Yamaha just announced that its all-new 2018 Yamaha YZ450F, but the production machine is already set to do battle on the FIM Motocross World Championship stage this weekend at the MXGP of Czech Republic in Loket, Czech Republic, July 23.
The Swiss-born Tonus, who recently signed a two-year deal with Yamaha Motor Europe, will be the first rider to race a production-version 2018 YZ450F in a major series, starting at Loket and for the rest of the 2017 MXGPs, including the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations. Fellow Wilvo Yamaha Official MXGP rider Shaun Simpson will also ride the 2018 model, although Simpson is not scheduled to be back in action until penultimate round of the series, the MXGP of The Netherlands in Assen, Holland, on September 10.
“I’m pleased I get to ride the 2018 YZ450F at Loket this weekend,” Tonus said. “I got to test it a couple of months ago, and I felt good straight away. Since then, I haven’t had too much time on the bike, but I have been able to get out on it a few times, and I feel really comfortable on it. My speed is good, and the bike feels strong, so I am confident I can do well on it.”
According to Yamaha Motor Europe, the works version YZ450FM is still in development. Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing riders Romain Febvre and Jeremy Van Horebeek are expected to race that version of the machine sometime later in the year.
Yamaha Motor Europe MX Racing manager said that the 2018 YZ450F has already received a lot of positive feedback from Tonus and other test riders.
“It is impressive to see the development of the 2018 YZ450F and the extremely high level of bike that has been delivered from Japan,” Eggens said. “It is good to see that the riders are happy with the bike and how it handles and performs. It’s exciting to have the Wilvo Yamaha Official MXGP team out on the 2018 bike in the Czech Republic and the rest of the season, and it’s particularly exciting to see how the bike performs at Grand Prix level.”
Wilvo Yamaha Official MXGP Team Manager Louis Vosters added, “We are very excited to have Arnaud already on the 2018 bike. We have done some testing, and immediately Arnaud was feeling good and he was really positive about riding it. It looked as though it was handling really well and it has strong performance so we are really looking forward to this weekend.”
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