After a year of waiting due to Covid, five up-and-coming Yamaha youth riders are getting ready to attend the VR46 Master Camp for its 9th edition, where they’ll learn everything they need on their path to the top.
Valentino Rossi opened his V46 Riders Academy back in 2014 at his hometown in Tavullia, Italy. Complete with a minibike-friendly kart track and 1.8 mile long dirt track for flat-track training, the facility is well-renowned for being a top academy for nurturing talent, giving promising riders the tools to be successful on the biggest stage.
In particular, the VR46 ranch has been a destination of choice for young Italian riders with sights set on MotoGP, including previous graduates Franco Morbidelli, Pecco Bagnaia, and Luca Marini.
The five Yamaha riders are all currently competing for Yamaha in the WorldSSP300 or the Yamaha R3 bLU cRU European Cup, and will train at the Motor Ranch from August 18th-22nd.
This year the riders lucky enough to train with Vale are Yamaha MS Racing teammates in the WorldSSP300 championships Unai Orradre (aged 17, from Spain) and Bahattin Sofuoglu (aged 17, from Turkey), and Humberto "Torquinho" Maier (aged 15, from Brazil), Fenton Harrison Seabright (aged 19, from the UK), and Iker Garcia Abella (aged 17, from Spain) who are all Yamaha R3 bLU cRU European Cup riders.
This year at the Master Camp the schedule consists of flat track time with Marco Belli (3x English, 2x American & European Flat Track champ) on YZ250Fs, some soft cross training on YZ125s, a bit of Fisio Gym time with trainer Carlo Casabianca, and some time at the beach practising throttle control on Yamaha EX Deluxe & GP1800 WaveRunner jet skis.
Of course, there will be also time at Circuit di Pomposa on YZF-R3s, and at mini Supermoto Jeepers Park on MiniGP YZ85 bikes, whilst learning some tricks for MotoGP circuits from MotoGP eSports Lorenzo Daretti.
All in, this sounds like fantastic fun, but a lot of work - and that’s exactly what Alessio Salucci, Director at VR46 Riders Academy, has said:
"As always, we expect the riders to work hard and act in a manner that we can expect from professional riders, but it's equally important that they will enjoy themselves during the training. We want the riders to have fun and at the same time pick up some skills that will aid them in their future racing careers - it's the combination of passion, professionalism, and the feeling of excitement during racing and training that makes great racers.”
William Favero, Marketing & Communication Manager for Yamaha Motor Racing, said:
"First of all, we are thrilled that the Yamaha VR46 Master Camp is back after a year of waiting due to the ongoing global pandemic. This edition has been long awaited, but that makes it all the more exciting and satisfying that MC9 is actually happening in less than two weeks from now."
I'd love to go to this. Any room for another? I'm not quite a Yamaha youth rider, and probably have about a tenth of the ability if I'm lucky, but it'd be a laugh!
More info at Yamaha Master Camp site.
