American Racing Team officially introduced its riders for the 2022 FIM Moto2 World Championship, Cameron Beaubier and Sean Dylan Kelly, and their Triumph-powered Kalex motorcycles in an event held at a multi-million-dollar home in Southern California Tuesday, January 18.
The event was emceed by part-time reality TV star and full-time motorcycle enthusiast Barry Weiss and by American Racing Team owners Eitan Butbul and Avner Kass along with Team Director John “Hopper” Hopkins.
The event was also attended by motorcycle industry figures, including Mike Buckley, Senior Vice-President Sales, Marketing, and R&D at Dunlop Motorcycle Tires.
“This thing is bigger than I thought it would be,” said Beaubier, who just got married in December. “It’s pretty cool, and it’s pretty special having people from the American Racing Team, from MotoAmerica, from Dunlop, from Roadracing World, a lot of people who have helped me along the way and want to see us succeed over there. It’s a pretty cool evening.
“Eitan and Hopper said some pretty nice things about me, and I think it’s really cool with what they’re doing with the American Racing Academy and what they’re doing for American road racing on the world stage. It’s pretty special.”
Beaubier’s new rookie teammate Kelly just returned to America in December after spending more than a month traveling around Europe hitting track days on five different Grand Prix tracks on his new Kalex. The Florida resident then wrapped up his early education by being ninth-fastest at a multi-team test at Jerez in late-November.
“The bike, we all know it has a stiffer chassis, and that’s a game changer,” said Kelly, who won the 2021 MotoAmerica Supersport Championship on a Team M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R600. “It makes it so much different how you have to ride it, and it makes the limit that much higher. At the end of the day, that bike was made to race. On that bike, you go faster, then you go faster, then you go faster until you’re not and you’re on the floor. That’s what makes them so quick and so hard to ride. But it’s an incredible machine.”
Hopkins declared Beaubier a Championship contender and Kelly a potential Moto2 Rookie of the Year.
After a quick stop Thursday at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway for some photo and video work, American Racing Team will resume testing in Europe in February.
