Yamaha showcases creative talent at Donington

Yamaha Livery Design Competition winner Ben Leeves is in an enviable position this weekend at Donington as he becomes the first member of the public to see their design realised on a Yamaha Motor Italia YZF R1 Superbike. The design was revealed by Yamaha riders Noriyuki Haga and Troy Corser on stage at the WSB paddock show to an audience of race fans and sporting media, following an exciting Superpole session at the Donington circuit for round 11 of the World Superbike Championship.

Ben’s design was amongst hundreds of creative entries submitted by race loving hopefuls across the UK. It was his design along with four others that stood out for a panel of judges that included riders Haga and Corser, representatives of Yamaha Racing and MCN. The five finalist designs were then published in MCN for readers to vote for their favourites. It was a close run thing, but Ben’s design, a clever monochrome depiction of the riders’ faces on a simple yet appealing red, black and white background, caught the imagination of the voting public.

Ben’s design was rushed off in secret to Italy where it was recreated on the carbon fibre fairings to be ready in time for Donington. The design was also sent to Alpinestars who created a unique set of leathers for both Haga and Corser to wear on the bike.

The five finalists, Ben Leeves, James Grey, John Holland, Stephen Budd and David Brisbourne were all invited as guests of Yamaha for the Donington weekend, completely unaware of which of them would ultimately witness their design fighting for the World Superbike Championship on the legendary GP circuit until 6.30pm this evening as the winning design was revealed.

"I’m over the moon, it’s so surreal, I can’t believe my design is actually on the bike! Thank you so much Yamaha, this is such an amazing experience….it doesn’t feel real! I can’t wait to see the bikes racing on Sunday!"

"I’d like to thank all the fans in the UK for sending in their designs, we were very happy with the number of entries and with the variety of designs. Some of them really stood out and it’s been nice to meet the producers of the best 5 today. For Yamaha the creation of innovative, stunning bike designs is a big passion and it was great sharing it with our fans in this competition. Ben’s winning bike design looks great on our R1 and on the leathers, he’s done really well and we look forward to see Nori and Troy racing it tomorrow."

Following the race weekend, Yamaha will be auctioning one set of the unique leathers for charity, with all proceeds going to Riders For Health. The leathers will be auctioned on www.riders.org starting on Monday 8th of September and finishing on Friday the 26th. To be in with a chance of owning these unique and instantly collectable leathers, make sure you make a bid!

- Yamaha Racing -