Yamaha has been pretty keen on sponsoring major race events and series of late - the latest addition to its 'stable' is Formula Xtreme with its often quirky and interesting mix of machinery, backed by the company's financial arm, Yamaha Motor Finance.

"The Formula Xtreme road race series draws a big crowd of enthusiasts many of whom would be ideally placed to take advantage of our low finance rates on supersports motorcycles such as YZF-R1 and R6. Plus with the Yamaha Racing Team competing in this history making all new Australian Championship series and generous freeto- air TV coverage at all rounds, it makes great sense for YMF to be involved," says YMA Director/General Manager Steven Cotterell.

The five round AFXC series is set to move up a gear in 2010 with a combination of big grids at popular race tracks, so YMF is well positioned to earn a good term on its investment: "The organisers have made a big effort with the series this year and attracted some very competitive teams and riders. We're sure that the combination of talented riders and exciting race formats on much loved tracks easily reached from major state capitals is sure to attract big crowds and strong grids," continues Cotterell.

The first two rounds take place at Wakefield Park in NSW and Winton Raceway in Vic. The full calendar looks like this:

Rd1 YMF round 27/28 March Wakefield Park NSW
Rd2 YMF round 5/6 June Winton Raceway VIC
Rd3 3/4 July Eastern Creek Raceway NSW
Rd4 11/12 September Wakefield Park NSW
Rd5 30/31 October Eastern Creek Raceway NSW