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AMA HONORS CHAMPIONS AT BANQUET
T
he AMA recognized its
greatest champions and
hardest-working organizers
from the 2016 season on
January 21 during the AMA
Championship Banquet at the
Hilton Downtown Columbus in
Columbus, Ohio.
More than 500 racers and
supporters watched as the
AMA presented awards to the
top-three finishers in national
and regional competition, and
announced the winners of the
prestigious AMA Racer of the
Year Awards.
"It is well known in this room
that the American Motorcy-
clist Association is the larg-
est motorcycle and all-terrain
vehicle sanctioning body in the
world," said AMA President and
CEO Rob Dingman, address-
ing the crowd. "Our greatness
comes from our racers, many
who are here tonight. We have
the young and the not-so-young
and everyone in between. We
are from a range of social and
economic backgrounds, and
we come from all corners of
America. What we all share is
our love of riding and racing
motorcycles—and our status as
AMA members."
The world motorcycle sanc-
tioning body, the Federation
Internationale de Motocyclisme,
also used the occasion to pres-
ent U.S. riders and the AMA with
world championship awards.
FIM Board member Jos Dries-
sen performed the honors for
the FIM.
Taylor Robert, who led the
U.S. World Trophy Team to its
first International Six Days En-
duro World Championship, was
announced as the AMA Athlete
of the Year from National Cham-
pionship Series competition.
Chase Sexton, the 2016 AMA
Motocross Horizon Award win-
ner, was selected as the AMA
Athlete of the Year from Grand
Championship events.
Sexton, who is competing
in the 2017 AMA Supercross
Championship Series, was un-
able to attend the banquet, but
shared his gratitude in a video
acceptance speech.
"I'm pumped to be chosen as
the AMA Athlete of the Year and
also the Horizon Award winner,"
Sexton said. "Thank you to all
the people who voted for me.
I'm really excited to have this as
one of my accomplishments.
It's my biggest one so far. I can't
thank everyone enough who
supported me, like my team and
my family. It's been a big year for
me, and I'm ready to get started
on my pro career in supercross."
The FIM's Driessen presented
attending members of the U.S.
World Trophy Team—Kailub
Russell, Thad Duvall and Layne
Michael—with their 2016 ISDE
gold medals. Land-speed racer
Taylor Robert was named
2016 AMA Athlete of the
Year at the annual AMA
banquet in Ohio.
