It was an outlap, honest!
Another of this year’s revised wonder weapons, the 2018 R1M got pimped up with second generation Öhlins electronic suspension, a much needed blipper and updated wheelie control. Adding to its already impressive arsenal of race derived tech, the Yammy is without a doubt one of the smartest motorsickles to ever grace our good presence. And what a bloody fantastic bike it is.
That being said, and to our surprise probably as much as yours, it’s never reached the top step of the SBOTY podium, and this year was no exception. It’s biggest problem around Navarra was its aggressive power delivery, which had more enthusiasm than a Labrador that’d swallowed a bag of speed; making life pretty damn hard around the narrow and winding circuit. Even when gassing onto the start straight there was seldom a time the front wheel was planted on the ground before I’d snatched third gear, which admittedly made me feel like a GP-imposter, but it did nothing for my lap times. To be honest, the crossplane motor, which boasted an audaciously menacing soundtrack, proved to be something of a handful in España. It wasn’t so bad when fired out from the circuit’s faster corners, but driving hard from first gear apexes was akin to playing Russian Roulette with a.44 Magnum… with half its chambers loaded. The odds weren’t always in my favour and it was more often than not that the R1M was making shapes when powering out of bends. The only way to manage its excitement was to be extremely progressive with the throttle, and consciously build up to getting it wide open.