Yamaha Introduces Additional Teams and Riders For 2013 AMA Pro Road Racing Season Cypress, CA February 8, 2013 Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA, is proud to introduce several additional teams and riders that will be competing aboard Yamaha motorcycles during the upcoming GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing season. “Yamaha is the preferred brand of motorcycle for a lot of teams and riders who compete in AMA Pro Racing,” commented Keith McCarty, Motorsports Racing Division Manager for Yamaha. “From SuperSport, to Daytona SportBike, to SuperBike, Yamaha has proven to be the winning choice, and we’re very pleased that our brand is so well represented in the premier road racing series in the U.S.” Pegram Racing The biggest news of the upcoming AMA Pro Racing season is that there will be a third Yamaha YZF-R1 competing in National Guard SuperBike. Veteran rider and multi-time SuperBike race winner Larry Pegram has affixed his signature “72” competition number to the Pegram Racing R1, with support from his long-time primary sponsor Foremost Insurance. “It’s a homecoming for me,” Larry said. “My very first race bike was a Yamaha 50 that I competed on when I was five years old, and I also raced an R1 in SuperBike and an R6 in Formula Xtreme back in 2004. I’m thrilled to be back in the saddle of a Yamaha for the upcoming season. The R1 has obviously been the best bike in the SuperBike paddock over the past several years, and it’s great to join Josh Hayes and Josh Herrin in racing on a Yamaha.” RoadRace Factory For 2013, Danny Walker’s RoadRace Factory team will continue to compete aboard Yamaha YZF-R6s as they did last season. Jake Gagne and J.D. Beach will be R6-mounted in AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike competition, while Tomas Puerta will race an R6 in the AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport class. Both Jake and J.D. raced R6’s in the DSB class last season. Jake had five top-five finishes in 2012, highlighted by his race win in DSB Race 2 at Homestead-Miami Speedway this past September. J.D. had four top-five finishes and two podiums in 2012 and finished sixth in the DSB season points standings. In the SuperSport class, Tomas finished third in the 2012 SuperSport East points standings on the strength of his 13 top-five finishes. RMR/Triple Crown Industries Racing Richie Morris and Dave Brite, team owners of the RMR/Triple Crown Industries Racing team, will field one rider in Daytona SportBike and three riders in SuperSport, with all four riders aboard R6’s. Bobby Fong, who had seven top-five finishes aboard his Meen Motorsports R6 in the DSB class last year, switches teams, but not motorcycle brands, as he continues to campaign the #50 R6 in 2013. Meanwhile, in the highly competitive SuperSport class, RMR/Triple Crown will have a triple threat of R6-mounted riders, including veterans Stefano Mesa and Santiago Villa, as well as SuperSport rookie Daytona Anderson. Meen Motorsports Led by team owner Ameen Sajjadi, Meen Motorsports will field one rider in Daytona SportBike and one rider in SuperSport. Former AMA Road Racing Horizon Winner Jake Lewis, who won the AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport East Division Championship last year, steps up to the DSB class and makes the switch to an R6 for 2013. In 2011, Jake competed in the WERA Nationals aboard a Yamaha R6, and he couldn’t be happier to reunite with Yamaha’s middleweight sportbike for the 2013 AMA Pro Racing season. Jake’s teammate for 2013 is Wyatt Farris, who will compete in the SuperSport class on an R6. Wyatt, who is just 18 years old, is already a proven winner. The California native was an AFM and WERA champion in 2012. Thus far in his racing career, he’s scored 27 podiums, including 10 race wins. Privateers In addition to the above teams and riders, Yamaha is also very appreciative of all the individual privateer racers and their families who are choosing to compete aboard Yamaha motorcycles during the 2013 season. The highly popular Yamaha National Road Race Contingency Program will, once again, be available to AMA Pro Racing series competitors in 2013. Combined with the ultra-competitive YZF-R6, the Contingency Program helped make Yamaha the bike of choice for 62% of the competitors in the Daytona SportBike and SuperSport classes last season, and Yamaha looks for more of the same this season. Stay tuned for more details of Yamaha’s 2013 Road Race Contingency program in the coming weeks. Also, be sure to follow Yamaha on Facebook for race results, team news, and other information all season long.