The Entry List for the FIM MotoE™ World Championship is now out, with 18 riders set to contest another season of electric action. Reigning Champion Hector Garzo (Dynavolt Intact GP) returns to defend the crown alongside a host of longtime frontrunners and newer race winners, and some interesting rookies join the fold. They include Moto2™ race winner Lorenzo Baldassari (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Road to MotoGP™ alumni Jacopo Hosciuc (MSI) from Romania and Tibor Erik Varga as the young Hungarian joins the new Rivacold Snipers Team.
The Empty Quarter has to be earned. Dakar entrants had to wait until stage 10 to frolic on its dunes. The field rolled out of Haradh before the sun peeked over the horizon to tackle a road section of more than 500 kilometres en route to the shores of the Arabian Gulf. The time had come to surf a sea of dunes, where the Big Kahunas rule the waves, for 117 kilometres of sand, sand and more sand. Michael Docherty, free of strategic concerns, tapped his raw speed and intimate knowledge of the dunes —he lives next door— to open his account at the Dakar.
Accurately predicting that the main contenders would keep their powder dry, Docherty went for broke today. The South African Rally 2 biker danced gracefully over the dunes to take his very first Dakar stage win by 1′20″ over Rui Gonçalves and 2′21″ over Tobias Ebster.
As expected, the title contenders kept their cards close to their chests in anticipation of the second stage in the Empty Quarter, which will take place tomorrow. Daniel Sanders remains perched at the top of the ranking with 16′31″ in hand over Tosha Schareina and 22′24″ over Adrien Van Beveren. The starting order, which will keep fans and pundits busy, will encourage the rivals of the man from Oz to try and stage a sensational comeback.
(Editors Note: Americans Skyler Howes, Ricky Brabec and Jason Argubright finished the stage sixth, 13th and 22nd.)
Trackhouse Racing’s 2025 MotoGP riders Raul Fernandez and Ai Ogura are taking different approaches to the upcoming season, but for both the goal is the same: To learn, adapt and improve.
Fernandez and Ogura spoke to members of the international MotoGP media as Trackhouse unveiled its 2025 liveries for NASCAR and MotoGP, with each talking about their preparations for the upcoming season.
Raul Fernandez (25) in testing at the post-season Barcelona test. Photo by Michael Gougis.
The two are approaching 2025 from different perspectives. For Fernandez, it’s his first year starting out with the same team he raced for in the prior season, and the first time he’s starting with a factory bike at his disposal. Fernandez raced for KTM Tech3 in 2022, rode for the CryptoData RNF MotoGP Team on an Aprilia RS-GP in 2023, and when Trackhouse bought up the remnants of the imploded RNF team, Fernadez stayed on board for 2024, but started the season with a 2023-spec bike. Fernandez switched to a 2024-spec machine halfway through the season, a change that left him struggling; he cut a despondent figure in the post-race media debriefings after the season finale in Barcelona.
The post-season test saw Fernandez further evaluating the 2024 bike and learning to work with new crew members, and he said he spent a lot of time over the break working with Team Principal Davide Brivio on his mental fitness.
“We changed the staff. We didn’t try the new bike, we wanted to see how the new people would (work) with the team,” Fernandez said. “It was a different preseason for me. I was really focused on myself. I changed the personal trainer to try to feel fit. I was working on myself in the mentality area. Never in MotoGP have I started the season with a factory bike. Overall, I am really happy.
“I want to be fit, focused and try to do my best. Davide helped me a lot. Maybe this is my problem. I want more than we have in the moment.”
Raul Fernandez. Photo by Michael Gougis.
Fernandez is the only rider continuing with Aprilia into the 2025 season. World Champion Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi are joing the factory Aprilia squad from Ducati, while Ogura arrives as the reigning Moto2 World Champion. Yet Fernandez says he does not consider himself a leader of the team, and he is most interested in learning from his teammates. Martin and Ogura are World Champions and Bezzecchi is a three-time MotoGP Grand Prix winner.
“It is super clear to me. I have a lot of things to learn from them,” Fernandez said.
Ogura is at the beginning of a steep learning curve. The Michelin slicks in MotoGP are dramatically different than the Pirellis used in Moto2, and the RS-GP makes twice the horsepower of his Triumph-powered Moto2 Boscoscuro.
But in his first outing, Ogura said he didn’t find the bike over-taxing, and said he was spending the off-season training mostly by riding on the track. During the Barcelona test, Ogura did 10 to 12-lap stints, and his times were comparable to Somkiat Chantra and Fermin Aldeguer, the other Moto2 rookies moving up to MotoGP for 2025.
Ai Ogura. Photo by Michael Gougis.
“If it’s really necessary to work on the physical side, I will. I don’t really feel – it sounds strange, but it didn’t feel so hard on the physical side in Barcelona,” Ogura said, while acknowledging that the upcoming tests in Malaysia and Thailand will be more physically challenging.
“There’s still a lot to understand. I have eight (testing) days until I start on the first race,” Ogura said. “Clearly, I’m in the position to learn from all of the three (Aprilia) riders.”
Great riders are recognized by their ability to navigate a stage alone and thus win two consecutive stages. That is what Luciano Benavides managed to do, as he improved his roll of honour with the 5th stage victory of his career on the Dakar and moved up to 4th place in the general rankings for his best ever position.
The Argentinean beat Adrien Van Beveren by 1’54’’ over the route of the day’s special. It was also a good day for the Frenchman as he closed in on his Spanish team-mate Tosha Schareina, who was off the pace due to a fall at the beginning of the special. The battle for second place is occurring some way behind race leader Daniel Sanders, who will tackle the decisive stage 10 with a lead of 14’45’’ and from 3rd position in the starting order.
(Editors Note: Americans Ricky Brabec and Skyler Howes finished fourth and fifth.)
The 2025 Trackhouse Racing MotoGP livery. Photo courtesy Trackhouse Racing.
Trackhouse Racing has, today, presented, a new livery for its NASCAR Cup Series and its MotoGP campaigns, together with the line-up of drivers and riders for both its teams. Incorporating vibrant blue and black base colors that have been a feature of the Trackhouse style since it first started racing in 2021 and adding accents in dayglo yellow, the covers came off one of its NASCAR Cup Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 cars and one of its Aprilia GP-RS MotoGP bikes at the team’s headquarters in Concord, North Carolina, revealing a distinctive and consistent design scheme for its 2025 season.
The Athlete line-up introduced the three Trackhouse NASCAR Cup drivers – #1 Ross Chastain, #99 Daniel Suarez and new for 2025, #88 Shane van Gisbergen, alongside its two MotoGP riders – #25 Raul Fernandez and rookie #79 Ai Ogura.
Moto2 World Champion Ai Ogura moves up to MotoGP in 2025 with Trackhouse Racing. Photo courtesy Trackhouse Racing.
Trackhouse Racing NASCAR Cup line-up:
#1 Ross Chastain: Age 31 – Hometown: Alva, Florida
Ross Chastain became the driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2022. Wins at Talladega and the Circuit of Americas Road Course were highlights of the year eclipsed in the penultimate race of 2022 at Martinsville when Ross made the miracle move, subsequently named the “hail melon” to secure a spot in the Championship 4, capping off a remarkable inaugural year with Trackhouse Racing, finishing second overall. In the 2023 season he scored two Cup Series wins and in 2024 a further two victories brought his tally to five. For 2025, he continues in the #1 car for Trackhouse.
#99 Daniel Suárez: Age 32 – Hometown: Monterrey, Mexico
The only Spanish-speaking driver in the NASCAR Cup Series, Daniel made racing history in 2022 as the first Mexican-born and just fifth foreign-born driver to take the checkers, driving the No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing. The 32-year-old driver from Monterrey, claimed this history-making victory at the Toyota Save Mart 350, at Sonoma Raceway adding the accolade to those of being the first international champion in the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series, as well as the 2017 and 2022 NASCAR All-Star Race Open Winner. In 2024, at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Suárez made history again winning in a three-wide finish with a 0.003 second lead, giving Daniel his second visit to Victory Lane. Now a dual US- Mexican citizen, he starts his 5th Cup season with Trackhouse in 2025.
#88 Shane van Gisbergen: Age 34 – Hometown: Auckland, New Zealand
Shane joined Trackhouse Racing for his first full season of NASCAR in 2024, running the full Xfinity Series schedule along with seven NASCAR Cup Series races. The New Zealander made an instant splash in 2023, winning the inaugural Chicago Street Race in his first NASCAR start. He became one of six foreign-born drivers to win a Cup Series race and the first driver since Johnny Rutherford in 1963 to win his first Cup Series start. Van Gisbergen is no stranger to success. He earned three Supercars Championships for Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2016, 2021 and 2022, plus 80 wins and 47 pole positions making him the fourth most successful driver in the Australian series. He’s also won the legendary Bathurst 1000 in 2020, 2022 and 2023.
Trackhouse’s unique Project 91 guest driver project propelled van Gisbergen onto the U.S. racing scene in 2023. The program is designed to expand the organization’s global reach by fielding a Cup Series entry for renowned international racing drivers. Formula One icon and 2007 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen first drove under the Project 91 flag at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International in 2022 and again at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas on March 26. In 2025, Project 91 brings Indycar legend, Helio Castroneves, to the Daytona 500.
Trackhouse MotoGP Team line-up:
#25 Raúl Fernández: Age 24 – Hometown: Madrid – Spain
Raúl Fernández arrived in the Trackhouse Team at the beginning of the MotoGP project, as one of the youngest, most exciting, riders in the World Championship. Since the age of 11 years old, when he learnt his early racecraft on the tracks around Madrid, he has been ‘one to watch’. Rarely have rookies shaken up the intermediate Moto 2 class like Raul in 2021 when he blitzed the field with eight victories and only just missed out on the Championship crown, injury preventing him from securing vital points towards the end of the campaign. Having stepped up to the Premier class in ’22, his 2023 season, in MotoGP, ended strongly with a top 5 finish in the final race. In 2024, with Trackhouse, he led the Sprint race at the Catalunya Grand Prix and scored a top 6 finish in the Australian Sprint race. Heading into his 4th season in MotoGP, his third on the Aprilia RS-GP prototype making him the longest serving rider for the Noale marque, Raúl will pilot the #25 for Trackhouse.
#79 Ai Ogura: Age 23: Tokyo – Japan
Mid-year, in its first season, the Trackhouse MotoGP Team demonstrated its commitment to young developing talent and its ambitions for the future by signing Ai Ogura on a two-year deal. The brightest star to emerge from Japan in over a decade, Ai started on MotoGP’s first rung of the talent ladder as 14-year-old in the Asia Talent Cup and progressed up through Red Bull Rookies and Moto3 until, in 2024, he emphatically sealed the Moto2 World Championship crown. Ai calls Kiyose in Japan, home and will join the MotoGP grid at the age of 24, carrying the #79 on the front of his Trackhouse Racing RS-GP25
NASCAR v MotoGP:
The NASCAR Cup Series is the premier league of stockcar racing. The three Trackhouse Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 racecars weigh in dry at 3,200 lbs (1,451 kgs), push out up to 670 hp from their 5.86 liter (358 cubic inches) V8 engines and race wide-open on superspeedway oval tracks and shorter, tighter bowls, also visiting five road courses in the Cup Series schedule of 39 race weekends. Kick-off is on February 2nd, with the NASCAR CLASH, followed by the ‘big one’ at Daytona for the 500 – a race that this year will feature a fourth Trackhouse car, entered as Project 91 and piloted by the 4-time Indianapolis 500 winner, Helio Castroneves.
