Massimo Roccoli made a swift transition from a Superstock 1000 machine to a World Supersport Championship YZF-R6 in 2006, and went on finish a very credible sixth in the championship last year. For 2008 he continues his WSS campaign with the Yamaha Team Italia squad.

The 21-year-old came to international prominence at the end of the 2004 season when he made several appearances as a wild-card rider on Lorenzini's Supersport and Superstock bikes, scoring 11th place in each of his Supersport outings and a fine fifth on his R1 debut.

That led to a full-time ride in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup in 2005 where he was one of the revelations of the year. Starting like a train, standing on the podium in each of the opening three races, and taking the win at Silverstone. But the second half of the season saw a drop in Massimo's performance, which was attributed to the tough schedule of international racing and the physical stress riding the 180bhp R1 was putting on his slightly built body.

In 2006 Roccoli was delighted to be back on the 600cc Supersport machine on which he built his reputation. The Rimini rider won the Italian Yamaha R6 cup in 2003 before going on to take an R6 to third in the Italian Supersport Championship the following year, giving him a perfect pedigree for the global 600cc class.

In 2006 his possibilities in the Supersport class were turned into impressive realities on occasion and indeed he became the first rider to score a WSS win on the then new Yamaha. His win came at his hometown track of Misano and his popular victory helped to put him sixth overall at season end. 2007 proved to be a consistent year for Roccoli with him putting in the time and effort to frequently feature in the top ten.

Now for 2008, having proven his consistency Roccoli is looking to step up the game and claim more and more podiums