Imagine the feeling of a race team rolling into your local club day, setting up the truck, allowing you to ride their race bikes, supplying mechanics to take care of you and your bike, decking you out in team gear, having a pro rider on hand to give you tips and the whole thing recorded on film to relive over and over again.
It would have to feel pretty good, right? And your mates would have to be jealous! That’s exactly what happen recently when the Yamalube Yamaha Racing team offered two lucky and deserving Yamaha customers to be ‘Factory For a day.’
The team truck pulled up at the Kilcoy Motocross track, northwest of Brisbane and gave two lucky riders a true bLU cRU, money can’t buy experience with all the trimmings. Zack Kerlin and Joel Antees were selected because of their long term loyalty to Yamaha and they both got the rare and glamorous insight into a manufacturer supported motocross race team.
“What an awesome day,” says an excited Zack Kerlin. “I couldn’t believe it when Yamaha contacted me and offered this to me. Every rider dreams of riding for a major team and the team went all out to make it special and everything was taken care of.
“Riding Levi’s bike was amazing, the Scott gear was perfect, having Nabe and Jay Wilson look after me all day was so cool and this just motivates me more to be a professional racer because today was the best.
“Thank you to everyone at Yamalube Yamaha Racing, Michael at Northstar Yamaha and everyone involved who made this happen for me. I won’t forget it and for Yamaha to do this shows why they are the best company. Thank you!”
15 year old Kerlin was selected via the Northstar Yamaha dealership where Michael Edwards, the owner, nominated the Kerlin family as loyal customers who have been with the Yamaha brand for years and the ‘Factory for a Day’ offer was a good reward for their years of loyalty.
Joel Antees represented the team in the MX2 class and rode Jay Wilson’s YZ250F. It’s a big step from his personal bike to a near new, meticulously prepared team bike but with just a couple of tweaks, Joel was on the pace.
“It was almost overwhelming,” Joel begins. “The truck rolls up, three guys jump out, set it up, pull out the race bikes, Jay hands me my gear for the day then we roll to the start line and there are four people to assist me with two camera guys in tow. It was like I was Dylan Ferrandis.”
“But I had such a cool day and I really wanted to do well for the team who had put some much effort. Mike had the bike in perfect condition every time I hit the track and he made a couple of changes to suit the track for the last moto that worked really well.
“I liked the yellow SCOTT gear, it stood out on the track and the team did such a good job of making it fun and enjoyable. Thank you to everyone that helped on the day and all my mates are telling me I need to hook them up if the team does it again.”
This unique experience was something that the Yamalube Yamaha team were happy to provide and the genuine happiness of the riders and families capped off a sensational weekend. And at the end of the day, the riders were able to keep the team issue SCOTT gear they raced in, a Yamalube show bag full of quality lubricants, Yamaha shirt and cap, a team issue poster with their riding image on it as well as a range of photos and video from the day.
“For us as a team, most race weekends come with pressure to perform and as we set a high benchmark for ourselves but “Factory for a Day” wasn’t about a result. The team all pulled together with our sponsors to make it not just an experience for the riders, but also a memorable one for us and something we really enjoyed.
“The Kilcoy club allowed us to put the day on and were happy to work with us and it was well received by everyone there. In fact, I thought we were running 10 factory riders for a day at one stage such was the popularity around the truck.
“Both riders and families were great to deal with and we hope we have given them a taste of the life of a factory racer and how a race team works on race days. The day was a great success and something we will do again in the future,” said Yamaha’s Scott Bishop.
