Aspiring racers at Yamaha's Blu Cru camp learn the ropes from Jonathan Rea
The 2025 Yamaha BLU CRU Master Camp in Valencia kicked off with an exhilarating opening day, as World Superbike Championship (WSBK) stars Jonathan Rea and Remy Gardner joined ten promising young riders to share their expertise. The camp provides aspiring riders with the opportunity to learn from their heroes, with a focus on enhancing their technical skills and bike control.
During the morning session, the BLU CRU riders—including participants from Italy, the USA, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, Australia, Thailand, and Spain—underwent an intense four-hour technical training session.
Overseen by coach Kike Bañuls, the session focused on refining essential skills, from bike control and overtaking techniques to recovering from a crash. The afternoon saw the group move to the flat track circuit at the Aspar Motorsport complex, where they were joined by flat track expert Marco Belli and mentors Rea and Gardner. With two world champions providing guidance, the young riders showed rapid improvement and finished the day with visible enthusiasm.
The second day of the camp will continue with another flat track session, again with Rea acting as a mentor. The riders will then trade the dirt track for water, learning to ride Yamaha WaveRunners at the Valencia Marina under the instruction of multi-time IJSBA World Champion Chris MacClugage. The day’s events will also feature a special appearance by Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP rider Alex Rins.
According to Jonathan Rea, the Master Camp is an impressive event that showcases Yamaha's commitment to developing future world champions. He noted that the BLU CRU riders, many of whom were new to flat track racing, showed significant progress and that the skills learned on the flat track are directly applicable to road racing.
