Day one of the Yamaha VR46 Master Camp kicked off today in Tavullia, Italy where all six new recruits were reminded and reminded again about safety.
The events kicked off at the Fisio Gym, where the lucky six – Alfonso Coppola (19), Enzo De La Vega (17), Kimi Patova (15), Mykyta Kalinin (18), Renzo Ferreira (15) and Robert Schotman (18) – were joined by Moto2 championship leader Franco Morbidelli and Moto3 Mugello race winner Andrea Migno, who were assisting fitness trainer Carlo Casabianca in learning about exercises and how it is important to safely stretch muscles in a way that enhances flexibility and reduces injuries.
In the afternoon they headed out to the track under the watchful eye of Flat Track expert Marco Belli, who explained that their first ranch session would be about bike control over speed, once again stressing that safety comes first. All of the activities were overseen by VR46 Riders Academy Director and Valentino Rossi’s famously right hand man Alessio Salucci.
The riders were left wanting more after their first Flat Track session with multiple world champion Belli, who said of the first day:
“The first day of the Yamaha VR46 Master Camp is all about getting the riders in the right position on the bikes, so they can work them easily. It‘s always a question of body position and throttle control”, he said.“Yesterday we worked a little bit more on the lower half of the body, because we noticed that they needed to ride the bikes more with that part instead of trying to solve situations using their upper body.
Belli continued: “We did some special exercises and I can tell that most of these guys are used to these kinds of practice sessions, perhaps on dirt or supermoto. They‘re already able to control the bike, which is good, but then it becomes a matter of getting them to accept that they should start from zero, like a blank canvas. They have to start from scratch to learn the right lines, lean angle and correct timing to go on the brakes, to get the specific reaction from the bike that we‘re looking for. We will continue to work on this during the week.”
A video of all of today’s action from the Master Camp can be watched on YouTube on this link.
