Yamaha Factory Racers at IMS

For fans of Yamaha road racing, the Progressive International Motorcycle Show in Long Beach, Calif., was the place to be Friday night.

Why? The Yamaha Factory riders of Ben Spies (MotoGP), Cal Crutchlow (MotoGP) and Josh Hayes (AMA American Superbike) were at Long Beach, greeting fans and signing autographs.

The 2010 MotoGP Rookie of the Year and 2009 World Superbike Champion, Ben Spies, not only signed autographs, but presented a limited edition Yamaha WR450F designed by renowned bike builder and former Yamaha AMA 250cc Road Race champion Roland Sands.

Ben Spies says: "Normally I stay in Texas during the entire month of December to be with my family, but I wanted to come out to say a special thanks to my California fans for the tremendous support they've given me this year!"

Also present at Long Beach IMS was Spies Yamaha YZR-M1 in special red and white livery, the same MotoGP bike that Spies took his debut win on in Assen this year.

With Spies were Monster Tech 3 MotoGP's Crutchlow, who took the 2009 World Supersport Championship, and Monster Graves Yamaha's Josh Hayes, who won the 2010 and 2011 AMA Superbike Championships.

Attached above are some highlights of the the Yamaha boys at Long Beach IMS.

Photographs by Don Williams