The mention of a team of full factory TZ750s in my story about the first Bol’Or I attended raised some eyebrows. It was the second year of Yamaha’s attempt to win their first Bol d’Or with a daring plan of beautifully prepared big-bore strokers piloted by top-line GP riders and factory testers. The pages in these photos (below) are from Motorcyclist magazine’s report of the first go, and it was so nearly successful. The following year, one bike, ridden by Asami and Kinoshita lasted 18 hours. In the following years, Yamaha’s struggle for the Holy Grail of French bike racing was inextricably linked to the fortunes of their favorite son, Christian Sarron. Usually it came down to a fight with Honda’s mighty RVF.

Yamaha produced the Genesis and brought Kenny Roberts out of retirement to partner local hero Tadahiko Taira at the Suzuka 8H. That didn’t work, Taira blew the motor trying to keep the Honda at bay while leading with only 30 minutes left. The Genesis was sent to the Bol to help Christian, the year they were within range, Patrick Igoa crashed the bike with a couple of hours left and the time taken to make repairs put them out of range. Then there was 1985, the 50th Bol. The brothers were on the same lap for most of the 24 hours, then a crash on spilt oil put the Genesis on the floor. With an hour left, Christian, riding as hard as he could—anyone who saw Christian on a motorcycle understands what that meant, passed Dominique to unlap himself and put them on the same lap. The brothers sat up, patted each other on the back—and 100,000 hysterical French fans promptly invaded the track.

Christian had to watch his little brother win five Bols as well as two Suzuka 8 Hours. Finally, in 1994, Yamaha worked out how to do it. They got Christian out of retirement to ride Le Mans and the Bol, put Dominique on the same bike and teamed them with factory World Superbike rider Yasutomo Nagai. Christian folded the bike in two at Le Mans but the trio ran a faultless 24 hours at the Bol and won with a new distance record amid what amounted to national rejoicing. It took 15 years, but Christian Sarron finally got his Bol d'Or. And so did Yamaha!