Sorry about the dreadful pun, but I couldn’t let the occasion go by without a mention.
Last weekend’s Dutch TT at Assen was the 80th Anniversary of the first running of the event. As such, the weekend was filled with nostalgic shows and happenings as befits such an important anniversary. And, taking pride of place on the weekend, was the presence of the legendary Giacomo Agostini, winner of 122 Grands Prix (68 in the 500cc class and 54 in the 350cc class) and 15 World Championships, (8 in the 500cc class and 7 in the 350cc class). Ago is now the only rider to have come anywhere near Valentino Rossi’s total of Grands Prix wins and the sole reason why Rossi will continue to race in MotoGp until he has also overtaken Ago’s 15 titles!
Agostini, 68 years old, continues to ride and is much in demand as a guest at important events like the Goodwood Festival of Speed, for example. But the Assen event was a bit special, because also present at the event was the Yamaha OW23 (YZR500) 1975 model that Ago rode to victory at Assen in 1975, the last year in which he won a world title and the bike on which he secured that title. (35 years ago)
Agostini rode both the OW23 AND Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha M1 in demonstration runs during the weekend. The OW was brought to the Netherlands by the Yamaha factory technicians who took it out of the corporate museum and prepped it especially for the event. Apparently the great man had a great weekend (d’uh) and showed some of the younger riders that he could still wrap himself around a GP bike despite his age.
What I find really interesting about this picture is how TINY the OW23 is compared to the M1. And, for you trivia buffs out there, something that I didn’t know until I started researching this article, the current M1 Yamaha is officially designated the OW83 by the factory. There you go, something to stun your mates with over coffee.
