MCN Awards Yamaha No1 Prize!

27th November 2009

An expert panel of judges headed by Marc Potter, the Editor of motorcycling’s weekly newspaper Motor Cycle News (MCN), announced the winner of the coveted MCN Bike of the Year award, the Yamaha YZF-R1. “It’s a no-brainer” said one judge; “You simply couldn’t give the award to any other bike” said another. The praise was without qualification and the decision unanimous.

Yamaha took a massive gamble when it launched the 2009 R1 – altering the character of superbikes, abandoning the headline-grabbing horsepower war and asking riders to relearn how to get the best from their bike. But it worked. The crossplane-cranked R1 was a real risk but a genuine innovation, and one that’s been rewarded with championship wins the world over.

In finding a way to innovate in a class that had become conservative as it approached the limits of conventional performance, Yamaha has set a powerful example to other manufacturers – and inspired bike buyers to believe there’s life (lots of it) in the superbike class again’’.

In addition to the top honour, the Yamaha superbike also scooped the award for Best Sportsbike over 601cc and to top it all the economical and competitively priced Yamaha Vity was voted Best Scooter by the MCN judges.

Yamaha’s Managing Director Andrew Smith said ‘‘The MCN awards are the real benchmark for our industry and we are delighted to scoop the “Major“ prize. They top a fantastic year for Yamaha with us achieving number one in the market, one British and no less than 5 World Championships in 2009. With a comprehensive range of scooter’s and motorcycles available to customers moving into 2010, we feel that we are in a very strong position to capitalise on these fantastic achievements and make a visit to a Yamaha Dealer a must!.’’