Explained: Wayne Rainey to ride custom Yamaha
Wayne Rainey is a three-time 500cc world champion
MotoGP legend Wayne Rainey will ride a custom-built Yamaha as part of his ‘Rainey’s Ride to the Races’ MotoAmerica event this summer in California.
The American won three 500cc world titles between 1990 and 1992, before his racing career was cut short in a tragic incident at Misano in 1993.
A crash during that race while battling for a fourth world title left him with life-changing injuries.
Despite this, Rainey has remained an active member of the motorcycle racing world and heads the MotoAmerica series in the United States of America.
In recent years, Rainey has hosted his ‘Ride to the Races’ event, which sees fans ride to Laguna Seca alongside US racing legends as part of the build-up to the MotoAmerica round hosted at the Californian venue.
The ride starts at Baja Cantina and goes for 100 miles before concluding with two laps around the Laguna Seca circuit.
This year, Rainey himself will ride a custom-built Yamaha XSR900 GP bike, which has been adapted around his disability.
The event, which will run on Friday 11 July ahead of the fifth round of the 2025 MotoAmerica series raises money for the Roadracing World Action Fund.
The non-profit implements soft barrier solutions at race tracks to help boost safety.
It’s not the first time Rainey has ridden modified machinery.
In 2019, he was able to do some laps of Suzuka on a specially adapted Yamaha R1 Superbike.
In 2022, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Rainey rode his 1992 title-winning Yamaha bike up the hill after the Japanese marque worked to modify the machine.
As well as Rainey, other MotoGP legends involved in the event will be three-time 500cc world champion Kenny Roberts and his 2000 500cc title-winning sone Kenny Roberts Jr.
Four-time premier class champion Eddie Lawson and three-time world champion Freddie Spencer will also take part.
Other US racing legends involved are triple AMA Superbike champion Doug Chandler, Supercross star Rick Johnson and 1988 AMA Superbike champion Bubba Shobert.