The MotoGP World Championship is the ultimate in two-wheel circuit racing. Trackhouse fields two Aprilia RS-GP25 prototypes, each of which weigh in at a minimum 346 lbs (157 Kilograms) and develop over 280 HP from their V4, 1000cc engine. The Championship in 2025 features 22 rounds, at road course tracks spread over 5 continents, each weekend including a Sprint race on Saturday and full distance Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Trackhouse MotoGP Team will start testing in Malaysia, initially with the Shakedown test for Ai Ogura, January 31 to February 2nd and then Raul will join him for the full test, starting on February 5th. The team will take part in the MotoGP 2025 Season Launch event in Bangkok on Sunday, February 9 and will unveil the final version of the Trackhouse Aprilia RS-GP25 at Buriram ahead of Round 1 – the Grand Prix of Thailand – February 28 – March 2nd.
RAUL FERNANDEZ
“The new bike looks amazing. I’m really happy to go out with these colors and I’m sure we will be well seen on tv and from the grandstands. It’s quite different to the rest of the grid. Also, it’s nice to have a huge brand like Gulf on board now. We have a new challenge, it’s a new year and we have new goals. This year will hopefully be a really nice one. We are all working hard – I was working on myself a lot during the winter and I think it’s going to be a great season. Let’s go and enjoy it!”
AI OGURA
“First of all, I would like to say thanks to everybody at Trackhouse. I’m really happy that we can get the season started soon and I’m just excited about this year. It will be a big challenge for me, but I have my guys in the team, they are all motivated, the atmosphere inside the team is great. I can’t wait to start the first test in Sepang! Our design is absolutely fantastic! I can’t wait to ride this beautiful bike and I’m excited to see what we can do this season.”
DAVIDE BRIVIO – TEAM PRINCIPAL
“This is another important moment because we are introducing our second year as Trackhouse Team. The first one has been a learning year and we will try to use everything we learned before in this second season, where we have many new things coming up. Of course, a new design of the bike, which goes more towards the Trackhouse image direction and we have an in place agreement with Gulf which means another exciting design. It’s a real privilege to be involved in a team with such an iconic brand – a brand, which I personally always admired in the motorsport environment. We can’t wait to show our special livery, which I believe will be something great and unique in MotoGP.”
“Speaking about our riders, Raul remains with the target to be stronger and stronger and then we have the big change with Ai, our rookie in MotoGP. He is Moto2 World Champion, which is raising expectations. We start this season with ambitions to improve what we did last year and also the team and not just the riders are learning more and more. I’m confident that we will see Raul stronger, with more experience and it will be nice seeing Ai growing up, improving race by race, which is the target. We are really looking forward to it and are very excited. We are well prepared, from physical and technical point of view. Let’s see what we can expect from this season.”
JUSTIN MARKS – TEAM OWNER
“I am really excited. In that first year in a new championship there were a lot of learnings for me and for a number of people on the team. It’s like now we are starting to figure out how the MotoGP program fits into the big Trackhouse picture. Everybody is just so excited that we are competing in this championship. I’m excited for 2025. I think the Aprilia bikes are going to be fast, Raul continues to get better, super excited about Ai coming onboard. We’re ready to go testing and get the ball rolling on the season.”
“We are super excited to have Raul. There were times in 2024 where he showed incredible speed. He is taking a big step this off season in his preparation, in his mentally, kind of understanding where he needs to be on the race weekend in his mind. We are excited about that and I think there’s podiums in our future. If the bikes are there, the speed is there, certainly there’s a lot of talent, with mechanics and engineers. We showed already that we have the pieces and Raul’s got the talent to be able to compete at the front in MotoGP. So, certainly, we are looking for more of that.”
“On the other side, I love rookies. I love taking this undefined, raw talent, putting them in these new positions, putting the support in around them and be able to mature into top level professional athletes. When we signed Ai and announced that he was joining the team, I don’t think he was leading in Moto2. He was in this battle for the championship and as soon as it was public that he’s going to join our team, he just went on to tear it up and won the Moto2 World Championship. This really shows what he is made of. If you look at the crop of rookies, when you look at the new guys coming into MotoGP in 2025, what else can you want than the reigning Moto2 World Champion? We are super excited about his talent.”
“The greatest milestones for our company is aligning ourselves with some of the greatest brands of the world. We have done this for the Nascar side. Getting these iconic brands like Gulf to the Trackhouse journey, to invest in us and to grow with us, is hugely important to me. I was telling the Gulf executive going through this process, there’s these amazing moments in the history of motorsport and for a brand like that to be aligned with Trackhouse having the Gulf logos on the bike is humbling, amazing and we can’t wait to get that bike on the racetrack. It’s pretty special.”
Trackhouse MotoGP Team:
Trackhouse Entertainment Group owner Justin Marks announced, back in December 2023, that his organization will field a MotoGP World Championship team in 2024, a move expanding its reach across the global motorsports world and building on its success in the NASCAR series. Just six weeks later the Team pulled back the curtains on its season-opening design with two of its Aprilia MotoGP prototype bikes and introduced #88 Miguel Oliveira and #25 Raul Fernandez as its pilots. One week later, Trackhouse Racing MotoGP rolled out onto its pit-road debut at Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia.
Entering its sophomore year in the premier league of two-wheel racing, the Trackhouse MotoGP Team continues with 24-year-old #25 Raul Fernandez who, from the age of 11 years old, learnt his early race-craft on the tracks around Madrid. As a rookie in the intermediate Moto 2 class Raul took eight victories and only just missed out on the 2021 Championship crown. Moving up to MotoGP in 2022, Raul signed for the Aprilia Factory in 2023 and joined the new Trackhouse team at its launch in 2024. After another learning year on the RS-GP Aprilia, Raul signed for two further years with Trackhouse and will be the only rider with previous racing experience of the bike as the 2025 season commences.
Mid-year of its first season, the Trackhouse MotoGP Team demonstrated its commitment to young developing talent and its ambitions for the future by signing Ai Ogura on a two-year deal. The brightest star to emerge from Japan in over a decade, Ai started on MotoGP’s first rung of the talent ladder as 14-year-old in the Asia Talent Cup and progressed up through Red Bull Rookies and Moto3 until, in 2024, he emphatically sealed the Moto2 World Championship crown. Ai calls Kiyose, Japan, home and will join the MotoGP grid at the age of 24, carrying the #79 on the front of his Trackhouse Racing RS-GP25
About Trackhouse Racing:
Trackhouse Entertainment Group, centered in Nashville, Tennessee, is the owner of Trackhouse Racing’s NASCAR team and MotoGP World Championship team based out of Concord, North Carolina. After a full-time driving career in sports cars and NASCAR, Justin Marks founded Trackhouse Racing in 2020 and fielded an entry for #99 Daniel Suárez in 2021. Having acquired the NASCAR assets of Chip Ganassi Racing, midway through the 2021 season, Trackhouse fielded a pair Chevrolet Cup cars in 2022 for #1 Ross Chastain and Suárez – continuing in the #99.
The new team has enjoyed success on track – Daniel Suárez became the first Mexican driver to win a Cup Series race when he visited victory lane in 2022 and American Ross Chastain posted two victories to finish second in the standings in 2022. The team has scored victories throughout its time in the Cup series and Marks made more headlines bringing 2007 Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen to NASCAR and Trackhouse Racing in 2022 and 2023 as part of the team’s PROJECT91 program. Created to give international stars a chance to compete in the sport, PROJECT91 led to New Zealander and three-time Supercar champion, Shane van Gisbergen’s dramatic rookie win at the first Chicago street race in 2023.
Off the track, Trackhouse Racing as a brand has proven itself as a progressive, marketing-minded team, reimagining how the sport is presented to its fans, media partners and sponsors. It has brought international entertainment superstar Pitbull to the organization as a team partner, increased digital presence and created live entertainment at racetracks and in 2024 announced the Avenue Sports Fund had acquired a significant minority stake in Trackhouse Entertainment Group. Trackhouse Racing acquired a third NASCAR charter and will run Van Gisbergen fulltime in the 2025 Cup series, joining Suárez and Chastain on the grid. The team also signed 18-year-old Connor Zilisch who will compete full-time in the Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports.
Rich Oliver’s Mystery School Course 2025 Spring & Summer Dates
All courses are conducted at the school’s dedicated dirt track facility in Prather, California. Regardless of skill, the Mystery School has a course for anyone age 8 or older.
1/14 Private Training Day
1/15 Private Training Day
1/16 Private Training Day
1/18 Learn To Ride Off-Road Course
1/19 Off-Road Challenge Course
1/23-26 Pro Camp
2/22-23 Kids Ride and Wrench Camp
3/7 7 Private Training Day
3/8 Learn To Ride Off-Road Course
3/9-Road Challenge Course
3/12-13 POST Motorcycle Officer Update Course
3/15-16 Fun Camp
3/28 Private Training Day
3/29-30 Fun Camp
3/2-3 POST Motorcycle Officer Update Course
4/5-6 Kids Ride and Wrench Camp
4/11 Private Training Day
4/16Practice & Skill Reinforcement Day
4/18 Learn To Ride Off-Road Course
4/19 Off-Road Challenge Course
4/23-24 POST Motorcycle Officer Update Course
4/26-27 Fun Camp
5/2 Private Training Day
5/3-4 Fun Camp
5/8-29 Kids Ride and Wrench Advanced Weekly Camp
5/10 Learn To Ride Off-Road Course
5/13-14 POST Motorcycle Officer Update Course
5/17-18 Fun Camp
5/31- 6/1 Kids Ride and Wrench Camp
6/7 Learn To Ride Off-Road Course
6/8 Off-Road Challenge Course
6/9-10 Kids Ride and Wrench Summer Camp
6/12-13 Kids Ride and Wrench Summer Camp
6/16-17 Kids Ride and Wrench Summer Camp
6/19-20 Kids Ride and Wrench Summer Camp
6/23-24 Advanced Kids Ride and Wrench Summer Camp
For more info, call (559) 855-3089, Text (559) 970-1928, e-mail [email protected], or visit www.richoliver.net
Celtic/Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati Announces Two-Rider Lineup For 2025 MotoAmerica Supersport Season.
Team Returns to MotoAmerica with Grigg Electric and Economy Lube + Tire as Title Sponsors
DUNMORE, PA, January 14, 2025 — Celtic Racing and Warhorse HSBK Racing are proud to announce their return to the MotoAmerica Supersport grid in 2025 under the banner Celtic / Economy Lube & Tire by Warhorse HSBK Ducati.
Headed by Team Manager Barry Gilsenan, the squad fields a strong two-rider lineup featuring #45 Cameron Peterson and #227 Wristin Grigg, marking Celtic Racing’s comeback to MotoAmerica after a five-year hiatus.
