For the 1972 World Championship season, Yamaha’s factory racing department produced several Works Racers: 250cc, designated YZ635 and 350cc, designated YZ634, both water-cooled.
Yamaha Motor NV assembled an international field of riders, in collaboration with enthusiastic Yamaha dealers.
These machines were factory bikes.
Jarno Saarinen was sponsored by Arwidson Finland, Rodney Gould was sponsored by Hostettler Switzerland, Barry Sheene, through Sonauto Yamaha, and Yamaha Motor NV, managed Hideo Kanaya.
The 250cc bikes were ridden by Barry Sheene and Rodney Gould, and the 350cc bikes by Jarno Saarinen and Hideo Kanaya.
Jarno Saarinen became the 350cc World Champion, while Rodney Gould finished third in the 250cc championship on the YZ635, winning the Dutch and Swedish Grands Prix.
At the end of the 1972 season, two Works Racers, a 634 and a 635, were sent to France for Team Sonauto Yamaha, including the one ridden by Rodney Gould for the 1972 season.
This motorcycle was used by the French rider Olivier Chevallier in a race near Paris (Rungis) at the end of 1972, finishing second behind Renzo Pasolini.
French rider Patrick Pons rode the YZ635 at the beginning of 1973, after which the motorcycle disappeared for 30 years.
Discovered in the early 2000s, it was restored by the Sonauto Yamaha tuner Jacky Germain using factory parts (crankshaft, cylinders, 56 x 50) preserved by Christian Maingret, Patrick Pons’s tuner at the time.
Resurrected by our collaborator, former racer Hubert Rigal, it is now available and can be viewed in France (Paris). A unique opportunity for a collector to acquire an extremely rare factory machine.
Information and price upon request.
