Sixty Years of Yamaha Motorcycles

Yamaha’s Diamond Anniversary Honors Motocross and Off-road Legends Including AMA National Enduro Champion Jason Raines.

As one of the Big Four from Japan, iconic brands like Yamaha become immortal in our minds. They are so big and prolific that it is easy to forget they had to start sometime, and for the then-yellow, now-blue brand of motorcycles it has only been 60 years.

To celebrate the diamond anniversary of Yamaha’s first motorcycle, the 1955 YA-1, we were invited to Yamaha’s USA headquarters in Cypress, California. To make the event even more special, 10 Yamaha legends were on hand to be inducted into Yamaha’s Wall of Champions. From the dirt side there was Bob Hannah, Rick Burgett, Broc Glover, Mike Bell, Ty Davis, and Jason Raines. Representing street bikes were Rick Oliver, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey and the lone quad rider was the dominant Bill Ballance.

We had a chance to catch up with the dirt bike guys including six time AMA National Hare Scrambles Champion Jason Raines who is now in charge of Yamaha’s Off-Road Dealer Demo Program. Raines was one of the only racers ever to win a Hare Scramble, GNCC, and National Enduro in three consecutive weekends. Here is what he had to say.

Dirt Rider: So, what are you up to these days? Are you still doing your riding school?

Jason Raines: I pretty much just do the Yamaha Demo Rides right now. The demo program is a lot to manage. It's just me and a couple dealer staff so that is my main thing right now. I travel the country to get to all the demos. There, people can hop on a bike. We carry every single dirt bike Yamaha makes. We go to tracks, to trails, anywhere that a dealer wants. When I do a school it's 8 a.m. till dark and that just couldn't happen with all the demos. It's basically every weekend of the year I'm doing demos and my wife has started doing the schools now. She's a racer – racing WMAs and GNCCs women's pro class. Even if she can't show how to do a difficult section, there are a lot of great teachers that aren't necessarily gnarly riders. Jeanie Charmichael and Coleen Millsaps can't show Martine Davalos how to blast a through a rut but they teach them and analyze their riding.

DR: When you were mainly doing the schools, what would you say were the main problems with the riders you taught?

JR: We had basically a mobile gym. We'd do work outs in the morning with trainers. We'd do an hour and a half, two-hour workout then get on the bikes. Not that I didn't work with beginner riders, but I focused more on racers and more aggressive riders. Yet if I had to pick out one thing that all riders can do better at, from beginners to pros is their foundation. Focus on the fundamentals – balance, throttle and clutch control, body position, how you weight the footpegs, hold the bars… The bike has no idea what to do so you constantly have to be analyzing traction and control and using your body and your weighting points to make the bike do what you want it to do. And the only difference, I preach this a lot at the schools, the only different between the fastest motocrossers and off-road riders in the world and a first timer its not HOW they use the controls – we all use the brakes, throttle, clutch, body position – it is just that the fast guys are using them quicker. The faster you go the more precise and controlled you have to be.

DR: You've raced both two-strokes and four-strokes. Which side do you fall on?

JR: For years and years in my racing career it was all two-stroke. When the four-strokes came out we rode them and they did have advantages. But the biggest thing in the woods, when you get to the tighter stuff there is just more weight to throw around. The bigger guys were always more successful on four-strokes – Scott Summers, Mike Lafferty, David Knight – these were big strong guys. But for me, I was always a two-stroke guy. Now, all the races I do are on the YZ250FX. I'm a big lap time guy. Every time a new bike comes out, I test my lap times against my YZ250 two-stroke lap times. I've always been faster on the two-stroke up until I rode the new FX. To give you an example, Paul Whibley, when we would ride together he'd ride a 125 and he'd haul butt on that 125. Once you get to a certain level, you can ride almost anything the same speed, its just which you feel the most comfortable on. I always felt more comfortable on a two-stroke because it was easy flick around and corner. On four-strokes, I felt like I couldn't corner as well, couldn't get them to lean over.

DR: But now you say you race and ride the YZ250FX four-stroke. Why did that bike change your mind?

JR: It's smooth. Way smoother than the YZ250F. I was never a fan of the YZ250F in the woods, just didn't like the way it worked compared to my two-stroke. Everything I've always ridden I've compared to my favorite, which is the YZ250 two-stroke. When we got the FX it had less wheel spin, I could carry momentum better and it was just smoother. I tested the bikes in Florida sand and a two-stroke would usually shine in the sand but I liked the FX. When I got back on the two-stroke I thought I would say, 'Oh, this is going to be home, this is me,' because every time I did back-to-back testing I always went back to the two-stroke. But Florida was the first time that I hopped on the two-stroke and thought, 'Man, this is hard to ride.' Maybe it's because I've gotten older, and I don't want to have to be so precise anymore.

DR: Yamaha has shown a renewed investment in off-road with the YZ250FX, the new WR250F and now the YZ250X. Since you do the demo rides, what has the reaction been from the public?

JR: I think it is fantastic. Doing the events we do every week people are so excited to ride a competitor for KTM. It's been a long transition. When you go to a hare scramble, an enduro, a GNCC, it's primarily KTM. Yet when you go to motocross tracks there is still a lot of brands out there. But with the introduction of all these off-road race bikes from Yamaha, it's awesome. The FX has gone over better than any body thought it was going to. WR line is still good. When people ask what is the difference between a YZ250F, YZ250FX, and a WR250F and this is how I explain it. The WR is an enduro trail riding bike, the power is smooth, it's controllable, it's tractable… The YZ-F is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, you know, snappy, aggressive power, stiff suspension… And the FX is in the middle. It can trail ride and you can take it to Milestone and hit every jump with the stock suspension, it's going to be a little softer, but it's going to be a little plusher.

DR: Do you have any parting advice for a young off-road racer that wants to be the next GNCC champion?

JR: Well, I didn't really get serious about racing until I was 16. I see my daughter and she wants to be the WMA rider, the next Jessica Paterson. But what I think really helps is just having fun. I see with the riders on my team, when they're not having fun, they're not doing good. When they're having fun it becomes easier. Racing for two/three hours can become mentally frustrating. But I did an ironman a couple years ago and this was a 100-mile deal. I though about it and realized I've never ridden four or five hours that long in one setting. An enduro you ride a section and you get a break. At Six Days you ride a section and get a break. At GNCCs you ride three hours. So when we lined up, I had my dad with me and he made sure I had a bunch of granola bars and extra water, I had all this stuff I was going to eat. Then, once it started, it was me and Mike Brown on each others tails the whole way. And it was fun! We were battling back and forth – I would pass him in the tight stuff and he'd fly past me in the open stuff and the race when by just like that [snaps fingers]. Where I've done an our-and-half-long WORCS race, hated every minute of it and it feels like its 10 hours. So for younger kids coming up anything is possible, and have fun. We all started riding because it was fun. When I was growing up we didn't race and I never thought I was going to win or do anything serious, it just wasn't important. We were always about having fun and you never know what's going to happen.