British Riders Set to Star for the Yamaha Racing Heritage Club at Donington Park
The Yamaha Racing Heritage Club will be one of the highlights at the CRMC Classic Motorcycle Festival this weekend, with legends such as Phil Read, Chas Mortimer, Alan Carter, plus Niall and Tarran Mackenzie, along with their iconic race bikes ready to light up Donington Park in the UK.
The Yamaha Racing Heritage Club (YRHC) was formed to safeguard and celebrate the manufacturer’s rich racing legacy. That was evident for all to see at the Sachsenring Classic (15-17 July), where they entertained tens of thousands of fans with Yamaha riders past and present. These included 15x World Champion Giacomo Agostini, 1971 125cc & 1973 250cc World Champion Dieter Braun, 1983 250cc World Champion Christian Sarron, 2000 WorldSPP Champion Jörg Teuchert, 2012 Moto3 World Champion and 2018 WorldSSP Champion Sandro Cortese, plus current Yamalube YART Yamaha Official EWC Team rider Marvin Fritz and more.
There was also a stunning collection of bikes on display, spanning Yamaha’s entire racing history from one of their first factory race bikes, the 1957 YD-A 250cc, all the way up to Fabio Quartararo’s 2021 MotoGP title-winning M1.
Up next for the YRHC is the CRMC Classic Motorcycle Festival at Donington Park, and once again, they will bring an incredible lineup of riders and bikes to showcase Yamaha’s success in racing throughout its history. The star of the weekend will be seven-time World Champion and the first man to win titles in the 125cc, 250cc and 500cc classes, Phil Read.
Hailing from Luton, Read’s name is synonymous with Yamaha after he became their first ever World Champion in 1964 when he won the 250cc World Championship. During his illustrious 16-year career, Read won 52 GPs and secured 121 podiums, making him one of the most successful riders of all time. At Donington Park, he will be reunited with lovingly rebuilt versions of his 1971 Team Read Castrol Yamaha TD2-B 250cc and his TR2-B 350cc race bikes, with the YRHC celebrating the legacy of one of Yamaha’s greatest ever riders.
Chas Mortimer is another legendary rider who will join the YRHC in the UK to celebrate 50 years since he claimed the first-ever 500cc victory for Yamaha at the Spanish GP in 1972. Mortimer is also the only rider in the history of motorcycle racing to have won races in the 125cc, 250cc, 350cc, 500cc, and 750cc World Championship classes. He will be joined by another British hero, Alan Carter, who made a sensational start to his career by winning just the second GP he entered when he took the 250cc race victory at Le Mans in 1983. Carter will get the chance to recreate history as he will take to the Donington Park track for the YRHC parade laps on the bike he won that race on, a 1983 TZ250.
Creating a link between the past and the present of Yamaha, former GP rider and three-time British Superbike Champion Niall Mackenzie and his son Tarran “Taz” Mackenzie, the reigning British Superbike Champion, will also take part in the YRHC activities. Incredibly, Tarran’s title last season came exactly 25 years after his father won his first British Championship in 1996.
South African former GP rider Alan North will also join in the proceedings at the YRHC stand, alongside a myriad of historic Yamaha race bikes on display from the last 65 years, including the first Yamaha to be raced in the UK, the 1960 Sonny Angel YDS1-R, all the way up to the 2021 British Superbike Championship-winning R1 of Mackenzie.
The Yamaha Racing Heritage Club has a packed schedule for the CRMC Classic Motorcycle Festival, including several parade laps and autograph sessions over the two-day event, with the action kicking off on Saturday, the 30th of July.
