traveling bandwagon of Yamaha
gypsies wreaking havoc on
Australia's racetracks wherever
we went.
The racing was so close, so
intense, it was impossible not to
get exponentially quicker as a
rider and better with bike setup
at every passing race weekend.
Because if you didn't, you ran
nowhere the next race.
One-make series bring out the
absolute best racing imaginable
because they close down nearly
every performance gap between
the haves and the have-nots,
which can often mean the differ
-
ence between winning and losing.
We
have no one-make series
here in America. None. The clos-
est we have is the Junior Cup in
MotoAmerica,
where pretty much
the entire field is on a Kawasaki
Ninja 400, interspersed with the
odd KTM and, from next year, a
horde of new Aprilias. And this
is for primarily teenage kids, al
-
though MotoAmerica's daft rules
allow for 28-year-olds
to race in
the Junior Cup as per the FIM
Supersport 300 regulations.
The last time we had a one-
make series of any note was the
KTM RC Cup at the end of the
20-teens, the series that helped
launch the careers of Brandon
Paasch, Ashton Yates and An-
thony Mazziotto, to name a few.
There was hardly ever
a race in
which the margin of victory was
over one second, teaching all
these youngsters how to race
hard and close without tripping
over the line, as kids so often do.
Dunlop supplied the tires, KTM
gave discounts on the bikes,
and everyone was on the same
equipment. It was a win-win for
everyone, from riders to gear
suppliers to race promoters.
One-make championships
have been successful across
the globe for decades. Great
Britain is a huge proponent of
I
've had a lot of fun racing
motorcycles over the past two
decades or so. A lot of fun.
However, when I really think
about it, the most enjoyable
season I had was in 2008 during
the Australian Yamaha FZ6 Cup
that ran alongside the Australian
Superbike Championship.
Perhaps it was such a memo-
rable year because it was my
first
on the national circuit. Or
getting to see the country. Or
making a few racemates that I'm
still in contact with, even though
I now live on the other side of
the world.
Or, perhaps, it was the fact
we were all on the same mo-
torcycles, on the same tire, this
P96
CN II LOWSIDE
BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK
WHERE-
FORE ART
THOU
ONE-
MAKE
SERIES?
Rennie way back in the day,
2008 to be exact, during
the short-lived Yamaha FZ6
Cup in Australia. What a
class to go racing in.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEITH MUIR
