IN
THE
WIND
P22
KTM ANNOUNCES RC CUP
A
spiring young road
racers will have a new
showcase series to com-
pete in this coming sea-
son. MotoAmerica and
KTM North America have
jointly announced that the
KTM RC Cup, a spec-
class designed to serve
as an entry point into pro-
fessional road racing, will
race in selected rounds
of the 2015 MotoAmerica
AMA/FIM North American
Motorcycle Road Racing
Championship.
The KTM RC Cup will
see racers 14 to 22 years
old battling on KTM RC
390 Cup bikes for KTM
contingency money and a shot at
an AMA National Championship.
"One of our main goals in cre-
ating MotoAmerica was to find
new talent and this is the start
of that," three-time 500cc World
Champion Wayne Rainey said of
the KTM RC Cup. "This is going
to give a lot of young riders the
opportunity to feel the excite-
ment of racing at a professional
event on top-level KTM RC 390
motorcycles while competing
for a National Championship.
The KTM RC Cup is also go-
ing to give the teams a chance
to see new talent in a competi-
tive environment. Our goal is to
give these riders the opportunity
to move up through our champi-
onship classes in MotoAmerica
with a goal of making it to the
World Championships."
The AMA is currently develop-
ing licensing requirements for
the new series.
KTM will partner with HMC
Racing (the Wisconsin-based
team that runs KTM's Superbike
effort) at each of the events to
provide a pit area with customer
hospitality as well as technical
and parts support for all RC Cup
participants. The RC Cup racers
will also get advice and tips from
professional racers such as KTM
factory star Chris Fillmore.
The engines of the KTM RC
390 Cup bikes will be sealed to
maintain equality. Engine tear-
downs at the races, rebuilds be-
tween races, and ECU checks
will be performed by HMC tech-
nicians. The RC 390 Cup bikes
will be sold to dealers and con-
sumers as ready-to-race motor-
cycles and production RC 390s
will not be eligible for the series.
This is not the first time KTM
has gotten involved helping
young racers. The company has
long sponsored the KTM Jr. Su-
percross Challenge held at Mon-
ster Energy Supercross events.
It's also been involved supply-
ing motorcycles to the Red Bull
MotoGP Rookies Cup since its
inception in 2007.
The KTM RC Cup provides a place
for young road racers to show their
talent on these KTM RC 390s.
