YRT commence testing for ASBK 2022
It is fair to say it has been difficult going for the Yamaha Racing Team this season in the Australian Superbike Championship.
Cru Halliday finished second in the 2020 ASBK Championship on Pirelli rubber, but it is fair to say it was a struggle for him to secure third place in 2021.
The 33-year old Yamaha stalwart managed two podium finishes during season 2022 and that third place in the championship was a somewhat surprising result considering their general lack of speed in 2021.
Cru stayed on the bike in every single race to bag points and raced to a position generally higher than he had manage to qualify.
Some have put their performance deficit down to their Dunlop rubber in 2021, others cite deficiencies with their electronics package in comparison to the latest Ducati and Honda kit, or a comparative lack of power compared to the competition. YRT are still entirely positive towards Dunlop as a brand, and mentiond to MCNews.com.au that as the season progressed they certainly got on their game and took all feedback on board, but the decision has been made to run Pirelli in 2022.
Whatever the reason, it is now almost 15 years since Yamaha last won a #1 plate in Australian Superbike. Jamie Stauffer did the double across both the Superbike and Supersport categories in 2006, and then won the Superbike Championship again in 2007, but since then it has been relatively lean period for Yamaha in the Superbike category.
There is no doubt that the Ducati Panigale V4 R has dramatically moved the performance goal-posts, as has the latest SP Fireblade and ZX-10RR to some extent, however Yamaha has dominated elsehwere across the globe with the YZF-R1. The World Superbike, British Superbike and MotoAmerica Championships this year were all won by Yamaha riders.
In Australian Superbike our motorcycles are effectively more standard than most Superstock series around the world and it is fair to say that in standard trim the YZF-R1, while as evocative as ever, and despite some recent improvements, has not moved forward at the pace of the competition. The R1 has been nipped, tucked and tweaked, but essentially it is still a six-year-old platform.
Australian Superbike rules do open up to allow a MoTeC ECU in 2022, with some functionality restricted via a controlled firmware.
After Ducati runners have recently spent 25k per bike to kit each of their machines with the WorldSBK spec’ Marelli systems, and Penrite Honda also spent significant coin in obtaining the factory level electronics, it seems unlikely that either of them will switch to the MoTeC system in 2022, as they will be allowed to continue using their current package.
Likewise the BMW teams will most likely stick with their comparatively quite affordable factory electronics kit, as the MoTeC system does not have enough inputs to cater for the shift-cam system on the M 1000 RR.
The BCperformance Kawasaki squad had a nightmare trying to get their electronics package to offer any sort of consistency this season, and there is little doubt their poor showing off the back of those problems was a factor in Kawasaki withdrawing their support.
YRT have had nothing like that level of electronic problems, their bikes have been reliable, Halliday did finish every race after all, however it does seem as though their package is essentially outdated in comparison to what both the Ducati and Honda teams are currently running. Thus they are not only evaluating the switch from Dunlop back to Pirelli here at The Bend, but in the new year are also expected to test more with a MoTeC ECU, which they had already began doing some evaluation work with this season behind the scenes. When Superbike rules were more open in a previous era, the team did run MoTeC, so there is some knowledge about the system already within the team.
YRT boss John Redding told MCNews.com.au that they would continue to ride and develop motorcycles back to back between the current system and the MoTeC ECU, and that they would race which ever proved faster. He also remarked that whatever it took to give their riders the best equipment possible, it would be done.
While local privateers Arthur Sissis and Daniel Falzon were almost 10 km/h down on top speed when not in the slipstream, compared to most of the field, they did show stunning qualifying pace on the weekend at The Bend and looked on course for potential podium results if not for both suffering misfortunes on Sunday. Both were on Pirelli rubber and both are expected to be on the grid in 2022. Although, Daniel did some significant injuries in a crash on the weekend that will likely put their preparations on hold for the foreseeable future.
Thus obviously the R1 can still be competitive, but it does seem as though there is just a little bit missing in order to complete the package and challenge for the Superbike title.
That said, Halliday did finish second in 2020 on Pirelli, and third in 2021 on Dunlop, so they can’t be that far off. However, I think Halliday has perhaps not received as much credit as he is due for those results.
There will also be more Yamaha Superbikes on the grid next year. The Queensland based team Jed Metcher rode for this year is going next level in 2022. The team will be rebranded under a new 727 Moto banner and expand to two riders, as 2021 Australian Supersport Champion Broc Pearson makes the step up to Superbike with the team.
The new 727 Moto Team have also recruited some top flight technical staff to the team for 2022 as Paul Free, Stewart Winton and Brent Stephens will all be working hard behind the scenes to try and ensure that both Jed and Broc have the most competitive mounts possible. Jed is a proven hard charger and will step his preparations up with the team in the new year. It is going to be a big budget effort the likes of which we probably haven’t seen from a privateer squad since the Trinder brothers shook things up with their Bio-Magnetic Therapy Team almost 20 years ago.
Young Max Stauffer will also be on a YZF-R1 in 2022. After finishing third in the Australian Supersport Championship this season, Max will step up to Superbike in 2022 on a YZF-R1 prepared by his dad Jamie with the aid of Heath Griffin and Damian Cudlin.
Veteran Anthony West may also go around again on a better prepared YZF-R1 than he had this year and youngster Luke Jhonston will hopefully also continue to make progress.
And then of course we get to the question of who will be the second rider in the official Yamaha Racing Team alongside Cru Halliday in 2022?
Mike Jones was widely tipped to take that seat at YRT after the departure of Aiden Wagner, but Mike’s choice not to receive the COVID-19 vaccination saw him not able to compete at the Bend on the weekend with DesmoSport Ducati, and thus the two-time champ was also unable to test this week alongside Cru at The Bend.
Scuttlebutt in the pits across the weekend suggested that Mike has now perhaps reconsidered that decision in the light that it would essentially make him unemployable as a racer in 2022. At the moment it seems to be a case of ‘watch this space’, but Mike is expected to test with YRT at Morgan Park this weekend and at this stage is expected to join Cru Halliday at YRT for season 2022.
