Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/646962
FEATURE FACTORY YAMAHA'S RETURN TO SUPERCROSS P80 all, they still had James Stewart through the L&M San Manuel Yamaha team (and also saw to it that 2009 factory Yamaha racer Josh Hill secured a seat on the team). They had two more A- listers in Josh Grant and Justin Brayton, both with the factory- backed JGR/Muscle Milk/ Toyota team. In the Lites ranks (yes, it was still called "Lites" back then), they had the stalwart Star Racing team, also adding Moto- Concepts Racing and Valli Motorsports to the fray. And, of course, there was still the JLaw/ampm/Boost Mobile Yamaha team. All in, Yamaha had its largest- ever contingent of supercross/ motocross racers for the 2010 season. More YZs in the stadi- ums was imperative for Yamaha at the time, eager to showcase its revolutionary new YZ450F with the groundbreaking reverse- cylinder design. McCarty's strategy worked quite well: less money spent, more blue bikes in the field—mission accomplished. But it all came at the price of Yamaha's own factory presence in the pro racing paddock. From the outside, it might not have appeared to be a big difference, but internally it was a big shift for the in-house crew. Whittled down to a skeleton staff, the "factory team" still existed and was present at the races, serv- ing as a conduit to the myriad Yamaha-backed teams, but its presence was far diminished from what it once was. Fast-forward to 2016, and the good news just before Anaheim 1 was the announcement of Chad Reed's new ride: the newly res- urrected factory Yamaha team! It was a scramble to get things in order in time for the 2016 sea- son, but the team pulled it off; the factory Yamaha team was back, and Two-Two was back in blue. It spelled great news for Reed, but might have been an even more welcome develop- ment for those bringing the team back to life, including team man- ager Jim Perry, who now finally had a team to manage again. "It's very exciting," Perry said. "It's just something I've been waiting for for a long time, to get back into it. It's good to be here." For Perry and McCarty, the relief also comes in once again having a "home" in the pits instead of floating between dif- ferent support team rigs. "It's challenging when you show up and you got your bags and you don't know where you're going to put them," Mc- Carty said. "And you don't want to encroach on anyone else's Chad Reed will end his racing career in the U.S. where it started—at Yamaha.