Monster Energy Yamaha set for 2011 MX-GP world championship

At 17.00 CET this Friday the 2011 Monster Energy Yamaha team will
unveil their GP machinery in a live webcast that will appear on www.yamaha-racing.com.
The presentation to the media and fans around the globe will be the
first scene of the Grand Prix of Bulgaria; the opening act of fifteen
in eagerly-awaited 2011 FIM MX-GP World Championship.

This weekend will be the second year in
succession that Sevlievo – with its fast, jumpy and hilly race-track
housed in one of the finest set of facilities in Europe – hosts the
season-opener and the venue two hours east of Sofia has been a decent
reaping ground for Yamaha in the past. Since appearing on the MX1-GP
calendar in 2006, David Philippaerts claimed his first victory for
Yamaha there in 2008 while Josh Coppins earned the top step on the
YZ450FM in ‘07 and ‘09.

Monster Energy Yamaha has grown to
encompass six riders in the MX1-GP and MX2-GP categories for 2011.
Alongside Philippaerts (starting his fourth year as a works rider) on
the fuel injected YZ450FM (second year of development) is Steven
Frossard while Anthony Boissiere will be steering the third ‘black and
green’ machine in the premier class. Philippaerts has not dropped out
of the top four in his three previous championships with Yamaha and
famously became Italy’s first MX1-GP champion in ‘08.

“Sevlievo is a great track and one of
the best for me. It is there with St Jean D’Angely [France],” the 25
year old said. “The first race of the season can be difficult because
we all want to win and start in the right way. If you get a good result
then you want to make some momentum and get your year going. At the
same time you have to keep telling yourself that it is the first one
and there is so much more racing to do.”

“I think the bike is better and I feel
more comfortable on it,” added the 2011 Italian championship runner-up
concerning the work done by YRRD on the ‘19’ race-machine. “For that I
have to give a big thanks to the team who have worked so hard. We have
modified the engine and we are also using a different suspension
system. I’ve had the chance to get the YZ450F exactly how I want it.
Physically I feel very good and this gives me confidence going into the
start of the season. I had a virus about two weeks ago but I’m over
that now. I have been riding well in the Italian races and all the
signs are good for Bulgaria.”

While Boissiere will enter his second
MX1-GP campaign in Bulgaria and has experience of moto victories and
podium results in MX2-GP, it is fellow Frenchman Frossard (pictured)
who will remember the race as a landmark thanks to this being his first
grand prix outing with Yamaha and his debut meeting in MX1-GP. The
quiet but intense former MX2-GP winner has had an excellent winter of
adaptation to the bigger machine and enjoyed success in France and
recently captured the Italian MX1 championship for an emphatic
demonstration of his potential on the YZ450FM.

“Winning the Italian championship was a
good start for me and I have to say that I’ve felt very comfortable and
fast on the Yamaha 450,” said Frossard. “I know this is my first season
in MX1 but I have felt for a few years that I could do very well on the
bigger bike and now I am excited to show what I am capable of.”

After missing out this time last year
due to misfortune with a leg break while training two weeks before the
season-launch, Gautier Paulin is itching to get to Sevlievo to begin
his second title tilt with the factory YZ250FM. Like his countryman
Frossard, Paulin also comes to Bulgaria with an Italian title on his
CV; the MX2 crown and having won a round of the French Championship.

“We’ve done a lot of work in the
off-season but I couldn’t be happier with the way things have gone and
how the YZ250FM is developing,” commented Paulin. “We had some decent
races in the last few months but now the real thing is so close. I’m
probably one of the riders more desperate to get to Bulgaria because
this time last year I was looking at a broken leg after so much work
during the winter. Now I have a good feeling about 2011 and the Grands
Prix cannot start soon enough.”

Runner-up to Paulin in the Italian
series was former European Champion Christophe Charlier who begins his
second world championship on the YZ250FM. The 19 year old Corsican, one
of the most naturally talented riders on the MX2-GP stage, will again
be partnered by Finland’s Harri Kullas; one of the stand-out rookies
from 2010 who scored points in 29 motos from 30 and stood-out with
victory in the Dutch Championship last month.

Yamaha will also be represented by the
Bike it Cosworth Wild Wolf Yamaha team in the UK who will field the
potent talents of Zach Osborne (fourth in the world in 2010 and British
MX2 Champion) and Arnaud Tonus (seventh in the world and winner of
several races in the UK and France during pre-season, also about to
commence just his third GP year). While 2010 MX3-GP World Champion,
Carlos Campano, will return to the blue-ribbon class on his YZ450F. 3C
Yamaha Racing will place two riders in the MX2-GP category (Steven
Lenior and Klemen Gercar while former factory rider and MX1 and MX2-GP
winner Marc De Reuver will campaign a YZ450F for Team Yamaha Van Beers
Racing.

Bulgaria is the first country that the
FIM series will visit over the course of the next six months and until
the curtain-closing Motocross of Nations on September 18th in France.
Trips to Holland, USA, Brazil, France, Portugal, Spain, Sweden,
Germany, Latvia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Great Britain and Italy lay
ahead.


A special video and photo gallery will be posted on www.yamaha-racing.com directly after the live online launch of the 2011 Monster Energy Yamaha line-up this Friday.