Joe Roberts Signs With Team Hammer for 2014

Paul Carruthers | December 10, 2013
Joe Roberts to ride an M4 Honda for 2014 in Daytona SportBike.

Joe Roberts, the young road racer who turned the AMA Supersport Series on its ear in 2013, has inked a contract to race for Team Hammer in 2014. The 16-year-old Roberts will compete in the AMA Daytona SportBike class on an M4 Honda CBR600RRs.

Roberts made his AMA debut at the Barber Motorsports Park round in June and it came with stunning consequences as he fought back from a bad start to win the first of two Supersport finals by an unheard of eight seconds. The following day, Roberts won again and he did so three more times in 2013, ending the season a perfect five-for-five in the races that didn’t conflict with his Red Bull Rookies Cup racing in Europe.

Roberts ended up 14th in the 2013 Red Bull Rookies Cup Championship with a best result of fourth at Brno in the Czech Republic. This year was the third in the Rookies Cup for Roberts: He was 12th overall in 2011 with a race victory at Brno; and he ended up eighth in the series points in 2012.

Now the Keith Code protégé will get a crack at a full season of racing and a move up to the AMA Daytona SportBike class for 2014.

“I am very happy to have signed with M4 and Team Hammer for the 2014 season,” Roberts said via a team issued release. “It’s a championship-winning team, so it’s great opportunity for me. I worked with the team and my crew chief, Eric Gray this last season in SuperSport, where we achieved great results.

“DSB [Daytona SportBike] is going to be a new challenge for me and it will be interesting to see what the level is. The Honda is a very nice handling bike and I am confident that the team are going to get the bike where is needs to be for Daytona and the rest of the season. I want to say thanks to everyone who has helped me get to this point in my career.”

Roberts also plays bass with his brothers in the band Red Tambourine.

 

 

 

 

Paul Carruthers | Editor

Paul Carruthers took over as the editor of Cycle News in 1993 after serving as associate editor since starting his career at the publication in 1985. Carruthers has covered every facet of the sport in his near-28-year tenure at America's Daily Motorcycle News Source.