Our Racing Heritage - 1990 - Yamaha Motor Europe

1990 - 1999

Victory for Tadahiko Taida and Eddie Lawson at the Suzuka 8 Hourse in 1990
While in the 1980s, “King Kenny” Roberts and Eddie Lawson were the 500cc Grand Prix World Championship titles-winners for Yamaha, it was Wayne Rainey who took over in the early 1990s.

In 1990, Rainey was involved in an intense battle with Suzuki rider Kevin Schwantz yet would ultimately claim the riders’ title. Thanks to his fellow Yamaha riders, Juan Garriga, Jean-Philippe Ruggia, Christian Sarron and Eddie Lawson, who all finished inside the top 10, Yamaha also won the constructors’ championship.
Fierce battle at the 1990 Japanese GP between #1 Eddie Lawson, Mick Doohan (Honda), Kevin Schwantz (Suzuki) and Wayne Gardner (Honda) in pursuit of Wayne Rainey

Wayne Rainey wins Australian and US GP in 1991, setting the foundation for his 2nd consecutive championships title.
As a result, Yamaha gained confidence in its new generation of riders, centered around Wayne Rainey, and put more energy into discovering new talent.

At the same time, major advancements were made with the YZR500 factory machine. Yamaha introduced a data logger on the YZR500 (OWA8) factory bike in 1989, followed by the OWC1 in 1990 with revised dimensions and higher engine output, then the OWD3 in 1991, which featured a computerized electronic suspension (CES). All these changes contributed to Rainey’s consecutive titles.

Of course, Yamaha’s rivals were by no means standing idly by. Five top riders consistently ran at the front – Wayne Rainey (Yamaha), Kevin Schwantz (Honda), Mick Doohan (Honda), Wayne Gardner and Eddie Lawson (Cagiva) – on powerful factory machines, and regularly competed for top honors that year, resulting in thrilling races that riveted fans around the world.

As the gap between the factory teams – having the latest high-performance machines and best riders – and privateers – difficulty acquiring production racers or older GP machines – grew steadily, Yamaha began selling the OWC1’s engine and leased completely new bikes to some teams in 1992. This resulted in 23 Yamaha-powered bikes on the starting grid, including the OWE0 with the latest specs, older YZR500s, and privately built machinery, mounted with YZR500 engines. Although Yamaha did not win the constructors’ title that year, Wayne Rainey claimed the riders’ title for a third consecutive time.

In 1993, the battle between the top riders - Rainey, Schwantz, Doohan, Luca Cadalora (Rainey’s team-mate) and Daryl Beattie – was again fiercely contested. Rainey led the championship until the 11th round, raising the expectations of a fourth consecutive championship. Unfortunately, his fortune turned for the worse. Taking the lead on the third lap of the Nations GP at Misano, he lost control when coming out of the first corner on the 10th lap and took a bad fall. He suffered serious injuries to his back, ending his racing career. Yamaha was still able to win the constructors’ title that year thanks to Rainey’s accumulated points, which put him second in the final standings, Cadalora’s fourth place and the other Yamaha riders’ final positions.

Riding a YZR500 (OWF9) featuring higher intake efficiency thanks to an airbox pressurization system, Luca Cadalora ranked second and third in 1994 and 1995 respectively.
Luca Cadalora rode four times on YZR250 (1987-1990) and later a YZR500 (1992-1995, 1997-1998)

Norifumi “Norick” Abe was overjoyed when he won the 1996 Japanese GP.
From 1996 and the following years, the likes of Norifumi “Norick” Abe and Massimiliano “Max” Biaggi consistently featured highly in the championship, riding further evolved YZR500s that featured powder metallurgy pistons, revised V-bank angle, drive-axle position, and other innovations. However, they were unable to prevent the competition from taking the championship titles. It would take respectively six and eleven seasons before Yamaha won the constructors’ and riders’ title again in the 500cc Grand Prix World Championship.

Riding a YZR250 (OWB9), sporting a 90° V-twin engine with a single crankshaft and a couple-force balancer, John Kocinski burst into the 250cc Grand Prix World Championship for the first time in 1990 and won the championship in the last round, after a head-to-head battle with Honda rider Carlos Cardús.

