<img width="200" height="132" class="floatleft" src="https://motorcycleinth.com/images/articles/Sykes8thinBrandsHatchBSBPractice_1.JPEG" alt="" />Rizla Suzuki's Tom Sykes completed free practice in eighth place today at Brands Hatch Indy circuit in Kent and he is looking to improve on his setup during tomorrow's final session so he can place his GSX-R1000 on the front row of the grid during qualifying for the final round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship.

Dry weather and ideal conditions allowed both riders to fully utilise the 50-minute sessions steadily working through a number of changes to dial in their Rizla Suzuki's to the 1.1986-mile circuit. The short punchy Indy circuit can be difficult to pass on and Sykes was hindered during the sessions while trying to get a clear lap. He is determined to finish his season with Rizla Suzuki on a high and chipped away at his chassis settings which will leave him in a strong position ahead of tomorrow's qualifying.

His team-mate Atsushi Watanabe finished in 18th place and is also planning on further improvements tomorrow to guarantee a top-10 qualifying position. He concentrated on set-up taking a different direction as he reacquainted himself with the undulating Kent track.

<img width="104" height="157" class="floatleft" src="https://motorcycleinth.com/images/articles/Ben_Spies_signs_Yamaha_World_Superbike_1.jpg" alt="" />American racing sensation Ben Spies has signed up to the Yamaha factory World Superbike Team to partner 23 year old British rider Tom Sykes for the 2009 season. The 24yr old American rider from Dallas is fresh from a record third championship win in a row, taking the AMA Superbike Championship crown again for 2008. Spies is only the fourth rider in the history of AMA Superbike to win three consecutive titles and 3rd on the all-time AMA Superbike wins list with a total of 28 AMA Superbike wins. This now completes the Yamaha World Superbike team for 2009.

Spies has been racing and winning in the AMA Superbike Championship since 2005, and has an unrivalled 90% podium finish rate for racing, the highest for any AMA rider in the history of the championship. He took second place in his rookie year followed by the three successive championship wins. Prior to this he had a three year stint in the AMA Supersport Championship,. Spies turned pro in 2000, racing in the AMA Superstock Championship for two years before joining AMA Supersport in 2002.

<img width="177" height="117" class="floatleft" src="https://motorcycleinth.com/images/articles/Rossi_takes_8_World_Title_home_Yamaha_1.jpg" alt="" />Valentino Rossi rode a perfect race to win Yamaha's home Grand Prix in Japan today, claiming the 2008 MotoGP World Championship title in the process. In doing so the 29-year-old Italian became only the second rider in history to recapture the title after two years, the other being Giacomo Agostini, whose all-time victory record Rossi surpassed at the last race in Indianapolis.

This is Rossi's third title with Yamaha, his sixth in the premier class and eighth in total in a career spanning 12 years.

His team-mate Jorge Lorenzo finished a fighting fourth and today's results also secured the triple crown of Rider, Manufacturer and Team titles for Yamaha and the Fiat Yamaha Team. Rossi slipped some places at the start and was in fifth first time around.

<img width="177" height="115" class="floatleft" src="https://motorcycleinth.com/images/articles/Rossi_claims_historic_pole_Indianapolis_1.jpg" alt="" />Valentino Rossi took a historic pole position today for the inaugural MotoGP race at Indianapolis today; tomorrow will see him become the first rider in 99 years to head a motorcycle race at the famous 'Brickyard'. The Fiat Yamaha rider hung onto the front grid spot by just 0.084 seconds ahead of Casey Stoner to take his second pole of the season, with team-mate Jorge Lorenzo rounding out the front row for the second race running.

After the torrential downpours of yesterday, the rain abated today and this morning's practice was run on a drying track. Rossi was quick to find an effective dry set-up and was second fastest, finding the agile nature of his M1 well suited to the demands of the 4.218 km track. Qualifying this afternoon was run in bright sunshine and Rossi had an enjoyable hour, fine-tuning his setting before putting in several fast laps with a Bridgestone qualifying tyre, his final one good enough to hold off Stoner and Lorenzo's last-minute challenges.

American Suzuki Motor Corporation and Yoshimura Racing were shocked and dismayed when, less than 30 minutes after they submitted, on behalf of Mat Mladin, the written evidence demanded by the AMA, the request for an appeal of Mladin's disqualification from the VIR Superbike races was summarily rejected.

