2009 Yamaha V Star 950 Tourer on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Hayes, Beaubier On 2014 Yamaha AMA Superbike, Herrin To Moto2

The 2013 AMA Pro Superbike has just wrapped up its season this past weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, with Josh Hayes dominating the race and his teammate, Josh Herrin, finishing second to clinch his first AMA Superbike championship. Not long after the checkered flag waved did Yamaha announce some big changes for the upcoming 2014 season. First and foremost, Herrin will be departing for Moto2 next year, fulfilling his desire to compete on the world stage.

Yamaha Pro Am madness, the best one make championship ever?

I’m biased of course, but the best one make road race championship has to be the Yamaha RD 350LC Pro Am series. Back in the days when manufacturers had spare cash (1980 to be precise), Mitsui Yamaha organised this televised championship at major British race meetings to promote the recently launched, and now iconic, Yamaha RD350LC. Twenty four riders (twelve established and twelve rookies) were chosen by a panel of experts then given a completely free season of racing with a very generous prize fund thrown in.

Rainy BSB tests are nothing new

THE combination of bad weather in the UK and a European testing ban means that most BSB teams will now start the season with very little track time. This sounds like a disaster for the top teams but history has proved this isn’t necessarily true and it sometimes doesn’t matter how much pre season preparation has taken place.  Back in 2002 Sean Emmett won on the IFC Ducati at the opening Silverstone round after first riding it in unofficial practice the same weekend. Steve Hislop took the other win on Pauls Bird’s well sorted Ducati. More recently in 2009, Leon Camier took an untested new model R1 Yamaha to victory at the Brands Hatch opener after GSE took delivery of the bike just the week before. Sylvain Guintoli won the other race on a well developed, well tested Crescent Suzuki. You could argue if no one has had testing then it is a level playing field but you have to feel for riders moving up to the superbike class in the world’s toughest national series.  Tyco Suzuki’s PJ Jacobson is one such rider but having spent some time with him over the past few weeks he seems to be taking it all in his stride. It may be the confidence of youth or maybe the fact he has won in every other class he has entered in his short BSB career, but I suspect he fancies at least standing on the Superbike podium at Brands (He also does a bit of ice racing which is not dissimilar to the this year’s UK testing).  The testing ban was implemented with all the best cost cutting intentions and if it had been any other year in the past decade all would be well. The teams may be feeling frustrated but the fans should be excited. With so many unknowns, the 2013 BSB opener at Brands Hatch could be the best ever!