Casoli and Whitham confirmed at Belgarda.

It has been confirmed that both Paolo Casoli and Jamie Whitham will be retained by Yamaha Belgarda to ride in the 2003 Supersport World Championship.

Both riders will pilot the new Yamaha R6, which will be presented to the public at the Munich motorshow (Intermot).

Yamaha Belgarda Racing Division Manager Claudio Consonni explained: "We are very satisfied with he performance of our squad this season and decided to keep the whole team together for 2003.

"Casoli and Whitham work very well with the team and their co-operation will be vital as we chase the World title in 2003," he added.

Thirty-six year old Jamie Whitham first rode for Yamaha Belgarda at Donington in 1998 and scored a tremendous victory on his debut. In 2000, he finished sixth and followed that with fourth in 2001 before his massive accident at Brands Hatch, from which he is still recovering.

Casoli rode for Yamaha Belgarda in 2001 and would have won the title that year if he hadn't been the victim of unfortunate circumstances.

In their time together, Casoli and Whitham have won eight races between them and taken three pole positions.