Eddie Lawson: Yamaha now best MotoGP machine

American legend Eddie Lawson reckons Yamaha’s YZR-M1 is now comfortably the best MotoGP bike on the grid.

Fiat Yamaha duo Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo have won nine out of 13 races so far in 2009 to end Ducati’s early 800cc era domination.

Yamaha has now won 23 800cc races compared to Ducati’s 19, though all but one of the Bologna factory’s victories have been won by Aussie Casey Stoner.

Yamaha’s impressive recent success has caught the eye of four-times world 500cc champion Eddie Lawson, who won 31 races and won three world titles for Yamaha during an illustrious career.

Lawson told MCN: “I think it’s (YZR-M1) probably still not the fastest, but it looks a lot better than last year as far as the motor goes. And chassis-wise to me, it’s head and shoulders above everybody. It just looks so stable when you watch it. Just watching it on TV it looks like the thing sure works good so it’s a good season for them.”