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2009 Yamaha YFZ450R Versus Yamaha YFZ450 ATV Review
Yamaha YFZ450R Versus Yamaha YFZ450 ATV Review
By: Jarrod McClure

Yamaha YFZ450R ATV Links
Yamaha YFZ450 ATV Link
Jarrod McClure - Honda TRX 450R ATV - GNCC Pro ATV Racer
In 2008, Jarrod McClure earned two Pro ATV podium finishes in the GNCC Series & earned a Top 10 Number for 2009
Baltimore, MD (2/22/2009) - With the start of the 2009 ATV racing season just around the corner, it was decision making time on what quad to race for the 2009 GNCC racing season. I have raced the Honda TRX450R the past couple of years with great success, but with the Honda GNCC contingency cut in half for 2009, there really wasn’t enough of an incentive to race another year in the GNCC series on the Honda 450R. However, I would continue to race the TRX 450R out west in the WORCS Series because of the substantial Honda ATV racing contingency for the series.

As for the GNCC series, I considered all the available ATV options beyond the Honda, and I decided that Yamaha had the best track record considering 9 Time GNCC Pro ATV Champion, Bill Ballance, has secured his last five Pro ATV championships on the YFZ450 and both Donald Ockerman & Brandon Sommers have also scored several Pro-Am & amateur championships over the past couple of years on the YFZ450 as well.

Jarrod McClure - Yamaha YFZ450 GNCC ATV Racing Podium
Jarrod McClure made his GNCC debut in 2004 on a Yamaha YFZ450 & earned several top five finishes in the Stock Class
Also, I raced the Yamaha YFZ450 many years ago, before I was even on the Honda 450R, in the GNCC stock class for a few rounds and had some great finishes on it. I then made the switch to Honda 450R just because of their contingency program at the time, so I already knew that I felt comfortable on the YFZ450, and over the past couple of years, Yamaha has made many updates to the YFZ450 to make it even better, so decided to buy a brand new Yamaha YFZ450 and see if it was going to be the right ATV for the 2009 GNCC Racing season.

I also thought about racing the all new Yamaha YFZ 450R in 2009. Fortunately, I had the opportunity attend the press intro with ATVriders.com, which provided me opportunity to ride the YFZ450R on the trails and motocross track, and I was really impressed with the YFZ450R.

2009 Yamaha YFZ450R ATV
2009 Yamaha YFZ450R ATV
Jarrod McClure tested the all new 2009 Yamaha YFZ450R on both the trails & motocross track

2008 Yamaha YFZ450 ATV
Jarrod McClure Test Riding the 2008 Yamaha YFZ450 ATV
The day after I returned home from riding the YFZ450R, I decided to go out on my stock YFZ450 to see how much different it felt from riding the new YFZ450R. Within the first few minutes of riding I immediately noticed my thumb starting to get sore. This wasn’t a problem on the YFZ450R because of the fuel injection along with the new thumb throttle design. Also, another thing I noticed instantly was how narrow the YFZ is compared to the YFZ450R. I came into a corner a little to hot and was up on two wheels before I knew it. Speaking of cornering, you can also notice the difference in the frame rake between the two quads. The YFZ has more of a tendency to push, and also when coming into a corner on the brakes the bumps seemed very harsh compared to the YFZ450R.
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