Both companies believe the decision is arbitrary and unreasonable, and flagrantly ignores the letter and spirit of the AMA rules.

On Saturday, August 30th, AMA Special Projects Manager Bill Syfan informed Don Sakakura of Yoshimura Racing that they must produce supporting documentation and crankshaft production records and information by 5:00 p.m. (EST) August 5th. The written submission, along with an opinion from an independent crankshaft expert, was faxed to the AMA shortly before 5:00 p.m.

Valentino Rossi moved two races clear at the top of the championship with his fifth win of the season today, enjoying an easy ride home after his closest rival Casey Stoner crashed out on lap seven.

Rossi, starting from second, lost some time at the first corner getting past John Hopkins and for the first couple of laps Stoner looked in danger of clearing off, but the Italian soon found his rhythm and was gradually making up time on the Australian when he saw him slide off into the gravel. The pair had already opened out an impressive gap from the chasing pack and Rossi was left to race the remaining 15 laps alone and unchallenged, eventually coming home 15 seconds clear of Toni Elias. The seven-time world champion's 67th premier-class victory takes him within one race of the all-time premier-class record, held by his compatriot Giacomo Agostini.

Rossi is now 50 points clear of Stoner with Pedrosa 15 points off in third, whilst Lorenzo's six points see him remain fourth in the standings, ten points ahead of Andrea Dovizioso.

The Fiat Yamaha Team resume their pursuit of the MotoGP World Championship title this weekend after a four-week summer holiday, with Valentino Rossi leading the series into what promises to be a thrilling seven-race climax. The Czech Republic hosts round twelve of eighteen, with the town of Brno staging a Grand Prix for the 39th time since the original 14km road circuit was first used back in 1965.

Rossi heads to the motorcycling heartlands of eastern Europe with renewed energy and ready to resume battle at one of his most successful circuits, following a stunning maiden win at Laguna Seca before the break. The 29-year-old took his first ever Grand Prix win at Brno in the 125cc class and has since added to his tally there with a 250cc success and three wins in MotoGP, as well as three second places in the top class. His success in America, which came after a thrilling tussle with Casey Stoner, means the Italian leads the Australian by 25 points at the top of the standings.

Mid-season Review with Masao Furusawa - Executive Officer, Engineering Operations for Yamaha Motor Company.

1 - What's been the biggest change to the M1 this year?
&quot;We have made many changes to the 2008 M1 compared to the 2007 version and we have improved it a lot; Valentino is satisfied with our work so far. Of course the biggest change for us has affected Valentino's side only - the change of tyre manufacturer. After the switch we had a hard time learning how to get the best performance from the new tyres and of course we had no data. Last however year Valentino predicted that changing would be the right thing for him and he was right, although of course we weren't able to predict how differently the tyre would behave.&quot;

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) was only 0.023 seconds from a Superpole win at Brands Hatch, after a very confused 'wet' Superpole contest, which was eventually decided on a completely dry racetrack.

Despite the confusion caused by a late switch from a regular 'dry' Superpole to a wet session, Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) secured fifth place and therefore the prime spot on the second row for Sunday's 25-lap races.

The final few laps of the Superpole session were conducted at near track best pace, despite the start of the session being completely wet, and the pole time of 1'25.656 was set by Troy Bayliss.

Team Suzuki Alstare rider Yukio Kagayama mastered a bumpy track and blustery conditions in this afternoon's qualifying at Brands Hatch to end the day with the third fastest lap time ahead of Sunday's World Superbike Championship 10th round.

His team mate Fonsi Nieto finished 10th and Max Neukirchner 14th. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) took provisional pole position, just over a tenth-of-a-second faster then Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha).

Yukio Kagayama - 3rd, 1:26.156, &quot;In this morning practice and at the start of this afternoon's qualifying I did not have a good feeling with the bike and also suffered problems with the grip. But my mechanics and I made some changes to the balance of the bike and the chassis set-up and there was a big improvement straight away. I was able to put in some good laps and now I feel that we can improve further. The wind was very strong this afternoon, especially in the first and last turns and it was easy to get blown off line if you weren't careful. I am a little sore from my crash at the Suzuka 8 hour race last weekend. I hit my left knee and it is not as flexible on the bike as it should be. The damaged ligaments in my left hand are getting better, but I know this is going to take quite some time. It is a little frustrating, but my job is to race so I just have to try and forget about it.&quot;