Yamaha Italia's Andrew Pitt finds himself top Yamaha rider on show this year so far, sitting fifth overall after a tumultuous start to the season, with many of his front-running rides fading as the end of the races approach. He is by no means alone in being equipped with a Yamaha this season, with the R1 also proving to be the most popular machine in the privateer ranks. Crowd favourite
Noriyuki Haga on the second Yamaha Italia machine finds himself behind Yamaha France's multiple GP winner Norick Abe in the points standings at present, but will be out to redress that balance this weekend.
After some encouraging qualifying sessions and Superpole performances the Foggy Petronas FP-1 riders, Steve Martin and Garry McCoy, have had dreadful luck in races, with crashes and technical problems ruling them out on numerous occasions. Martin is the only Petronas point scorer at present, but racing close to the team's Burton-on-Trent race headquarters, the team will be hoping for a turnaround at
Silverstone.
In a year when the championship is as open as it has ever been in terms of competitive machinery. The Klaffi Honda team have fielded a mixture of youth and experience, with sometimes devastating results. Pierfrancesco Chili, and 2004's WSS Rookie of the Year Max Neukirchner have each made impacts in the results, but each has already missed races through injury, holding back their ultimate championship positions.
Renegade Koji Honda's Ben Bostrom is expecting yet more machine improvements for Silverstone, as he tries to improve on a personal 2005 best of sixth at Valencia.
