VOL. 56 ISSUE 4 JANUARY 29, 2019 P29
HONDA CHANGES, EXPANDS OFF-ROAD RACING SUPPORT
H
onda announced the expansion its off-road rac-
ing effort for 2019, officially backing three major
teams: JCR Honda, SLR Honda and Phoenix Racing
Honda. Plus, changes have been made as to which
teams will compete in which championship events,
and those will include AMA National Hare & Hound,
AMA National Grand Prix Championship (NGPC),
WORCS, Best In The Desert, SCORE International
and Grand National Cross Country (GNCC). One
of the bigger changes is that the JCR Honda Team
will return focusing all of its attention on West Coast
racing, leaving the GNCCs up to the North Carolina-
based Phoenix Racing Team.
The Johnny Campbell-led JCR Honda team will
return to its West Coast roots and focus solely on
western-based championships. The JCR Honda
Team will field Ricky Brabec in the hare and hounds,
and Trevor Stewart in the new AMA NGPC series (for-
merly Big 6) in the premier class. Preston Campbell
and Tarah Gieger will compete in the 250cc class.
The Mark Samuels-run SLR Honda Team will follow
the SCORE International Championship with fellow
riders Justin Morgan and Justin Jones. The SLR
team will also campaign WORCS and the Best In
The Desert Championships with riders Ricky Dietrich
and Tallon Lafountaine. The Sonora Rally and select
NGPC races are also on SLR's '19 schedule.
In the East, the David Eller-owned Phoenix Rac-
ing Honda Team will focus on the GNCC series with
Andrew DeLong in XC1 and Austin Lee in XC2.
In addition, JCR Honda, SLR Honda and Phoenix
Racing Honda will offer Red Rider Trackside Support
in their respective series, keeping Honda riders on
track with technical assistance and emergency parts.
Honda says that it will continue to evolve its Red
Rider Rewards contingency program, which is open
to all riders of qualifying Honda models. For more in-
formation, visit the Honda Powersports website. CN
MICHAEL DUNLOP TO RETURN
M
ystery solved—Michael Dunlop will indeed be back to compete
in the Isle of Man TT Races in 2019. His racing plans had been
up in the air until now. The 29-year-old, Dunlop, confirmed, January
25, that he will again return to the TT with Tyco BMW in association
with TAS Racing.
Although the team and rider are remaining the same, one element
of the mix will be changing, he will race the new BMW S 1000 RR.
"With the added improvements to the package and a second sea-
son with the same team, we should be in a good place to go after
both the big wins on the Island," Dunlop said, adding, "we grabbed
a Superbike TT win last year, which was a good start and the goal
this year will be to go after both Superbike and Senior TT wins."
Details of the rest of the team's season race schedule has yet
been announced. CN
Michael Dunlop announced that he is
going to return to the Isle of Man TT in
2019 with his former team Tyco BMW.
Honda has expanded
and made changes
to its off-road racing
program in 2019.
