Yoshimura Suzuki Celebrates 40 Racing Years
Rennie Scaysbrook | April 2, 2018
Yoshimura Suzuki Celebrates 40 Racing Years–The 2018 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship represents the 40th anniversary of Suzuki Factory Racing and Japanese tuning house Yoshimura.
Yoshimura Suzuki Celebrates 40 Racing Years
Wes Cooley was Yoshimura Suzuki’s first global racing star in the 1970s.
The partnership has proven to be the most successful in AMA Superbike/MotoAmerica competition. After Reg Pridmore took the first three AMA Superbike titles for BMW and Kawasaki, Wes Cooley stepped up. Cooley took the first AMA SBK title for Yoshimura Suzuki in 1979, repeating the feat in 1980.
It would be nine years before Jamie James took gold on the GSX-R750. Another 10 years followed before Australian Mat Mladin began a run of three straight titles in 1999 until the late Nicky Hayden stopped him in 2002 on the factory Honda.
From 2003 through to 2009, the Yoshimura team was unstoppable. Four more titles went to Mladin (2003, 2004, 2005, 2009) and three to Ben Spies (2006, 2007, 2008).
Yoshimura Suzuki also has the record of the most consecutive seasons of AMA SBK racing.
It was a long time between drinks, as in 2017 Toni Elias broke the Yamaha stranglehold to take his first AMA/MotoAmerica Superbike Championship victory with Roger Hayden second.
Yoshimura Suzuki has also been a hugely successful commercial venture. The two companies are inexorably linked, with performance special builds and brand recognition across the globe.
The duo is expecting a big celebration at the upcoming Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas. But, for now, they have released this great video detailing the history of their relationship and the aims of 2017 MotoAmerica Superbike Champion Toni Elias and Yoshimura Suzuki teammate, Roger Hayden.
