IN
THE
WIND
P38
AMERICAN FLAT TRACK CEO MICHAEL
LOCK ON WELCOMING KTM
A
merican Flat Track has been
experiencing a resurgence in
recent years and with the recent
announcement that KTM will be
entering a factory flat track team,
it appears momentum continues
to build for America's oldest na-
tional motorcycle racing champi-
onship.
KTM's entry is important since
it means three factory teams will
be active in the series for the first
time in over 40 years. With Red
Bull remaining KTM's primary
sponsor, it also means all three
major energy drinks (along with
Monster and Rockstar) are put-
ting money into flat track racing.
In what may be a first, it ap-
pears that KTM's team may field
entries in both AFT Twins and
AFT Singles.
We caught up with AFT CEO
Michael Lock asked him for his
take on the significance of KTM's
venture into American Flat Track.
Tell us how the KTM factory
entry into flat track came about.
This operation has been run-
ning quietly in the background.
We've been in discussions with
KTM for about a year now as
they were exploring the op-
portunities of getting involved in
flat track. The key has been us
reorganizing the class structure,
as you recall we did about a year-
and-a-half ago, creating a distinc-
tive Twins class and a distinctive
Singles class where manufactur-
ers can go head to head every
week. KTM's interest initially was
in the Singles class. They have a
competitive 450. They go head
to head against the other brands
in motocross and supercross.
They looked at entering the
Singles class and doing more
with it than simply looking at it as
a stepping-stone. My dream in
establishing the Singles class is
that would stand on its own feet
as the production-based champi-
onship and KTM got that.
How did this evolve into
KTM also fielding a Twins
team?
We started talking with them
about our ambitions and how
we want to make the sport big.
We got them intrigued. And then
when Indian came out of the gate
KTM will use the 2019 Singles
championship as a precursor to a
possible factory Twins entry with
the upcoming 790 Duke.
