Cycle News Staff | April 25, 2023
MotoAmerica road racer Geoff May competed at what he says his final event at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, April 22-23. And what better place and time to call it a career than at the exact racetrack where he originally got his start 25 years ago?
May did it all in motorcycle road racing. He was a privateer racer at the beginning, and he made his first AMA Pro Racing start aboard a Ducati 748 in 2000 in the Pro Thunder Series at Road Atlanta. He was quickly noticed for his racecraft, talent and ability to properly set up a road racing motorcycle. Because of that, he raced for factory-supported teams, full-factory efforts, a team owned by none other than Michael Jordan, and he even raced for a full-factory effort in the FIM Superbike World Championship.
He was named AMA Pro Racing Superbike Rookie of the Year in 2003. He twice finished as runner-up in AMA season championships: Supersport in 2006 and Superstock in 2008.
Amassing a total of 38 podiums as a racer—four in Superbike, seven in Supersport, 13 in Superstock and 14 in Stock 1000—May also tallied three race victories, including two wins in Superstock and a win in Stock 1000.
He also did tire development for Dunlop during his career because of his analytical skills, and also because he’s raced virtually every brand of motorcycle including Ducati, Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki, BMW, Buell and EBR.
In 2022, May raced a Vision Wheel/Discount Tire/KWS Honda CBR1000RR-R SP to fifth place in MotoAmerica Stock 1000, and he scored four podiums during the season. He had a long-range plan to add two young riders to his team, and he would transition the team owner while helping his riders achieve the same level of success that he reached.
Unfortunately, sponsorship issues left him with a lack of funding to enter his team in the 2023 MotoAmerica Championship. Simultaneously, he was presented with an opportunity to become the Business Development Manager at Princeton Identity, a tech company in the Atlanta area.
With the timing of those two situations and the fact that he had hit the quarter-century mark as a motorcycle road racer, May decided that it was time to make the transition from the MotoAmerica paddock to the corporate world. CN