VOL. 50 ISSUE 41 OCTOBER 15, 2013
S
o what does Yamaha think
of the new Evo rules that
are coming to World Superbike
in 2015? Our man in World Superbike talked to Laurens Klein
Koerkamp, Yamaha's racing
manager.
Does the news of Evo rules
being the sole World Superbike class for 2015 onwards
change the way Yamaha may
think about how it returns to
World Superbike racing?
I think for us to have the Superbike regulations closer to
production model regulations
and specifications is positive. If
Superbike stays the way it is today, or the way it is for the coming year, then it would be a bigger hurdle to come back. Or, at
least, to come back in a certain
way. You can come back in several ways; as a factory team, a
supported team, leave it to customers, whatever. It is positive
for us to go in the Evo or Evo plus
direction.
Yamaha used to make homologation specials to race in
World Superbike, but no more?
In the past we made the R7
because of Superbike, so we
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
AND WHAT OF YAMAHA?
Yamaha's racing manager Laurens
Klein Koerkamp says the new rules
won't make Yamaha return to World
Superbike any sooner than 2015.
made, I think, 503 units because
the homologation lower limit was
500 units. That is definitely not
the case now. If we make a new
model in the future it is because
we are going to make the best
model for the customer in the
street, which may be very close
to racing.
When will we see a new
MEES WINS PERRIS DEBUT
H
eld on the eve of the AMA
Grand National Championship finale, the Perris Short
Track took place on Friday night,
October 11 with Grand National
Champion Jared Mees making
his debut at the Southern California racetrack.
Not only was Mees riding at
Perris for the first time, but he
was also riding an unfamiliar motorcycle.
P29
Yamaha in World Superbike
racing? We heard in the USA
it was more likely 2016 then
2015 now, but is that because
of the new Evo rules?
2015 or 2016. Nothing has
happened for us to change our
internal planning. We have always said it was 2015 or 16,
nothing has changed in that.
Does the Evo rule and not
the full Superbike rule mean
you may still change the specifications of any future model
to suit the new Evo class?
We will not change the specification because of the regulations
because it is a production model
that we want to sell on the streets.
The philosophy now is to go toward production model racing,
and a certain minimum production quantity that is really manufactured, making production
models for production model use.
If it is still even possible to make
limited model runs it is against the
renewed philosophy here. Part of
the new regulations we have to
look at are the minimum quantities and I think we can still reconsider and re-discuss."
Gordon Ritchie
Mees didn't post the fastest
lap time of the night and he didn't
lead the most laps, but he led the
only lap that counted – the final
one – as he snatched victory
from Rob Pearson, who had led
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