VOL. 55 ISSUE 1 JANUARY 9, 2018 P29
ESTENSON RACING SIGNS
JOHNSON, CARLILE
E
stenson Racing was proud to
announce they have inked a
deal with two-time Grand Na-
tional Champion Jake Johnson,
who will headline the team in
the 2018 American Flat Track
Season. Johnson will take on the
AFT Twins class while returning
rider Kolby Carlile will defend his
AFT Singles title with Estenson
Racing.
Johnson brings with him a
wealth of experience with 19
wins in the premier class and a
pair of Grand National Cham-
pionships. After some rough
seasons since his champion-
ship run in 2010-2011, Johnson
looks forward to going into the
new year with a clean slate at a
top-level team and reuniting with
tuner Teddy McDermitt.
"The last half dozen seasons
haven't been quite what I've
wanted or expected," said John-
son. "With Estenson, I feel like
I should have everything I need
to get back where I feel I should
be. They have some of the best
equipment in the pits and I feel
like we'll have everything we
need to challenge for a cham-
pionship. I'm also excited (to
be back with) my old mechanic
Teddy McDermitt, who I won the
championship with in 2010 and
'11."
Leading the way in the AFT
Singles class on the number-one
Yamaha YZ450F is Carlile. The
defending champ looks forward
to being the first rider to pull off
the repeat in the Singles class.
In addition to defending his
crown, Carlile also looks forward
to the opportunity to do some
Twins testing in order to prepare
for his move to the AFT Twins
class in 2019.
"I'm very excited to get 2018
going," said Carlile. "Not only to
defend my 2017 title, but to start
testing and preparing for the
ultimate goal, which is the Twins
class. I have a few more things
that I want to accomplish this
year in the Singles class, but the
Twins (class) is where I'm going
to end up in the future."
Estenson Racing also heads
into 2018 with a team of talented
tuners—Teddy and Cory McDer-
mitt on the Twins side, Singles
tuner Andrew Butler and en-
gine builder Mike Stauffer from
Stauffer Motors.
"I'm very excited to have Jake
Johnson joining us as our Twins
rider," said team owner Tim Es-
tenson. "Jake and Teddy McDer-
mitt have a long-standing rela-
tionship, and I believe that we're
bringing together an outstanding
team." CN
Jake Johnson will reunite with his
former turner Teddy McDermitt on
his new Estenson Racing team.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
ESTENSON
RACING/JODI
JOHNSON
