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Today, Triumph is taking the wraps off its motocross/Supercross race team management, and though we still haven’t seen any proper proptotypes for Triumph’s off-road program, this shows we’re still on-track to get there, with plans to race the SuperMotocross World Championship in just over a year.
Wait, Triumph is building dirt bikes now?
In case you missed it, Triumph announced its plan to build enduros and motocross bikes months ago, but we haven’t seen any real progress announced, just a deal with Ricky Carmichael to help in development, and some talk that Triumph would be running in the SuperMotocross World Championship. Considering that series (which includes AMA Supercross) kicks off on January 7, we were starting to wonder: Was it going to actually happen, with no big bike reveal and the first race less than a month away? Looks like the plan is to race in 2024, and Triumph has already hired a lot of experienced help for the team.
The brains behind the team
The biggest acquisition was Ricky Carmichael, aka The GOAT, as Triumph’s ambassador for its off-road program. But we knew about him already—today’s news is about the rest of the management team, hired with Carmichael’s input. Today, Triumph announced Bobby Hewitt as Team Principal and Stephen “Scuba” Westfall as the Team Manager. At the start of 2022, Westfall was with Husqvarna’s AMA Supercross program; he stepped down in the first week of January. Hewitt was also with the Husky team; he left that program back in 2020.
Both of those guys are very well-known to keen motocross fans, and Triumph has added other key support personnel. Dave Arnold (an AMA Hall of Fame inductee) joins as Lead Chassis Engineer. Dudley Cramond is Lead Powertrain Engineer. Obviously, this team will be based in the US (at a new private race facility, Triumph tells us). Triumph will have another team in Europe run by Thierry Chizat-Suzzoni—that team will run in the FIM Motocross World Championship, with the plan to run a four-stroke 250 in 2024 and then adding a 450 for 2025’s race season. The US team will follow the same plan in the SuperMotocross World Championship (which includes AMA Supercross, Pro Motocross and three SuperMotocross races at end of the season). Its 450 bike will not compete until the 2025 season.
When will we see the new 250 or 450?
Triumph is still keeping its planned machines very well hidden. Today’s release just gives us this paragraph, which doesn’t tell us much, only that work is ongoing:
Both race teams have been working on joint testing of the new Triumph motocross bikes. They’re sharing key data and rider feedback on the specifications, performance characteristics, and components with the Factory engineering group responsible for the concept and development of the powertrains and chassis for the all-new MX and dual sport motorcycle range. The insights of this race development information are being fed directly into each model of new Triumph motocross range. Additional launch details of the new Triumph off-road range will be made public in the near future.
So—stay tuned?
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