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| Jason Aguilar |
When Yamaha introduced its new YZF-R6 in 2006, the advertising claims seemed too good to be true - and it turns out they were. The company's boast that the bike revved to 17,500 rpm was not quite so accurate, much complaining ensued, and Yamaha offered to buy back any R6 a new owner was unhappy with.
You've got to cut Yamaha some slack here. The poor person who wrote the ad copy was probably being held by the throat of some overly enthusiastic engineer/racer who taken the new machine onto a track and found out how amazing the bike was. The engineer/racer probably was yelling, "NO! This bike is really, Really, REALLY GOOD! Make it sound amazing! No, even BETTER!" By the time the security guards got there and pried the engineer's fingers from the copywriter's throat, the damage had been done.
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| David Guerrero |
The 2006 YZF-R6 was a watershed
motorcycle, one that realistically defined the performance
middleweight for a decade. In a market segment where dizzying
technological revolution was the norm, the bike's core was so good
that with upgrades to the bolted-on bits, it was winning races and
finishing on the podium in International-level competition more than
a decade after it was introduced.
More than a decade after it was introduced.
Think about that. In a field of human endeavor where machine upgrades come - in some series - every race weekend, this thing stayed competitive for years and years.
More than a decade after it was introduced.
Think about that. In a field of human endeavor where machine upgrades come - in some series - every race weekend, this thing stayed competitive for years and years.
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| Mookie Wilkerson |
A few things came together to make this
happen.
First, Yamaha has been a huge supporter of road racing throughout the world, and in the U.S. While the company wasn't involved in Superbike during the early years of this iteration of the YZF-R6 (and I'm referring to the bike from the 2006 through 2016 model years) it was heavily involved in the support classes. So the factory was developing the new model, finding out what worked and what didn't, with top-flight racers like Jamie Hacking pushing it to its limits. The bike quickly became a known quantity.
First, Yamaha has been a huge supporter of road racing throughout the world, and in the U.S. While the company wasn't involved in Superbike during the early years of this iteration of the YZF-R6 (and I'm referring to the bike from the 2006 through 2016 model years) it was heavily involved in the support classes. So the factory was developing the new model, finding out what worked and what didn't, with top-flight racers like Jamie Hacking pushing it to its limits. The bike quickly became a known quantity.
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| Harm Jansen |
Second, as the economy started to
tighten in 2007, club racers in particular started holding on to
their machines for more and more seasons. The YZF-R6's core was so
solid and performed so well that the bike could compete against later
offerings from other manufacturers. And the slowing economy meant
that there were fewer competing models, and the ones that were seen
weren't as racer-friendly as the YZF-R6.
And the more people racing the R6, the bigger the knowledge base of the tribe. After a few seasons of racing the bike, there weren't a lot of secrets left. Most tuners could get a decent base setting out of one, and most riders could rip the thing around competently. It's a snowball effect. It gets to a point where a racer or tuner looks at a different machine and thinks, "I don't even know where to start setting the (insert obscure chassis geometry reference) here. But I can Google this for the YZF-R6 and get into the ballpark." That didn't appeal to the developers, the builders who wanted to forge their own path, create something new and unique. But for the warrior who just wanted to go race, it was like having Jeremy Burgess available at the tap of the screen on your smartphone. It was racing heaven.
And the more people racing the R6, the bigger the knowledge base of the tribe. After a few seasons of racing the bike, there weren't a lot of secrets left. Most tuners could get a decent base setting out of one, and most riders could rip the thing around competently. It's a snowball effect. It gets to a point where a racer or tuner looks at a different machine and thinks, "I don't even know where to start setting the (insert obscure chassis geometry reference) here. But I can Google this for the YZF-R6 and get into the ballpark." That didn't appeal to the developers, the builders who wanted to forge their own path, create something new and unique. But for the warrior who just wanted to go race, it was like having Jeremy Burgess available at the tap of the screen on your smartphone. It was racing heaven.
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| Robert Pierce |
For the club racer in the U.S., the
YZF-R6 became standard-issue equipment. By 2008, more than half of
the field in the WERA GNF C Superstock Expert class was racing on a
YZF-R6. (WERA's C Superstock class is the home for 600cc fours, and
allows the fewest modifications. It's the class where street bikes
that are race-readiest from the showroom will be most attractive to
the club racer.) It has been a trend repeated nearly every year
since. It's fair to say that the YZF-R6 kept the grids healthy.
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| J.D. Beach/Photo from MotoAmerica |
For pro racers who are not
factory-backed, there really wasn't any other choice. At the last
MotoAmerica Superstock 600 race of 2015, 22 of the 28 finishers were
on YZF-R6s. Last year, at the same race, 17 of the 28 finishers were
R6-mounted. And for the pro racers who are factory-backed, well,
YZF-R6 riders have dominated the MotoAmerica 600 classes in recent
seasons.
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| Chaz Davies/Photo by Yamaha |
At the international-level, Cal
Crutchlow took one to the Supersport World Championship in 2009. Then
the factory sat out a season. When ParkinGO decided it wanted to
sponsor a team, Yamaha dusted off the YZF-R6s and sent them back into
battle with Chaz Davies aboard. He promptly won the championship.
