Carole Nash ambassador Jonathan Rea and MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi have been sharing plenty of track time together over the past few weeks, as they headlined two of the most prestigious track days ever seen this summer.
The duo were among the many stars lining up at Monster Energy’s Trackday of Legends at the end of June. The energy drink maker, a mutual sponsor of the racing superstars, hired the Silverstone MotoGP circuit for their sponsored athletes to let rip on. The line-up, which included stars from MotoGP, WorldSBK, British superbikes and the Isle of Man TT Races, saw the racers take to the track on modified versions of the road bikes they race. JR, WorldSBK’s all-time greatest rider with six world titles and 119 race wins, rode a tricked up Yamaha R1, as did nine-time Grand Prix champ Rossi. They were in good company, sharing the track with current MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia on a Ducati Panigale V4 and Isle of Man TT heroes Michael Dunlop, Peter Hickman and John McGuinness.
Rea and Rossi were back at it a few weeks later, when Yamaha laid on its Yamaha Racing Experience (YRE) event at the Jerez circuit in Spain.
YRE is a VIP track day Yamaha arranges for buyers of its R1M superbike and GYTR Pro track day machine. Over 100 customers shared the track with some of the brand’s top racers, with JR and Rossi joined by Yamaha’s roster of WorldSBK and world endurance racers. There was a special treat for Jonathan as he got the opportunity to spin some laps on some iconic 500cc two-stroke racers from the 1980s and 1990s, spending some time with factory YZR500 upon which Eddie Lawson won the 1986 500cc Grand Prix world championship, a formidable TZ750 Formula 750 racer and a stunning replica of Max Biaggi’s 2001 machine, the last ever 500cc two-stroke racer from Yamaha. The classic racers came courtesy of the Yamaha Racing Heritage Club, which took along a display of some original and replica two-stroke machines from the company’s back catalogue.
“I have never been to an event like this in my whole life,” said Jonathan, who competes for the Pata Prometeon Yamaha squad. “The whole (YRE) event, from start to finish, offers awesome opportunities for everyone here. Even for me as a racer, being on track with Valentino was an incredible experience! The R1M owners have been fantastic, and I hope they all had as much of a good time as I did! The best two days on bikes ever, where I have fallen in love with riding bikes all over again, playing on the R1M, my track GYTR R1 and getting the opportunity to chase Vale around on YZR500s is something I will never forget.”
It was back to the day job for Jonathan at Donington Park last weekend and the track days looked to have stood him in good stead as he enjoyed his best weekend since joining Yamaha at the start of the season, scoring fifth and eighth place finishes in the two full length races and posting his first podium finish in Yamaha blue with third in the 10-lap Tissot Superpole race.
