Stu's Shots Previews Michael Jordan Motorsports Going Into Fontana This Weekend

Jason Pridmore's #43 Team Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000 superbikes and superstock bikes get
some attention from the Michael Jordan Motorsports techs in the paddock area during the AMA Road Racing round at Road America in June of 2006. For the 2006 season the team also featured riders Steve Rapp #15 and Jake Holden #59 in the Superbike and Super Stock classes.



Michael Jordan's maiden voyage into the world of AMA Superbike racing saw the team come into the series with Yamaha YZF-R1 Super Stock-spec bikes like the one above ridden in the Superbike event by multi-time Canadian Champ #21 Pascal Picotte at Road America in June of '04. The team also featured rider #123 Montez Stewart, who was MJ's initial hire and stalwart in getting the team started. The story goes they met on the streets of Chicago and decided racing belonged on the track and thusly Michael Jordan Motorsports was born into the AMA Pro Road Racing series. This will be the team's seventh season, and with the double wins at Daytona by Jake Zemke and the Daytona pole going to team mate Aaron Yates, the team is off to a great start to say the least.


Montez Stewart's Team Jordan/Joe Rocket Suzuki GSX-R1000 #123 Super Stock bike sits in the paddock area during the Honda SuperCycle Weekend at Mid Ohio in July of 2005. The team also featured riders Steve Rapp #15 and Jason Pridmore #43 in the Superbike and Super Stock classes for the 2005 season. Rapp finished 3rd for the year in the Super Stock class and 8th in the Superbike class for the team's best overall showing.



Jake Holden on the Team Jordan #59 GSX-R1000 Super Stock entry during qualifying for the Barber round in April of 2007. Holden finished the season ranked 8th in points while team mate Aaron Yates in the #20 entry placed 3rd behind the two Ben's in the class--Spies and Bostrom. Yates also placed 4th overall in the Superbike class for the '07 season.



One of the Michael Jordan Motorsports team members works on one of Aaron Yates' #20 GSX-R1000 Superbike's in the paddock at Road America in June of 2008. His back-up bike sits idly on display as Aaron can be seen working at the desk in the background checking out telemetry from the previous practice sessions. Aaron garnered a 6th and 8th place finish for the two Superbike races for the weekend and got 2nd to Blake Young in the Super Stock class race. Yates ended the season ranked 9th in the Superbike class and was the '08 AMA Super Stock Champion garnering MJM their first championship in the AMA series while team mate Geoff May on the #99 entry won two races and placed 2nd behind Aaron in the Super Stock class.

The view above is the many changing faces of Michael Jordan's Team Jumpman23 AMA Road Racing team over the course of the years since they originally came to play in the 2004 season.
After a great showing in Daytona three weeks ago, the Michael Jordan Motorsports team of #54 Jake Zemke and #23 Aaron Yates heads into the Fontana round this weekend in full steam ahead-mode. Joining the MJM team in the off season was obviously a great move for Zemke as he garnered both wins in the Superbike class in his initial voyage on a Suzuki GSX-R1000 at the world center of racing. And with Aaron Yates winning the Daytona pole and getting two 4th place finishes, the team has great motivation and reason to feel very positive for the next round, let alone the season ahead.
After campaigning the AMA Road Racing series for what is their seventh season now, Team
Jumpman23 is finally feeling and gaining the laurels of their hard work. Add to it their initial championship won by Yates in the '08 AMA Super Stock class the team is starting to look like it has been around for some time now. And with superior backing by the Jordan Brand, National Guard and Hanes, the team, bikes and riders are sponsored by some of the series most high profile names. You can check out the offical team links below as well.
Jason Pridmore, former Team Jordan pilot on the #43 machines, and former AMA 750 SuperSport Champion, and owner of the Star Motorcycle Schools, is still with the team as a rider mentor and team liaison, and will also be providing rides on the two-up spec Michael Jordan Motorsports GSX-R1000 throughout the season at each of the AMA rounds. You can check out a video below of Jason breaking in the new machine earlier in the year at Fontana.

