PJ Jacobsen To World Supersport

Paul Carruthers | December 7, 2011

PJ Jacobsen will move from AMA racing to the World Supersport Championship in 2012 after the 18-year-old New Yorker reached an agreement to be part of the Performance Technical Racing (PTR) Honda squad.PTR runs the Parkalgar Honda and Bogdanka Honda teams in the series and today’s announcement doesn’t clarify which of the two teams Jacobsen will ride for. The team made news early in the off-season when PTR director Simon Buckmaster started offering up rides on the team for $550,000. British Superbike racer Martin Jessopp has also signed up with the team, according to a separate press release issued today.Jacobsen, a graduate of the MotoGP Academy, competed in the AMA Daytona SportBike class for the past two years and was also the Rookie of the Year in the Grand National Flat Track Championship in 2010. In 2011, Jacobsen rode an Eraldo Ferracci Ducati for Celtic Racing in the Daytona SportBike class where he finished 10th in the series standings with two podium finishes.”I’m very excited about returning to Europe to race in the World Supersport class with my new team PTR Honda,” Jacobsen said in a team release. “I have always loved riding Hondas, and the 600 in particular is a fantastic bike. I know the reputation of PTR and Parkalgar, and I am proud to have the opportunity to ride with such an excellent team on such an incredible bike.

“I feel that the timing of this move is perfect. My experience and training so far have opened up this path for me to follow. But also I know that in many ways I’ll be starting from the beginning again. There will be new people, new tracks, and new styles. There will be a lot to learn, but I intend to be competitive straightaway. I’ll need to work very hard to achieve success for myself and my team, but I know that I will have the complete support of Simon and the entire team.”

Jacobsen will get his first ride on the team’s Honda CBR600RR early in the New Year at a private test in Europe before a further test at Philip Island in Australia. His first race is at Phillip Island in the series opener on February 26.