Latus Motors Racing to leave MotoAmerica paddock for 2018 season. 

George Latus, team owner Latus Motors Racing, announces he will not be fielding a team in the 2018 MotoAmerica Road Racing Series. 

“I don’t think there is anyone more passionate about motorcycle racing than me but after nine seasons of participation in AMA and now MotoAmerica Road Racing it’s time to face economic reality,” said Latus. “The recent MotoAmerica rules change moves us into Superbike. Fielding a podium-capable Superbike is much more expensive and labor-intensive than running our current Superstock 1000 entry. Superbike rules allow use of very sophisticated electronics packages along with other modifications that increase costs considerably. Manufacturer support simply isn’t there for us to justify the increased cost of running and maintaining a podium-capable Superbike. Sure, we could put together some sort of ‘low-budget’ Superbike effort, but as a team owner I’ve always tried to give riders and crew the best equipment I could. We race to win, not to simply be ‘grid filler.’  We hope situations change and we’re able to be back for the 2019 season. We know we’ll miss being there.”

Editorial Note: Latus Motors Racing’s Bobby Fong rode a Kawasaki ZX-10R to six victories during the 20-race MotoAmerica Supersock 1000 season in 2017 and finished third in the final Championship point standings. Fong also placed seventh in the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship (which scored Superstock 1000 entries for their overall finishes in Superbike races) with two podium finishes. Despite the team’s successes, George Latus said he has received no help or support from Kawasaki Motors Corp. U.S.A., and he has had to buy motorcycles and parts for as long as his team has run Kawasakis, 2015-2017. “They wouldn’t even entertain a program where they sold us the stuff at their cost,” Latus said. “They had to make money off us. If they don’t think what we’ve done is worth anything, I don’t know what to tell them.”