2000

2000 - 2009

Entering the 21st century, big changes were taking place in the motorcycle road racing world. In 2000, The FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) announced regulation changes for the 2002 500cc class. All 4-stroke machines would be allowed a maximum engine size of 990cc – nearly double the previous limit – and their maximum allowable weight was determined by the number of cylinders. Environmental concerns, that prompted the shift from 2-stroke to 4-stroke machinery, also affected the pinnacle class of the Grand Prix World Championship.

While working on developing new 4-stroke race machines, all manufacturers still had to compete with their current 2-stroke bikes. In 2000, five riders entered with Yamaha: Max Biaggi, Carlos Checa, Régis Laconi, Gary McCoy and Norifumi “Norick” Abe, all riding YZR500s (OWK6) with improved acceleration and higher top speed. Thanks to several race wins, including a 1-2 finish for McCoy and Checa in the South African GP, the riders brought Yamaha its ninth constructors’ title.

2000 250cc MotoGP class. The contest between teammates Shinya Nakano and Olivier Jacques began to heat up. The two mounted the podium together ten times, including four 1-2 finishes.
The 250cc class saw an epic championship fights between team-mates Olivier Jacque and Shinya Nakano, both riding YZR250 (OWL5) factory bikes. The battle was finally won by Jacque, with Nakano just seven points behind, giving Yamaha both the riders’ and constructors’ titles. However, Yamaha decided to reduce its factory participation that year. The YZR250 contested the Grand Prix World Championship for the last time in 2002 with Sebastián Porto and Shahrol Yuzy.

Despite having eight riders in the 2001 season of the 500cc championship, including Max Biaggi who mounted the podium nine times that year, Yamaha was unable to win the title. In 2002, the various manufacturers’ new 4-strokes machines made their long-awaited debut. It was also the final season that 2-stroke 500cc racers could line-up on the grid. That year, the championship officially became known as MotoGP.

In a breathtaking head-to-head race with Shinya Nakano (left) Olivier Jacque took an amazing come-from-behind win.

Yamaha introduced the new YZR-M1 (0WM1) factory machine, mounted with a 4-stroke, DOHC in-line 4-cylinder engine, using a frame based on the YZR500. It was the M1’s first-ever season, ridden by Checa and Biaggi, with the latter finishing second overall in the standings. Six Yamaha riders including Jacque, Nakano, and Abe rode the last YZR500 (0WL9) bikes in the mixed 2-stroke and 4-stroke grid. Abe was the most consistent points finisher and ended the season as the highest-ranked YZR500 in the sixth, bringing an end to the machine’s illustrious 30-year history.

2003 would turn out to be a difficult year for Yamaha with the YZR-M1 (0WN3), which featured a newly designed frame and a new fuel-injected engine with dual injectors. While qualifying would usually result in Yamaha taking decent spots on the grid, they did not lead to favorable results in the races. The highest-ranked Yamaha rider at the end of the season was Checa in seventh.

With its pride as a motorcycle manufacturer on the line, Yamaha built a radical new YZR-M1 (0WP3) for 2004 that used an updated engine with a cross-plane crankshaft and an uneven firing interval. The exhaust note was completely different, emitting a deep powerful growl. The frame was also entirely revised – from its rigidity, balance, and weight distribution to its geometry – substantially boosting the bike’s competitiveness. Besides a drastically new factory machine, Yamaha also brought a big trump card to the table, signing 25-year-old reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi. Not only was Rossi an incredibly fast rider, but he also had a remarkable talent for bike development; qualities that gave him his nickname “The Doctor”. Rossi would validate his reputation by extracting more than 100% of the YZR-M1’s potential. From start-to-finish, he consistently won races that season (nine victories in 16 rounds) to claim the title, his fourth consecutive championship victory. For Yamaha, it was the first riders’ crown in the top class in 12 years.
A new Yamaha champion. Valentino Rossi was not only a title contender. He also played a big role in the development of the YZR-M1.

Valentino Rossi wins the rider’s title in the 2004 MotoGP season.

