Yamaha poised for MXGP strike

[totalmotorcycle]

@Yamaha poised for #MXGP #strike


After forming part of the slick and high profile 2015 official teams launch in Italy two weeks ago Yamaha’s motocross arm of their comprehensive competitive line-up this season is set for action this weekend with the Grand Prix of Qatar opening the eighteen-round FIM Motocross World Championship. Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube – with Jeremy Van Horebeek and Romain Febvre steering the new YZ450FMs – will attack the premier MXGP category around the sweeping Losail International Circuit and under a shining blanket of artificial light. In the MX2 division – and with the formidable YZ250F – Standing Construct Yamaha (Valentin Guillod and Julien Lieber) and Kemea Yamaha (Benoit Paturel and Damon Graulus) will lead the charge. Also in the MXGP ‘mix’ will be Yamaha’s last World Championship winner, David Philippaerts, with his own DP19 Racing squad and a second year of campaigning YZ450F machinery from the confines of an impressively-run team structure.


Many eyes will be on the ‘89’ machine of Van Horebeek in Qatar this weekend. The Belgian’s achievements of twelve podium finishes from seventeen rounds (eleven in a row, including a first MXGP win in the Czech Republic) delivered a memorable runner-up standing in the 2014 contest and elevated JVH to the rank of ‘contender’ for this coming season. Jeremy opened the Yamaha chapter of his career in Qatar last year with fifth position overall and then celebrated his maiden trophy with third place in Thailand the following week. Now his name is being mentioned in the same group as favourites such as Tony Cairoli, Gautier Paulin, Clement Desalle and new star attraction Ryan Villopoto for 2015 spoils. “2014 was an awesome year but I still made some mistakes, stupid mistakes, rookie mistakes,” Van Horebeek says. “It was only my second year in MXGP. It is a new season now and I don't know what to expect. Was I lucky? I don't know but I don't think so, and I feel really good. The goal is to fight for the title this year and we’ll see how it goes after a few rounds.”

Tests in Italy and a sustained period of riding on the Island of Sardinia in January helped Van Horebeek chisel the YZ450FM further to his smooth and rapidly efficient riding style. He won the final round of the three round Italian Championship with aplomb. “Last year [the bike] was good already but I still had some details that I wanted to change about the character of the engine,” he explains. “The team have done a great job with that and the bike is complete; totally how I would like it to be. If I built it myself then it would be exactly like I have now. From the outside you will not notice much difference from last season but the small adjustments just make it better for my style.”



While Van Horebeek will be coping with the extra layer of expectation and attention, his new team-mate Romain Febvre will be making his first laps in MXGP and also with the YZ. Third in the 2014 MX2 series and winner of the State of Goias Grand Prix last September, Febvre has had to deal with small injuries to his arm and back during the winter but still showed quick adaptation to his motorcycle and followed Van Horebeek onto the podium at Ottobiano three weeks ago. After 2014 with just one rider in MXGP and MX2, Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube are now back to double representation in the premier category. “It is a new class, new team, new bike for me so I cannot say whether I’ll be top ten or top five or top twenty,” the Frenchman offered. “I don’t know, and it is a big challenge for me but I know how much everybody has been working for 2015 so I hope for the best. I’m really happy with the team and how they have prepared the Yamaha for me. I was injured during the winter and this meant I lost a lot of hours on the track but through the tests I feel that we are on-point with the bike.”

Philippaerts led the first round of the Internazionali D’Italia in Sardinia and also posted a race victory from the swift three meeting championship. With onlookers reporting that the thirty year old Italian is back to the fitness and confidence of his 2009-2010 pomp then ‘DP’ adds a potent third asset to Yamaha’s focus on MXGP for 2015.

Both Standing Construct and Kemea Yamaha will have their own goals for this season. Thanks to their development scheme and a rider in Guillod who clinched two podium results in 2014 and convincingly won the European Championship in 2013 they have a programme honed into possible MX2 moto victories and rostrum champagne. The possibilities for Belgian Lieber were clear from the final two rounds of 2014 where he made strong starts and ran in the leading sect. Kemea – with solid YZ250F engineering support from Michele Rinaldi’s YRRD organisation (the technical force at the base of the MXGP works effort) - will look for further evolution from promising Belgian Graulus while rookie Paturel is expected to bounce the ropes fast and could soon have designs on the top ten of the division.

Qatar is not only about MXGP and MX2. For the second year in a row the Losail hard-pack will entertain the initial race of seven for the FIM Women’s World Championship. Yamaha will have triple world champ Kiara Fontanesi aiming for a record four titles in a row on her YZ250F and is slated to renew her duel with Australian Meghan Rutledge; a fight that went down to a tense and exciting finale in the Czech Republic last year.

Losail has opened MXGP for the last three seasons and the exceptional permanent facility located a short distance outside of the principal city of Doha will light up again this Friday and Saturday. Round one of eighteen is expected to generate huge interest thanks to the increased depth in the MXGP field and with multi AMA Champion Villopoto drawing the curiosity of the industry and motorcycle racing fans around the globe.