Petersen showcased his prowess in the premier Superbike class in 2024 with multiple victories, including a nail-biting triumph at Road America where he edged out his competition by just 0.004 seconds in challenging wet conditions. Although injuries hindered his ability to contend for the championship, Petersen demonstrated resilience, concluding the season in sixth place overall with 110 points. Now fully recovered, he is shifting his focus to the 2025 Supersport season and aims to build a competitive pace and achieve consistency to secure another championship for Ducati in MotoAmerica.
“I’m excited to get the chance to race for the 2025 MotoAmerica Supersport title with the Celtic/Economy Lube & Tire Powered by Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati,” Petersen said. “The Panigale V2 has won two of the last three Supersport titles and it looks like a ton of fun to ride. I can’t wait to get started and the season can’t come quick enough.”
SRX Racing Tires’ Sam Hannon (left) poses with racer Wristen Grigg (272) and his father, former professional racer Steve Grigg during the 2024 MotoAmerica season. Dunlop photo.
Grigg, meanwhile, made an impressive 2024 debut in the MotoAmerica Supersport Series, earning several strong finishes, including an 11th place at Mid-Ohio and a personal best ninth at New Jersey. Grigg’s rookie year also featured two expert National Titles at Daytona, highlighted by his AMA 600 Title, which underscored his adaptability and potential on road courses. With his 2024 performances fueling his motivation, Grigg is determined to refine his racecraft and rise through the ranks in the coming season. Leveraging Warhorse HSBK Racing’s Ducati expertise – as recent winners of the Supersport Championship (2022 & 2023) and the Daytona 200 (2023 & 2024) – as well as the proven support of Grigg Electric and Economy Lube & Tire, the team aims to contend for podiums with a push for the 2025 MotoAmerica Supersport Championship.
About Warhorse HSBK Racing
Founded in 2011, HSBK Racing partnered with powersports dealer group Warhorse Group to, in 2020, bring Ducati back to the forefront of MotoAmerica. The team took a symbolic victory in its first season in the hands of Lorenzo Zanetti before building on a successful 2020 and taking an incredible fourth in the championship in 2021 with Loris Baz. In 2022, Warhorse HSBK Racing secured the talents of MotoGP race winner Danilo Petrucci, as well as expanding into the Supersport series with multiple AMA race winner Josh Herrin. The pair took 32 podiums in total and 14 wins, taking the Supersport title and narrowly missing out on the SBK. In 2023, Herrin graduated to SBK, taking three victories and claiming second in the title race. In Supersport, the team brought in Xavi Fores, who remained largely unbeaten in taking the title in emphatic style. In 2024, the team expanded to a two-bike SBK line-up, with Herrin being joined by returning star Loris Baz. Herrin would win the 2024 SBK title.
About Celtic Racing
Established in 2001 by Barry Gilsenan and over the course of 12 seasons, Celtic Racing established itself as a premier privateer racing team. Development of riding talent began with two-stroke 125cc & 250cc machines competing in professional, amateur, and regional championship events. Celtic Racing then transitioned its resources towards AMA Pro Road Racing from Superbike to Supersport. Most recently, Celtic Racing efforts have been focused on Sportbike and Supersport classes with Ducati, Honda, Suzuki, and Yamaha four-stroke motorcycles. Gilsenan’s talent for fielding racers of all ages and abilities has brought Celtic Racing worldwide recognition, with many former riders now competing at World Championship levels. With three AMA Pro Supersport championships, Celtic Racing is and continues to be a force within the racing community. They have a reputation for aiding in the growth of the world’s top riders as one of the best American youth racing teams. They have fielded riders such as PJ Jacobsen; World Supersport Champion Chaz Davies; BSB Champion Michael Laverty.
The ELF Marc VDS Racing Team/KM99 Yamaha YZF-R1. Photo courtesy FIMEWC.
Leading independent FIM Endurance World Championship squad KM99 has joined forces with Marc VDS Racing Team, one of motorcycle racing’s most successful outfits.
The exciting new partnership, announced at Château de Modave near Liège, Belgium, this evening (Monday) has been described by KM99 as a “major evolution for our team” and will result in KM99 running under the ELF Marc VDS Racing Team/KM99 banner.
In just two seasons, KM99, which is owned by Gaëtan Schyns and managed by Mario Küpper, has become a leading EWC entrant, finishing in the top 10 in the Suzuka 8 Hours and claiming a podium finish in the Bol d’Or 24-hour race.
Marc VDS Racing Team was founded in Belgium in 2009 by Marc-Oswald van der Straten-Ponthoz and has achieved considerable success competing on two wheels and four.
Its partnership with KM99 marks its first foray in the EWC, which is promoted by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports under a long-term alliance with governing body Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme and consists of two 24-hour races and two races run for eight hours, including the 8 Hours of Spa Motos in Belgium.
A communication from KM99 read: “The year 2024 ended exceptionally well for KM99 with a second place at the Bol d’Or, allowing the team to secure fourth place in the Endurance World Championship, as the first private team. This remarkable result boosted us and pushed us to think about the best strategy to go even further in 2025.
“After many discussions with Yamaha and the Marc VDS team, we are proud to announce a major evolution for our team. The objective is clear: to aim for excellence and fight for the title against the various factory teams. Being able to join the great Marc VDS family, which has dominated Moto2 for many years with three titles, while also having left its mark on MotoGP and MotoE, represents a real motivation and immense pride for us.”
While KM99’s expert technical team remains unchanged, its rider line-up has been further strengthened with the recruitment of young Italian Alessandro Delbianco as back up to existing race riders Randy de Puniet, Jérémy Guarnoni and Florian Marino from France.
Delbianco, an FIM Superbike World Championship racer, made his EWC debut in the Dunlop-equipped Superstock category in 2024, making two appearances with Yamaha-powered Pitlane Endurance – JP3. De Puniet, Guarnoni and Marino are established among the elite of current EWC racers with Guarnoni part of the Team SRC Kawasaki France line-up that won the 2018-19 EWC title.
KM99’s communication continued: “We are satisfied to maintain our current trio, which has proven its effectiveness. We are still strengthening the team with the arrival of a fourth pilot. Knowing the Yamaha R1 perfectly, Alessandro will bring all his experience to help us reach our ambitions. The 2025 season promises to be full of challenges and excitement for ELF/Marc VDS Racing Team/KM99, and we are ready to take up the challenge by always targeting higher.”
ELF Marc VDS Racing Team/KM99 will use Yamaha YZF-R1 motorcycles and Dunlop tyres.
ALL-NEW 2025 MODELS WILL BE ON DISPLAY, INCLUDING ICON LIMITED EDITIONS, TIGER SPORT 800, AND THE OFF ROAD TF 450-RC
TOUR VISITING 13 CITIES ACROSS THE UNITED STATES
On Tuesday, January 14th, Triumph Motorcycles kicks off the “Triumph Icons Tour,” a 13-city journey celebrating the iconic craftsmanship and innovation that Triumph is renowned for. The tour will showcase an impressive lineup of all-new motorcycles for 2025, poised to set new benchmarks in performance, design, and adventure.
To honor this wave of groundbreaking motorcycles, Triumph will host exclusive one-night-only events in each city during January and February. These events will give riders an unparalleled first look at the new 2025 models before they arrive in dealerships. Each event promises live entertainment, engaging activations, and light food and beverages, enveloping the new motorcycle reveals.
Adam VanderVeen, Marketing Director for Triumph Motorcycles America, said, “The Triumph Icons Tour is not just a showcase of new models, it’s a celebration of the passion, innovation, and community that Triumph represents, which has attracted so many iconic riders over the years. These events are a unique opportunity for our fans to connect with the brand and their local riding community, while getting up close and personal with the latest Triumph motorcycles.”
Honoring Triumph’s Legendary Riders
Throughout its storied history, Triumph has been the motorcycle of choice for many iconic riders, from Steve McQueen’s legendary desert racing to Evel Knievel’s gravity-defying stunts. The Triumph Icons Tour celebrates this rich heritage, connecting the groundbreaking motorcycles of today with the legendary riders who have shaped the brand’s identity.
Featured Models (with more on display)
Scrambler 1200 Icon Limited Edition
A tribute to Triumph’s off-road heritage, the Scrambler 1200 Icon Limited Edition features rugged capability with enhanced aesthetics. Equipped with premium suspension, torque-rich performance, and cutting-edge technology, it’s built for riders who demand both adventure and style.
Speedmaster Icon Limited Edition
The Speedmaster Icon Limited Edition brings a new level of sophistication to the Bonneville cruiser lineup. With premium finishes, exclusive detailing, and a comfortable riding position, this model blends timeless British style with modern performance for the ultimate cruising experience.
Tiger Sport 800
The Tiger Sport 800 redefines versatility, offering exceptional performance for both long-distance touring and urban commuting. Its lightweight chassis, advanced electronics, and powerful triple engine ensure a smooth, thrilling ride in any setting.
TF 450-RC
The TF 450-RC marks Triumph’s entry into the competitive 450 motocross arena. Designed in collaboration with Ricky Carmichael, it features an all-new lightweight frame, high-performance suspension, and a race-tuned engine, delivering class-leading power and agility straight out of the crate.
Speed Twin 1200
Combining iconic style with modern engineering, the Speed Twin 1200 offers unparalleled roadster performance. Its updated chassis, advanced braking system, and enhanced engine make it a dynamic choice for riders seeking the perfect balance of power and precision.
Speed Twin 1200 RS
The Speed Twin 1200 RS takes the acclaimed Speed Twin platform to new heights with track-focused upgrades. Featuring higher performance components, refined handling, and advanced rider aids, it delivers an exhilarating experience for performance enthusiasts.
The Triumph Icons Tour is free and open to all. Guests must register to attend. To RSVP and find details about each tour location, visit TriumphOnTour.com.
Tour Dates and Locations:
Date City, State
1/14 Orlando, FL
1/16 Charlotte, NC
1/18 Richmond, VA
1/21 Milwaukee, WI
1/22 Ft Wayne, IN
1/23 Cleveland, OH
1/24 Indianapolis, IN
1/27 Kansas City, MO
1/31 San Diego, CA
2/1 Los Angeles, CA
2/11 Dallas Fort Worth, TX
2/12 Austin, TX
2/13 Houston, TX
The Icons Tour is free and open to all. Guests must register to attend. All guests may RSVP and find details about each tour location at TriumphOnTour.com.
Medical Rehab Specialist Tuan Nguyen passed away on January 6th, at age 58 after a battle with cancer. He was well-known among motorcycle racers of all type, and worked with surgeon Dr. Murray Harwood (and before that surgeon Dr. Art Ting) to treat injured riders including John Hopkins, Kyle Wyman, Chris Ulrich, Jamie Hacking, and many others.
“We lost a good one,” Wyman wrote on social media. “Going to miss you, Tuan. You were one of a kind; 20+ trips to your OR in 12 years. A career-saving neck surgery in 2019, an season-saving elbow surgery in 2021. Countless times I was in despair, and you were always there to get me to the other side and healthy again, just as you did for all your athletes. I wish I could do the same for you, my brother. Til we meet again some day, F–k cancer.”
“He was an amazing guy,” Hopkins said. “So helpful, no matter what I needed. There were many times I’d fly in broken up and falling apart and he always took great care of me. Really good guy. He’ll be massively missed.”
Tuan is survived by his wife Julie and grown sons Brandon and Kobi. More information will be posted as it becomes available.
