T
he end of the 1980s was
a special time for per-
formance junkies. The
World Superbike Championship
(WorldSBK) had just kicked off
in 1988 with American Fred
Merkel and his purple Team
Rumi RCM Honda RC30 taking
the first-ever slice of champion
-
ship cake, and bike manufac-
turers believed this was their
chance to make some truly
special hot rods masquerading
as street machines.
A look back at what was
available in 1989 for the average
punter makes for pretty special
viewing. Suzuki released a new
GSX-R750R; Bimota produced
the stunning, Yamaha-powered,
fuel-injected YB4E1; Kawasaki
very quickly got sick of losing
with their GPX750 and produced
the iconic ZXR750H1; and of
course, Ducati and Honda beat
everyone to the punch one year
earlier in 1988 with their leg
-
endary 851 and RC30 models,
respectively. Never before or
since had we seen so many new
special edition superbikes all
come out at the same time.
But we're forgetting someone
here—Yamaha.
The Tuning Fork brand had
been punting its FZ750 for
a number of years and had
enjoyed some exceptional
racetrack success, especially in
Australia, where Mick Doohan
took a double win at the Oran
Park round of WSBK in 1988
CNIIARCHIVES
P120
BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK
THE 01AND ONLY
