Yamaha’s relationship with World Superbike has always been on again/off again but now it appears as Brand Y has decided WSBK has some value and is planning a return to World Superbike in 2016. While the final decisions have yet to be made, it’s known that Yamaha has spoken with several existing WSBK teams about changing brands in WSBK next season.
Yamaha reportedly approached both ten Kate Honda and Suzuki race boss Paul Denning about the effort. ten Kate bosses have long said that they intend to remain a Honda team until the very end.
A number of riders have been mentioned as being Yamaha’s choice for the effort, with former Aprilia MotoGP rider Marco Melandri (33) and Japanese ace Katsuyuki Nakasuga (34) seemingly topping the list.
