2005 Yamaha Fjr 1300 Abs Kjo on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Yamaha Wraps Up Sepang MotoGP Test

Pre-season test lap times aren’t a precise barometer for how the 2012 MotoGP Championship season will go, but Yamaha has to feel good about its results after this week’s testing at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit. Last February at Sepang, Honda riders were the talk of the preseason session, taking three of the top four lap times on each day of the test. That pattern repeated itself in the final championship standings with Casey Stoner taking the championship, Dani Pedrosa finishing third and Andrea Dovizioso fourth.

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.

You want a nice little car, you do.

We ran a couple of stories last week - both, coincidentally, about new Kawasakis. One was the first peek of the new ZX10R – hot stuff you’d imagine – the other, the new W800 retro parallel twin. I suppose it shouldn’t have shocked us, which story was most popular in terms of hits but it really does mark a seismic shifts in British biking attitudes that the W800 story doubled the hits of the ZX10 piece.