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WHEN LEGENDS UNITE! YAMAHA RACING HERITAGE CLUB BRINGS TOGETHER RACING HISTORY AT JEREZ
The Yamaha Racing Heritage Club took a starring role at the recent Yamaha Racing Experience at Jerez, bringing together racing legends such as Valentino Rossi and Luca Cadalora alongside the manufacturer’s current crop of WorldSBK and Endurance World Championship riders at the Circuito de Jerez Angel Nieto on some iconic two-stroke machinery.
The Yamaha Racing Heritage Club (YRHC) was established to safeguard and celebrate Yamaha’s rich racing legacy, and what better way to do that than by inviting members and some legendary riders to the exclusive two-day Yamaha Racing Experience (YRE) in Spain?
The glorious weather at Jerez was matched only by the incredible lineup of World Championship-winning Yamaha riders. Nine-time Grand Prix World Champion Rossi was joined by three-time Grand Prix World Champion Cadalora, along with Yamaha’s current WorldSBK riders, including six-time Superbike World Champion Jonathan Rea and his Pata Prometeon Yamaha teammate, 2020 WorldSSP Champion Andrea Locatelli, plus double WorldSSP Champion (2021 & 2022) Dominique Aegerter.
On top of this, the reigning FIM Endurance World Champions, Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team’s Niccolò Canepa, Karel Hanika, Marvin Fritz, and Robin Mulhauser also got to join the fun. With all of these superstar riders, the 2024 YRE was always going to be an epic event, but the Yamaha Racing Heritage Club pit box proved to be a major highlight and won the praise of the “coolest garage” from Canepa.
One of the main reasons for this was down to YRHC members bringing some of the most iconic two-stroke bikes from the last few decades to Spain. The undoubted stars of the show were the immaculately maintained Eddie Lawson YZR500s, his title-winning 1986 0W81 and his 1987 0W86, as well as Cadalora’s 1990 YZR250 0WB9 that he rode to third in the championship that year, all generously provided by the Battisti family, following the death of one of the founder members of the YRHC and legendary motorcycle collector Luciano Battisti last year.
Other bikes that were a hit with the riders were the two beautiful 2001 YZR500 0WL6 replicas, one in Max Biaggi’s colours from that year and the other based on Alex Hoffman’s 2002 Yamaha livery, lovingly built from the ground up by YRHC members Carlo Mattarozzi and Alex Arletti.
There were also three YRHC TZ750 replicas, one based on the TZ750D Christian Sarron rode to second in the 1977 Formula 750 Championship, one based on the YZR750 15x World Champion Giacomo Agostini rode to his last World Championship race victory in 1977, and another based on the YZR750 that Johnny Cecotto won the Formula 750 title on in 1978.
The only issue with such an impressive lineup of bikes and riders was deciding who would get to ride what. When the event kicked off, Rossi immediately jumped at the chance to hit the track on Lawson’s 1986 YZR500, which was the first time “The Doctor” had ridden a 500cc two-stroke GP bike since MotoGP switched to the four-stroke era in 2002.
Rea joined him riding the 0W86, with Cadalora on his YZR250, making for a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle of a trio of white and red Yamaha two-stroke GP bikes streaking around the Jerez circuit.
Rea summed it up best by describing the experience as, “Riding around on the YZR500s with Valentino just in front of me was a real “pinch yourself” moment, and something I will never forget!”
The Northern Irishman also got to bring back some memories later in the event when he went out on the TZ750 Agostini replica, a bike similar to one his Grandfather used to own. “Getting to ride the Giacomo Agostini TZ750 was a special moment for me, as my dad used to have one in his garage and sponsored Joey Dunlop when he rode one, so that was an emotional moment.”
Another highlight was Locatelli riding the Biaggi replica 0WL6, one of the last two-stroke GP bikes of its era, as the Italian fulfilled a childhood dream: “To ride that bike was amazing. I grew up watching him race on TV and imagined riding that very bike. I wasn’t disappointed. It was really fast, the tyres and brakes were good, and honestly, it was a dream come true to ride it around Jerez.”
Canepa was also delighted to get his hands on the Biaggi replica, stating, “The power comes so aggressively, you have to be really careful. But when you start to understand the engine character, you can really enjoy it, and the power it delivers is fantastic. Plus, of course, the sound is incredible! It is impressive how light and nice it is to ride this bike, even compared to modern bikes, and it was a real dream come true to ride one of the last ever two-stroke 500 GP bikes.”
The Italian also described Sarron’s TZ750 replica as “a beast!” while Locatelli was in awe when he got to ride Agostini’s YZR750 replica: “It is so different from my current bike, but it still has so much power, and you have to ride it with a completely different style, but I really enjoyed it!”
After two days of sensational track action in Jerez, the next event on the YRHC 2024 calendar is the Veterans Motocross des Nations (VMXoN) at Foxhills from the 22nd to the 25th of August, which will feature three-time 125cc MX World Champion Alessio Chiodi, alongside a display of historic Yamaha off-road bikes.