Michael Besal races his Yamaha SR500 in a WERA Formula 2 race at Talladega Gran Prix Raceway in August of 1986. Besal finished runner-up to Joe Hutcheson in the race. The SR500 had somewhat of a cult following in the 1980s. I clearly remember a big group of SR riders showing up en mass at the Indy Mile back in the early 1980s. Even though powered by a simple 500cc single-cylinder mill, some owners tricked these bikes out to the max with special suspension, brakes, engine modifications and frame gusseting. As Besal showed, even in fairly stock form the bike worked well as a road racer, especially on a tight circuit like Talladega.