Photos: Fiat-Yamaha
Italy was abuzz yesterday as Valentino Rossi took to the track, testing at Misano, after nearly a month long hiatus. Breaking his shin during a highside at Mugello, Rossi was able to get back in the saddle this week partly because of his extensive use of a hyperbaric chamber, which super-saturated his body with oxygen and increased his body’s healing power, but it is also because the Italian World Champion is just that dedicated to racing.
One lucky spectator at Misano was able to catch a number of Rossi’s laps on video, as the Italian completed 26 laps, over two sessions, on the 2010 Yamaha YZF-R1 World Superbike. Rumors peg the carbon-clad WSBK R1 as being one of Cal Crutchlow’s bikes. Crutchlow is a favorite candidate to move into MotoGP (with Monster Tech3 Yamaha) next season, if Yamaha loses Rossi to Ducati in 2011. Check the videos out after the jump.
We here in the United States have a hard enough time dealing with the antics of the Batman and Robin duo that is DMG and the AMA, but our Canadian brothers to the north have their own issues to deal with as well. In a surprising announcement, Canadian Superbike Championship has announced that it has banned the the entire 2010 Yamaha line from racing in its various series, while any year Yamaha YZF-R1 has been banned from the Canadian Pro Superbike class. More after the jump.
Yamaha is recalling 180 YZF-R1, FZS600, and FJR1300 motorcycles from 2005 for a faulty throttle position sensor. Not all 2005 owners need to fret though, as the affected bikes were manufactured only between October 2004, and April 2005.
Available starting January 2010, Yamaha is releasing another Limited Edition R1, this time featuring the race livery of Valentino Rossi’s MotoGP race bike. Before you run out to your local Yamaha dealer though, you should know a couple things:
First, the Rossi Race Rep comes with a price tag that’s over $1,200 more than the rest of the 2010 Yamaha YZF-R1 model line (raven, blue/whie, and pearl white), and for that extra cash all you’re getting is the re-painted fairing, and a fuel tank with a replica of Valentino’s signature on it.
Secondly, you might be surprised to learn that on top of that price premium, the 2010 R1 costs $800 more than the 2009 R1, despite the fact the R1 goes virtually unchanged for the 2010 model year.
For those not good with numbers, those combined prices put the 2010 Yamaha R1 LE costing over $2,000 more than this year’s current YZF-R1, and all it has to show for it is a paint job that sells another company’s product.
Say what you will about Ducati’s Nicky Hayden LE 848 Superbike, at least they knew what paint costs, and had Nicky personally hand-sign each bike.
With the pressure to buy a KTM RC8 up’d by , it got us thinking what else we’ll need to ask Santa to get us for Christmas, a brand new 2009 Yamaha R1 wouldn’t be half bad, especially after watching this new video the tuning-fork brand released. Continue reading to watch the video, and see great wallpaper fodder of the R1