SEAN DYLAN KELLY JOINS TEAM HAMMER
Team Hammer, Inc. is pleased to announce the signing of Sean Dylan Kelly to a two-year contract to compete in the MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing series.
The 16-year-old Kelly will contest the 2019 MotoAmerica Supersport Championship aboard a Team Hammer Suzuki GSX-R600.
“First of all, I want to thank Team Hammer for giving me the opportunity to race with them,” said Kelly.”To come back to the States and be surrounded by people that I am comfortable with and proud to race with is a dream come true for me and my family. We’ve been working very hard to make everything work in Europe the past three years, and to be received like this back in America is amazing. We are very excited and thankful and I’m ready to jump in to the MotoAmerica paddock, race hard, have fun and do the best I can in every possible aspect.”
The young gun is set to join the American series following multiple seasons of international competition, including the last three as a full-time participant in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup. There, Kelly demonstrated marked improvement each season and comes to MotoAmerica riding the momentum of a championship top-10 ranking in the 2018 Rookies Cup with seven top-10 race finishes.
Immediately prior to his Rookies Cup adventure, the Hollywood, Florida, resident burst onto the global racing scene with a spectacular performance in the 2015 KTM RC390 Cup World Finals. Kelly showcased his immense potential by scoring the Race One victory and finishing the World Finals ranked second overall. That same season, Kelly won the RC390 Cup Championship in the Bike Racing Mexico series. Kelly also boasts an extensive list of accomplishments at the club level, both in road racing and supermoto.
Kelly joins an established powerhouse in Team Hammer and its Suzuki GSX-R600 racebikes. Team Hammer has earned multiple national titles with its middleweight machinery over the years. And in the previous two MotoAmerica seasons alone, Team Hammer GSX-R600s have racked up a combined 34 MotoAmerica podium finishes, including six race wins.
“We’re always interested in working with the best young talent and that is not limited to what is happening in the United States,” said Team Manager Chris Ulrich. “Sean Dylan Kelly first caught my eye in 2015 with his performance in the RC Cup and we’ve kept track of him in the Rookies Cup over the past three years. We wondered how he’d do on our bike and then we got a chance to see him race a 1000 earlier this year at Homestead. He impressed me, so we decided to invite him to test with us at Barber after the MotoAmerica season finale. He flew straight in from Spain and immediately got down to business and showed how serious he is about racing. That test sealed it for us. He has already developed a lot of skill, has a professional attitude, and a very strong work ethic. Our goal is to help him grow over the next two years with a good team and a proven program, similar to the way we have worked with Kevin Schwantz, John Hopkins, Josh Hayes, and many other young American riders over the years.”
About Team Hammer
The 2019 season marks Team Hammer’s 39th consecutive year of operating as a professional road racing team. Racebikes built and fielded by Team Hammer have won 70 AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National races, have finished on AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National podiums 202 times and have won five AMA Pro National Championships, as well as two FIM South American Championships. The team has also won 135 endurance races overall (including seven 24-hour races) and 13 Overall WERA National Endurance Championships with Suzuki motorcycles, and holds the U.S. record for mileage covered in a 24-hour race. The team also competed in the televised 1990s Formula USA National Championship, famously running “Methanol Monster” GSX-R1100 Superbikes fueled by methanol, and won four F-USA Championships.