Tuan Nguyen on Nicky Hayden’s Honda at Laguna Seca, circa 2007. Photo courtesy TKB International.A recent photo of Tuan Nguyen. Photo courtesy TKB International.
Tuan Nguyen in his office. Photo courtesy TKB International.
From the TKB Sports Medicine Website:
TUAN NGUYEN | Founder TKB International
Tuan’s Story….
Tuan Nguyen is a true survivor. His incredible life journey shaped and guided him, giving him the drive for success and the passion for giving back. Tuan is a Sports Medicine rehab specialist with over 25 years experience treating professional athletes throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and around the world. In 2013, Tuan founded TKB Baseball.
Tuan grew up in South Vietnam, he was the oldest son of a large family. When he was just six years old, his parents sent him off to a private Catholic boarding school. He liked his school and learning from the nuns. He has fond stories of lining up for the weekly bathing sessions where the nuns would shampoo the boys’ hair and then dress the students in fresh pajamas. Once Tuan was all clean and clothed, the nuns would feed the hungry little boys fresh baguettes. Tuan would wait to get the end piece, his favorite. He liked his school but missed his parents and siblings. Family visits were just one week a year, he missed the loving hugs of his mother and the stern guidance of his Military father. School taught Tuan about discipline and Catholicism, the importance of family and independence.
In 1979, when Tuan was only 13 years old, his parents sent him to the coast of Vietnam. It was a long journey, half a day travels. When Tuan arrived at the coast late in the evening, he waited in a long line of people he did not know until his name was called. He was then instructed to board boat #0531, a double decker wooden boat. He will never forget the number of the boat, numbers that added up to 9, a lucky number in Vietnam. The scared young boy climbed onto the boat and sat, side by side with 278 other passengers, a mix of some Vietnamese and mostly Chinese men, women, children. Tuan knew no one. Off they sailed to escape Vietnam and for Tuan, escaping his inevitable entry into the Red Army. For seven days and seven nights, the passengers sat, crammed like sardines, with no food or water. It was horrible. The boat was robbed by pirates three times. Tuan sat, scared and helpless as he witnessed unspeakable acts from the pirates, men were beaten, women raped. Unimaginable sites for anyone to see. With horror all around him, Tuan somehow was protected and without a scratch he sat unscathed but, inside he began to build a wall. He wondered, ‘how could his parents send him off all alone like this?’ 13 years old, all alone at sea, starving, dying of thirst on wooden boat # 0531.
The seven day boat journey ended in Indonesia where Tuan and the surviving 259 other passengers unloaded and entered their new home. Letung Island, an Indonesian Village is where Tuan would spend the next 10 months. For Tuan, living in the village with a local family at first and then later in the refugee camp was very difficult. “It was hell” he said. He told himself then and there that he must survive. To him, life did not mean anything, everyone was out for them self. This young boy had no one to look after him. Tuan had seen life and death on the boat, he knew extreme thirst, he never had enough to eat, and he did not have the loving arms of a mother to comfort him. During that time, all Tuan could do was to just survive wondering what the next day, the next month would be like. He began to see clearly that he had to face his fears, he had no choice.
Shortly after his arrival in Indonesia, he began to adapt. Tuan learned the native language and he volunteered for the hard jobs like dragging the dead bodies of the people who did not survive the boat trip back to shore. The locals started to treat him like a native as he began to adjust to the Indonesian lifestyle. He learned to climb trees to fetch coconuts and fish in the early morning. This was a critical moment for young Tuan, he learned very early on a valuable life lesson, survival. In order to survive in the camp, he began to accept his environment, he learned the local culture and was taught the Muslim religion. It changed him, it turned him into a fearless man, he knew that every minute something different, something unbelievable could happen and he needed to be ready for it. He also learned about culture, perseverance, adaptability and most importantly, he learned that he had a knack for connecting with people who were different from him.
In a fateful turn of events and 10 months after he first stepped onto the Indonesian village, Tuan was told that he would be sponsored by a family in Nebraska. He would be coming to the United States. With tears in his eyes, he tells the story of the white lady in the white blouse who gave him the news. “She was not a thin lady, she had blond hair and a strong voice. I will never forget her. She wore a white blouse and through a translator, she told me that because my father had worked with the US Military that I had been selected to go to America. I was going to the U.S!! Everyone wanted to go the United States! I was rescued. Lucky #9” Tuan said. Soon Tuan would board a ship for Singapore and then travel by plane to Hong Kong then Guam and Hawaii with an overnight stop in Los Angeles and finally landing in Denver, Colorado where he would meet his new family. The hungry young boy remembers his journey to the U.S. with landmark stops to eat at McDonalds and KFC, he vividly remembers the taste of the cheeseburgers and fried chicken. This was yet another life shaping lesson for Tuan who loves food and appreciates each and every meal. “When you have had nothing to eat or your only option is rotten rice or spam shipped in to camp from the Catholic Churches, you appreciate each and every bite that goes into your body. To this day, I am so grateful for a good meal!” Tuan says with a big smile.
Tuan was sponsored and cared for in Nebraska by his new family, the Temples. Robert, the father was a widower raising 4 children. Living in Nebraska was new and wonderful and also different and challenging. Tuan was a minority in a very small town in the Midwest, he was unlike most people. At first, he did not speak English but quickly learned, once again adapting to his environment. School and education became very important to Tuan. He knew that his education was something that could never be taken away from him. Tuan graduated High School in the small town of Ogallala, Nebraska and then went on to college in Lincoln. While studying he met his wife Julie who also attended the University of Nebraska. After graduation in 1991, Tuan was offered an internship with the San Francisco 49ers. He moved to California for work and four months later, Julie joined him. During his time in Nebraska, Tuan learned about family, a loving father, Christianity, the importance of his education and he fell in love.
In California, Tuan worked very hard, he volunteered as much as he could and lent a helping hand to everyone. He was becoming well known for treating high school student athletes with injuries at no cost because he knew they needed to be treated but couldn’t afford it. Long lines of athletes waiting to see him was not uncommon. Tuan worked hard for each and everyone, always willing to give back. He was released from the 49er’s in order to go back to school at San Jose State to complete his Master’s Degree in Sports Medicine.
While building his career, Tuan also spent most of his savings and a full year working diligently to get his two brothers released from the Refugee camp in Malaysia where they had been for the past five years. This was an extremely emotional time for Tuan, he was beginning his new life, working day and night to get his career started, he was married to Julie now, he was in heaven in the United States, appreciating each and every moment of life but, he could not allow his brothers to be in the camp any longer. Phone calls to the U.S. Embassy, trips to Malaysia and never taking no for an answer was his motto. During one of his trips back to the Refugee camp in Malaysia, Tuan had his taxi driver stop off at 7-11 where he bought up Raman noodles, 7-ups and every snack he could find, he filled the taxi with food and drinks to bring to the camp as he knew that the 10,000 people inside the camp had very little to eat. His brothers were literally down to skin and bones, an extremely emotional site for Tuan to see. An excruciating year later, Tuan’s two brothers were released and living with him and Julie in California. Years later, he looks at his successful brothers and his nieces and nephews and he smiles. “Life is hard sometimes, but it is good”, Tuan says.
If you ask some of Tuan’s patients to describe him, they may say that he is a complex man. A perfect mix of a serious disciplined military brain who is independent and at first maybe a little cold. This is the survivor side of Tuan but, once you know him, Tuan is a vivacious, funny, warm and friendly person who deeply cares about people, especially those very close to him. He is a dedicated father and husband, raising two boys with his wife Julie. His career as a Sports Medicine Rehab Specialist has taken him around the world, treating athletes like Yao Ming and Barry Bonds. The Chinese National Team will fly out to California to be treated by Tuan. He has been to England and the Netherlands, he’s treated world class motocross athletes and was appointed Director of Medicine for the East West Shrine Games for 13 years. Tuan was the Director of Sports Medicine for Laguna Seca, World Superbike and MotoGP. This is just a sprinkling of Tuan’s many accomplishments. Tuan has friends around the globe and to everyone he meets, he is something special. As his brothers told him, “Dad gave us the gift of Tuan.” That gift extends beyond family as Tuan has spent his life and career helping others. There is a reason that Tuan boarded boat #0531, his life had a purpose beyond anything he could have imagined.
What’s the next phase for Tuan? “I believe that God walked me through life and walked me through things I had to face, he opened the right gates at the right time for me. I believe that someone is watching over me.” This faith and loyalty has given Tuan a beautiful life, he will be the first to tell you that living in California, with a successful business and wonderful family, that his life is heaven. Is his life much different than yours or mine? Maybe not, Tuan’s experiences have gifted him the appreciation for the little things, food, love, friendship, connections and also given him the strength to be fearless and a survivor. He has such an inspirational outlook on life.
Tuan wants to build more relationships and connections around the globe and his vision is for student athletes to experience other parts of the world. Four years ago, Tuan founded TKB Baseball, an elite baseball club for players ages 12 – 18. His teams play in local high level tournaments. In the Summer of 2016, Tuan personally selected 18 of the best players in the San Francisco Bay Area and took them on a life changing trip to Beijing, China to play baseball against the top Chinese Baseball teams. The boys had the opportunity to face the incredible pitching talent of the Chinese players while also having the life changing cultural experience of traveling to a foreign land. This nine-day trip was such a success for Tuan, the players and parents. His vision is to replicate this experience again in China with the baseball team and extend this into other high level sports like soccer, swimming, tennis. With friends and relationships around the world, Tuan plans to take both boys and girls teams, high level athletes to countries around the globe and play against fellow international athletes. It’s a cultural experience, it’s a chance for American athletes to be seen in other countries by top scouts and for most everyone, it is a trip of a lifetime. And, for Tuan, it’s an opportunity to give back to the game and to introduce young athletes to culture and international play. This is Tuan’s vision, to take TKB International all over the world.
A survivor with a heart of gold, a lover of life, and a giver Tuan Nguyen is lucky #9.
The Entry List for the FIM MotoE™ World Championship is now out, with 18 riders set to contest another season of electric action. Reigning Champion Hector Garzo (Dynavolt Intact GP) returns to defend the crown alongside a host of longtime frontrunners and newer race winners, and some interesting rookies join the fold. They include Moto2™ race winner Lorenzo Baldassari (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Road to MotoGP™ alumni Jacopo Hosciuc (MSI) from Romania and Tibor Erik Varga as the young Hungarian joins the new Rivacold Snipers Team.
Michael Docherty won the tenth stage of the 2025 Dakar rally. Photo courtesy Dakar.com.
The Empty Quarter has to be earned. Dakar entrants had to wait until stage 10 to frolic on its dunes. The field rolled out of Haradh before the sun peeked over the horizon to tackle a road section of more than 500 kilometres en route to the shores of the Arabian Gulf. The time had come to surf a sea of dunes, where the Big Kahunas rule the waves, for 117 kilometres of sand, sand and more sand. Michael Docherty, free of strategic concerns, tapped his raw speed and intimate knowledge of the dunes —he lives next door— to open his account at the Dakar.
Accurately predicting that the main contenders would keep their powder dry, Docherty went for broke today. The South African Rally 2 biker danced gracefully over the dunes to take his very first Dakar stage win by 1′20″ over Rui Gonçalves and 2′21″ over Tobias Ebster.
