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As reigning champions in World Superbike the official Yamaha team, led by team manager Massimo ‘Maio' Meregalli, had a tough act to follow in 2010. From the outset they clearly had more viable rivals to compete against than they had in 2009. So just after the half-season point has been reached we caught up with Meregalli to find out his thoughts on a half-season that has delivered James Toseland and Cal Crutchlow seven podiums between them, plus a few big handfuls of bad luck.

"I think for sure the first part season has been tougher than I thought, tougher than what we were expecting," said Meregalli. "But we had a lot of improvements to do to match our riders' suggestions, and we have had some bad luck as well. For sure I was expecting to be much closer to the front - but we will not give up until the end of the season."

A raft of off-season machine improvements in the unique YZF-R1 machine have been tried, some kept and some left behind as the Italian based team has searched for more competitiveness in 2010. "With the bike, right now, we have more power than last year, but we decided not to use the new tank," said Meregalli. Improvements are, however, ongoing in such a tough series. "We are improving the electronics and driveability of the bike all the time. The bike, I think, is better compared to last year - but the other manufacturers are better too. It is more difficult this year, there are more riders who can fight for the victories in each race."