BARCELONA, Spain – Dorna WSBK is pleased to announce that Team Hero EBR will make the switch from the AMA Superbike series to the Superbike World Championship in 2014. This will be a two-rider team running the new 2014 EBR 1190RX, represented by riders Geoff May and Aaron Yates.
Both May and Yates make the move to the WSBK series after a number of successful seasons in the AMA Superbike series. May, who is an accomplished AMA rider, has ridden the EBR machine in the states for the past two seasons claiming a podium finish at the Sonoma Raceway circuit in 2012 on his way to fifth position overall in the rider classification. Yates, who has over 20 years racing experience, joined the squad for its 2013 AMA campaign, finishing a respectable eighth overall in the final standings, one point ahead of May.
The team will be run by Claudio Quintarelli, team owner, and Giulio Bardi, team manager, both proud to field the first American motorcycle to contest the World Championship with two American riders.
Team Hero EBR is bringing back Erik Buell’s passion onto the world stage: the founder of the Buell Motorcycle Company is a pioneer of modern race motorcycle technology.
Former racer Buell has himself competed against some of the greats in the past, and is excited and optimistic about this challenge ahead.
“More than three decades of racing, engineering, and manufacturing experience goes into every EBR motorcycle,” said Buell. “The EBR 1190RX has some very unique engineering technology, and how to optimize this for each race series is something that takes time to learn. With the winter testing ban, we will have to wait and see where we are in terms of current pace and performance.
“Nobody is expecting podiums, but we will be hard at work, learning and improving. We are confident EBR will bring a fun and exciting story to the series, and know the results will come.”
Headquartered in New Delhi, India, Hero MotoCorp is the world’s largest manufacturer of two-wheelers in terms of volume units sold in a calendar year by a single company. Even in the midst of a highly-competitive market in India, Hero MotoCorp has retained clear leadership in the domestic motorcycle market with well over 50 percent share, selling a total of over six million two-wheelers in the financial year 2012-13. On July 1 this year, Hero announced acquiring a 49.2 percent stake of Erik Buell Racing.
“We are delighted to be partnering with EBR at the Superbike World Championship this year,” said Pawan Munjal, managing director & CEO, Hero MotoCorp Ltd. “Hero is the first Indian two-wheeler brand to be associated with this event and this is also the debut year for Team Hero EBR at the series. This is in perfect sync with brand Hero’s fast-paced global expansion into new international markets. I am sure it is going to be a lot of fun and we do look forward to some exciting times at the championships this year.”
The team will launch a new website shortly.
–from the eni FIM Superbike World Championship
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