VOLUME ISSUE JANUARY , P33
helmet designer, Italian Aldo
Drudi, the new livery is said to
symbolize Monster Energy and
Yamaha's combined passion for
motorsports and the strong rela
-
tionship between the brands.
Monster Energy's VP of Motor-
sports Marketing Dave Gowland
said, "Monster Energy is all
about winning, and we're en-
thused to enter the 2023 global
racing season with Yamaha
Racing. Monster Energy com-
petes and excels in motor-racing
disciplines and championships
the world over, and when we go
racing, we go to win. We couldn't
be happier than to enter the
2023 Monster Energy Super
-
cross Championship with Mon-
ster Energy Yamaha Star Racing,
the MXGP World Championship
with the Monster Energy Factory
MXGP and MX2 teams, and the
MotoGP World Championship
with the Monster Energy Yama
-
ha MotoGP team. Powering into
2023 with Yamaha and our col-
lective new global livery for 2023
puts us in a position to fight for
race wins and championships,
and that's exactly what we're
about. Bring on 2023. We're here
to win."
The gathering took place at
indoor go-karting center, K1
Speed, in downtown San Di
-
ego, so you can only imagine
what transpired. Members of
the media and some of the
Yamaha factory racers, both
past and present—including
Tomac, Quartararo, Seewer and
former Supercross Champion
Ryan Villopoto—participated in
some pretty entertaining kart
racing. It was a rare opportunity
for the racers—who don't really
see much of each other during
their varying off seasons despite
being members of the same
Yamaha racing family—to catch
up, hang out and chat. Quar
-
tararo and Tomac conversed for
quite a while, discussing what's
life like in their respective sport.
Tomac was surprised to learn
that Quartararo only gets to test
his MotoGP bike a few times
before the racing season starts,
which is quite different from
how Supercross and motocross
operate.
So, who was fastest in the
karts? In the final race after sev
-
eral qualifiers, Quartararo took
the win by two-tenths of a sec-
ond over Seewer. Swapmotolive.
com's Michael Antonovich was a
close third, while Ferrandis was
fifth.
CN
(Left) Levi Kitchen's
250SX West
YZ250F shows off
new graphics for
the 2023 racing
season. All of the
Factory Yamaha
motorcycles
in Supercross,
motocross and
MotoGP will feature
similar graphics.
(Right L-R) Dylan
Ferrandis, Eli
Tomac and Fabio
Quartararo.