A few years later, in 1993, Japanese rider Tetsuya Harada, who won the Japan Road Race Championship the year prior, became a serious championship contender against top riders on board his TZ250M (0WF3), such as Kocinski (who recently moved to Suzuki), Biaggi, Capirossi, Reggiani (Honda) and Ruggia (Aprilla), by winning races early in the season and securing crucial points finishes. Finally, minimizing tyre wear in the first half of the finale at Jarama, Spain, Harada unleashed his pace on lap 20, passing the aforementioned riders one-by-one to take a sensational win, becoming Japan’s second World Champion.

Despite many attempts and due to various setbacks, Harada and Yamaha did not manage to reclaim the 250cc title in the following years - 1994 (seventh place), 1995 (runner-up, with the new YZR250 introduced in the final race) and 1996 (eighth place).

After a two-year hiatus in 250cc, Yamaha entered the class again in 1999 with factory team riders Shinya Nakano and Olivier Jacques. Nakano managed fourth overall that year with Jacques seventh. However, at the turn of the millennium these two riders would stage a dramatic battle for the championship.

The TZ125 made a comeback in the 1990s. As Japanese riders began to rise to global prominence in the 125cc class of the Grand Prix World Championship, Yamaha sought to expand its road racing base and recapture the title by resuming development of the TZ125. Yoshiaki Kato’s victory in the 125cc All-Japan Road Race Championship on a TZ125 prototype led to the return of the TZ125 in the Grand Prix World Championship for 1993. It was Jorge Martinez who finally won and gave Yamaha its first 125cc victory in roughly 20 years.

Outside the Grand Prix World Championships Yasumoto Nagai, Christian Sarron and Dominique Sarron teamed up for the 1994 Bol d’Or 24 Hours Endurance Race with a YZF750. They won the race with a record-breaking 667 laps.
Yasumoto Nagai at the 1994 Bol d’Or 24 Hours – winning championship’s title with Christian and Dominique Sarron.

#41 Noriyuki Haga won the 1997 All Japan Superbike Championship.
Yamaha was also very active in the World Superbike Championship. Yasumoto Nagai was in a strong championship position when, tragically, he had a fatal accident during the dutch round in 1995. At the end of that season, he still placed fifth. Colin Edwards managed fifth in 1996, Scott Russell was sixth in 1997 and Noriyuki Haga, who joined the team in 1998 and captivated many fans with his hard-riding but unpretentious style, worked his way up to place second in his third season. At the end of the 1990s, Yamaha introduced the 4-stroke YZF-R7 to replace the YZF750, gaining valuable experience and data for the development of a 4-stroke engine for use in the 500cc Grand Prix World Championship.

Pekka Vehonen won the 250cc title as Yamaha’s sole rider in the 1990 Motocross World Championship, ranking seventh on the factory bike the next year, while Peter Johansson managed fourth on a production YZ250, with Yamaha deciding to reorganize its team structure. Yamaha’s European headquarters would work together with Michele Rinaldi, who had led professional racing teams. In addition, Donny Schmidt and Alessandro Puzar were added to the team, and, together with Robert Moore on the Belgarda Yamaha Team and others, Yamaha had five teams and six riders for the Motocross World Championship.

The new Yamaha teams soon had their big break in 1992. Donny Schmidt became the sixth Yamaha rider to win the 250cc Motocross World Championship, while Moore and Puzar took second and fourth respectively, which contributed to Yamaha’s fifth manufacturers’ title.

Yamaha returned to competition in the 125cc class in 1994. Riding a completely re-designed YZ125 for the Rinaldi team, Moore won that championship. Alessio Chiodi, in the Belgarda Yamaha Team, took Yamaha’s third 125cc riders’ title in 1997. Moreover, thanks to the performance of these riders, Yamaha claimed the manufacturers’ title in 1994, 1995, 1997 and 1998.

