Yamaha Building A Moto2 Contender?

While we have lamented about how Oberdan Bezzi is a motorcycle artist and not a motorcycle journalist, despite the fact he is often cited as if he were one, the Italian artist has posted information on his blog (alongside a render of course) that Yamaha is rumored to be building a Moto2 bike which will be ready to compete when the series replaces the 250 class, either in 2010 or 201.

Named the YZR 600 M2, the bikes would be sold in Yamaha’s traditional red and white production livery, much as the old TZ bikes were back in the 1980s. This breaks from the current model where bikes are leased to teams in the MotoGP series.

While this news seems far-fetched, should Yamaha be genuinely interested in producing equipment for the Moto2 class, it would mark a turning point for the series, which so far has only garnered attention from chassis specialists such as Moriwaki, Suter and BQR. These current entries almost exclusively involve building prototype chassis around production engines, typically a Honda CBR600RR powerplant. Interestingly enough however, Honda has not expressed any interest in the new class, and there have even been some statements which would seem to imply that the Japanese giant will not build a bike for the new class.