As expected, the title contenders kept their cards close to their chests in anticipation of the second stage in the Empty Quarter, which will take place tomorrow. Daniel Sanders remains perched at the top of the ranking with 16′31″ in hand over Tosha Schareina and 22′24″ over Adrien Van Beveren. The starting order, which will keep fans and pundits busy, will encourage the rivals of the man from Oz to try and stage a sensational comeback.
(Editors Note: Americans Skyler Howes, Ricky Brabec and Jason Argubright finished the stage sixth, 13th and 22nd.)
Moto2 World Champion Ai Ogura (79) on the Trackhouse Racing Aprilia RS-GP at the post-season test at Barcelona. Photo by Michael Gougis.
Trackhouse Racing’s 2025 MotoGP riders Raul Fernandez and Ai Ogura are taking different approaches to the upcoming season, but for both the goal is the same: To learn, adapt and improve.
Fernandez and Ogura spoke to members of the international MotoGP media as Trackhouse unveiled its 2025 liveries for NASCAR and MotoGP, with each talking about their preparations for the upcoming season.
Raul Fernandez (25) in testing at the post-season Barcelona test. Photo by Michael Gougis.
The two are approaching 2025 from different perspectives. For Fernandez, it’s his first year starting out with the same team he raced for in the prior season, and the first time he’s starting with a factory bike at his disposal. Fernandez raced for KTM Tech3 in 2022, rode for the CryptoData RNF MotoGP Team on an Aprilia RS-GP in 2023, and when Trackhouse bought up the remnants of the imploded RNF team, Fernadez stayed on board for 2024, but started the season with a 2023-spec bike. Fernandez switched to a 2024-spec machine halfway through the season, a change that left him struggling; he cut a despondent figure in the post-race media debriefings after the season finale in Barcelona.
The post-season test saw Fernandez further evaluating the 2024 bike and learning to work with new crew members, and he said he spent a lot of time over the break working with Team Principal Davide Brivio on his mental fitness.
“We changed the staff. We didn’t try the new bike, we wanted to see how the new people would (work) with the team,” Fernandez said. “It was a different preseason for me. I was really focused on myself. I changed the personal trainer to try to feel fit. I was working on myself in the mentality area. Never in MotoGP have I started the season with a factory bike. Overall, I am really happy.
“I want to be fit, focused and try to do my best. Davide helped me a lot. Maybe this is my problem. I want more than we have in the moment.”
Raul Fernandez. Photo by Michael Gougis.
Fernandez is the only rider continuing with Aprilia into the 2025 season. World Champion Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi are joing the factory Aprilia squad from Ducati, while Ogura arrives as the reigning Moto2 World Champion. Yet Fernandez says he does not consider himself a leader of the team, and he is most interested in learning from his teammates. Martin and Ogura are World Champions and Bezzecchi is a three-time MotoGP Grand Prix winner.
“It is super clear to me. I have a lot of things to learn from them,” Fernandez said.
Ogura is at the beginning of a steep learning curve. The Michelin slicks in MotoGP are dramatically different than the Pirellis used in Moto2, and the RS-GP makes twice the horsepower of his Triumph-powered Moto2 Boscoscuro.
But in his first outing, Ogura said he didn’t find the bike over-taxing, and said he was spending the off-season training mostly by riding on the track. During the Barcelona test, Ogura did 10 to 12-lap stints, and his times were comparable to Somkiat Chantra and Fermin Aldeguer, the other Moto2 rookies moving up to MotoGP for 2025.
Ai Ogura. Photo by Michael Gougis.
“If it’s really necessary to work on the physical side, I will. I don’t really feel – it sounds strange, but it didn’t feel so hard on the physical side in Barcelona,” Ogura said, while acknowledging that the upcoming tests in Malaysia and Thailand will be more physically challenging.
“There’s still a lot to understand. I have eight (testing) days until I start on the first race,” Ogura said. “Clearly, I’m in the position to learn from all of the three (Aprilia) riders.”
Great riders are recognized by their ability to navigate a stage alone and thus win two consecutive stages. That is what Luciano Benavides managed to do, as he improved his roll of honour with the 5th stage victory of his career on the Dakar and moved up to 4th place in the general rankings for his best ever position.
The Argentinean beat Adrien Van Beveren by 1’54’’ over the route of the day’s special. It was also a good day for the Frenchman as he closed in on his Spanish team-mate Tosha Schareina, who was off the pace due to a fall at the beginning of the special. The battle for second place is occurring some way behind race leader Daniel Sanders, who will tackle the decisive stage 10 with a lead of 14’45’’ and from 3rd position in the starting order.
(Editors Note: Americans Ricky Brabec and Skyler Howes finished fourth and fifth.)
Raul Fernandez in the 2025 livery of Trackhouse Racing. Photo courtesy Trackhouse Racing.
The 2025 Trackhouse Racing MotoGP livery. Photo courtesy Trackhouse Racing.
Trackhouse Racing has, today, presented, a new livery for its NASCAR Cup Series and its MotoGP campaigns, together with the line-up of drivers and riders for both its teams. Incorporating vibrant blue and black base colors that have been a feature of the Trackhouse style since it first started racing in 2021 and adding accents in dayglo yellow, the covers came off one of its NASCAR Cup Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 cars and one of its Aprilia GP-RS MotoGP bikes at the team’s headquarters in Concord, North Carolina, revealing a distinctive and consistent design scheme for its 2025 season.
The Athlete line-up introduced the three Trackhouse NASCAR Cup drivers – #1 Ross Chastain, #99 Daniel Suarez and new for 2025, #88 Shane van Gisbergen, alongside its two MotoGP riders – #25 Raul Fernandez and rookie #79 Ai Ogura.
Moto2 World Champion Ai Ogura moves up to MotoGP in 2025 with Trackhouse Racing. Photo courtesy Trackhouse Racing.
Trackhouse Racing NASCAR Cup line-up:
#1 Ross Chastain: Age 31 – Hometown: Alva, Florida
Ross Chastain became the driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2022. Wins at Talladega and the Circuit of Americas Road Course were highlights of the year eclipsed in the penultimate race of 2022 at Martinsville when Ross made the miracle move, subsequently named the “hail melon” to secure a spot in the Championship 4, capping off a remarkable inaugural year with Trackhouse Racing, finishing second overall. In the 2023 season he scored two Cup Series wins and in 2024 a further two victories brought his tally to five. For 2025, he continues in the #1 car for Trackhouse.
#99 Daniel Suárez: Age 32 – Hometown: Monterrey, Mexico
The only Spanish-speaking driver in the NASCAR Cup Series, Daniel made racing history in 2022 as the first Mexican-born and just fifth foreign-born driver to take the checkers, driving the No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing. The 32-year-old driver from Monterrey, claimed this history-making victory at the Toyota Save Mart 350, at Sonoma Raceway adding the accolade to those of being the first international champion in the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series, as well as the 2017 and 2022 NASCAR All-Star Race Open Winner. In 2024, at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Suárez made history again winning in a three-wide finish with a 0.003 second lead, giving Daniel his second visit to Victory Lane. Now a dual US- Mexican citizen, he starts his 5th Cup season with Trackhouse in 2025.
#88 Shane van Gisbergen: Age 34 – Hometown: Auckland, New Zealand
Shane joined Trackhouse Racing for his first full season of NASCAR in 2024, running the full Xfinity Series schedule along with seven NASCAR Cup Series races. The New Zealander made an instant splash in 2023, winning the inaugural Chicago Street Race in his first NASCAR start. He became one of six foreign-born drivers to win a Cup Series race and the first driver since Johnny Rutherford in 1963 to win his first Cup Series start. Van Gisbergen is no stranger to success. He earned three Supercars Championships for Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2016, 2021 and 2022, plus 80 wins and 47 pole positions making him the fourth most successful driver in the Australian series. He’s also won the legendary Bathurst 1000 in 2020, 2022 and 2023.
Trackhouse’s unique Project 91 guest driver project propelled van Gisbergen onto the U.S. racing scene in 2023. The program is designed to expand the organization’s global reach by fielding a Cup Series entry for renowned international racing drivers. Formula One icon and 2007 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen first drove under the Project 91 flag at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International in 2022 and again at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas on March 26. In 2025, Project 91 brings Indycar legend, Helio Castroneves, to the Daytona 500.
Trackhouse MotoGP Team line-up:
#25 Raúl Fernández: Age 24 – Hometown: Madrid – Spain
Raúl Fernández arrived in the Trackhouse Team at the beginning of the MotoGP project, as one of the youngest, most exciting, riders in the World Championship. Since the age of 11 years old, when he learnt his early racecraft on the tracks around Madrid, he has been ‘one to watch’. Rarely have rookies shaken up the intermediate Moto 2 class like Raul in 2021 when he blitzed the field with eight victories and only just missed out on the Championship crown, injury preventing him from securing vital points towards the end of the campaign. Having stepped up to the Premier class in ’22, his 2023 season, in MotoGP, ended strongly with a top 5 finish in the final race. In 2024, with Trackhouse, he led the Sprint race at the Catalunya Grand Prix and scored a top 6 finish in the Australian Sprint race. Heading into his 4th season in MotoGP, his third on the Aprilia RS-GP prototype making him the longest serving rider for the Noale marque, Raúl will pilot the #25 for Trackhouse.
#79 Ai Ogura: Age 23: Tokyo – Japan
Mid-year, in its first season, the Trackhouse MotoGP Team demonstrated its commitment to young developing talent and its ambitions for the future by signing Ai Ogura on a two-year deal. The brightest star to emerge from Japan in over a decade, Ai started on MotoGP’s first rung of the talent ladder as 14-year-old in the Asia Talent Cup and progressed up through Red Bull Rookies and Moto3 until, in 2024, he emphatically sealed the Moto2 World Championship crown. Ai calls Kiyose in Japan, home and will join the MotoGP grid at the age of 24, carrying the #79 on the front of his Trackhouse Racing RS-GP25
NASCAR v MotoGP:
The NASCAR Cup Series is the premier league of stockcar racing. The three Trackhouse Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 racecars weigh in dry at 3,200 lbs (1,451 kgs), push out up to 670 hp from their 5.86 liter (358 cubic inches) V8 engines and race wide-open on superspeedway oval tracks and shorter, tighter bowls, also visiting five road courses in the Cup Series schedule of 39 race weekends. Kick-off is on February 2nd, with the NASCAR CLASH, followed by the ‘big one’ at Daytona for the 500 – a race that this year will feature a fourth Trackhouse car, entered as Project 91 and piloted by the 4-time Indianapolis 500 winner, Helio Castroneves.
The MotoGP World Championship is the ultimate in two-wheel circuit racing. Trackhouse fields two Aprilia RS-GP25 prototypes, each of which weigh in at a minimum 346 lbs (157 Kilograms) and develop over 280 HP from their V4, 1000cc engine. The Championship in 2025 features 22 rounds, at road course tracks spread over 5 continents, each weekend including a Sprint race on Saturday and full distance Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Trackhouse MotoGP Team will start testing in Malaysia, initially with the Shakedown test for Ai Ogura, January 31 to February 2nd and then Raul will join him for the full test, starting on February 5th. The team will take part in the MotoGP 2025 Season Launch event in Bangkok on Sunday, February 9 and will unveil the final version of the Trackhouse Aprilia RS-GP25 at Buriram ahead of Round 1 – the Grand Prix of Thailand – February 28 – March 2nd.
