[sportrider - latest stories] - Josh Hayes talks about his upcoming Yamaha MotoGP rid

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Josh Hayes talks about his upcoming Yamaha MotoGP ride at Valencia

Opportunity to take some laps on Colin Edwards’ M1 part of a “thank you� from Yamaha USA for AMA Superbike titles and loyaltyBROOKLYN, NY, OCT 4 – Monster Energy Graves Yamaha’s Josh Hayes will be one of the last riders to ever throw a leg over Yamaha’s 800cc YZR-M1. The two-time AMA Superbike champion will get a chance to ride a version of the bike that won the last three MotoGP World Championships in a test following the MotoGP season finale in Valencia, Spain. The one-off ride on Colin Edwards’ Monster Yamaha Tech 3 M1 is Yamaha’s way of saying thank you for his titles—and also for being understanding when they denied him the chance to ride in World Supersport events this season.

“Josh (Hayes) has had some opportunities due to our extended periods of non-activity in the AMA racing to ride overseas and in other areas,� Yamaha USA race boss Keith McCarty said. “As our ‘lone ranger’ on the Superbike here, we shut those opportunities down a number of times. Again, we tried to keep our eye on the ball and keep him as safe as you can without going to look for trouble. He was very cordial every time. I mean, you think he knew the answer, but you’re going to answer anyway. I told him it kills me to do that. I know what racers want to do. They want to ride.

“Whenever that happens, you just keep a little feather in your hat and when something comes up that you can do that would show that appreciation . When I told him, ‘Look, this isn’t what I want to do, but the business side of me said this is what I had to do,’ he sucked it up. Here was an opportunity that presented itself. We were looking at several things, this being one of them. The one that made the most sense for everybody and timing. Between racing and our Customer Service Group we were able to make it happen.�

“I’m excited about it and it’ll be fun,� Hayes said via Skype from the Wales home of his friend Chaz Davies, the newly crowned World Supersport champion. “I think for me, it’s the perfect way to go about experiencing a GP bike. As a professional motorcycle racer, one of the things I was a little bummed about was that I might not ever had the opportunity to ride the top technology that there is in motorcycle racing, to experience that.�

Hayes said he was mentioned as a possible replacement rider if the MotoGP regulars stood by their convictions and boycotted the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi.

“I didn’t really think that that would be the right scenario to go try to learn a new racetrack, learn a new motorcycle in a racing situation,� he said. “I watched Ben Bostrom at Laguna and how hard it was for him. And I know he’s a talented rider, so I thought, ‘Well, maybe that’s not the way to approach it.’

“The idea and possibility of just being able to go test it, season’s over, I don’t have aspirations of going to race MotoGP. It’s just an opportunity to go ride the machine, no pressure, have some fun. And see what it’s all about, see what I can learn from it and I’m excited for that opportunity.�

Hayes’ travel plans aren’t set, but he believes he’ll be there for the season-ending race, then ride on Tuesday.

“My understanding is that I’ll ride on Tuesday,� while the MotoGP riders are testing their 1000s, he said. “I don’t know how much I’ll get to ride. There’s still a lot of things to be answered. I’m not really sure how it’s going to play out. Hey, I’m happy to get anything and try to enjoy my time on on the thing.

Hayes said it was possible that his wife, Melissa Paris, would get to test one of the Tech 3 Moto2 machines.

“I’m not 100% about that,� he said. “Our understanding was that they were going tot try to set it up so she could test a Moto2 bike and see how that rolls around, see how that goes. I think she had possibly worked on putting together a deal for the Indy wild card and that didn’t work out. And again, it was something that was I’m going to be there and Melissa’s trying to do a really good job for Yamaha on her HT Moto bikes and getting the Yamaha brand and name out there and so I think Keith (McCarty) was able to work something out so it would kind of be a seamless deal and maybe it would work good for everybody.�




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