Neither the Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A.-backed teams nor their riders have plans to participate in the 2015 edition of the Daytona 200, which will be run as an American Sportbike Racing Association (ASRA) event.
That’s the word from Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A. Racing Department Manager Keith McCarty, who spoke to Roadracingworld.com on Friday, after a ceremony in which he helped induct several riders into the company’s Wall of Champions.
“Currently, we don’t have any plans to participate with any of the Y.E.S. team or the Superbike team guys,” said McCarty. “I kind of left it open because it all was pretty new and we didn’t have time to think about it, but my sense is with all of the things we have on our plate that we wouldn’t be able to really do that. So I don’t believe that those two teams [will participate].
“Now, my sense is there will be a number of guys on Yamahas there. I’m not really sure. I haven’t got a lot of information from anybody that is going to participate and what they may or may not need from us. But I plan to go down there to see it, and hopefully there will be some Yamahas out there fighting for the win.”
Asked if he was ready to announce Yamaha’s 2015 road racing plans for America, McCarty said, “They’re coming together, but we’re not quite ready to make that announcement yet. There’s a few things we want to get buttoned up. Probably most of all is to see what the full plan from MotoAmerica is going to be. They’ve got eight races on the calendar and we’re probably on the verge of hearing something about on the television. I think we’d like to know the whole scope of things and make sure we have everything lined up for that before we announce [our plans]. Perhaps in the next 30 days, maybe after the first of the year we’ll be throwing something out there, maybe sooner, but we’re waiting on them a little bit right now.”