YRT – John Redding
Yamaha Racing Team (YRT) is a household name in the Australian Superbike Championship ever since its inception in late 2004. The team was started by John Redding, who has an association with Yamaha that goes all the way back to the ’70s.
English-born and New Zealand-raised, Redding worked with the Victorian importer for Yamaha upon his arrival in Australia. Redding explained the YRT project stemmed from a desire for Yamaha Australia to become more involved in the national Superbike Championship.
John Redding: “Yamaha would provide support for independent teams, but never actually had their own team. In the early 2000s, I already had a number of responsibilities within Yamaha Motor Australia, and the Managing Director approached me with the view to starting the YRT project. He wanted to have a more involved, corporate presence on the grid and I was given the job of caretaking the team.”
Success soon followed, with Jamie Stauffer winning the Australian Superbike Championship in 2006 and ’07. Since then, YRT has been home to a roster of talented riders including Wayne Maxwell, Glenn Allerton, Daniel Falzon and its current riders, Cru Halliday and Aiden Wagner.
Redding explained that all the riders have had their unique styles, “All top motorcycle racers have an enormous amount of self-confidence and they all have their own unique way of using their ability to win races and titles. In my memory, Jamie has been our leading light because of the championships he won for us. Wayne was another top rider who came very close to delivering us a title, but didn’t quite get there.”
For season 2021, YRT was set to run a third entry for Broc Parkes, alongside the existing bikes for Halliday and Wagner. Parkes ultimately withdrew from the season for personal reasons, which Redding said was bittersweet.
“Broc was racing in Japan and due to some internal changes, his ride had virtually disappeared. We were asked by the Yamaha factory in Japan to provide him with an ASBK ride. It was going to be a tall order for our team to run three riders, so when Broc said he wouldn’t be able to compete, we were upset in one way but glad in another.”
So far in 2021, Halliday has had a consistent start to the season, running fourth in the points after the Winton and Wakefield Park rounds. Wagner has had a tougher run, injuring himself at Winton and not receiving medical clearance to race at Wakefield. However, Redding believes both riders will be strong at Hidden Valley.
“I think our bike is one of the best all-rounders in the paddock, which is why so many privateers are riding it. It doesn’t necessarily excel in any particular area, but it doesn’t have any negatives. In Darwin, I think we’ll be up there for sure” Redding explains.
The Melbourne-based Redding will miss Darwin due to COVID-19 border restrictions, but has full confidence in team manager Kevin Marshall, who will oversee operations at Hidden Valley, “Kevin has been with me since we started the team, he has a very long association with Yamaha, he’s very loyal and he knows the product inside and out,” Redding concluded.
ASBK Hidden Valley Schedule
Friday, 18 June
10:25am – Practice 1 (40 min) FOX Sports
2:20pm – Practice 2 (30 min) FOX Sports
Saturday, 19 June
10:15am – Qualifying 1 (20 min) FOX Sports
10:40am – Qualifying 2 (15 min) FOX Sports
2:05pm – Race 1 (16 laps) FOX Sports/Channel 7
Sunday, 20 June
10:50am – Race 2 (16 laps) FOX Sports
2:05pm – Race 3 (16 laps) FOX Sports/Channel 7
2021 ASBK Championship Calendar (Updated)
Round 1 Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, VIC February 18-21 CancelledRound 2 Winton Motor Raceway, Benalla, VIC March 12-14Round 3 Wakefield Park Raceway, Goulburn, NSW April 16-18- Round 4 Hidden Valley Raceway, NT – Supercars 2+4 (Superbikes only) June 18-20
- Round 5 Morgan Park Raceway, QLD August 20-22
- Round 6 The Bend Motorsport Park, Tailem Bend, SA September 23-26
- Round 7 Wakefield Park Raceway, Goulburn, NSW October 15 – 17 *
- Round 8 Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, VIC November 5-7 *
Alpinestars Superbike Championship Standings
| Pos | Rider | Total |
| 1 | Wayne MAXWELL | 91 |
| 2 | Troy HERFOSS | 81 |
| 3 | Mike JONES | 74 |
| 4 | Cru HALLIDAY | 65 |
| 5 | Glenn ALLERTON | 64 |
| 6 | Bryan STARING | 54 |
| 7 | Jed METCHER | 47 |
| 8 | Arthur SISSIS | 46 |
| 9 | Oli BAYLISS | 45 |
| 10 | Matt WALTERS | 42 |
| 11 | Lachlan EPIS | 36 |
| 12 | Josh WATERS | 27 |
| 13 | Anthony WEST | 24 |
| 14 | Michael EDWARDS | 22 |
| 15 | Mark CHIODO | 22 |
| 16 | Yannis SHAW | 21 |
| 17 | Nathan SPITERI | 20 |
| 18 | Luke JHONSTON | 17 |
| 19 | Aiden WAGNER | 15 |
| 20 | Aaron MORRIS | 14 |
| 21 | Philip CZAJ | 10 |
| 22 | Hamish McMURRAY | 4 |
| 23 | Sash SAVIN | 3 |
Darwin ASBK Entry List
- #1 Wayne Maxwell – Ducati
- #2 Mark Chido – Yamaha
- #3 Jed Metcher – Yamaha
- #12 Matt Walters – Kawasaki
- #13 Anthony West – Yamaha
- #14 Glenn Allerton – BMW
- #16 Luke Jhonston – Yamaha
- #17 Troy Herfoss – Honda
- #21 Josh Waters – Kawasaki
- #25 Daniel Falzon – Yamaha
- #28 Aiden Wagner – Yamaha
- #32 Oli Bayliss – Ducati
- #37 Michael Edwards – Yamaha
- #46 Mike Jones – Ducati
- #51 Corey Turner – Yamaha
- #61 Arthur Sissis – Yamaha
- #65 Cru Halliday – Yamaha
- #67 Bryan Staring – Kawasaki
- #83 Lachlan Epis – BMW
- #92 Jack Davis – BMW
- #333 Yanni Shaw – Suzuki
Source: MCNews.com.au