YAMAHA R7 PROJECT

Time and tide waits for no man, and the same goes for race meetings. Up against it, the Batham’s R7 made it to the North West 200… but only just.

- BIG MAC

With the clock ticking down to the Batham’s R7 being loaded onto the race truck, it was time for some tough but sensible decisions. With the delays on the Yoshimura camshafts and Nova gearboxes knocking onto the overall build being delayed, it was becoming increasingly obvious that the bike wouldn’t be ready in time to leave for the North West 200 with the team.

The plan and original build schedule was to have two bikes built and tested in time for the North West 200, where they could be dialled in to the particular nuances of road racing in the hands of Michael Rutter and Richard Cooper. However, when the moment came, the truck left for Ireland without any R7s in it – and just one part-built bike at MSS’s headquarters yet to even see the dyno, with the promise that it would be delivered to the paddock in time for the second qualifying session a week later, on the Thursday afternoon.

With too much unknown about the bike, and it clear that the North West 200 was now going to be the very public initial shakedown of the R7 – and therefore the odds of it actually being competitive virtually zero, Rutter decided he should pilot the bike and let Cooper know that if he had any other offers to ride in the Supertwin class, he should take them up.