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Davide Brivio Out of Yamaha, Maio Meregalli In

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Yamaha Racing announced this week that Davide Brivio, the Team Manager for Valentino Rossi’s side of the garage, will be leaving the team at the end of the season. Taking on a management role in Rossi’s VR46 brand, Brivio will be replaced by Massimo “Maio” Meregalli, the former factory Yamaha World Superbike team manager. Meregalli’s appointment to the position likely has to to with the entry of Ben Spies into the factory team, as he and Spies reportedly became close during the Texan’s WSBK stint with Yamaha.

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News

Gone Riding: Yamaha Super Ténéré

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Things will be a little slow on A&R today, as we’re in Arizona testing the new Yamaha Super Ténéré. We already put 70 miles on Yamaha’s adventure tourer yesterday, and today’s route will take us on 200+ miles of mostly road, with a few dirt sections. You can follow our thoughts on the bike via Twitter, although admittedly they may come in spurts as there is limited cell phone reception here in Sedona (cell towers have been replaced with breathtaking views of mesas and desert). Some press photos of the Super T after the break should tide you over until our ride report.

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Racing

Ben Spies Looking for Contract Renewal with Yamaha

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The term “strike while the iron is hot” comes to mind with the news that Ben Spies is currently in talks to re-up his contract with Yamaha. Already contracted to ride with the factory Yamaha team in the 2011 season, Spies is looking to cash in on his MotoGP Rookie of the Year title, and lock up a deal with Yamaha Racing that would see the Texan on the squad through 2013.

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Racing

Air Europa Gives a Nod to Jorge Lorenzo

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After clinching the MotoGP Championship title while abroad, Jorge Lorenzo came home to a hero’s welcome when he returned to Spain this week. With most of the country hopping on the Jorge bandwagon, the most impressive honor we’ve seen so far is this huge mural on the side of an Air Europa airplane. Don’t expect the airline to be sponsoring Lorenzo anytime soon though, as Air Asia is reportedly closing in on a title sponsorship deal with Yamaha, while Fiat’s money is surely leaving the tuning fork brand with Valentino Rossi’s departure.

Source: Jorge Lorenzo (Twitter) via Bikes in the Fast Lane

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Racing

Jorge Lorenzo Signs Two-Year Deal with Yamaha

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Yamaha Racing announced this morning in Motegi, Japan that they have finally come to an agreement with Jorge Lorenzo, which sees the Spanish rider signing a two-year contract with the factory team. The announcement isn’t a surprise, as Lorenzo has made it clear over the course of the season that his goal was to remain at Yamaha, with the Japanese company making similar overtures.

Lorenzo is however the last MotoGP alien to sign-up for next year, with the delay likely being due to salary negotiations and other perks within the team, like developing the YZF-M1 to suit his riding style. Lorenzo is currently 56 points ahead of Dani Pedrosa for the MotoGP Championship title, and is heavily favored to win the accolade this year for Yamaha, after finishing second last year to teammate Valentino Rossi.

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Banter

Rossi’s Yamaha R1 from the Isle of Man TT on eBay

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We’ve just learned that the 2009 Yamaha YZF-R1 that Valentino Rossi’s rode around the Mountain Course during the 2009 Isle of Man TT is up . With a list price of £25,000 ($39,482 according to today’s market rates), this might be the most expensive stock R1 we’ve ever come across, of course not many bikes can lay claim to riding over the historic race course at the hands of one of the greatest motorcycle racers of our time. With some special VR46 livery parts, and a certificate of authenticity from Yamaha UK, the R1 has only 181 miles on it, and is signed by The Doctor himself.

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Bikes

2011 Yamaha YZF-R1 – Now With Skulls

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Yamaha has quietly released information on the 2011 Yamaha YZF-R1 on its website, and as expected there are few changes for the new year. With plenty of R1’s sitting in the factory, Yamaha took a slugging during the recession, and is still unloading leftover inventory onto dealers. To help sell those 2011 Yamaha R1’s though, the tuning fork brand has thrown some new paint on the faster red ones…and by new paint we mean skulls with wisps of fire and brimstone.

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Opinion/Editorial

Rossi Considers Skipping Last Two MotoGP Races – Fires A Shot Across Yamaha’s Bow

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Much of the talk about Valentino Rossi and his injuries have centered on the Italian’s leg, which was broken with a compound fracture at Mugello earlier this year. Despite causing Rossi to miss several races, the Italian’s biggest physical concern hasn’t been his leg, but instead his shoulder, which he injured in April while motocross training. The shoulder has been a lingering issue for Rossi ever since his return at Brno, which culminated this weekend with the Fiat-Yamaha team actually having to setup the M1 at Aragon to work around the injury.

With a lackluster performance this weekend, not to mention a disappointing return to GP racing in general, Rossi announced after Sunday’s race that he was considering having his shoulder operated on after the three fly-away races (Motegi, Sepang, and Phillip Island), which would effectively mean that the nine-time World Champion would miss MotoGP’s last two stops at Estoril and Valencia. )

This announcement is a big bombshell for the Yamaha camp, which could see its star rider, if we can still say that, again vacating from the team to heal his injuries. However again reading between the lines of the Italian, Rossi’s revelation this weekend has about as much to do with an injured shoulder as it does with putting pressure on Yamaha to release him from his contract in time to test the Ducati Desmosedici GP11 at Valencia.

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Racing

Colin Edwards Signs One-Year Contract with Tech3

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Officially announced after today’s Aragon GP, Colin Edwards has signed-on with Monster Yamaha Tech3 for another year of racing with the satellite team. In what was Edwards’ 100th appearance on a Yamaha, the Texan had a disappointing finish, but has seen his best results while on the French team. Edwards will join his new teammate for next year, Cal Crutchlow, and help the British rider come up to speed on the 800cc Yamaha MotoGP bike, and the pair is highly favored to be the top satellite riders next season.

“I am delighted to have signed a new one-year contract with the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team,” said the Texan Tornado. “I want to say a big thanks to Yamaha and to Tech3 for their unwavering support. I am honoured to continue my long and successful relationship with Yamaha, Herve Poncharal and all at Tech3. I love the team and feel like part of a big family and I’m thrilled that our adventure together is continuing next year.”

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Racing

Yamaha VMAX Concept by Vacuita

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We came across this render while trolling the internet for Ukrainian wives, and thought to ourselves that it sure did look like the bastard child of the Yamaha FZ1 and the upcoming Ducati Diavel. Made back in 2009, this artist’s render pre-dates any of the leaked viewings we saw of the Diavel, but could be an interesting evolution of the VMAX design to answer the Ducati power cruiser.

We like to think of the render as a VMAX on steroids, although we can’t seem to wrap our heads around how the Öhlins shock above the motor mounting works out…but then again we had trouble finding Ukrainian wives on the internet (now that’s saying something).

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