2012 Yamaha Fz8 Black on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Simon and Leo

If you are a track day regular this year, you may well have bumped into former racer and friendly Kiwi, Simon Crafar. I first met him in Malaysia in 1990 when he was riding for a Yamaha dealer team, sweating his way round circuits like Shah Alam and Johor Bahru but with a long term plan to make it onto the World scene. And he didn’t take long as after riding for Honda in the UK in 1992 he moved to WSB in 1994 and enjoyed success with both the Honda and Kawasaki factory teams.

Last Year’s Surprise Podium Finisher Katsuyuki Nakasuga to Wild Card at Japanese GP

Katsuyuki Nakasuga, the surprise podium finisher at last year’s MotoGP finale in Valencia, will have the chance to catch lightning in a bottle once again, after being granted a wild card entry to the 2013 Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi. Nakasuga shocked the racing world with a second-place finish at the Valencian Grand Prix last November as an injury replacement for then-Yamaha factory rider Ben Spies. Nakasuga made the cagey decision to run slick tires in the wet race.

Yamaha Unveils 2012 MotoGP Livery – Massive Gallery and Video

Yamaha has pulled the covers off the 2012 edition of its YZR-M1, the machines which racers Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies will ride to compete in the 2012 MotoGP World Championship. While last year’s M1 was predominantly blue, the new 1000cc version of the M1 sports more white paint with wide bands of Yamaha blue on the front fairing and along the side, flowing along the line of the seat. Like most MotoGP squads, Yamaha doesn’t want to be too specific about its MotoGP bike’s potential, estimating the power output from the crossplane crankshaft engine at over 240 hp.