FIRST RIDE 1999 Yamaha YZF·R6
fj
tJ
a
~
00
Q\
Q\
By Paul Carruthers
Photos by David Dewh urst
00'
hey bra gged that it wou ld produ ce sick amou nts of horsep ower,
would scream a t 15,000 rpm like a
I fl-mon th-old with di aper rash . It w as
fast, it was short, it was light. Blah, blah,
blah ...
Yamah a had s ho w n durin g press
bri efings that th ey cou ld talk th e talk
wh en it came to the' highl y anticip ated
YZF- R6: This was th e 600 th at wou ld
take us to the Promised Land of mid -
.-
.....
Q)
..0
E
Q)
>
o
z
12
dl e w e ight sportbi kes , the y g ri nned
shee p ishly. Ta lk is cheap. Whether or
not the new bike can wa lk the walk will
ultimately be decid ed whe n real racer s
rid e the bi ke a t Dayt ona in March .
Whether it would fit the bill as the next
grea t 600cc Su p e rs po rt bik e fo r the
stree t - an d in the hands of the less capable at the race track - was dec ided upon a few weeks ago a t th e Phillip Island
Gra nd Prix track in Australia.
Th e verd ict: It' s fas t, it's s hor t, it's
light - and it screa ms at 15,000 rpm like
a lO-month-o ld wit h d ia per rash. Th e
Yama ha YZF- R6 is everyth ing tha t it
was hyped up to be.
An d that Yamaha needs it to be.
Think of the las t time Yama ha truly
had a d om in atin g 600cc Su pers p o rt
b ike. Let' s see, d oes 1989 rin g a bell?
Ho w abou t John Kocins ki simply crushin g the op pos it io n o n h is FZ R600 at
Da yt on a , w innin g by a n unh eard -of
13.60 seconds after s ta r ting from th e
th ird ro w of the second wa ve? How 's
th is for d om in ant: The 1989 FZR took
nine of the top 10 finish ing posit ions at
Daytona that year, and Scott Zampach
Yamaha's brandspanking-new VZF-R6 shou ld give all
co mers a ser iou s challe nge fo r the
crown of " King of the Middleweight
Spo rtbikes ."
wen t on to win the title riding his FZR wi th eac h and every race being won by
a Yam aha . In 1990, the FZR's superiority
began to wa ne. They won the title with
Jeff Farmer, but d idn't wi n all the races.
Since th en - w e ll , brand s o the r th an
Yama ha have ruled the roost .