Laguna Seca 2005 MotoGP race. Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards raced on the YZR-M1 (0WP4) race in a special livery celebrating Yamaha’s 50th Anniversary.
With Rossi, 2005 was even more fruitful, as Yamaha won MotoGP’s Triple Crown (Riders’, Teams’ and Constructors’ title). The following year, Rossi and Yamaha were plagued by crashes and bike issues, seeing “The Doctor” finishing as runner-up in the championship. In 2007, Rossi ranked third when the regulations limited MotoGP machines to 800cc. However, in 2008 Rossi reclaimed the title and won it again in 2009, helping Yamaha take the Triple Crown two seasons in a row. But as with all strong and prolific partnerships, Rossi and Yamaha parted at the end of the 2000s.

Superbike World Championship races are competed on machines based on 4-stroke production bikes. Regulations to modify a bike are far stricter – thus reducing costs, which sees a smaller performance gap between manufacturers. This makes it easier for privateer teams to participate, resulting in fiercely contested races.

“The Doctor” is giving consultation. His precise feedback helped to set the direction for the machine’s set-up for the years to come.
Rossi: “The 2008 YZR-M1 (0WS5) is one of my favourites”. He took nine wins that season and brought Yamaha its second Triple Crown.

Noriyuki Haga began the 2000 Superbike World Championship on the YZF-R7 in good form right from the start, winning the first and second race. Unfortunately, it was determined that Haga violated one of the series’ regulations. As a result, points were deducted and one racing ban was imposed on him. So, despite winning four races and standing on the podium 11 times that season, Haga missed out on the title and finished second.

Haga became known as a World Superbike star thanks to his all-out aggressive riding style. Though tipped as a prime contender to win the 2001 championship, Yamaha decided to withdraw its factory support from the series to focus on bike development and organizational improvements for the Grand Prix World Championship, which was set to shift to 4-stroke machines. Thus Haga’s career as a GP rider began.
Noriyuki Haga had a breakthrough season in 2000, battling for the World SuperBike Championship title.

Showing their mettle as endurance specialists, Sébastian Gimbert (image), David Checa and William Costes on the Yamaha GMT94 Team won the 2004 Endurance World Championship.
In 2005, Yamaha returned to the Superbike World Championship as regulations had changed in 2003 to permit 1,000cc 4-cylinder bikes to compete. Yamaha’s base model changed from the YZF-R7 to the YZF-R1. Yamaha Motor Italy and Yamaha Motor France ran two teams fielding Haga, Andrew Pitt, Norifumi Abe, and Sébastian Gimbert. Haga achieved the strongest results by standing on the rostrum eight times, finishing third overall that season. Racing for Yamaha until 2008, Haga never finished lower than third in the riders’ standings. Alongside team-mate Troy Corser, he brought Yamaha’s first World Superbike manufacturers’ title in 2007.

In 2009, it was American Ben Spies who won 14 races in his rookie campaign to become Yamaha’s first World Superbike champion. The following year he would move over to MotoGP.

In the Endurance World Championship, the Superbike-spec YZF-R7 and YZF-R1 also did well. In 2000, the Yamaha Motor France team won the Bol d’Or 24 Hours on the R7. In 2004, the Yamaha GMT94 Team took solid results on the six-event series with the YZF-R1, giving Yamaha its first Endurance World Championship title. The Yamaha GMT94 Team also won the 2007 Bol d’Or 24 Hours. The Yamaha Austria Racing team won the 24 Hours of Le Mans season-opener using the newly developed crossplane crankshaft YZF-R1; following up with three more victories in the six-round series, the team claimed the 2009 Endurance World Championship title.

Meanwhile, the Supersport World Championship was established in 1999, using 600cc sports production bikes. Teams, headed by European Yamaha companies and importers, were making waves with Yamaha’s YZF-R6, having won the series’ first manufacturers’ title. The following year, Yamaha clinched the riders’ and manufacturers’ titles with Jörg Teuchert. In 2001, though points leader Paolo Casoli was beaten to the title in the final round, the Yamaha R6 riders ranked second, third and fourth, securing Yamaha’s third consecutive manufacturers’ title.