Also of note, while in Daytona, the ESPN film crew led by Hannah Storm was in town to do an interview with Michael Jordan about life after playing basketball, his new role of team owner of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats, and most importantly his ownership role and putting together a top-flight team in the world of AMA Road Racing. Currently there is no set airtime for it but the official story as written by the good people at RoadRacerX.com is below to check it out. Anytime you can get big network news to do a story on AMA Road Racing is not only great, but big time for the sport!

We wish Team Jordan riders Jake Zemke and Aaron Yates the best for the next round, as well as the rest of the season. If the racing is half as exciting the rest of the year as what we saw at Daytona, the 2010 season is going to be a barn burner of excitement, and you can bet these boys will be right in the thick of it.

Below is the official AMA link the for the upcoming round at Fontana this weekend. It has all the weekend schedules on it as well. As of this writing their are 23 entries in the Superbike class and 27 for the Daytona SportBike class. TV times are Saturday 3/27 at 10 P.M. EDT and Sunday 3/28 at 11 P.M. EDT on SpeedTV. You can also check the TV times on the left side column to be safe in case there are any changes between now and this weekend (there shouldn't be as those times have been posted/set for weeks now, but you never know.... )

It looks like the Jordan team will be providing 'ride alongs' at each round of the AMA Road Racing series for 2010, and championing those rides will be team liaison, Jason Pridmore. Having been around racing since all but dropping out of the womb, and nabbing a few championships on his own, the two-ups should be well received by the press and the paying public. And I'm sure they will be in for a great ride as this short but sweet video shows compliments of the great people of 2WheelTuesday.com who put this up some time ago:
http://2wheeltuesday.com/2010/03/ama-sbk-ride-on-board-with-jason-pridmore-as-he-breaks-in-the-jordan-experience-gsx-r1000-at-fontana/

Here's the interview with Hannah Storm of ESPN talking about covering the team at Daytona, what she learned about AMA Road Racing, and what Michael Jordan brings to the table in his endeavors with the series. Thanks to RoadRacerX.com for the link to this great news event that hopefully will air at a time when stick and ball people will be watching to see what they are missing in the world of 180mph+ AMA Superbikes:
http://www.roadracerx.com/features/between-the-races/between-the-races-hannah-storm/

Updated Thurs 4/1/10 1825 EDT---
Here is the updated and current tentative time for the above mentioned show to be aired on ESPN:
http://www.roadracerx.com/breaking-news/tentative-air-date-set-for-espn-piece-on-jordan-motorsports/

Here's the official link to MJ's road racing team:
http://www.23race.com/michael-jordan-motorsports.html

And here's the link to the event info for the AMA Road Racing round at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana coming up March 26th-28th:
http://amaproracing.com/rr/events/event.cfm?eid=2010011010

Jamie Hacking's Name Mentioned in Rumor Mill to Fill the #23 Michael Jordan Motorsports Superbike in Aaron Yates' Absence--UPDATED

Kurtis Roberts on the #80 Erion Honda Racing RC-51 leads '95 AMA Superbike Champion Miguel Duhamel on the #17 Team Honda RC-51 through the carousel section at Mid Ohio during superbike race 2 in July of 2001. Jamie Hacking on the #92 Team Yoshimura GSX-R750 holds off the challenges of 3-Time AMA Superbike Champ Doug Chandler on the #10 Team Kawasaki ZX750 while Pascal Picotte on the #21 Team Harley VR1000 makes way behind them. With the injury to Aaron Yates leg from his practice crash at Fontana most likely to keep him out of action for at least the Road Atlanta round beginning on April 16th, Hacking's name came up in the rumor mill as being the most likely to be given some seat time to fill Aaron's ride while he recuperates. Just as with all bad news, sometimes good news comes with it and being a Hacker fan this could be a great chance for him to show more of his stuff. Let's hope the rumors are true!

