Latus Motors Racing is stepping up for the 2016 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North America Road Racing season in more ways than one.
Instead of fielding a single rider, Bobby Fong, on a Triumph Daytona 675R in the MotoAmerica Supersport class, as it did in 2015, Latus Motor Racing will compete in 2016 with Fong and veteran David Anthony in the MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 class on the new Kawasaki ZX-10R.
“Quite a few things,” went into this decision, Latus Motors Racing Team Owner George Latus told Roadracingworld.com Tuesday. “Part of it was last year in MotoAmerica there was very little TV coverage of the 600cc Supersport class. It was all about the liter bikes. If we’re going to go after any serious sponsorship money one of the first questions that gets asked is, ‘If we’re going to give you this money what are we going to get out of it? What kind of TV coverage is there?’
“So with 600cc Supersport there wasn’t really any TV coverage that we could talk to anybody about. It looked to us that the emphasis in MotoAmerica is more on the liter bikes, Superstock 1000 and Superbike. Triumph doesn’t have a liter bike and as far as I know they have no plans to build one. So we were casting about to see which direction we should go.”
When it came to choose which 1000cc motorcycle to race with, Latus chose to go in a different direction than most in the MotoAmerica paddock, which is heavily populated with Yamaha YZF-R1s, especially in the Superstock 1000 class.
“The easiest thing to do, especially right out of the box, was the Yamaha deal,” said Latus, “because they have a good bike, a good program, the bike’s well developed, there’s good support at the racetrack. But we’ve always kind of done stuff that’s a little out of the norm. And I think for the benefit of the series it’s not good to have an overrepresentation of one brand. It’s better to have all kinds of brands, I think.
“So I heard there were rumors of a new Kawasaki and rumors of a new Suzuki. Those were the two big things on the horizon. Kawasaki seemed to come out with their information on the new bike the earliest, so we decided to go that route.
“It’s a brand new bike. Kawasaki seems to be a racing-orientated company, and throughout their history they seem to not want to take a back seat to anybody performance-wise. So we thought it would be a very good motorcycle from all of the information we could gather.
“We’re not a Kawasaki-supported team. We’re not a satellite team or anything. We’re doing it as, I guess you would call it, a privateer entry. We will be part of the Team Green program, the same thing the club racers get.”
On his choice of riders, Latus said, “We’ve been working with Bobby, I think this will be our third or fourth season. We like working with Bobby. Bobby has shown some great promise. We’ve got confidence in him, and we think with what he learned last year and some of the things he’s worked on in the off-season we will have a very good year with Bobby.
“We started thinking about running a two-rider team. Running the semi, we can haul the equipment for two guys at really no extra cost. We have to hire some extra crew guys and so on, but we see some advantages to [having a second rider], especially with this new bike. Because one of the things we’ve seen with running one rider, even though we’re logging data with our electronics we don’t have anyone to compare it to. So we think this will be kind of helpful and we’ll have two riders to compare data and hopefully this will elevate both of their games and it doubles our chances of getting podium finishes.
“I had a couple nice talks with Dave [Anthony], and we had some very good talks with other really capable riders, and I decided to go with Dave. He may be a little bit older, but he has a lot of experience. We raced with Dave last year and he was in what I call that breakaway group of riders in 600cc Supersport.”
Latus said he is currently waiting for his first batch of ZX-10R streetbikes to arrive at his race shop in Portland, Oregon. Once the bikes arrive, Latus Motors Racing will make every effort to have the bikes ready for their first test at Thunderhill Raceway Park at the end of January “even if we have to ride them in sort of stock condition,” said Latus.
In the meantime, Latus said he was busy preparing his new race hauler and trying to close deals with potential sponsors.
More, from a press release issued by Latus Motors Racing:
LATUS MOTORS RACING MOVES TO KAWASAKI FOR 2016
The 2016 racing season will involve some big changes for Latus Motors Racing. The team will be shifting to compete in the MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 class aboard the new Kawasaki ZX-10R. With a series emphasis on liter bikes, Latus Motors Racing selected the new Kawasaki ZX-10R as a formidable weapon for the class. “As team owner, I want to personally thank Triumph for their support and encouragement these past four seasons. Not only have they been a great partner, they are also great friends and that friendship continues,” stated George Latus.
Bobby Fong #50 is back with the team for his third season. “I’m excited to ride the new ZX-10R this season! I really appreciate the opportunity to work under George Latus again. I also appreciate the hard work my whole team puts forth into the program and I’ve been working twice as hard in the off season to prepare. I am counting down the days till testing which is slated for January,” says Bobby Fong.
Another change for Latus Motors Racing is the addition of a second rider to the team, #25 David Anthony. “Aussie” Dave is no stranger to the AMA and MotoAmerica paddock as both a previous team owner and competitor for years. “George has a solid program, a great team and I’m very happy to be part of it. The Kawasaki looks promising and I’m looking forward to getting on the 1000. Bobby and I had a great rivalry this past season so working together will hopefully push us both forward,” stated Aussie Dave. George added, “It’s going to be an exciting season. Both Bobby and Aussie Dave are talented professionals and we look forward to working with them. See you at the races!”