Moto2 News
Following various unofficial Tweets and Facebook posts, the news is now official – 2013 AMA SuperBike Champion Josh Herrin will join the Moto2 Championship next season.
Herrin, who robbed his AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Team Graves Yamaha teammate Josh Hayes a fourth straight title, only needed a top-10 finish at the final race of the series in Laguna Seca.
And Herrin did just this, earning second behind race-winner Josh Hayes at the only race held in Laguna Seca due to it being a World Superbike weekend. Finishing third was Foremost Insurance Yamaha’s Larry Pegram, making for an all-Yamaha podium.
This allowed the Bell-sponsored Herrin to earn his first-ever AMA SuperBike title after only two years in the series.
Josh Herrin says: “I trained and prepared harder than I ever have this season, and I couldn’t have achieved this without the hard work and support of my team and sponsors, providing me a host of support and resources that were critical to my success.
“Starting the season with a win in Daytona built some early season confidence for myself. There are some amazing riders out there, and Hayes is extremely fast – I knew I had to continue to work hard throughout the season to get here. It’s a great feeling.”
But Herrin won’t return to the AMA SuperBike Yamaha paddock in 2014. The former YZF-R1 pilot will join the Moto2 paddock for 2014-2015, though the team was not yet reported. Herrin’s seat on the factory Yamaha AMA SuperBike squad will be filled by the newly-crowned AMA SportBike Champion, Cameron Beaubier.
During his two years in AMA SuperBike, Herrin, whose goal is to compete in the premier MotoGP class, took more than 20 top-five finishes, and also earned the 2012 Rookie of the Year Award.
En route to the 2013 AMA SBK title, Herrin took wins in four of this year’s races, including at Daytona, Mid-Ohio, Miller Motorsports Park and New Jersey Motorsports Park.
Photo by Ara Ashjian