From 2005 onwards, the R6 continued to be a force in WorldSSP with Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes taking the championship’s runner-up spot three years in a row between them. Cal Crutchlow capped off the end of the decade with five race victories, standing on the podium 10 times and taking 10 pole positions.

The World Superbike, World Supersport and Endurance World Championships that represented the pinnacle of production model-based motorcycle racing maintained their difference from MotoGP, as their popularity grew globally. This, all while focusing on enhancing their own unique values as racing series.
Jörg Teuchert was the 2000 World Supersport Champion. In 2001 he ranked 3rd, securing Yamaha it's thirds manufacturer title.

The shift to 4-stroke racing machines in 2002 gradually made its way into the 250cc and 125cc classes. The TZ250 and TZ125, alongside other production models, which helped to support and expand road racing for so many years, were no longer seen in the motorsport world, nor were they available for purchase. Inevitably, there would be calls from various regions and domestic championships for a new category and hierarchy to replace the support classes. What greatly changed the scene were the various production racers that used commercially available sports bikes as their base machines.

The Superbike World Championship regulations had already been incorporated as a class in numerous local championships. Later, middleweight 600cc machines and lower-displacement 250cc categories were added so that based on rider skill, series ranged from top- to entry-level competitors, catering to each region or country’s needs. The series’ structures were incredibly varied.

The only series that was not affected by the 4-stroke trend was the AMA championship in the US. The AMA championship, with the Daytona 200 running since the late 1930s as the blue-riband event, was a well-established domestic series with production racers based on its own regulations. One development that was unfortunate for Yamaha was the 250cc road racing class coming to an end in 2003. Apart from the 600cc Supersport and Superstock classes, Yamaha would not win a single title for large-displacement motorcycle racing between 2000 and 2009 as a result.

In Japan, the 500cc and TT-F1 categories were replaced by the 750cc Superbike class in 1994. Later on, “JSB1000” 1,000cc (adhering to FIM regulations) and “S-NK” 1,000cc machines (adhering to the series’ own regulations) were allowed to race in the All-Japan Superbike class. Eventually, Japan’s premier class was unified under the JSB1000 name and its rules in 2004. In this guise, Yamaha won the All-Japan Superbike manufacturers’ title (2002 with a factory spec YZF-R7), and the JSB1000 riders’ title (2008 and 2009 on a JSB1000-compliant machine).

The All-Japan 250cc class was run until 2009 and since factory machines no longer entered from 2000, this led to intense battles among privateers on production racers. Through these privateers, Yamaha won the 250cc championship in 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007 and in the class’ final season, 2009, as well as in the 125cc championship in 2000.

For the 2nd YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE in 2004 50 riders from Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippies, Singapore and Thailand were chosen to compete.
When Yamaha began expanding overseas in the 1960s, it recognized Asian countries like Indonesia and Malaysia as important potential markets and sent Japanese riders to race in their local events. Yamaha has continued to promote motorsports in these countries by holding riding courses, parent-child riding classes, and the like. With the establishment of the Yamaha, Asean Cup Race in 2003 – a doorway for young riders to begin progressing from underbone racing to international series and MotoGP – Yamaha made steady progress in supporting this big dream across the continent.

In the off-road racing scene, Andrea Bartolini, on the YZ426F factory racer, brought Yamaha its fourth riders’ title and its first since 1983. The next year, he and team-mate Marnicq Bervoets rode the improved YZ426FM factory machine, aimed at securing another title. Bervoets’ steady riding style ranked him second, while Bartolini, who had a slow start and could not catch up, finished fourth.

After being away from the scene for almost two years, Stefan Everts silenced all doubters by taking a convincing win on the YZ500FM at the 2001 season opener.

