Yamaha signs van den Goorbergh for 2004

Yamaha has announced Jurgen van den Goorbergh will continue to race for the Yamaha Belgarda team in World Supersport in 2004.

The 33-year-old Dutchman is currently second in the championship on an R6. His move from MotoGP came after the shock retirements of former Belgarda riders Jamie Whitham and Paolo Casoli weeks before the start of the season, along with fellow GP rider Simone Sanna.

” Before the start of the season I wasn’t sure how things would go, after all I had no experience of four-strokes, ” said van den Goorbergh. ” But we are fighting for the championship in my first season. The R6 will not be new to us next year, and the development work we have carried out, particularly to the fuel injection, means we should go into 2004 with a stronger package than our rivals and a big chance of winning the title. ”

The Dutchman is currently 37 points behind championship leader Chris Vermuelen, with three rounds and 75 possible points up for the grabs. Vermulen leads on 141 points, with van den Goorbergh on 104, and Katsuaki Fujiwara one point behind. The next round of the Supersport World Championship is at Assen on September 7.

Discuss this story on the WSB discussion board by following the link on the right.