REPORT - Yamaha Racing Heritage Club Sachsenring Classic

Words: Mike Ryan and Yamaha Racing

Photos: Yamaha Racing

As part of Yamaha Motor Co’s 70th anniversary celebrations in 2025, the Yamaha Racing Heritage Club (YRHC) took centre stage at this year’s edition of the ADAC Sachsenring Classic. Held at the Sachsenring track in eastern Germany on 2-4 May, the event attracted more than 80 historic race bikes. YRHC were given a dedicated paddock area at the circuit, while special guests brought Yamaha’s rich racing history to life in front of thousands of fans.

Now in its 10th year, the ADAC Sachsenring Classic provided the perfect setting for the YRHC to recognise Yamaha’s 70th Anniversary. Yamaha’s racing journey began just ten days after Yamaha Motor Co. was founded in 1955, with the company achieving victory at the Mount Fuji Ascent Race on its first motorcycle - the 125cc YA-1. As such, it was fitting that the YRHC celebration was held at a racetrack.

The YRHC was founded to preserve and celebrate Yamaha’s racing history, bringing together owners, builders and restorers of classic Yamaha two-stroke race bikes, ensuring this legacy is preserved and celebrated by connecting generations of riders, bikes and fans worldwide. 

Special Bikes, Special Guests

The YRHC paddock at the Sachsenring Classic featured a remarkable mix of production and factory grand prix machinery from the two-stroke era. Among the highlights were early production racers, such as the TD-1B, TR-2, and TR-3. These were displayed alongside factory-built icons from the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, including numerous YZR250, YZR500 and YZR750 machines. Even better, most of the bikes were fired up – in a haze of blue smoke! - and ridden in dedicated track sessions throughout the weekend by YRHC members.

YRHC’s special guests at the 2025 ADAC Sachsenring Classic were Steve Baker and Carlos Checa; both of whom have strong connections to Yamaha’s two-stroke grand prix era. While Checa will be familiar to many, thanks to his long career across GP and World Superbike competition, Baker is perhaps more obscure, but he’s certainly significant in Yamaha’s racing history.

Welcoming Steve . . .

Born in Washington state in 1952, Baker got his start in dirt track before making the move to road racing as a 16-year-old. His earliest successes on tarmac came in Canada, where he won the national championship on three occasions, often riding in multiple classes over a race weekend.

Moving back to his native United States in 1973, Baker began racing professionally aboard Yamaha machinery, backed by Canada’s Yamaha distributor, Trevor Deely. After a slow start in AMA competition, followed by a badly-broken leg that compromised his 1974 season, Baker finished second in the 1975 Daytona 200 behind Gene Romero, and ahead of such GP luminaries as Giacomo Agostini, Johnny Cecotto and Australia’s own Warren Willing.  

Baker’s peak AMA season came in 1976. Riding both the YZR750 OW31 in the National class and a modified TZ250 in the 250 GP class, Baker secured his first race wins in both, setting him up for a shot at the championship. However, a crash in the season finale saw him finish third overall.

Earlier that year, Baker had travelled to the UK to compete in the Anglo-American Match Race Series and ‘Race of the Year’. His performances there earned an invite to join the factory Yamaha team for the 1977 500cc World Championship, which the American would combine with racing in the Formula 750 series.

Formula 750 had started in 1971 as a Trans-Atlantic series, but 1977 would be its first year as an FIM World Championship. Astride a YZR750 that he was now very familiar with, Baker was victorious in five of the eleven rounds to comfortably win the 1977 F750 title. This was the first road racing world championship won by an American - a year before Kenny Roberts won the 500cc World Championship.

In the 1977 500cc World Championship, Baker finished runner-up on the factory YZR500 OW35 behind Barry Sheene. The following year, Baker joined Graziano Rossi in a privateer Suzuki outfit, finishing seventh overall. Another bad crash in the final round of the 1978 Formula 750 World Championship led to Baker’s retirement from racing, aged just 26. He later opened a motorcycle dealership and remains engaged with bikes and racing to this day.

At the Sachsenring Classic, 72-year-old Baker took to the track aboard the YZR750 he rode to victory at the 1977 Daytona 200, while the TZ250 he won the Daytona 100 on was on static display.

. . . and Carlos

Carlos Checa may be better known for his time in World Superbikes that included a championship with Ducati in 2011, but he had a long career in the GP paddock before that.

A Honda rider in the 125cc and 250cc classes, Checa also made his 500cc debut on a Honda before joining the Marlboro Yamaha Team alongside Max Biaggi in 1999. On his debut aboard the Yamaha YZR500, Checa finished second, followed by a string of top ten results that saw the Spaniard finish seventh in the championship that year. More podiums came in 2000 and 2001, but a race win eluded Checa in both the 500cc two-stroke and MotoGP four-stroke era. For seven of his twelve years in the premier class, Checa rode a Yamaha – both the YZR500 two-stroke and the YZR-M1 990cc four-stroke.

At the Sachsenring Classic, the 52-year-old rode a faithful replica of the YZR500 0WL6 he raced to second place at the 2001 German Grand Prix behind Biaggi. That race is remembered as significant for Yamaha, with a lockout of the top four places completed by Shinya Nakano and Norifumi Abe. The replica was restored by YRHC members Alex Arletti and Carlo Mattarozzi.

Off track, both Checa and Baker took part in autograph sessions and meet-and-greets with fans of all ages throughout the weekend. The pair also joined YRHC members for a paddock BBQ to share stories, technical knowledge and the passion for Yamaha’s racing heritage.

In a particularly emotional moment, Baker was presented with a Certificate of Merit by Yamaha Motor Europe’s President and CEO, Olivier Prévost, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Yamaha’s success and his continued role as an ambassador for the brand.

Remembering Phil and Dieter
For the YRHC, another highlight was the appearance of Graham Read, son of Yamaha’s most successful rider in terms of World Championship titles – Phil Read. At the Sachsenring, Graham rode the 1971 TD-2B that his father finished in third place on at the same circuit during his 250cc World Championship-winning season. That machine, rebuilt by YRHC member Pater Abelmann, was one of several at the event with direct links to the historic German track, including the YZ635 that Jarno Saarinen rode to victory in 1972.

The weekend also featured a tribute to Dieter Braun, one of Yamaha’s most successful privateer racers and an iconic figure in German motorsport. Braun’s last-corner victory at the 1971 East German Grand Prix, racing against Phil Read and Rodney Gould (also on Yamahas), is remembered as much for what happened off the track as on it. When the West German anthem played for Braun’s success during the podium ceremony, East German fans stood and sang along in a spontaneous act of unity that became a symbolic moment in German motorsport history.