The 500 cc interval of MotoGP competitors is regarded by a lot of as the sport’s golden period, a time when the world’s most effective riders experienced to combat unruly two-stroke beasts with zero electronics and up to 200 hp at the tire. It was also the time in which the US was a world-wide power in Grand Prix contests, with 4 various stateside riders getting the 500 cc Globe Champion between 1980 and 2000.
Fittingly, that era started off with the very last of a few title victories for the wonderful Kenny Roberts and was bookended by his son, Kenny Roberts Jr, who took the 2000 championship on the manufacturing facility Suzuki. Nonetheless, just before the younger Roberts ascended the throne, he raced the previous ten years for his father’s workforce, which ran the manufacturing facility Marlboro Yamaha outfit from 1990 through to the close of 1996, when the elder Roberts took the unprecedented phase of producing his very own machine named the Modenas right after falling out with Yamaha.
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James Beck, courtesy of RMD Motors.
All of that backstory performs to the importance of this 1996 Yamaha YZR500 OWJ1, the final factory Yamaha to be operate by Roberts. It was also the initially to be ridden by his son who, immediately after graduating from the 250 cc classification, rode it to a period-best end of fourth at the 1996 Czech Republic Grand Prix.
Now, Rick Degan and his crew at British isles-centered RMD Motors are presenting the provenance-loaded Yamaha for $400,000. For many years, Degan has been the go-to guy when it will come to acquiring some unusual gems out of Japan, nonetheless, this particular Grand Prix motorbike will come from the personal collection of Kenny Roberts himself, having offered it to Degan a number of several years prior.
James Beck, courtesy of RMD Motors.
“When I sold the bike to the recent operator in the United kingdom three yrs in the past, he went through the bike best to bottom,” Degan states. “The suspension was reconditioned, the motor has been rebuilt and it lately went by means of some far more servicing in advance of Kenny Roberts rode the equipment up the hill at the 2022 Goodwood Competition of Pace. It is in excellent running problem, even though there are no spares that appear with the invest in.” And according to Degan, RMD Motors is able crate the bike and have it shipped by sea or air.
James Beck, courtesy of RMD Motors.
There is yet another exciting US relationship with this motorcycle that extends further than the rider and group operator. Legendary American tuner and racer Bud Aksland formulat
ed his have cylinders, pistons and different engine internals for Marlboro crew riders Kenny Roberts Jr and Jean Michelle Bayle. The team’s third rider, Japan’s Norifumi Abe, rode with a distinct specification of motor mandated by his deal with Yamaha Japan, while the other two have been totally free to run no matter what specs they wished. That intended that their machines have been often more quickly and generated far more horsepower than Abe’s, a point that did not sit so nicely with Yamaha Japan, as 1 would expect.
Suggests Degan, “This is an incredibly rare piece. Factory Japanese 500 cc Grand Prix motorcycles hardly ever come up for sale, and it would make an remarkable motorcycle for the suitable collector.”
Simply click listed here to see all the photos of the 1996 Yamaha raced by MotoGP champs and now for sale.
James Beck, courtesy of RMD Motors.
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