Jay Wilson recently undertook a whirlwind trip to Japan as part of a Yamaha arrangement in their motocross program. It was 38 days in total, 28 of them spent in some form of quarantine, but during those 10 days he was free, he managed to fit in so much, from testing new parts to racing at Sugo and just being a tourist in one of the most intriguing countries in the world.
WE WILL LET JAY TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED
I love Japan. It’s always been a dream of mine to race there, and even with 14 days quarantine on both sides of my trip, being away from my family for almost two months, the countless Bento boxes and hotel rooms, it was a memorable and life-changing adventure that I recently took.
THE BACKGROUND
More than 12 months ago, I was sitting on the back of my tailgate at the Willowbank MX track riding with our Japanese guest Kota Toriyabe. Kota was sent to Australia by Yamaha in Japan to fast-track his development as a rider, and we had been spending plenty of time together at the track doing my programs. He doesn’t know much English, and that’s OK, as I don’t know much Japanese, but the conversation naturally gravitated towards racing and the state of motocross in Japan.
As our many conversations progressed, the idea of doing a race in Japan became more appealing. I had been to Japan before for a holiday with the girls, and I grew up hearing Eddie Warren’s stories about how epic it was racing there during his era. Honestly, I had for a long time thought about what it would be like to race there too, visit the Yamaha factory and see how the bikes that I make a