RAUL FERNANDEZ
“The new bike looks amazing. I’m really happy to go out with these colors and I’m sure we will be well seen on tv and from the grandstands. It’s quite different to the rest of the grid. Also, it’s nice to have a huge brand like Gulf on board now. We have a new challenge, it’s a new year and we have new goals. This year will hopefully be a really nice one. We are all working hard – I was working on myself a lot during the winter and I think it’s going to be a great season. Let’s go and enjoy it!”
AI OGURA
“First of all, I would like to say thanks to everybody at Trackhouse. I’m really happy that we can get the season started soon and I’m just excited about this year. It will be a big challenge for me, but I have my guys in the team, they are all motivated, the atmosphere inside the team is great. I can’t wait to start the first test in Sepang! Our design is absolutely fantastic! I can’t wait to ride this beautiful bike and I’m excited to see what we can do this season.”
DAVIDE BRIVIO – TEAM PRINCIPAL
“This is another important moment because we are introducing our second year as Trackhouse Team. The first one has been a learning year and we will try to use everything we learned before in this second season, where we have many new things coming up. Of course, a new design of the bike, which goes more towards the Trackhouse image direction and we have an in place agreement with Gulf which means another exciting design. It’s a real privilege to be involved in a team with such an iconic brand – a brand, which I personally always admired in the motorsport environment. We can’t wait to show our special livery, which I believe will be something great and unique in MotoGP.”
“Speaking about our riders, Raul remains with the target to be stronger and stronger and then we have the big change with Ai, our rookie in MotoGP. He is Moto2 World Champion, which is raising expectations. We start this season with ambitions to improve what we did last year and also the team and not just the riders are learning more and more. I’m confident that we will see Raul stronger, with more experience and it will be nice seeing Ai growing up, improving race by race, which is the target. We are really looking forward to it and are very excited. We are well prepared, from physical and technical point of view. Let’s see what we can expect from this season.”
JUSTIN MARKS – TEAM OWNER
“I am really excited. In that first year in a new championship there were a lot of learnings for me and for a number of people on the team. It’s like now we are starting to figure out how the MotoGP program fits into the big Trackhouse picture. Everybody is just so excited that we are competing in this championship. I’m excited for 2025. I think the Aprilia bikes are going to be fast, Raul continues to get better, super excited about Ai coming onboard. We’re ready to go testing and get the ball rolling on the season.”
“We are super excited to have Raul. There were times in 2024 where he showed incredible speed. He is taking a big step this off season in his preparation, in his mentally, kind of understanding where he needs to be on the race weekend in his mind. We are excited about that and I think there’s podiums in our future. If the bikes are there, the speed is there, certainly there’s a lot of talent, with mechanics and engineers. We showed already that we have the pieces and Raul’s got the talent to be able to compete at the front in MotoGP. So, certainly, we are looking for more of that.”
“On the other side, I love rookies. I love taking this undefined, raw talent, putting them in these new positions, putting the support in around them and be able to mature into top level professional athletes. When we signed Ai and announced that he was joining the team, I don’t think he was leading in Moto2. He was in this battle for the championship and as soon as it was public that he’s going to join our team, he just went on to tear it up and won the Moto2 World Championship. This really shows what he is made of. If you look at the crop of rookies, when you look at the new guys coming into MotoGP in 2025, what else can you want than the reigning Moto2 World Champion? We are super excited about his talent.”
“The greatest milestones for our company is aligning ourselves with some of the greatest brands of the world. We have done this for the Nascar side. Getting these iconic brands like Gulf to the Trackhouse journey, to invest in us and to grow with us, is hugely important to me. I was telling the Gulf executive going through this process, there’s these amazing moments in the history of motorsport and for a brand like that to be aligned with Trackhouse having the Gulf logos on the bike is humbling, amazing and we can’t wait to get that bike on the racetrack. It’s pretty special.”
Trackhouse MotoGP Team:
Trackhouse Entertainment Group owner Justin Marks announced, back in December 2023, that his organization will field a MotoGP World Championship team in 2024, a move expanding its reach across the global motorsports world and building on its success in the NASCAR series. Just six weeks later the Team pulled back the curtains on its season-opening design with two of its Aprilia MotoGP prototype bikes and introduced #88 Miguel Oliveira and #25 Raul Fernandez as its pilots. One week later, Trackhouse Racing MotoGP rolled out onto its pit-road debut at Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia.
Entering its sophomore year in the premier league of two-wheel racing, the Trackhouse MotoGP Team continues with 24-year-old #25 Raul Fernandez who, from the age of 11 years old, learnt his early race-craft on the tracks around Madrid. As a rookie in the intermediate Moto 2 class Raul took eight victories and only just missed out on the 2021 Championship crown. Moving up to MotoGP in 2022, Raul signed for the Aprilia Factory in 2023 and joined the new Trackhouse team at its launch in 2024. After another learning year on the RS-GP Aprilia, Raul signed for two further years with Trackhouse and will be the only rider with previous racing experience of the bike as the 2025 season commences.
Mid-year of its first season, the Trackhouse MotoGP Team demonstrated its commitment to young developing talent and its ambitions for the future by signing Ai Ogura on a two-year deal. The brightest star to emerge from Japan in over a decade, Ai started on MotoGP’s first rung of the talent ladder as 14-year-old in the Asia Talent Cup and progressed up through Red Bull Rookies and Moto3 until, in 2024, he emphatically sealed the Moto2 World Championship crown. Ai calls Kiyose, Japan, home and will join the MotoGP grid at the age of 24, carrying the #79 on the front of his Trackhouse Racing RS-GP25
About Trackhouse Racing:
Trackhouse Entertainment Group, centered in Nashville, Tennessee, is the owner of Trackhouse Racing’s NASCAR team and MotoGP World Championship team based out of Concord, North Carolina. After a full-time driving career in sports cars and NASCAR, Justin Marks founded Trackhouse Racing in 2020 and fielded an entry for #99 Daniel Suárez in 2021. Having acquired the NASCAR assets of Chip Ganassi Racing, midway through the 2021 season, Trackhouse fielded a pair Chevrolet Cup cars in 2022 for #1 Ross Chastain and Suárez – continuing in the #99.
The new team has enjoyed success on track – Daniel Suárez became the first Mexican driver to win a Cup Series race when he visited victory lane in 2022 and American Ross Chastain posted two victories to finish second in the standings in 2022. The team has scored victories throughout its time in the Cup series and Marks made more headlines bringing 2007 Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen to NASCAR and Trackhouse Racing in 2022 and 2023 as part of the team’s PROJECT91 program. Created to give international stars a chance to compete in the sport, PROJECT91 led to New Zealander and three-time Supercar champion, Shane van Gisbergen’s dramatic rookie win at the first Chicago street race in 2023.
Off the track, Trackhouse Racing as a brand has proven itself as a progressive, marketing-minded team, reimagining how the sport is presented to its fans, media partners and sponsors. It has brought international entertainment superstar Pitbull to the organization as a team partner, increased digital presence and created live entertainment at racetracks and in 2024 announced the Avenue Sports Fund had acquired a significant minority stake in Trackhouse Entertainment Group. Trackhouse Racing acquired a third NASCAR charter and will run Van Gisbergen fulltime in the 2025 Cup series, joining Suárez and Chastain on the grid. The team also signed 18-year-old Connor Zilisch who will compete full-time in the Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports.
Rich Oliver (right) instructing at a Kids Ride and Wrench Camp at the Mystery School. Photo courtesy Rich Oliver's Mystery School.
Rich Oliver’s Mystery School Course 2025 Spring & Summer Dates
All courses are conducted at the school’s dedicated dirt track facility in Prather, California. Regardless of skill, the Mystery School has a course for anyone age 8 or older.
1/14 Private Training Day
1/15 Private Training Day
1/16 Private Training Day
1/18 Learn To Ride Off-Road Course
1/19 Off-Road Challenge Course
1/23-26 Pro Camp
2/22-23 Kids Ride and Wrench Camp
3/7 7 Private Training Day
3/8 Learn To Ride Off-Road Course
3/9-Road Challenge Course
3/12-13 POST Motorcycle Officer Update Course
3/15-16 Fun Camp
3/28 Private Training Day
3/29-30 Fun Camp
3/2-3 POST Motorcycle Officer Update Course
4/5-6 Kids Ride and Wrench Camp
4/11 Private Training Day
4/16Practice & Skill Reinforcement Day
4/18 Learn To Ride Off-Road Course
4/19 Off-Road Challenge Course
4/23-24 POST Motorcycle Officer Update Course
4/26-27 Fun Camp
5/2 Private Training Day
5/3-4 Fun Camp
5/8-29 Kids Ride and Wrench Advanced Weekly Camp
5/10 Learn To Ride Off-Road Course
5/13-14 POST Motorcycle Officer Update Course
5/17-18 Fun Camp
5/31- 6/1 Kids Ride and Wrench Camp
6/7 Learn To Ride Off-Road Course
6/8 Off-Road Challenge Course
6/9-10 Kids Ride and Wrench Summer Camp
6/12-13 Kids Ride and Wrench Summer Camp
6/16-17 Kids Ride and Wrench Summer Camp
6/19-20 Kids Ride and Wrench Summer Camp
6/23-24 Advanced Kids Ride and Wrench Summer Camp
For more info, call (559) 855-3089, Text (559) 970-1928, e-mail [email protected], or visit www.richoliver.net
Cam Petersen is returning to the MotoAmerica Supersport grid on a Ducati. Photo courtesy Celtic Racing.
Celtic/Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati Announces Two-Rider Lineup For 2025 MotoAmerica Supersport Season.
Team Returns to MotoAmerica with Grigg Electric and Economy Lube + Tire as Title Sponsors
DUNMORE, PA, January 14, 2025 — Celtic Racing and Warhorse HSBK Racing are proud to announce their return to the MotoAmerica Supersport grid in 2025 under the banner Celtic / Economy Lube & Tire by Warhorse HSBK Ducati.
Headed by Team Manager Barry Gilsenan, the squad fields a strong two-rider lineup featuring #45 Cameron Peterson and #227 Wristin Grigg, marking Celtic Racing’s comeback to MotoAmerica after a five-year hiatus.
Petersen showcased his prowess in the premier Superbike class in 2024 with multiple victories, including a nail-biting triumph at Road America where he edged out his competition by just 0.004 seconds in challenging wet conditions. Although injuries hindered his ability to contend for the championship, Petersen demonstrated resilience, concluding the season in sixth place overall with 110 points. Now fully recovered, he is shifting his focus to the 2025 Supersport season and aims to build a competitive pace and achieve consistency to secure another championship for Ducati in MotoAmerica.
“I’m excited to get the chance to race for the 2025 MotoAmerica Supersport title with the Celtic/Economy Lube & Tire Powered by Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati,” Petersen said. “The Panigale V2 has won two of the last three Supersport titles and it looks like a ton of fun to ride. I can’t wait to get started and the season can’t come quick enough.”
SRX Racing Tires’ Sam Hannon (left) poses with racer Wristen Grigg (272) and his father, former professional racer Steve Grigg during the 2024 MotoAmerica season. Dunlop photo.
