Team Hammer, racing as Team M4 SportbikeTrackGear.com Suzuki, is at the 43rd WERA Grand National Finals this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park evaluating emerging talents Anthony Mazziotto III and Xavier Zayat.
Mazziotto, age 15, won the 2014 AMA Road Racing Horizon Award and was the runner-up in the 2015 MotoAmerica KTM RC390 Cup Championship.
Zayat, age 17, won the 2015 AMA Road Racing Horizon Award and wrapped up the 2015 ASRA Sportbike Championship with a race victory October 18 at Daytona International Speedway.
“We’re multi-tasking,” Team M4 SportbikeTrackGear.com Suzuki Crew Chief/Team Manager Keith Perry told Roadracingworld.com at Barber Motorsports Park. “We’re giving these kids the chance to see what it’s like to ride well-prepared Suzuki GSX-R600s with plenty of help and mechanics who can work with them and to see what it’s like to work in that kind of team environment. And for us it’s a chance to see where they’re at and evaluate them and see what we want to do for the future. I think it’s good for both us and them. We get to work with the kids and they get to work with us, and we’ll see how it works out.”
Team Hammer has been racing continuously since 1980, and during that 35 years the team has built a reputation for identifying and developing emerging talents. Riders who have won AMA National races on Team Hammer bikes include Martin Cardenas, Danny Eslick, Vincent Haskovec, Josh Hayes, John Hopkins, Grant Lopez, Elena Myers, Joe Roberts, Ben Spies, Chris Ulrich, Dane Westby and Blake Young.
Team Hammer has often used WERA races, and the GNF in particular, to test with young riders.
“It’s continuing along that line,” confirmed Perry. “That’s what our history has been and what we’ve been successful at. I think we kind of got away from that for a few years, but it’s good to get back into that mode and to start evaluating some younger talent again.”