2013 AMA Pro SuperBike Championship
When two-time AMA Pro Daytona SportBike Champion Martin Cardenas split ways with the GEICO Suzuki squad following a championship-winning year, speculation began on who the Colombian would ride with in 2013.
And this week, the news was broken – Cardenas will compete in the 2013 AMA Pro Superbike Championship aboard the Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing GSX-R 1000. Cardneas will join the returning Chris Clark on the Yosh Suzuki team.
While piloting a Suzuki GSX-R 600, Cardenas won the 2010 and 2012 AMA Daytona SportBike titles. Last season, Cardenas took nine wins en route to the title, and he holds the all-time record in the class with 24 wins. Between these two title-winning years, Cardenas competed in the AMA SuperBike class aboard the M4 Suzuki Gixxer. He finished fourth overall during that rookie season, and looks forward to once again competing in the liter-bike class.
Martin Cardenas (Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R 1000 SuperBike) says: “I am extremely happy to have the opportunity to race for one of the best, if not the best, Superbike teams in the U.S. It’s really a dream come true to become part of the Yoshimura Suzuki team. I will give everything I have to try to obtain the best results for the team and for me. And hopefully I will be in the mix for the top spot in the championship.”
The upcoming year marks Clark’s sophomore season with Yoshimura Suzuki. In 2012, Clark
worked closely with his new team and familiarized himself with the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000. Looking at the season as a learning curve, Clark picked up nine top-10 finishes and his best results were three seventh-place finishes. Clark missed the last few rounds due to illness, but wound up 12th in the overall cham- pionship points, Yoshimura Suzuki reports.
Chris Clark (Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 SuperBike) says: “I’m really excited to start my second season with Yoshimura Suzuki. Last year was definitely a learning year for me; not only learning a new bike and team, but learning where I need to improve as a rider. I believe I showed some really good speed toward the end of the season, now I just need to translate that into good results. I’d like to thank everybody at Yoshimura and Suzuki for this opportunity, and I can’t wait for Daytona and the rest of the season on my 2013 Suzuki GSX-R1000.”
The 2013 AMA SuperBike Championship begins at Daytona International Speedway March 14-16.