From June 19th to 21st classic bike fans will be able to experience the halcyon days of racing at Spa-Francorchamps as The Yamaha Classic Racing Team (YCRT) take to the track with a team of incredible race bikes and legendary riders of yesterday. The three day 2009 4 Hours of Spa Classic will see riders such as Giacomo Agostini, Rod Gould, Dieter Braun, Steve Baker and Chas Mortimer reunited with the incredible Yamaha machines they originally rode to fame in the sixties and seventies. Agostini will be riding the awesome Yamaha 500cc OW23 in the GP1 and 750 class, the machine Ago rode for the very first time at the Belgian GP in Spa 35 years ago, finishing 2nd in that race, in front of Braun. In a fantastic show of support by The Yamaha Motor Company in Japan, Agostini’s OW23 bike was flown over from the factory especially for the event. Following Spa it will then be taken to Goodwood where it will be ridden by Chas Mortimer on July 4th and 5th. Chas was the first ever Yamaha GP winner in 1972 on the YZ634A. In the GP2 class at Spa Chas Mortimer and Dieter Braun will appear on the screaming 2 stroke Yamaha YZ635 and Yamaha YZ634 respectively whilst Luca Cadalora will be racing his original OWA7 250 2 cylinder again, riding for Team Luciano Battisti. The YCRT, officially supported by Yamaha Motor Europe NV and managed by former GP mechanic Ferry Brouwer, will be showing up in Spa with 23 classic Yamaha machines, raced between 1964 up to 1985 including a TZ500 sidecar. “I’m delighted with Yamaha’s active involvement with the Yamaha Classic Racing Team,” said Ferry Brouwer. “Yamaha take an active interest in their history, and share the passion of racing. The joy in the Yamaha MotoGP team when they won last weekend at Catalunya is something I recognize, a real passion and excitement that has always stayed in the Yamaha team. It makes it very rewarding for us keeping Yamaha’s classic racing heritage alive.” 2009 Yamaha Classic Racing Team Schedule: June 19-21 Spa Francorchamps, Belgium eng.bikersclassics.be July 4-5 Goodwood www.goodwood.co.uk August 8-9 St.Wendel Germany (h) www.bernd-bouillon.de August 15-16 Schotten, Germany www.schottenring.de