The inaugural MotoAmerica series is fast approaching and as we count down the days to the season-opening race in Austin, Texas on April 10, 2015, teams that will participate in the race are doing the same, albeit in a very different and admittedly more pressure-packed manner.

But Yamaha->ke301 is taking a different approach on the proceedings, documenting its preparation for MotoAmerica through a web series fittingly called “Road to Austin.” We’re now at episode 4 of this series and as expected, Yamaha has made steady gains in its work tuning and refining the YZF-R1 as it prepares to do battle with its competitors in the series.

The fourth episode follows immediately after the previous installment. Factory Yamaha riders Josh Hayes and Cameron Beaubier both play starring roles as they continue to put in one lap after another with the YZF-R1 with the sole purpose of extracting as much information about the bike so that engineers can do the necessary work to ensure that the two riders will have a bike that can compete for the first ever MotoAmerica series championships.

The men and women of Yamaha Racing sure are putting in a lot of work to make that happen. As it should because there aren’t a lot of distinctions more worthy of praise and adulation as being named the first title winner of MotoAmerica. Heck, we even get to see Hayes testing out the YZF-R1’s Launch Control System. Lord knows that system’s going to play an important role in getting an early jump on every race.

Check out the video and stay tuned for more episodes of Yamaha’s “Road to Austin” web series. Chances are, we’re going to see a lot more of them as the days approach towards the start of MotoAmerica.

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