| Author | Message | ||
     Trojan |
I've read some pretty BS press releases in the past from motorcycle manufacturers, but this one from Yamaha pretty much takes the biscuit. For those who don't know the history, Phil Read rode for Yamaha in the early sixties, winning multiple world championships for them. However he was involved in a very public falling out with team mate Bill Ivy about just who was supposed to win which title in 1968(They had already decided that Read would win the 125 and Ivy the 250 crown as Yamaha were utterly dominant in both series). Read allegedly went against the gentlemans agreement they had and won both titles, much to Ivys and Yamahas disgust. They never spoke again and Bill Ivy moved from Yamaha to MZ, only to be tragically killed shortly afterwards while testing the MZ two stroke. Read rode for Yamaha until 1971 when he switched to MV Agusta. Yamaha felt that Read had treated them badly, and prceeded to expunge all mention of Phil Read from their corporate memory and remove all trace of him from their records and museum, as if he never existed. Now suddenly after 40+ years he is apparently a Yamaha hero again just in time to celebrate their 50th anniversary  Boo http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=4 5174 I have no argument or animosity towards Phil Read (Phil Read Jr raced for us in 2006 after all), but Yamaha should really geta grip on their selective corporate memory, as there are plenty of people around who remember what happened. | ||
| Spectrum |
Matt interesting back story and thanks for posting as many of us probably weren't aware. All in all, I think it's a positive that Yamaha has stopped denying Phil's accomplishments and it's relevance to their racing history. I agree though this should have been proceeded by Yamaha offering some sort of apology or olive branch to the Read family. | ||
| Blake |
It's ok, the rev limit is 17,000. Yamaha's marketing crew don't strike me as very honorable. |
