Scott Motorsports: Swizcorner: The Yamahaulers”

There’s been a thought bouncing around in the nether regions of my cranium. You know, where most people have memories, both short and longterm? Well my memory is doo-doo and in the place of memories are endless musical lyrics, brainstorms, logistical calculations and this; my concern of the moment.

 

There is one thing that everyone in the sport seems to agree on top to bottom and left to right. Yamaha’s are really damn fast. The once controversially fast-forward design of the 2010 Yamaha has been reworked through various iterations and over the last six years they really learned some things and no longer are people snickering and shaking their heads when you say YZ450. The big thumper took it’s beatings but so did the extremely dated YZ250F due to it’s polar opposite problem; it saw very few updates to it’s powerplant and thus it’s ribbings were justified.

 

Yamaha took a gamble by taking such a forward leap with the 450 and stagnating the 250’s true potential until they had the bigger bike figured out but holy moly, when they did figure it out, it paid massive dividends when they applied those learnings to the dated 250. 

 

Suddenly the Star Racing team made the jump from discombobulated 2nd tier team to a juggernaut that has yet to slow it’s roll. Bobby Reagan has a controversial approach to dealing with riders and that remains an issue to this day but when you’re winning, a lot of gripes get silenced or at least put on the back burner.

 

Jeremy Martin is the 2-time defending 250 MX Champion and despite those accolades it would appear that those titles and the favor it brought the Star Racing team are all but a memory now with a healthy Cooper Webb representing as flag-carrier for Bobby Reagan’s outfit. Bobby and Cooper seam to be cut from the same piss and vinegar cloth and that doesn’t sit well with Jeremy nor his veteran older brother Alex who is the actual subject of this lead-in. We’re not there yet though.

 

Aaron Plessinger not only showed promise last year in select Nationals, he very nearly carried the red plate in his 250 regional series this year and even winning Indianapolis. 

 

WHAT IS IT ABOUT THESE YAMAHA 250’s?!

 

This is where my dilemma lies. Alex Martin is no doubt on a level he has always sought and only recently attained, my concern is that it has more (than I want to admit) to do with that damn new generation YZ250F.

 

That’s all well and good, he’s always had the heart, has now refined his fitness and the confidence (always a difficult thing to grasp and retain) is real but I’m telling you, I just can’t tell you I’m truly confident that this story continues next year when he’s aboard a “not blue” bike.

 

I hope Alex proves me wrong, after all, the KTM 250 is an insane bike in it’s own right. I can’t blame Alex for making the move though either. He’s on the best equipped Yamaha 250 team right now but all the best parts just can’t make up for the negatives when there’s a cancer running through the team morale.