Yamaha Celebrates 20th Anniversary of the YFZ450R With Tours

Star-studded group of guests check out how Yamaha builds various powersports machines like ATVs, UTVs, WaveRunner, and more. (Yamaha/)

The sport ATV market has a long and winding history full of wild and crazy variants of four-wheelers. Where many of these machines have fallen into obscurity over the decades, the Yamaha YFZ450R is not one of them. This celebrated machine is enjoying its 20th circle around the sun, and Yamaha is ushering in this anniversary with a special behind-the-scenes tour of its Georgia factory with a stout list of racing legends.

Yamaha’s ATV and Side-by-Side Product Line Manager Ryan Stiver told Powersports Business, “Yamaha celebrates the enduring legacy of our YFZ450R, from its revolutionary beginnings 20 years ago to its podium success today. We honor the dedication of our racers, employees, and loyal enthusiasts who have made this journey remarkable.”

While the attendees were there to celebrate the YFZ450R and how it’s still being made after all these years, Yamaha treated the group to a look at WaverRunner production and golf carts too. As we know, Yamaha makes everything from ATVs to pianos. This means that any time spent in a Yamaha factory must be nothing short of a world of information.

While the factory tour must have been enlightening for all, some of the guests likely came in with a bit more understanding of Yamaha’s goings-on. According to Powersports Business, Yamaha invited a healthy list of hard-nosed Yamaha YFZ racers including nine-time Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) champion Bill Ballance; seven-time GNCC XC1 Pro ATV champion Walker Fowler; Quadcross champion and former factory tester Dustin Nelson; GNCC WXC ATV titleholder Jessica Elioff; bLU cRU ambassador and nearly 30-year pro-level GNCC racer Johnny Gallagher; former factory tester and first pro racer to compete aboard the original YFZ450 Kory Ellis.

So here’s to another 20 years of the venerable YFZ450R, an influential machine in a world of earth-ripping racers. Long live the Yamaha YFZ450R.

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