Yamaha is celebrating 50 years of the YZ motocross line this weekend, with its factory race teams running a one-off replica of the manufacturer’s 1993 colours.
The new paint scheme features the white, blue and purple colours synonymous with Yamaha’s 1990s motocross programme, specifically the 1993 season (notable for ending with the - temporary - retirement of Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw at the age of 21), and will be run this weekend on factory Yamaha motorcycles both in the MXGP World Championship and the AMA Pro Motocross Washougal National.
Revealed yesterday (Friday 21 July 2023), the scheme will be run by Yamaha’s factory MXGP riders, Jeremy Seewer and Glenn Coldenhoff (Maxime Renaux remains out of action since his injury in the MXGP of Spain); Yamaha’s factory MX2 riders, Jago Geerts, Rick Elzinga, and Thibault Benistant; Star Racing Yamaha’s sole 450MX contender Dylan Ferrandis; and Star’s 250MX riders, Justin Cooper, Haiden Deegan and Levi Kitchen.
The two Grand Prix teams are competing this weekend in the infamous deep sand of the Lommel circuit in Belgium, for the MXGP of Flanders; while Star Racing is in Washougal for this weekend’s eighth round of the 2023 AMA Pro Motocross Championship.
In Washougal, a #1 YZ450F was also presented with the one-off paint, intended for Eli Tomac, who remains out of action due to the ruptured achilles he suffered while leading the Denver Supercross earlier this year.
In Belgium, Yamaha’s primary focus will be Jago Geerts, who missed two Grands Prix (France, Latvia) earlier in the year due to an injury sustained in the qualifying race at the MXGP of France in Villars-Sous-Ecot, but has a recoverable deficit of 40 points to Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Andrea Adamo in the overall MX2 World Championship standings.
Over in Washougal, both Haiden Deegan and Justin Cooper are still in contention for the 250MX title, despite Team Honda HRC’s dominance with Hunter Lawrence, who has won five out of seven overalls this season. In the 450MX class, HRC’s Jett Lawrence has won 14 out of 14 motos, and their reigning AMA Supercross 450SX Champion Chase Sexton is established as Lawrence’s closest challenger, while Yamaha’s Dylan Ferrandis - the 2021 Pro Motocross 450MX Champion with Yamaha - has established himself as the third-best rider in the series in recent rounds, despite a lack of comfort with the 2023 YZ450F.
