Grand Prix of Valencia
Valencia, Spain
Friday 4th November 2005 

YAMAHA FACTORY RACING RIDERS PREPARE FOR FINAL PUSH

Yamaha Factory Racing riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards began making
preparations for the final round of the 2005 MotoGP World Championship at
Valencia today, with the cloudy conditions at the Ricardo Tormo circuit
brightened by the return of the factory's traditional red, white and black
racing colours. Both riders' YZR-M1 machines and leathers are decorated in the
famous livery, in commemoration of Yamaha's 50th Anniversary and its
extraordinarily successful year in racing this season.

Rossi was seventh fastest in both sessions as he worked on adapting the set-up
of his machine to the demands of a tight and twisty circuit after the fast and
flowing characteristics of Phillip Island and Istanbul. There is certainly more
to come from the Italian tomorrow after he ended the day with a lap time which
was over 1.5 seconds outside his pole position record of 1'32.478, set two
seasons ago. Colin Edwards also made a steady start to the weekend, lapping
tenth fastest as he continued to work on a new riding style designed to increase
his corner speed.

VALENTINO ROSSI (7th - 1'34.040; 53 laps)

"I like the colour scheme very much - it is like going back to the 1970s. The
bike and the leathers look really nice. Today we're having a few problems with
the front end and also with acceleration. We are losing a lot of time in the
slow corners and we are not strong at the end of the lap in general. We have
some problems and some of the others are very fast but I am not too worried.
We've had difficulties before on a Friday and worked them out for Saturday so I
am confident we can overcome them on this occasion too. Everybody is tired
because seventeen races in a season is a lot but we will keep pushing until the
end."

COLIN EDWARDS (10th - 1'34.129; 57 laps)

"I am getting to grips with this new riding style and I feel I have made a big
step forward already this weekend. Every time I go out on the track I make
progress and the team has been very helpful. My Crew Chief Daniele is showing me
where I can be faster and where I can be later on the brakes, which is really
helping - there's definitely a team effort going on. I feel the times are there
this weekend but I now have to find the confidence in myself to push on and keep
moving forward. We will see what else we can come up with tomorrow."

DAVIDE BRIVIO - GAULOISES YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR

"It was another slow start to the weekend for us, something we have become used
to this season! The positions don't look good but there are a lot of riders who
are close together and if we make the improvements we know we are capable of,
then both our riders should be much higher up tomorrow. As usual on a Friday we
analyse the information and try to find as many solutions before practice
continues tomorrow."

COMBINED FREE PRACTICE TIMES:

 1. Marco Melandri (ITA) Movistar Honda MotoGP   1'33.464
 2. Carlos Checa (SPA) Ducati Marlboro Team      1'33.506
 3. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Movistar Honda MotoGP    1'33.523
 4. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team         1'33.722
 5. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team   1'33.730
 6. Alex Barros (BRA) Camel Honda                1'33.967
 7. VALENTINO ROSSI (ITA) Gauloises Yamaha Team  1'34.040
 8. Max Biaggi (ITA) Repsol Honda Team           1'34.094
 9. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Konica Minolta Honda     1'34.103
10. COLIN EDWARDS (USA) Gauloises Yamaha Team    1'34.129