Massimo Meregalli's Belgarda Yamaha YZF600R Thundercat
By Alan Cathcart
Photos by Kel Edge
n revamping its 600cc supersport contender for 1996,
Yamaha set a tough goal: produce a competitive track
tool that would win races, as well as a ridable street
machine that would suit a wide range of customers in
everyday use, all wrapped up in a single well-priced .
package.
IronjcaJJy, the fact they succeeded so well in delivering
a genuine aJJ-arounder to the sportbike marketplace may
have worked against them, at least in"tile race paddock.
Look at the supersport lineup in any country where the
YZF600R Thundercat is sold, and wonder why such a
major new model is still so thin on the grids.
Almost certainly, potential track users were seduced
into thinking that because of the YZF's genuine versatility and ample passenger space, it was Yamaha's equivalent to the Kawasaki ZX6, a sporting jack-of-all-trades
lacking the cutting edge needed to go for gold and win
races. The fact that the Yamana uses the same essential engine package as its FZR600 predecessor also
probably worked against it. "Not good enough then,
so it won't win now," seemed to be the race track
rationale.
Mistake! At the highest level of supersport com-
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(Lett) Massimo
Meregalll (middle)
with the Belgarde
Yamaha team and Its
supersport
contender YZF600.
petition,: the Tht;ndercat has proven the
class of the field in its debut season. Riding the YZF600R prepared by Yamaha's
Italian subsidiary, Belgarda, Massimo
"Maio" MeregaJIi was locked in battle
with fellow former superbike rider Fabrizio Pirovano (on the Team AJstare
748SP Ducati) for the points lead in the
International Open Supersport Championship run alongside the World Superbike series.
Meregalli was running a close second
to the 750cc twin in the points table as
the lO-race series reached its halfway
point and he only finaJJy lost his chance
at the title when his bike suffered an
obscure electrical problem that took him
out after only three laps at Assen, the
