Bikes

Gallery: Yamaha Superbike Temple

Inside the Moto Poggi Collection dedicated to Yamaha superbikes that have made history

May 31, 2016

Yamaha recently launched an exhibit in the Moto Poggi Collection in Villanova di Castenaso, Italy, featuring several of the company's noteworthy models from the World Superbike Championship series. The exhibition includes the FZ750 on which Fabrizio Pirovano competed in the first year of the series on, various bikes raced by Noriyuki Haga, and the 2009 title-winning YZF-R1 of Ben Spies. Scroll through the gallery below to see all the bikes along with a short description of each one, as well as some other interesting images from the Moto Poggi Collection.

The Yamaha Racing portion of the Moto Poggi Collection features more than 60 bikes, including YZR-M1s ridden by Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, a YZR500 ridden by Gary McCoy in 2002 and the TZ750 ridden by Giacomo Agostini in 1974.Courtesy of Yamaha

The Yamaha Superbike Temple exhibit has its own hall with a number of race machines featured from the World Superbike Championship series since its inception in 1988.Courtesy of Yamaha

The 1988 FZ750 ridden by Italian Fabrizio Pirovano to second in the inaugural year of the World Superbike Championship, with one race victory in France. Pirovano finished in the points in every round but one, and scored two additional podium finishes along with the win in France.Courtesy of Yamaha

Pirovano rode this FZR750R, also called the OW01, in the 1990 series, again to second overall in points. He again scored points in every round, with four podium finishes including a win in Austria. While the FZ750 was a standard production model manufactured in large numbers, the OW01 was a "homologation special" built specifically for the WSBK series.Courtesy of Yamaha

Another homologation special, this YZF-R7 (also called the OW02) was ridden by Noriyuki Haga in the 2000 series. Haga scored four victories and finished second in the championship that year.Courtesy of Yamaha

By 2006 the series had switched to 1000cc machinery and a more production-based format. This is the YZF-R1 ridden by Haga that year to third in the championship, with one win in Britain.Courtesy of Yamaha

Haga won six races in the 2008 championship on this YZF-R1, again finishing third in the championship.Courtesy of Yamaha

Ben Spies won Yamaha's only World Superbike Championship to date in 2009 on the then-new crossplane-crank YZF-R1, with 14 race wins and three additional podium finishes.Courtesy of Yamaha

The current YZF-R1 ridden by Sylvain Guintoli in the 2016 WSBK championship.Courtesy of Yamaha

Other bikes in the Moto Poggi Collection include various TZ models including (from right) this 1974 TZ750 ridden by Giacomo Agostini, a 1973 TZ350, and an early-seventies TZ250.Courtesy of Yamaha

The Moto Poggi Collection is very extensive and includes Yamaha race bikes and street bikes from every era and discipline. This is just one part of the collection, featuring various roadrace machinery.Courtesy of Yamaha