Wednesday, March 07, 2007
BELFAST TELEGRAPH By David Neely

Showstopper...the bike so priceless it may have to be scrapped!

It's so valuable that it's almost priceless, yet the irony is that it will end its life as a piece of scrap - crushed beyond recognition of ever having been a motorcycle.

Today it is being kept at a secure location in the province, under lock and key, before being brought out next weekend as the star exhibit at the Northern Ireland Motorcycle Festival in Belfast's King's Hall.

The Yamaha 990cc bike was raced by former world MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi last year. In the final round of the season at Valencia in Spain he crashed it and lost his world crown, a title he won on the bike in 2004 and 2005.

The YZR-M1 bike is one of three ridden by Rossi and one of nine made by Yamaha's racing division. Two others were raced by his team mate, Colin Edwards, and the other four used solely for development purposes.

Northern Ireland Yamaha dealer, Alfie Mayrs, of Hurst Motorcycles said: " I'm told by the head of Yamaha UK that the M1 is so valuable that one cannot put a value or price on it.

"All of the nine machines were hand built - engines, castings - and the only people ever to have seen inside the power units were the factory's own technicians and development engineers. They are all very special machines.

"The majority of them will be scrapped and will not find their way into museums because Yamaha does not want its competitors in the racing world to see and learn its development secrets."

The bike show, sponsored by Adelaide Insurance and the Institute of Advanced Motorists, opens at the King's Hall next Friday afternoon, March 16, and runs until Sunday night.

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That would be sacrilege It mustn't happen!

.....Why can't they just give the bike to Valentino like they did in 2004? I'm sure Vale wouldn't want to hear about the possibility of his beloved M1 (and the last bike he ever raced in the 990cc class) was to be crushed!