Los Alamos, CA - The summer of 2003,
Yamaha released the revolutionary 2004 YFZ450, which
was the biggest step toward an off the showroom floor
race ready ATV available by any the four major Japanese
manufactures at the time. At the time, many of the
Top Pros continued to race hybrid machines to be competitive
in Pro Class, but the rules were changed for 2004,
which required a Production machine for Pro competition,
and a new era of ATV racing was underway and the Yamaha
YFZ450 became the weapon of choice for many of the
Top Pros.
It wouldn't taken long for the YFZ450 to find it way
to the top of the Podium, and by the end of the 2004
season, two out of the three National Championship were
claimed by a Yamaha YFZ450 with #12 Keith Little winning
the 2004 GNC TT Championship and #1 Bill Ballance winning
his fifth GNCC Championship and first aboard a Four-Stroke
Production machine.
With over a year of racing and testing by some of
the fastest ATV racers, Yamaha headed back to the
drawing broad with plenty of feedback to make this
incredible ATV even better as the days of only changing
graphics and fender colors from year to year was over.
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Castillo Ranch
- Los Alamos,CA |
Only two years after the YFZ450 was released, Yamaha
announced that the 2006 model received over 80 changes
in an effort to make the YFZ450 the best Sport ATV
ever produced, so it was only fitting to invite the
major ATV media outlets out to California to test
out the newly improved YFZ450 for themselves and ATVriders.com
was on this exclusive list.
Yamaha went all out on this press intro by securing
Castillo Ranch in los Alamos, CA, which is one of
the premier practice tracks for the Top Pro motorcycle
racers, but it would be the first time that any ATV
had ever been allowed at the facility. With a top
notch MX track as the stomping ground, Yamaha also
invited its top Factory riders to show off their newly
improved YFZ450, so GNC Pros Riders #53 Kory Ellis,
#12 Keith Little, #199 Pat Brown along with GNCC Champion
#1 Bill Ballance were all in attendance. Unfortunately,
Bill Ballance was injured on the first day of the
intro and followed by Kory Ellis on Wednesday, so
by the time ATVriders.com arrived only Thursday only
Keith Little and Pat Brown remained, but with ATVriders.com
Test Rider, GNC Pro #8 Jason Luburgh, there was an
ample amount of talented riders to push the YFZ450
to its limits and see how the eighty changes actually
improved the 2006 YFZ450.
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Pro Test Riders (Left to Right)
Pat Brown, Jason Luburgh, Keith Little |
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ATVriders.com
Brand New 2006 Yamaha YFZ450 Test Machine
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Upon arriving at the Castillo Ranch, there were
three brand new 2006 YFZ450 waiting for the arrival
of ATVriders.com, ATV Sport, and ATV Action. From
a distance, the 06 YFZ450 looked virtually the same
as its predecessor besides a few changes in the graphics
and color scheme, but once we threw our leg over one,
some of the changes quickly became obvious and especially
how much more comfortable it was to sit on with the
15mm thicker seat accompanied with the redesigned
handlebars mounted on a 20mm longer steering stem,
which provided perfect combination for some aggressive
riding. Pat Brown emphasized “with the new bend
on the handlebars with the longer steering stem, it
puts them right were I would want them on my race
quad.”
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Jason Luburgh -"I feel the new 2006 YFZ450
is 70% of my Pro race YFZ450 and with just nerf
bars and kill switch it would be competitive
in either B or C amateur classes". |
While I inspected the machine looking for more of
the eighty changes, Jason Luburgh began gearing up
to hit the track and see if the improvements could
actually be felt were it counted the most, on the
track and trails. After only a few laps around the
track, Luburgh was amazingly launching the YFZ450
over almost ever obstacle on the track before heading
back to the trailer grinning ear to ear. I didn’t
even need to ask him what he thought of the new YFZ450
compared to the one that he has been racing all season
because he was quick to say “The new 06 YFZ450
is 100% better than the stock 05’s. The engine
performance was extremely impressive even with a stock
exhaust and it revved to the moon. The new brakes
worked flawlessly and were easy to lock up, so I could
charge harder into the corners and break later, and
I was amazed at how well the stock suspension worked
through the rhythm sections and over the larger leaps
because I never once felt like it would kick or pitch
me off. The new YFZ450 is a close to a race quad in
Stock form as I have ever ridden, and with only an
exhaust, nerf bars, and kill switch, it would be MX
race worthy for any B or C Class rider.”
After seeing how excited Luburgh was with his ride,
I couldn’t wait to hit the MX track, so I handed
over my camera equipment to luburgh, and headed out
for a few laps myself, which would be the first time
since January that I have even ridden on a MX track
that wasn’t part of GNCC race, which are few and
far between. I immediately felt comfortable on the YFZ450
and quickly began attempting some of the doubles and
table tops on the track, and after only a few laps,
I was launching the majority of the jumps with ease
and felt in complete control. The YFZ450 had an immediate
power delivery, which was controllable, and I too was
impressed with the brakes stopping power, but the stock
suspension won me over quickly when I attempted to triple
into a rhythm section after watching the Pros go through
the section effortlessly, but I didn’t carry enough
speed and cased the front end into the face of the third
jump with four more to follow and thought that this
was going to hurt, but to my amazement the front end
soaked up the impact and with a handful of throttle,
I was able to double-double out of the section with
my heart pounding and bit shaken. Needless to say, I
never attempted the triple again because I didn’t
want to be added to the injured list, but I did get
a great sense of how well the suspension actually worked.
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GNCC
Stock Class Racer, Harlen Foley "I normally
race in the woods, but on the 06 YFZ450, I felt
comfortable enough to catch some air" |
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Yamaha
GYTR Slip Exhaust provides an additional 5 horsepower
to the YFZ450
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Since Jason Luburgh and I both had chance to ride
the YFZ450 in stock form, we were anxious to see how
much of a difference just a GYTR Slip on exhaust system
along with a larger main jet and removed airbox lid
would make in engine’s performance. The Yamaha
technicians had the pipe installed and the YFZ450
ready to go in less than 15 minutes, and it was time
to see if we could tell a difference.
As with any replacement exhaust, you could definitely
tell a difference in the sound of the exhaust with
its powerful bark with each blip of the throttle,
and the difference didn’t stop with just the
sound. The GYTR pipe was just what the doctor ordered
as it squeezed even more power out of an already powerful
stock machine, and it could be felt throughout the
powerband. The YFZ450 came on stronger than before
in the low end and it continued through the higher
rpm range, which provided an even more enjoyable riding
experience.
After riding the new YFZ450 for one day with its eighty
changes, Jason and I could tell that Yamaha did its
homework, and we were both pleased to see that the
changes could actually be felt when riding and they
weren’t just hype on paper. The YFZ450 definitely
proved to us that it is a motocross worthy ATV, and
it could be ready to race and competitive in the amateur
ranks with just nerf bars, kill switch, and slip on
exhaust.
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Even
with 80 Changes for 2006, the engineers were
still interested to hear what Keith Little and
other Pros would like to see in the future,
which is a testament to Yamaha's dedication
to constantly improving the YFZ450 |
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Pat
Brown, Keith Little, and Jason Luburgh raced
track on the YFZ450 like they were on their
National ATVs and even with Stock YFZ450's they
felt comfortable enough to have some fun with
each other in the process |
www.yamaha-motor.com
