MotoReview

The 2006 Camel Yamaha was officially unveiled at a presentation yesterday in Milan.

The bikes were uncovered by a group of acrobats freshly shipped in from the winter olympics, and the Italian TV presenter Marco Mazzocchi compered the event. Many of the top bods from Yamaha and Japan Tobacco International were also present.

Masao Furusawa, the Executive Officer for Engineering Operations at Yamaha, had the following to say about the new M1: "Even though the basic M1 concept for 2006 is the same, this is a more sophisticated bike, especially with the increasing RPM of the engine. It is very important for the progression of the bike to keep Valentino and Colin together, as they are not just riders for us, but a key part of the development of the M1."

Lin Jarvis, Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing Srl, added "Last year we got everything right with this team. The rider combination, the bike and every other element. Now our goal with our new title sponsor Camel is to achieve all this once again and win the championship."

Roberto Zanni, the European Regional President for Japan Tobacco International, spoke about the exciting new partnership between Camel and Yamaha. "The feeling has been very good with Yamaha right from the beginning. Everything is very professional but also very friendly, it's a good atmosphere. I expect that the passion this year within this team will be very great and with two riders as successful as Valentino and Colin, we can expect great things."

Once the important people in suits had spoken, the team director Davide Brivio spoke about his goals for the season and the new bike. "I think that everybody will really like the new livery, and especially the riders' numbers on the white squares. We needed to come up with something original for the livery without moving away from the Camel yellow, which we all really like, and now I think this final livery is going to look really spectacular on track. For the season, we're ready! We've done some important and successful tests, and now we will just make the most of the six remaining days of testing before the first race to make some final improvements to the new M1."

Finally, the Camel Yamaha team riders Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi came onto the stage to say their bit about the upcoming season, now just a month away. "This new bike is really beautiful!" exclaimed Rossi, who this season aims to win a sixth consecutive World Championship title. "It's exciting to be starting another season with Yamaha; these last two seasons together with them have probably been the best of my career. It's also nice to be with Colin again, we're very close in our team. The new M1 is already very good and we've been working very closely to develop it with Yamaha. Yamaha has done a very good job. This year I have many new young adversaries who will be challenging me, and I think there is going to be some spectacular racing!"

Colin Edwards, who was celebrating his 32nd birthday, said "I really like the new bike design, it looks really great. I had the retro-style number five like this on the bike at Laguna Seca last year and I've used it again for this year. The new bike in general has been fantastic throughout the winter tests, I'm really excited. Yamaha has done a great job and everything about it feels better than last year. I honestly can't wait to get back on board this week in Barcelona, we have a few things to work on still but we're in good shape. My promise for the year is to win at least a few races and have a one-two for the Camel Yamaha Team at the end of the year!"

The Camel Yamaha team will next be in action at the first of the IRTA tests in Catalunya, beginning on the 3rd of March (this Friday).

For pictures from the event, see our Camel Yamaha gallery.

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