GEICO Honda riders to teach American heroes valuable riding skills
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (June 17) — Professional road racers Jake Zemke and Chris Ulrich will visit thousands of U.S. troops at Camp Roberts near San Luis Obispo, Calif., this Wednesday and Thursday to teach an important course in motorcycle safety and spend some quality time with our military heroes.
Rather than prepare for this weekend’s AMA Pro event at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama at a local track, the two decorated pros have elected to donate their time to teach our country’s soldiers the key components necessary when learning to properly and safely ride a motorcycle.
“My family has been in racing for many years,” Ulrich said. “I learned from a very young age how to respect a motorcycle and the proper precautions when riding, both on the street and on the track. I want these soldiers to enjoy riding, but I also want to help keep them safe so they can continue to keep all of us safe. I am honored to be a part of the GEICO Honda team and to have the opportunity to help these men and women because I hold them in such high regard.”
Zemke is feeling a high level of excitement for both the visit to Camp Roberts and the upcoming race. His many years of experience will be a perfect base of knowledge to teach the participants how to have fun while being safe at the same time.
“I’m really excited to be headed out to Camp Roberts,” Zemke said. “I only live about 20 minutes from Camp Roberts and I raced for the National Guard in 2010, giving them their first two AMA Pro Superbike wins, so I know firsthand how cool it is to give back to our military. I couldn’t be more excited to teach this class and to be able to hang out with the thousands of soldiers in attendance.”
As soon as the festivities in central California are over, Zemke and Ulrich will catch a red-eye flight to Birmingham to begin their race weekend, which they anticipate will be a success.
“The GEICO Honda team has been working nonstop since Road America to try and squeeze some more power out of my CBR600,” Zemke said. “We were able to get the bike handling really well so we are looking forward to putting all the pieces together and being more competitive at Barber.”
Ulrich also hopes for better times in Barber.
“I had a few complications in the last race at Road America,” he said. “I was having electrical issues with my main bike, so we had to use the backup bike for the first race that didn’t have our newest adjustments on it. We decided to switch some things around, and I was happy with my position in the second race before it started to rain. I started pushing too hard for the conditions and got myself in trouble.
“Barber is always an extremely hot and physical race. I excel at physical races, so I am looking forward to taking our changes and what we have learned so far this season to that track. Our shop has been near that facility for 25 years, so it’s always a favorite race for me being my home away from home.”
Live coverage of the Triumph Superbike Classic at Barber Motorsports Park begins at 2 p.m. ET, both Saturday and Sunday, on FansChoice.TV.