Grigg, meanwhile, made an impressive 2024 debut in the MotoAmerica Supersport Series, earning several strong finishes, including an 11th place at Mid-Ohio and a personal best ninth at New Jersey. Grigg’s rookie year also featured two expert National Titles at Daytona, highlighted by his AMA 600 Title, which underscored his adaptability and potential on road courses. With his 2024 performances fueling his motivation, Grigg is determined to refine his racecraft and rise through the ranks in the coming season. Leveraging Warhorse HSBK Racing’s Ducati expertise – as recent winners of the Supersport Championship (2022 & 2023) and the Daytona 200 (2023 & 2024) – as well as the proven support of Grigg Electric and Economy Lube & Tire, the team aims to contend for podiums with a push for the 2025 MotoAmerica Supersport Championship.
About Warhorse HSBK Racing
Founded in 2011, HSBK Racing partnered with powersports dealer group Warhorse Group to, in 2020, bring Ducati back to the forefront of MotoAmerica. The team took a symbolic victory in its first season in the hands of Lorenzo Zanetti before building on a successful 2020 and taking an incredible fourth in the championship in 2021 with Loris Baz. In 2022, Warhorse HSBK Racing secured the talents of MotoGP race winner Danilo Petrucci, as well as expanding into the Supersport series with multiple AMA race winner Josh Herrin. The pair took 32 podiums in total and 14 wins, taking the Supersport title and narrowly missing out on the SBK. In 2023, Herrin graduated to SBK, taking three victories and claiming second in the title race. In Supersport, the team brought in Xavi Fores, who remained largely unbeaten in taking the title in emphatic style. In 2024, the team expanded to a two-bike SBK line-up, with Herrin being joined by returning star Loris Baz. Herrin would win the 2024 SBK title.
About Celtic Racing
Established in 2001 by Barry Gilsenan and over the course of 12 seasons, Celtic Racing established itself as a premier privateer racing team. Development of riding talent began with two-stroke 125cc & 250cc machines competing in professional, amateur, and regional championship events. Celtic Racing then transitioned its resources towards AMA Pro Road Racing from Superbike to Supersport. Most recently, Celtic Racing efforts have been focused on Sportbike and Supersport classes with Ducati, Honda, Suzuki, and Yamaha four-stroke motorcycles. Gilsenan’s talent for fielding racers of all ages and abilities has brought Celtic Racing worldwide recognition, with many former riders now competing at World Championship levels. With three AMA Pro Supersport championships, Celtic Racing is and continues to be a force within the racing community. They have a reputation for aiding in the growth of the world’s top riders as one of the best American youth racing teams. They have fielded riders such as PJ Jacobsen; World Supersport Champion Chaz Davies; BSB Champion Michael Laverty.
Jérémy Guarnoni, Randy de Puniet and Florian Marino. Photo courtesy FIMEWC.
The ELF Marc VDS Racing Team/KM99 Yamaha YZF-R1. Photo courtesy FIMEWC.
Leading independent FIM Endurance World Championship squad KM99 has joined forces with Marc VDS Racing Team, one of motorcycle racing’s most successful outfits.
The exciting new partnership, announced at Château de Modave near Liège, Belgium, this evening (Monday) has been described by KM99 as a “major evolution for our team” and will result in KM99 running under the ELF Marc VDS Racing Team/KM99 banner.
In just two seasons, KM99, which is owned by Gaëtan Schyns and managed by Mario Küpper, has become a leading EWC entrant, finishing in the top 10 in the Suzuka 8 Hours and claiming a podium finish in the Bol d’Or 24-hour race.
Marc VDS Racing Team was founded in Belgium in 2009 by Marc-Oswald van der Straten-Ponthoz and has achieved considerable success competing on two wheels and four.
Its partnership with KM99 marks its first foray in the EWC, which is promoted by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports under a long-term alliance with governing body Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme and consists of two 24-hour races and two races run for eight hours, including the 8 Hours of Spa Motos in Belgium.
A communication from KM99 read: “The year 2024 ended exceptionally well for KM99 with a second place at the Bol d’Or, allowing the team to secure fourth place in the Endurance World Championship, as the first private team. This remarkable result boosted us and pushed us to think about the best strategy to go even further in 2025.
“After many discussions with Yamaha and the Marc VDS team, we are proud to announce a major evolution for our team. The objective is clear: to aim for excellence and fight for the title against the various factory teams. Being able to join the great Marc VDS family, which has dominated Moto2 for many years with three titles, while also having left its mark on MotoGP and MotoE, represents a real motivation and immense pride for us.”
While KM99’s expert technical team remains unchanged, its rider line-up has been further strengthened with the recruitment of young Italian Alessandro Delbianco as back up to existing race riders Randy de Puniet, Jérémy Guarnoni and Florian Marino from France.
Delbianco, an FIM Superbike World Championship racer, made his EWC debut in the Dunlop-equipped Superstock category in 2024, making two appearances with Yamaha-powered Pitlane Endurance – JP3. De Puniet, Guarnoni and Marino are established among the elite of current EWC racers with Guarnoni part of the Team SRC Kawasaki France line-up that won the 2018-19 EWC title.
KM99’s communication continued: “We are satisfied to maintain our current trio, which has proven its effectiveness. We are still strengthening the team with the arrival of a fourth pilot. Knowing the Yamaha R1 perfectly, Alessandro will bring all his experience to help us reach our ambitions. The 2025 season promises to be full of challenges and excitement for ELF/Marc VDS Racing Team/KM99, and we are ready to take up the challenge by always targeting higher.”
ELF Marc VDS Racing Team/KM99 will use Yamaha YZF-R1 motorcycles and Dunlop tyres.
ALL-NEW 2025 MODELS WILL BE ON DISPLAY, INCLUDING ICON LIMITED EDITIONS, TIGER SPORT 800, AND THE OFF ROAD TF 450-RC
TOUR VISITING 13 CITIES ACROSS THE UNITED STATES
On Tuesday, January 14th, Triumph Motorcycles kicks off the “Triumph Icons Tour,” a 13-city journey celebrating the iconic craftsmanship and innovation that Triumph is renowned for. The tour will showcase an impressive lineup of all-new motorcycles for 2025, poised to set new benchmarks in performance, design, and adventure.
To honor this wave of groundbreaking motorcycles, Triumph will host exclusive one-night-only events in each city during January and February. These events will give riders an unparalleled first look at the new 2025 models before they arrive in dealerships. Each event promises live entertainment, engaging activations, and light food and beverages, enveloping the new motorcycle reveals.
Adam VanderVeen, Marketing Director for Triumph Motorcycles America, said, “The Triumph Icons Tour is not just a showcase of new models, it’s a celebration of the passion, innovation, and community that Triumph represents, which has attracted so many iconic riders over the years. These events are a unique opportunity for our fans to connect with the brand and their local riding community, while getting up close and personal with the latest Triumph motorcycles.”
Honoring Triumph’s Legendary Riders
Throughout its storied history, Triumph has been the motorcycle of choice for many iconic riders, from Steve McQueen’s legendary desert racing to Evel Knievel’s gravity-defying stunts. The Triumph Icons Tour celebrates this rich heritage, connecting the groundbreaking motorcycles of today with the legendary riders who have shaped the brand’s identity.
Featured Models (with more on display)
Scrambler 1200 Icon Limited Edition
A tribute to Triumph’s off-road heritage, the Scrambler 1200 Icon Limited Edition features rugged capability with enhanced aesthetics. Equipped with premium suspension, torque-rich performance, and cutting-edge technology, it’s built for riders who demand both adventure and style.
Speedmaster Icon Limited Edition
The Speedmaster Icon Limited Edition brings a new level of sophistication to the Bonneville cruiser lineup. With premium finishes, exclusive detailing, and a comfortable riding position, this model blends timeless British style with modern performance for the ultimate cruising experience.
Tiger Sport 800
The Tiger Sport 800 redefines versatility, offering exceptional performance for both long-distance touring and urban commuting. Its lightweight chassis, advanced electronics, and powerful triple engine ensure a smooth, thrilling ride in any setting.
TF 450-RC
The TF 450-RC marks Triumph’s entry into the competitive 450 motocross arena. Designed in collaboration with Ricky Carmichael, it features an all-new lightweight frame, high-performance suspension, and a race-tuned engine, delivering class-leading power and agility straight out of the crate.
Speed Twin 1200
Combining iconic style with modern engineering, the Speed Twin 1200 offers unparalleled roadster performance. Its updated chassis, advanced braking system, and enhanced engine make it a dynamic choice for riders seeking the perfect balance of power and precision.
Speed Twin 1200 RS
The Speed Twin 1200 RS takes the acclaimed Speed Twin platform to new heights with track-focused upgrades. Featuring higher performance components, refined handling, and advanced rider aids, it delivers an exhilarating experience for performance enthusiasts.
The Triumph Icons Tour is free and open to all. Guests must register to attend. To RSVP and find details about each tour location, visit TriumphOnTour.com.
Tour Dates and Locations:
Date City, State
1/14 Orlando, FL
1/16 Charlotte, NC
1/18 Richmond, VA
1/21 Milwaukee, WI
1/22 Ft Wayne, IN
1/23 Cleveland, OH
1/24 Indianapolis, IN
1/27 Kansas City, MO
1/31 San Diego, CA
2/1 Los Angeles, CA
2/11 Dallas Fort Worth, TX
2/12 Austin, TX
2/13 Houston, TX
The Icons Tour is free and open to all. Guests must register to attend. All guests may RSVP and find details about each tour location at TriumphOnTour.com.
Tuan Nguyen with racer Kyle Wyman. Photo courtesy Kyle Wyman.
Medical Rehab Specialist Tuan Nguyen passed away on January 6th, at age 58 after a battle with cancer. He was well-known among motorcycle racers of all type, and worked with surgeon Dr. Murray Harwood (and before that surgeon Dr. Art Ting) to treat injured riders including John Hopkins, Kyle Wyman, Chris Ulrich, Jamie Hacking, and many others.
“We lost a good one,” Wyman wrote on social media. “Going to miss you, Tuan. You were one of a kind; 20+ trips to your OR in 12 years. A career-saving neck surgery in 2019, an season-saving elbow surgery in 2021. Countless times I was in despair, and you were always there to get me to the other side and healthy again, just as you did for all your athletes. I wish I could do the same for you, my brother. Til we meet again some day, F–k cancer.”
“He was an amazing guy,” Hopkins said. “So helpful, no matter what I needed. There were many times I’d fly in broken up and falling apart and he always took great care of me. Really good guy. He’ll be massively missed.”
Tuan is survived by his wife Julie and grown sons Brandon and Kobi. More information will be posted as it becomes available.
Tuan Nguyen on Nicky Hayden’s Honda at Laguna Seca, circa 2007. Photo courtesy TKB International.A recent photo of Tuan Nguyen. Photo courtesy TKB International.
Tuan Nguyen in his office. Photo courtesy TKB International.
From the TKB Sports Medicine Website:
TUAN NGUYEN | Founder TKB International
Tuan’s Story….
Tuan Nguyen is a true survivor. His incredible life journey shaped and guided him, giving him the drive for success and the passion for giving back. Tuan is a Sports Medicine rehab specialist with over 25 years experience treating professional athletes throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and around the world. In 2013, Tuan founded TKB Baseball.
