Australasian Dirt Bike — January 2018

108 | JANUARY 2018 http://www.adbmag.com.au

With the YZ125, he wanted to build a
bike that not only celebrated the
’90s/00s supercross era, but one that he
could also ride and have fun on. He got
the bike as a stock 2000 YZ125 for $900
from a mate. “The bike sat in the shed
for a bit and then I rode it for a bit,”
says Matt. “And then, after a while, I
decided to do it up.”
The original plan was to create a
replica of a Danny Ham CDR Yamaha,
but the more he thought about it, the
more he was drawn to the legendary
Yamaha of Troy team of the late ’90s
and early 2000s.

HISTORY LESSON
Now before we get into the nuts and
bolts (literally), let’s have a quick
history lesson. The Yamaha of Troy
team began life in 1993 as Honda of
Troy under Phil Alderton. They
switched to Yamaha in 1999.
The team’s moniker was the ‘Fifth

Dragon’ as they saw themselves as the

fifth major team behind the ‘big four’

factory outfits. For a satellite effort,

they were quite successful. Between

1999 and 2002, they won four

championships with Ernesto Fonseca

(2), Stephane Roncada and Chad Reed.

Dean Baker was one of the main

mechanics and the wizard behind

their engines. He was with the team

from 1993 to 2003 and now works with

JGR Suzuki.

Alderton and the Yamaha of Troy

team were revered for raising the

professionalism of satellite outfits.

Sadly, their success didn’t translate to

a perfect life for Alderton. After

leaving the team in 2004, he struggled

with alcohol and drug abuse, went

through several divorces and even

spent time behind bars for DUI. In

2012, he died from a heroin overdose.

After Alderton’s departure, the team

and Ohio dealership continued in

various forms until 2011 when the shop

closed. But it left a strong legacy that

spread all the way to Melbourne, where

Matt began his project in the shed.

Matt makes it clear that this bike is

not an exact replica. “I wanted to do

something along the lines of the YOT

bikes, but I wanted to put my own

twist on it,” he explains. He stayed

faithful to that particular era, but

chose parts based on his own

preferences. “I’ve done the ‘exact-

replica’ thing with my KX, and I like to

do something different with every

build to keep it interesting.”

Using Yamaha of Troy as the

baseline, he began working on

sourcing parts that he would have

chosen had he been building the bikes

back in the day. “I really liked the idea

of running Pro Circuit triple-clamps

and I really liked Showa suspension

over the Kayaba suspension that

Yamaha used.”

REPLICA RACER I 2000 YAMAHA OF TROY YZ125

Magnesium clutch cover, TCR

hubs and titanium footpegs

add to the ‘wow’ factor