KTM Motorsports is teaming up with HMC Racing to field a factory-backed KTM effort in the AMA Pro Superbike Road Racing Championship Series (say that three times fast). KTM & HMC will enter in three races on the AMA Pro Racing calendar: Mid-Ohio, VIR, and NJMP, with rider Chris Fillmore at the helm of the KTM 1190 RC8 R Race Spec. With the team headed by Mitch Hansen of HMC Racing, KTM is trusting old partners with its first official foray into AMA road racing.
Hansen led the HMC/KTM Supermoto Team to 10 National Championships from 2003-2009, and was also behind the U.S. Red Bull Rookies Cup effort from 2008-2009. Similarly, Chris Fillmore raced for the HMC/KTM Supermoto Team starting in 2003 and again in 2008 where he finished 2nd overall in the AMA Pro Supermoto Championship while also competing on the KTM 990 Super Duke.
“Together, Mitch and Chris formulate the perfect team to launch the development of our Superbike racing effort in the United States,” stated KTM North America Vice President of Sales Brad Hagi. “They have both been tied to every major road racing effort KTM has assembled in North America and we are excited to see it escalate to this level of competition. With the national success KTM has had in the German Superbike Championship (IDM) and with a brand nucleus of “Ready to Race” it is the obvious move to take our motorcycle to the next logical step: U.S. AMA Superbike Racing.”
We say its about time the Austrian mark made a more official entry into AMA road racing, and this news cleverly coincides with the AMA offering KTM-branded membership cards, signaling the American Motorcyclist Association has finally lured zie-Austrians into its spider’s web. One of our favorite bikes on the track, it’ll be interesting to see how Fillmore fares in his AMA racing effort with the RC8 R.
Source: KTM North America
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