For the 2001 season, Yamaha developed the YZ500FM that retained the previous motocrosser’s lightweight and compact design, but was more powerful thanks to the greater displacement. Bervoets and new team-mate Stefan Everts would utilize it that season, with Everts dominating the field to claim his first 500cc World Championship. Bervoets battled alongside Everts throughout the season, maintaining a high position in the standings to finish in third place, giving Yamaha the manufacturers’ title. In 2002, Everts once again claimed the riders’ title.

In 2003, the Motocross World Championship’s classes were re-organized and a new premier class was born, MXGP (which became MX1 in 2004). MXGP allowed 2-stroke 250cc and 4-stroke 450cc machines to the race at the same time. The 125cc class (MX2 in 2004) allowed 4-stroke 250cc bikes to race against 2-stroke 125cc machines, while a new 650cc class (MX3 from 2004) pitted 4-stroke 650cc bikes against 2-stroke 500cc bikes.

Despite the changes, Everts and Yamaha maintained their superiority, which was founded on resolute teamwork. Riding the YZ450FM, developed to satisfy the MXGP regulations, Everts won all nine races, claiming his and Yamaha’s third riders’ title after the fourth round, and the manufacturers’ title in the premier class. Showing no signs of slowing down, he won the 2004, 2005 and 2006 tiles. After the 2006 season, the Belgian retired from racing, having won an unprecedented 10 world title and 101 Grand Prix.

After an unsuccessful 2007 campaign, Yamaha would reclaim the crown in 2008 thanks to David Philippaerts. In all, Yamaha won eight riders’ titles and six manufacturers’ championships in the premier motocross class during the first decade of the 21st century.
Stefan Everts wrapped up his second consecutive title in 2002. Celebrating this with his team manager Michele Rinaldi (on his left).

Chad Reed on a 2-stroke YZ250 during the 2003 AMA Supercross East Region. He finished second in ranking in the 250cc class before winning the title in 2004.
Around the time that Bartolini was competing with success, Yamaha began development on what would be the world’s first 4-stroke 250cc motocross bike, the YZ250F. Ernesto Fonseca rode a prototype of this machine in the final round of the All-Japan Motocross Championship – the Japanese GP – in 2000 and secured a debut win. The model was released commercially in 2001 and Fonseca rode it to an AMA 125cc Supercross (West region) title, while Hisashi Tajima won with it in the 125cc All-Japan Motocross Championship.

In 2002, Chad Reed claimed the 125cc AMA Supercross East Region title, and in MX2 it was Antonio Cairoli who was crowned the 2005 and 2007 champion with the YZ250F. Yet in the 250cc AMA Supercross Championship, the 2-strokes, with their lightweight and explosive power, were more competitive and the 4-strokes were unable to match them. Jeremy McGrath’s three straight titles (1998-2000) and Chad Reed’s 2004 championship were all won on the 2-stroke YZ250. However, when the new YZ450F was introduced with an aluminum frame in 2006, almost every Supercross team – including Yamaha’s – switched to 4-strokes. Reed won another title for Yamaha in 2008 and James Stewart did the same the next year.
The MX2 class of the Motocross World championship in 2005 saw numerous riders on the YZ250F. Antonio Cairoli would come out on top by winning the thirteen motos and taking the rider’s title and giving Yamaha the manufacturer’s title.

David Frétigné on the WR450F 2-TRAC at the 2004 Paris-Dakar Rally. He was winner of the 450cc Super Production class and ended overall seventh.
Outside the Motocross World Championship, Yamaha Motor France returned to compete in the 26th edition of the Dakar rally with David Frétigné riding the WR450F 2-Trac model, which employed a hydraulic two-wheel drive system. He completed the race successfully, winning the 400cc Super Production class, as well as finishing seventh overall in the motorcycle category. In 2005, he finished fifth overall and won the 400cc Super Production class again. When the 31st Dakar was moved to South America in 2009, Frétigné rode the WR450F to finish third overall. Yamaha’s desert rally adventures would continue into the next decade.

In his second Paris-Dakar Rally in 2005, David Frétigné improved his result and finished fifth overall.

Source information and imagery:

Spirit of Challenge – Sixty Years of Racing Success by Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.

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