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| Niki Tuuli/Photo by NikiTuuli.com |
Last season, a Finnish rider named Niki
Tuuli showed up as a wild card in the Supersport World Championship
on a privately entered YZF-R6. He took three straight second places
and set the fastest lap time in each of those races.
Finally, for 2017, Yamaha introduced a new model of YZF-R6 and went racing with it. It's kind of amusing to watch the World Supersport races, because not only are the factory racers on the 2017 R6 trying to beat the riders on other makes, they're also trying very, very hard to hold off the well-sorted and bloody fast last-generation R6s that now are in private hands! Racers like Sheridan Morais, Tuuli and Anthony West are frequently in the top 10 and giving the factory Yamaha riders fits, let alone riders of other makes.
Finally, for 2017, Yamaha introduced a new model of YZF-R6 and went racing with it. It's kind of amusing to watch the World Supersport races, because not only are the factory racers on the 2017 R6 trying to beat the riders on other makes, they're also trying very, very hard to hold off the well-sorted and bloody fast last-generation R6s that now are in private hands! Racers like Sheridan Morais, Tuuli and Anthony West are frequently in the top 10 and giving the factory Yamaha riders fits, let alone riders of other makes.
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| Brian Morris |
Inevitably, the 2017 YZF-R6 will start
to regularly outpace the older model, and the gap will grow larger
and larger. This is the cycle of racing, the inevitable turn of the
wheel.
But before the last generation YZF-R6 slips into history, it is important to recognize its contributions to racing, especially here in the U.S. As the country's economy recovered over the past eight years, the R6 gave racers a solid, understandable and fast platform for a cost-effective racing program. Club racers took their club-level machines to National races and didn't embarrass themselves. The hours in the saddle on the fast, reliable bikes turned some club racers into pros and National championship winners.
They were as close to production racebikes as it got, and in one key respect they were better than pure production racebikes. When you were done racing one, you could put the lights back on it, have an awesome streetbike or sell it to finance your next racebike purchase. It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that the 2006-2016 YZF-R6 kept middleweight racing in the U.S. alive and healthy.
But before the last generation YZF-R6 slips into history, it is important to recognize its contributions to racing, especially here in the U.S. As the country's economy recovered over the past eight years, the R6 gave racers a solid, understandable and fast platform for a cost-effective racing program. Club racers took their club-level machines to National races and didn't embarrass themselves. The hours in the saddle on the fast, reliable bikes turned some club racers into pros and National championship winners.
They were as close to production racebikes as it got, and in one key respect they were better than pure production racebikes. When you were done racing one, you could put the lights back on it, have an awesome streetbike or sell it to finance your next racebike purchase. It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that the 2006-2016 YZF-R6 kept middleweight racing in the U.S. alive and healthy.
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| Keir Leonhardt |
Two things inspired me to write this.
When I photograph motorcycle road racing, I check for the clarity of the images by reading the VIN plate on the bike or bikes in the picture. I have shot photos of race-winning YZF-R6s this season that show a 2008 manufacture date on the VIN plate. That is a machine that is in its 10th year of existence, winning a race. Excellent.
The other thing was a reference in a book I love, a comment about the final years of the TZ750, the iconic Yamaha four-cylinder racebike, in Colin MacKellar's stellar book, “Yamaha: All Factory And Production Road-Racing Two Strokes From 1955 to 1993.”
MacKellar wrote that in 1983, in the U.S. Formula 1 series race at Pocono:
“Gregg Smrz headed home Doug Brauneck and Miles Baldwin to give the Yamaha TZ750 a 1-2-3 in the race and a 1-2-3 in the championship points with three races to go. These were four-year old machines ridden by gifted privateers, armed solely with the accumulated knowledge gained from the tens of thousands of racing miles consumed by the TZ.”
Change the names, the dates and the name of the machine, and the sentiment fits the last generation YZF-R6 perfectly. And it serves as a fitting tribute to the YZF-R6. The TZ750 was a real production racebike, a top-level race winner anyone could purchase. Under the lights and turn signals of last generation's YZF-R6 beat the heart of a real production racebike.
When I photograph motorcycle road racing, I check for the clarity of the images by reading the VIN plate on the bike or bikes in the picture. I have shot photos of race-winning YZF-R6s this season that show a 2008 manufacture date on the VIN plate. That is a machine that is in its 10th year of existence, winning a race. Excellent.
The other thing was a reference in a book I love, a comment about the final years of the TZ750, the iconic Yamaha four-cylinder racebike, in Colin MacKellar's stellar book, “Yamaha: All Factory And Production Road-Racing Two Strokes From 1955 to 1993.”
MacKellar wrote that in 1983, in the U.S. Formula 1 series race at Pocono:
“Gregg Smrz headed home Doug Brauneck and Miles Baldwin to give the Yamaha TZ750 a 1-2-3 in the race and a 1-2-3 in the championship points with three races to go. These were four-year old machines ridden by gifted privateers, armed solely with the accumulated knowledge gained from the tens of thousands of racing miles consumed by the TZ.”
Change the names, the dates and the name of the machine, and the sentiment fits the last generation YZF-R6 perfectly. And it serves as a fitting tribute to the YZF-R6. The TZ750 was a real production racebike, a top-level race winner anyone could purchase. Under the lights and turn signals of last generation's YZF-R6 beat the heart of a real production racebike.
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| John Knowles |
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