In 1997, Yamaha entered the 500cc class again with the newly developed, lightweight, compact and high-performance 4-stroke YZM400F (0WH2) factory machine. That year, Yamaha rider Andrea Bartolini stood on the overall podium eight times, including four moto wins for fifth in the final standings, with Peter Johansson sixth. In 1999, having won his seventh moto of the season, Bartolini became Yamaha’s first 500cc Motocross World Champion for 16 years. His team-mate, Puzar, as well as Yamaha riders Francisco Garcia Vico and Miska Aaltonen on production YZ400F machines, contributed to Yamaha winning its second 500cc manufacturers’ title since 1978.
The YZM400F (0WH2) was Yamaha’s first 4-stroke motocrosser. Its first win was in 1997 when Bartolini won the first moto 500cc Motorcross World Championship round in Italy.

Andrea Bartolini clinched the 1999 500cc Motocross World Championship title.

After an unfortunate 1997 season, Doug Henry won the 1998 AMA 250cc Motocross title on a 0WK4 based on the YZ400F production model.
The seemingly unlimited power of the Yamaha 4-stroke was also put to extensive use in the US. Doug Henry won the final race of the 1997 AMA 250cc Supercross season with the YZM400F (0WH2), becoming the first person to win an AMA Supercross event on a 4-stroke motocross bike.

Around the same time, the power of the traditional 2-stroke was revived. Yamaha had not won an AMA Supercross title since 1989, but in 1996 and 1997 Kevin Windham took the 125cc West region title, followed by John Dowd (West region) in 1998, Ernesto Fonseca (East region) in 1999 and Stephane Roncada (East region) in 2000 – all riding the YZ125. In the main 250cc class, Jeremy McGrath took three consecutive championships (1998-2000) on a YZ250M. Among all its racing activities in the 1990s, Yamaha excelled the most in the Paris-Dakar Rally. Although the start, finish location and routes changed in the 1990s and, therefore, its name, the fundamental nature of this event – extended, long-distance adventure rallying in Africa – remained unchanged. This was true also for the factors to win: 1) a rider with superior riding technique, strong determination and levelheaded judgment, 2) very experienced support, with the knowledge and technical skills to deal with any problems or accidents that may occur, and 3) a high-performance off-road machine that is maneuverable, fast and durable. For Yamaha, it was primarily the latter that was missing in the optimal balance of these three elements.
Stéphane Peterhansel attending the YZE850T (0WD8), Yamaha’s last factory machine, in 1993. Yamaha took the 1-2-3 podium places that year.

1995 Paris-Dakar – Stéphane Peterhansel won his fourth Dakar on the in-line 2-cylinder TDM850-based XTZ850R.

Stéphane Peterhansel won his sixth Dakar on the in-line 2-cylinder TDM850-based XTZ850TRX in 1998.
Finally, in 1991 it happened. Yamaha prepared eight YZE750T (0WC5) machines with improved low- and mid-speed performance, as well as compatibility for lower quality gasoline. Stéphane Peterhansel, Gilles Lalay, and Thierry Magnaldi took all three spots on the podium, giving Yamaha its third Dakar victory and its first in 10 years. Peterhansel went on to win three consecutive times on a YZE750T (0WD8), with its engine displacement increased to 850cc.

In 1994, Yamaha was left no choice but to withdraw due to regulation changes. But in 1995 the company was back with the XTZ850R model to satisfy the entry regulations that specified “no less than 15 machines be sold on the general market”. Stéphane Peterhansel was immediately victorious. Edi Orioli dominated the 1996 Dakar with an updated XTZ850TR and in 1997 and 1998, Peterhansel was the winner once again, capturing a record-setting six career victories. Yamaha collected a total of nine Dakar wins and brought the curtain down on its 20-year history of competition since the initial Paris-Dakar Rally.

Yamaha’s trial activities, which started in the early 1970s with Mick Andrews were focused primarily in Japan throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Atsushi Ito and Yamaha won the All-Japan Trial Championship in 1987, 1988, and 1990 on the TY250R equipped with motocross suspension. In 1991, it was Yoshihiro Nakagawa who won the title, with Pascal Couturier taking the 1993 championship on a TY250Z production model. Around this time, the Japanese economy entered a long economic slump, which had a considerable impact on the motorcycle industry. Once again, Yamaha reduced the scale of its racing activities, and its involvement in trials was unavoidably suspended in the second half of the 1990s.
Kings of the African Dessert – Stéphane Peterhansel claims a history-making sixth win in the Paris-Dakar Rally, surpassing Cyril Neveu (five wins).

Source information and imagery:

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

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