The madness of the Pro-Am!

“The Pro-Am series was mental and we got up to stuff that you’d never get away with in any other racing class,” says Niall Mackenzie.

“We used to dab each other’s front brakes going along the straights, pull on the pillion grab rail of the rider in front to get a tow, and even hold our own front forks to make a more aerodynamic shape on the bike, in fact, anything to gain another one mile an hour on our rivals. It was brilliant fun and helped by the fact that no one took it too seriously.”

Mackenzie is, of course, speaking of the one-make Yamaha Pro-Am series, which ran on British circuits from 1981 to 1984. There have been plenty of one-make championships over the years, but none have quite captured the imagination of bike fans like the Pro-Am which, as its name suggests, featured a mix of professional and amateur riders all on identical Yamaha RD350LCs, with the keys for the bikes literally being picked out of a hat at each round to ensure parity.

The series made stars of the likes of Niall Mackenzie and Alan Carter, and it produced some of the closest, and maddest, racing ever seen on British circuits.

“I think it worked so well because they were just such standard road bikes being ridden by young crazy kids,” Alan Carter adds. “All the lads who raced in the series were pals so we’d have a few pints, try to screw a few birds, and race our motorbikes. I mean, what more could you want from a weekend? It was like the pinnacle of life!”