Yamaha has won the 2007 WSB Manufacturers Championship with a 28-point margin following today's season finale at Magny-Cours. Both Yamaha Motor Italia riders put in 100% effort today to give the manufacturer the title with Noriyuki Haga taking the double win and Troy Corser coming home in third and fourth. Both races were nail-biting events with Haga and Corser making good use of team work to gain maximum points.

Nobody could have asked for more from Haga as he led both races from start to finish, claiming his second double win of the season; the first being at Monza. Corser also put in a sterling performance during the day, battling with Neukirchner and Bayliss in race one and Biaggi and Nieto in race two, to take third and fourth.

Haga's double win was bittersweet as the rider ended the day just two points off the championship title. This is the third time Noriyuki has finished second in the championship.

MotoGP heads to the Southern Hemisphere this week for the 16th round of the world championship at Phillip Island. After a hugely uplifting performance last time out at Motegi, the Kawasaki Racing Team are looking forward to continuing their success following Randy de Puniet's excellent second place, his first premier class podium, and Anthony West's hard-fought seventh.

Riding the Kawasaki ZX-RR, powered by the latest incarnation of the 800cc, four-stroke engine, and running the Bridgestone tyres that have dominated the series so far this year, de Puniet is looking stronger than ever.

With the Ninja repeatedly showing itself to be one of the fastest bikes on the track, and the number 14 pilot regularly proving to be one of the fastest men, the swooping, high speed turns of the Australian circuit represent an alluring challenge and the 26-year-old Frenchman's aiming high.

Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra stand in rider Max Neukirchner has taken second place on the grid for tomorrow's final-round World Superbike Championship round at Magny Cours in France.

The young German, covering for injured Yukio Kagayama, recorded a time of 1'38.501, a whisker behind pole-setter James Toseland (1'38.501).

Despite only riding the Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 K7 for the first time yesterday, he immediately got on terms with the bike and was a force to be reckoned with throughout practice and qualifying.

In this afternoon's 16-rider shoot-out he blasted round the 4.411 kilometre track in 1:38.524 and was only deprived of Superpole by a determined James Toseland (Honda). At the end, the margin between him and Toseland was only 0.023, so he will start alongside the series leader in tomorrow's pair of 23-lap races.

The Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team has its name on two spaces on the front row of the grid for the final race of the season tomorrow, with Corser in third and Haga in fourth.

Haga set a blistering pace during this morning's second qualifying session, becoming the first rider of the session to put in a 1'39 lap time and go top. He stayed at the top of the board until the final minute when Bayliss took 0.095 seconds off his time, pushing Haga to second place for Superpole. Corser used the session to work on his set-up and joined the 1'39 club five minutes from the end to go fifth fastest.

Corser was the first man out of the box for the team and managed a good lap to go second in the rankings behind Toseland, although he was later knocked into third by Neukirchner who was 0.1 seconds in front.

Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Max Biaggi and stand-in Max Neukirchner endured difficult conditions in the first qualifying session at Magny-Cours this afternoon at the final round of the World Superbike Championship.

Just as the session began, light rain began to fall, making the 4.411 kilometre circuit very slippery in places. Although the rain soon stopped, most riders stayed in the garages and waited for the track to dry out before trying to set a fast qualifying time.

Neukirchner, deputising for injured Yukio Kagayama, managed to go out and complete a lap in 1:42.397 to end the day 13th quickest overall, whilst Max Biaggi set a lap of 1:42.620 and finished 14th overall. Neither rider wanted to take any risks, on a track that was still damp in places, so took things steadily instead.

Following an afternoon of mixed weather, the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team has finished day one of qualifying with Haga and Corser in provisional third and fifth positions respectively.

Both riders started the day in the top six during this morning's free practice but it was the weather that changed everyone's plans when the qualifying session was declared wet after a sudden rain shower at the start. Everyone went out initially but came in after only one out lap as the back of the circuit was wet. With Sunday's dry forecast making wet laps pointless, there was then no further on-track activity until 30 minutes into the session when the sun had dried the tarmac sufficiently.

Max Biaggi and Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra head to this weekend's final World Superbike round at Magny Cours on a mission to lift the title.

Following the Italian's victory and second place at Vallelunga, he lies 29 points behind series leader James Toseland, but any slip-up by the Briton could give him a chance of taking the title.

Biaggi had his first ever outing on the GSX-R1000 at Magny-Cours at the end of last season so is no stranger to the track, but since then the bike has developed a lot so he will have to work hard to find a good set-up in practice and qualifying. Nonetheless he and the team are ready for the challenge and hoping to end the season on a high.

Husqvarna Team riders Adrien and Thomas Chareyre have highly contributed in the conquest of the Supermoto of Nations by French Country. Especially Thomas Chareyre has been the main star of the race winning first and third places in the two heats. Older brother Adrien's performance was good.

The rider got 5th and 6th positions making his team win the day at only one point from Italian team.

Another Husqvarna rider, Gerald Delepine, had a good day racing for his home Country Belgium: even if Gerald was forced to start from the back lines, the rider did recover very good during the reaces and closed the two heats on 7th and 3rd positions respectively.
Now, Husqvarna Team is focused on the Supermoto World Championship final round to be held in Megara, Greece, on Sunday October 21st.

The 2007 World Superbike Championship comes to a thrilling finale this weekend at the French circuit of Magny-Cours. The final round of the championship will be played out in true dramatic form with the top three riders all in with a chance of lifting the trophy on Sunday.

Only one weekend ago, the race in Vallelunga, Italy saw the championship possibilities left wide open as Haga took a third and fourth while championship leader Toseland could only manage third and 11th. Biaggi also got in on the act when he took first and second to move into second championship place. With only 33 points separating these three riders there is everything still to fight for.

It's not just the riders' championship that is at stake this coming weekend.

Started from the plateau of Giza in Egypt, with the pyramids as background, the 130 teams of the 10th TOTAL Pharaohs International Rally took the cap to the South on the track of the oasis, direction Baharija. This is the first stop on the way to the Libyan desert. At the finish line of this stage and its 316 km, the Spanish rider Marc Coma (KTM Repsol) on his motorbike is the first motorcycle winner of this first stage of the 10th edition of the Pharaohs International Rally.

The wind blowing out on the heights of Baharija barely cooled down the atmosphere. Arrived very sparingly at the finish line of the stage, the competitors hurry themselves to lay down in the shadow of the bivouac, accompanied by a well deserved meal and a cold drink. For this very first stage of the 10th TOTAL Pharaohs Rally, Marc Coma (KTM Repsol) honored his level.