While congratulations are in order to The Hacking Family on their new edition, the rumor mill churned out Jamie Hacking's name this week to fill-in for Aaron Yates on the #23 Michael Jordan Motorsports superbike while Aaron recuperates from his practice crash at Fontana from Sunday morning. With the Road Atlanta round ready to rumble on April 16th, Team Jordan knows it is in a position to have to fill the seat while Aaron gets well. And with The Hacker being out of work due to the downturn in the economy and the racing cutbacks, what better man to fill the seat of those that would and could be available. Even though Jamie last rode a Suzuki back in '01 for Team Yoshimura, the demographics of the class have changed some, and he is more then capable of jumping on an open ride and performing well. Being a multi-time AMA Champ, Jamie would be more than up to the task and would give it all it's worth and then some;

We wish The Hacking Family safe and healthy journey, congratulations on the new edition to the family, and we hope as well that the rumor mill has churned out a good one and The Hacker gets to ride the #23 Michael Jordan GSX-R1000 superbike in Aaron's place while he recovers from his injuries.

'Tommy Gun' Hayden Breaks His AMA Superbike Cherry at Fontana Race 2

Tommy Hayden on the #22 Team Yamaha YZF-750 is sandwiched by the Team Harley VR1000's of #21 Pascal Picotte and #4 Scott Russell as they traverse the carousel part of the track at Mid Ohio during race two of the AMA Superbike Honda Supercycle Weekend in Lexington, OH., in July of 2000. After all these years Hayden put it on the top of the box in the premier class yesterday in race 2 at Fontana's Auto Club Speedway.

'Tommy Gun' Hayden practices the #22 Team Yoshimura GSX-R1000 Superbike at Barber Motorsports Park outside of Birmingham, AL., for the April '07 running of the AMA Pro Road Races at the pristine facility. After having raced in the Superbike class for the better part of 13 years, Tommy Gun got it done yesterday in race 2 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA. and got his first premier class win. He dedicated the win to father Earl.

After having won races and championships in just about every other AMA Road Racing class he has raced in, Tommy Hayden finally got it done in the premier class yesterday to break his cherry in AMA Superbike racing by winning race two at Fontana to beat Josh Hayes to the line by less then a half a second. Tommy took the win aboard his Team Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Having suffered from the classic 'bride's maid' runner up for so many times and after 13 years of on/off running in the Superbike class, Hayden was able to hold off the charges of Hayes on the Graves Yamaha and of his own team mate, Blake Young on another Team Yosh GSX-R1000. Tommy dedicated the win to his Dad, Earl Hayden, who has been the man behind the three brothers-Tommy, Nicky and Roger Lee-that have raced and triumphed on the track since they barely able to swing a leg over a race bike.

The race was marred by a crash involving Aaron Yates on the #23 Michael Jordan Motorsports Suzuki during the morning warm-up. After setting fast time in the only qualifying session-due to the intense winds on Saturday causing cancelation of session two-and putting it on the box in race one, Aaron again set face pace for the second race warm up, only to crash and get hit by Chris Ulrich when he went down-to no fault of Ulrich's as all in hand said it was a case of 'no where to go.' Here is a clip from the folks at On The Throttle TV from another link over at RoadRacingWorld.com that has Yates' crew chief Richie Alexander talking about what happened and what directions the team may have to go if Aaron isn't able to return by the next round at Road Atlanta April 16th. That part doesn't sound too good as he apparently suffered two breaks in the fibula and tibia parts of the leg. More on that here as well:

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=39899
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?lnk=rss&article=39911

Congrats to Tommy and Team Yoshimura for the break out win, and for find to see him get that big class win is monumental. Many years of hard work and dedication does pay off. And it doesn't hurt that he's a great guy! Great job Tommy Gun!
You can read the official race review and results below, and check out the video of official press conference.