rear tyre problems again, seem to be spinning a lot more than the other competitors from the go. The higher grip levels in Portugal suited us better. We're looking forward to hopefully improving it at the next race in Assen. A difficult weekend, the second race was much the same, no grip from the start."


Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager

"We've had an up and down weekend. We had some issues on Friday then came back with the Superpole yesterday. It was great to see James achieve a podium in the first race, he really worked hard and deserved it. The second race was not so good for us, it proved to be more challenging for the riders with less grip levels on the circuit.

For sure this weekend we've learnt some more about the bike and we've definitely improved since Phillip Island. We'll study the data from this weekend and we'll come to The Netherlands with something new."



Circuit Length: 4.005
Weather: Hot and Sunny
Lap Record: 1'34.618 (Noriyuki Haga, 23/04/2009)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1'33.270 (Ben Spies, 05/04/2009)
Last Years Winner: Noriyuki Haga 


2010 WSB Spain - Valencia 11/04/2010 Race 1 - 23 Laps

1    Leon Haslam    Suzuki    GBR    36'47.723
2    Max Biaggi    Aprilia    ITA    0'01.757
3    James Toseland Yamaha GBR    0'03.621
4    Troy Corser    BMW    AUS    0'04.209
5    Noriyuki Haga    Ducati    JPN    0'04.378
6    Jonathan Rea    Honda    GBR    0'09.834
7    Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR    0'10.466
8    Lorenzo Lanzi    Ducati    ITA    0'16.080
9    Sylvain Guintoli    Suzuki    FRA    0'18.382
10    Jakub Smrz    Ducati    CZE    0'18.589
11    Tom Sykes    Kawasaki    GBR    0'22.903
12    Ruben Xaus    BMW    ESP    0'25.203
13    Max Neukirchner    Honda    GER    0'25.676
14    Luca Scassa    Ducati    ITA    0'26.606
15    Andrew Pitt    BMW    AUS    0'43.797



Race 2 - 23 Laps

1    Noriyuki Haga    Ducati    JPN    36'51.500
2    Carlos Checa    Ducati    ESP    0'00.025
3    Max Biaggi    Aprilia    ITA    0'00.299
4    Leon Haslam    Suzuki    GBR    0'10.100
5    Jonathan Rea    Honda    GBR    0'12.811
6    Sylvain Guintoli    Suzuki    FRA    0'13.459
7    James Toseland Yamaha GBR    0'14.845
8    Shane Byrne    Ducati    GBR    0'14.861
9    Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR    0'15.202
10    Jakub Smrz    Ducati    CZE    0'18.071
11    Ruben Xaus    BMW    ESP    0'25.179
12    Troy Corser    BMW    AUS    0'26.116
13    Lorenzo Lanzi    Ducati    ITA    0'30.189
14    Luca Scassa    Ducati    ITA    0'30.387
15    Tom Sykes    Kawasaki    GBR    0'35.741

Best Lap
Carlos Checa    Ducati    ESP    1'34.750



RIDER STANDINGS    11/04/2010
 

1.    Leon Haslam    Suzuki    GBR    123
2.    Max Biaggi    Aprilia    ITA    105
3.    Carlos Checa    Ducati    ESP    80
4.    Noriyuki Haga    Ducati    JPN    79
5.    Jonathan Rea    Honda    GBR    60
6.    James Toseland Yamaha GBR    50
7.    Sylvain Guintoli    Suzuki    FRA    50
8.    Troy Corser    BMW    AUS    46
9.    Michel Fabrizio    Ducati    ITA    46
10.    Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR    41
11.    Shane Byrne    Ducati    GBR    33
12.    Leon Camier    Aprilia    GBR    32
13.    Lorenzo Lanzi    Ducati    ITA    26
14.    Jakub Smrz    Ducati    CZE    20
15.    Ruben Xaus    BMW    ESP    19



MANUFACTURER STANDINGS    11/04/2010
 
1.    Suzuki    123
2.    Ducati    107
3.    Aprilia    105
4.    Honda    61
5.    Yamaha 57
6.    BMW    47
7.    Kawasaki    13



- Yamaha Racing -