Tuan grew up in South Vietnam, he was the oldest son of a large family. When he was just six years old, his parents sent him off to a private Catholic boarding school. He liked his school and learning from the nuns. He has fond stories of lining up for the weekly bathing sessions where the nuns would shampoo the boys’ hair and then dress the students in fresh pajamas. Once Tuan was all clean and clothed, the nuns would feed the hungry little boys fresh baguettes. Tuan would wait to get the end piece, his favorite. He liked his school but missed his parents and siblings. Family visits were just one week a year, he missed the loving hugs of his mother and the stern guidance of his Military father. School taught Tuan about discipline and Catholicism, the importance of family and independence.
In 1979, when Tuan was only 13 years old, his parents sent him to the coast of Vietnam. It was a long journey, half a day travels. When Tuan arrived at the coast late in the evening, he waited in a long line of people he did not know until his name was called. He was then instructed to board boat #0531, a double decker wooden boat. He will never forget the number of the boat, numbers that added up to 9, a lucky number in Vietnam. The scared young boy climbed onto the boat and sat, side by side with 278 other passengers, a mix of some Vietnamese and mostly Chinese men, women, children. Tuan knew no one. Off they sailed to escape Vietnam and for Tuan, escaping his inevitable entry into the Red Army. For seven days and seven nights, the passengers sat, crammed like sardines, with no food or water. It was horrible. The boat was robbed by pirates three times. Tuan sat, scared and helpless as he witnessed unspeakable acts from the pirates, men were beaten, women raped. Unimaginable sites for anyone to see. With horror all around him, Tuan somehow was protected and without a scratch he sat unscathed but, inside he began to build a wall. He wondered, ‘how could his parents send him off all alone like this?’ 13 years old, all alone at sea, starving, dying of thirst on wooden boat # 0531.
The seven day boat journey ended in Indonesia where Tuan and the surviving 259 other passengers unloaded and entered their new home. Letung Island, an Indonesian Village is where Tuan would spend the next 10 months. For Tuan, living in the village with a local family at first and then later in the refugee camp was very difficult. “It was hell” he said. He told himself then and there that he must survive. To him, life did not mean anything, everyone was out for them self. This young boy had no one to look after him. Tuan had seen life and death on the boat, he knew extreme thirst, he never had enough to eat, and he did not have the loving arms of a mother to comfort him. During that time, all Tuan could do was to just survive wondering what the next day, the next month would be like. He began to see clearly that he had to face his fears, he had no choice.
Shortly after his arrival in Indonesia, he began to adapt. Tuan learned the native language and he volunteered for the hard jobs like dragging the dead bodies of the people who did not survive the boat trip back to shore. The locals started to treat him like a native as he began to adjust to the Indonesian lifestyle. He learned to climb trees to fetch coconuts and fish in the early morning. This was a critical moment for young Tuan, he learned very early on a valuable life lesson, survival. In order to survive in the camp, he began to accept his environment, he learned the local culture and was taught the Muslim religion. It changed him, it turned him into a fearless man, he knew that every minute something different, something unbelievable could happen and he needed to be ready for it. He also learned about culture, perseverance, adaptability and most importantly, he learned that he had a knack for connecting with people who were different from him.
In a fateful turn of events and 10 months after he first stepped onto the Indonesian village, Tuan was told that he would be sponsored by a family in Nebraska. He would be coming to the United States. With tears in his eyes, he tells the story of the white lady in the white blouse who gave him the news. “She was not a thin lady, she had blond hair and a strong voice. I will never forget her. She wore a white blouse and through a translator, she told me that because my father had worked with the US Military that I had been selected to go to America. I was going to the U.S!! Everyone wanted to go the United States! I was rescued. Lucky #9” Tuan said. Soon Tuan would board a ship for Singapore and then travel by plane to Hong Kong then Guam and Hawaii with an overnight stop in Los Angeles and finally landing in Denver, Colorado where he would meet his new family. The hungry young boy remembers his journey to the U.S. with landmark stops to eat at McDonalds and KFC, he vividly remembers the taste of the cheeseburgers and fried chicken. This was yet another life shaping lesson for Tuan who loves food and appreciates each and every meal. “When you have had nothing to eat or your only option is rotten rice or spam shipped in to camp from the Catholic Churches, you appreciate each and every bite that goes into your body. To this day, I am so grateful for a good meal!” Tuan says with a big smile.
Tuan was sponsored and cared for in Nebraska by his new family, the Temples. Robert, the father was a widower raising 4 children. Living in Nebraska was new and wonderful and also different and challenging. Tuan was a minority in a very small town in the Midwest, he was unlike most people. At first, he did not speak English but quickly learned, once again adapting to his environment. School and education became very important to Tuan. He knew that his education was something that could never be taken away from him. Tuan graduated High School in the small town of Ogallala, Nebraska and then went on to college in Lincoln. While studying he met his wife Julie who also attended the University of Nebraska. After graduation in 1991, Tuan was offered an internship with the San Francisco 49ers. He moved to California for work and four months later, Julie joined him. During his time in Nebraska, Tuan learned about family, a loving father, Christianity, the importance of his education and he fell in love.
In California, Tuan worked very hard, he volunteered as much as he could and lent a helping hand to everyone. He was becoming well known for treating high school student athletes with injuries at no cost because he knew they needed to be treated but couldn’t afford it. Long lines of athletes waiting to see him was not uncommon. Tuan worked hard for each and everyone, always willing to give back. He was released from the 49er’s in order to go back to school at San Jose State to complete his Master’s Degree in Sports Medicine.
While building his career, Tuan also spent most of his savings and a full year working diligently to get his two brothers released from the Refugee camp in Malaysia where they had been for the past five years. This was an extremely emotional time for Tuan, he was beginning his new life, working day and night to get his career started, he was married to Julie now, he was in heaven in the United States, appreciating each and every moment of life but, he could not allow his brothers to be in the camp any longer. Phone calls to the U.S. Embassy, trips to Malaysia and never taking no for an answer was his motto. During one of his trips back to the Refugee camp in Malaysia, Tuan had his taxi driver stop off at 7-11 where he bought up Raman noodles, 7-ups and every snack he could find, he filled the taxi with food and drinks to bring to the camp as he knew that the 10,000 people inside the camp had very little to eat. His brothers were literally down to skin and bones, an extremely emotional site for Tuan to see. An excruciating year later, Tuan’s two brothers were released and living with him and Julie in California. Years later, he looks at his successful brothers and his nieces and nephews and he smiles. “Life is hard sometimes, but it is good”, Tuan says.
If you ask some of Tuan’s patients to describe him, they may say that he is a complex man. A perfect mix of a serious disciplined military brain who is independent and at first maybe a little cold. This is the survivor side of Tuan but, once you know him, Tuan is a vivacious, funny, warm and friendly person who deeply cares about people, especially those very close to him. He is a dedicated father and husband, raising two boys with his wife Julie. His career as a Sports Medicine Rehab Specialist has taken him around the world, treating athletes like Yao Ming and Barry Bonds. The Chinese National Team will fly out to California to be treated by Tuan. He has been to England and the Netherlands, he’s treated world class motocross athletes and was appointed Director of Medicine for the East West Shrine Games for 13 years. Tuan was the Director of Sports Medicine for Laguna Seca, World Superbike and MotoGP. This is just a sprinkling of Tuan’s many accomplishments. Tuan has friends around the globe and to everyone he meets, he is something special. As his brothers told him, “Dad gave us the gift of Tuan.” That gift extends beyond family as Tuan has spent his life and career helping others. There is a reason that Tuan boarded boat #0531, his life had a purpose beyond anything he could have imagined.
What’s the next phase for Tuan? “I believe that God walked me through life and walked me through things I had to face, he opened the right gates at the right time for me. I believe that someone is watching over me.” This faith and loyalty has given Tuan a beautiful life, he will be the first to tell you that living in California, with a successful business and wonderful family, that his life is heaven. Is his life much different than yours or mine? Maybe not, Tuan’s experiences have gifted him the appreciation for the little things, food, love, friendship, connections and also given him the strength to be fearless and a survivor. He has such an inspirational outlook on life.
Tuan wants to build more relationships and connections around the globe and his vision is for student athletes to experience other parts of the world. Four years ago, Tuan founded TKB Baseball, an elite baseball club for players ages 12 – 18. His teams play in local high level tournaments. In the Summer of 2016, Tuan personally selected 18 of the best players in the San Francisco Bay Area and took them on a life changing trip to Beijing, China to play baseball against the top Chinese Baseball teams. The boys had the opportunity to face the incredible pitching talent of the Chinese players while also having the life changing cultural experience of traveling to a foreign land. This nine-day trip was such a success for Tuan, the players and parents. His vision is to replicate this experience again in China with the baseball team and extend this into other high level sports like soccer, swimming, tennis. With friends and relationships around the world, Tuan plans to take both boys and girls teams, high level athletes to countries around the globe and play against fellow international athletes. It’s a cultural experience, it’s a chance for American athletes to be seen in other countries by top scouts and for most everyone, it is a trip of a lifetime. And, for Tuan, it’s an opportunity to give back to the game and to introduce young athletes to culture and international play. This is Tuan’s vision, to take TKB International all over the world.
A survivor with a heart of gold, a lover of life, and a giver Tuan Nguyen is lucky #9.
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Epilepsy Safe Mode
Dampens color and removes blinks
This mode enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode
Improves website's visuals
This mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Disability Mode
Helps to focus on specific content
This mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode
Reduces distractions and improve focus
This mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode
Allows using the site with your screen-reader
This mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
Online Dictionary
Readable Experience
Content Scaling
Default
Text Magnifier
Readable Font
Dyslexia Friendly
Highlight Titles
Highlight Links
Font Sizing
Default
Line Height
Default
Letter Spacing
Default
Left Aligned
Center Aligned
Right Aligned
Visually Pleasing Experience
Dark Contrast
Light Contrast
Monochrome
High Contrast
High Saturation
Low Saturation
Adjust Text Colors
Adjust Title Colors
Adjust Background Colors
Easy Orientation
Mute Sounds
Hide Images
Hide Emoji
Reading Guide
Stop Animations
Reading Mask
Highlight Hover
Highlight Focus
Big Dark Cursor
Big Light Cursor
Cognitive Reading
Virtual Keyboard
Navigation Keys
Voice Navigation
Accessibility Statement
www.roadracingworld.com
July 1, 2025
Compliance status
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience,
regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level.
These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible
to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific
disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML,
adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Screen-reader and keyboard navigation
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with
screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive
a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements,
alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website.
In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels;
descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups),
and others. Additionally, the background process scans all the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag
for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology.
To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on
as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
Disability profiles supported in our website
Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments
Font adjustments – users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
Color adjustments – users can select various color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over seven different coloring options.
Animations – person with epilepsy can stop all running animations with the click of a button. Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions.
Content highlighting – users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.
Audio muting – users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly.
Cognitive disorders – we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.
Additional functions – we provide users the option to change cursor color and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions.
Browser and assistive technology compatibility
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers).
Notes, comments, and feedback
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs. There may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to
