Following a disappointing weekend at Monza in 2010, during which Daisaku Sakai experienced a torrid foray onto the world stage, plus racing plans disrupted by volcanic ash clouds, Yoshimura Suzuki will again be back in World Superbike at the start of this season. The Japanese team will be on the grid at the opening round of the season at Phillip Island, with a wild-card slot for Australian rider Josh Waters.
22 year-old Waters, 2009 Australian Superbike Champion on a Suzuki, has won over 80 national Dirt and Long Track titles in his career and will be making his World Superbike debut. He finished the two-day test prior to this weekend’s racing in a very creditable 12th place on combined times, just 1.816s behind the pole setter and well ahead of some illustrious and experienced names.
Also making its debut at Phillip Island is a brand new racing exhaust from Yoshimura, the R-11R (see attached photo). Very much in prototype form as of now Yoshimura is focused on testing and using it in extreme use, and of course the white-hot competition of WSB is the perfect proving ground for any racing item. Featuring a newly designed internal structure as well as an ‘organically’ shaped end-cap partially enclosing a dual-exit, as soon as R&D on the Yoshimura R-11R is complete work will begin on systems available to the public, in both road and race form.
Details on the commercial version will follow later in the year and full technical specifications, fitment options, sleeve finishes and retail prices will be announced as soon as they become available.
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