Rider Files

(News Release)

Martin Cardenas will be back Team Hammer again next season.

Daytona SportBike title contender Martin Cardenas has signed a contract extension with Team Hammer, Inc., currently racing as Team M4 Monster Energy Suzuki, which will see him continue to ride for the
team in 2011. Additionally, the team holds an option on his services for 2012.

“We’ve just signed the deal and I am very happy to stay with the team,” said Cardenas. “Since I joined the team in ’07, we’ve had a good relationship and I’ve enjoyed racing with M4 Monster Energy Suzuki. We’ve had a lot of success together, especially in the last two years. We’ve been able to earn a lot of podiums and wins so we know we are a good combination. I hope to continue in that direction next season. I am really excited about our 2011 plans and I’m really looking forward to what next year will bring.”

“Martin Cardenas is one of the most talented and most professional riders I have ever worked with,” said team owner John Ulrich. “His record of seven AMA Pro Daytona SportBike race wins in 2009 and another seven so far this year is unmatched, and every race weekend I’m grateful that I get to work with Martin. I’m really looking forward to great things in 2011.”

Cardenas, who hails from Medellin, Colombia, joined the AMA Pro Road Racing tour as a privateer in 2007 straight out of the 250 World Grand Prix ranks and was quickly signed by Team M4 Monster Energy Suzuki in a replacement role. He’s been with the team ever since and his rise to the top of the pecking order has been remarkable.

Cardenas is widely considered one of the championship’s elite riders, blessed with rare racecraft, talent, and determination. His calculated late-race charges to the front have become his trademark. The former
Spanish Supersport Champion has helped raise the bar in Daytona SportBike as the racing in that class has made for thrilling competition over the past two seasons.

Despite missing the final round of the 2009 season due to injury, Cardenas stood as the winningest rider during the inaugural AMA Pro Daytona SportBike season with seven victories. He finished the year ranked third in the Championship.

This season he again leads the way in terms of race wins in the SportBike category, having already equaled his ‘09 mark of seven victories.

“It’s going be great having Martin back on the team again,” said Crew Chief Keith Perry. “I think he’s one of the very top talents in our paddock and many others on the racing scene agree. It’s great to have someone we believe in on our bike and trust to put maximum effort into it every time. He’s a mechanic’s dream to work with. He knows what he wants and is very definitive when it comes to adjustments to the bike. Martin has a great personality and he’s easy to work with. For our side of it, we know Martin is the type of rider who will give absolute maximum effort every time and it helps the mechanics dig deeper, hoping to come up with a little something extra to support him. We’ve loved racing with Martin so far and continuing on is great.”

Cardenas will continue to work with his current mechanics, Robin Hawley and Mike Canfield.

Cardenas is aiming to improve upon his win number in the upcoming Barber Motorsports Park season finale on September 24-26, which he enters just 12 points removed from the title lead.

Wayne Rainey looks back to see where his competition is during the 1986 Loudon Superbike race. It’s likely that Rainey had to look a long time to find anyone since he totally dominated the race on his factory Honda VFR750, winning by over 13 seconds. If you look in the background you can see Rainey zipping past one of the huge boulders that lined Loudon in those days. (Rich Chenet photo)

From the Rich Chenet Photo Series, Wayne Rainey looks back to see where his competition is during the 1986 Loudon Superbike race. It’s likely that Rainey had to look a long time to find anyone since he totally dominated the race on his factory Honda VFR750, winning by over 13 seconds. It marked an outstanding comeback for Rainey at Loudon. The year before he’d crashed at the track and broke his elbow.

“I was detuned because of last year,” Rainey said of his attitude coming into the race. “I wanted to just get into the lead and go. I went out and just raced and didn’t worry about anything else.”

Rainey won over Honda teammates Fred Merkel and Bubba Shobert to make it a Honda sweep of the Loudon Superbike podium. The victory gave Rainey the points lead at the halfway point in the season. Ultimately it was Fred Merkel who won the title, the pivotal point being Rainey crashing out of the Mid-Ohio round at the end of the season.

Click here to visit Rich Chenet’s website.

(News Release)

Cumming, Georgia – Motorcycle Power House (MPH), a sportbike performance business owned by AMA Superbike star Geoff May and Chris Jensen, is hosting its Grand Opening event this Saturday, September 18th 2010, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.

All enthusiasts are invited to join us for an event featuring appearances by racers including, but not limited to: Geoff May, Nate Kern and local hot shots Shane Horton, Christopher McLean, and the father/son team of Alfredo and Stefano Braca.

Customers will have the chance to get up close to some exotic machinery: a factory Buell 1125RR AMA Superbike, a race-winning BMW S1000RR, and Ducati’s flagship Desmosedici RR.

MPH will be giving away plenty of door prizes, including various racing memorabilia that’s normally unobtainable.

A bikini bike wash will donate all proceeds to the Roadracing World Action Fund to promote safety at motorcycle racing events nationwide.

Calendar models from fastandsexy.com will be giving away free calendars and samples of their newly released magazine.

The event takes place from 10 am to 6 pm.

Motorcycle Power House is located at 4255 Browns Bridge Road, Cumming GA 30041, just east of Georgia Route 400.

Contact mphpower@gmail.com or 770.888.8799 for further information.

(News Release)

Jimmy Jarrett

Hendersonville, North Carolina – The Grand National Cross Country Championship (GNCC) was stunned by racer Jimmy Jarrett taking his first win of the season at Unadilla Motorsports, outside New Berlin, New York.

What makes this win so starting was that Jarrett was just coming off recuperating from being hit by a car while training on his bicycle. The Salem, Ohio racer even fell at one point during the race, but quickly remounted and chased the leader down, finishing the grueling course less the five-second ahead of the second place finisher.

Jarrett’s other results in the 2010 GNCC series of 13 rounds include two fourth-place finishes for his GEICO/JG Off Road/Monster Energy/Kawasaki team, on his KZ450F. Jarrett is a multi-time champion in off-road racing, including being awarded five ISDE Gold Medals. Jarrett he same Öhlins suspension Jarrett uses is available to every racer, from privateer to factory rider.

Öhlins USA Off Road Manager, Stacey Berger, said, “We all know Jimmy knew how to win, so we’re not surprised by this great finish by him. But it’s really cool how it’s such a great story, with him coming back from recently being injured. We congratulate him, and also Jason Thomas for his awesome second-place finish in XC2 Pro Lites. We were only two and a half seconds shy of winning both classes.”

Jarrett can next be seen racing his number-4 KZ450F in the GNCC in Lafayette, Tennessee at the MotorcycleUSA.com Titan, Round 11. With good performances in the last three rounds of the series, Jarrett will be able to improve his standing in the top ten, even though he was forced to miss Round 7.

Öhlins USA distributes and services the world’s leading performance suspension for automobiles, motorcycles, ATVs, and snowmobiles. Öhlins develops its proprietary and innovative suspension components at the highest levels of racing from open-wheel car racing, to Moto GP, to off-road competition on two and four wheels. Öhlins USA also provides training for service centers and dealers. www.Ohlinsusa.com.