Meetings help Yamaha

A new regime has helped Yamaha become the manufacturer everybody wants to beat when the new 800cc MotoGP world championship kicks off on March 10, 2007 in Qatar.

That’s the view of factory rider Colin Edwards, who reckons big meetings held at the end of every test have helped make the new YZR-M1 set the early pace in winter testing.

Edwards and team-mate Valentino Rossi have been in sensational form during the exhaustive winter testing programme, and Edwards believes a key reason are meetings attended by every senior member of the team.

Japanese engineers, Michelin and Ohlins technicians, crew chiefs and data technicians all attend big post-test technical debriefs and Edwards said: “We have got it so sorted out in our team and we do these little meetings where me and Valentino can actually sit and discuss every little nuance of problems here and there.

“I think it’s new, I can’t remember doing it before. But it just seems a lot more set in stone.

“After the test we have a meeting to discuss stuff and at the same time we are projecting forward what we need to fix.

Edwards, who celebrates his 33rd birthday today, added: “And as it happens Valentino and I are looking for the same things to solve. The Japanese are doing an awesome job.”