Martin Cardenas Signs With Yoshimura Suzuki
Cycle News Staff | January 22, 2013
Photography By: Andrea Wilson
As was reported here weeks ago, two-time AMA Daytona SportBike Champion Martin Cardenas has inked a contract with the Yoshimura Suzuki team that will see him lead the squad in the 2013 AMA Superbike Championship.
Cardenas, who won the Daytona SportBike title with the GEICO Suzuki team last year, replaces two-time AMA Superbike Series runner-up Blake Young. The returning Chris Clark will join Cardenas on the team.
Cardenas captured eight wins en route to the 2012 title, nine wins in 2010 and he holds the all-time win record in the class with 24. In between winning his two SportBike titles, Cardenas raced one year of AMA Superbike in 2011. The Colombian won a race and finished fourth in the series point standings.
“I am extremely happy to have the opportunity to race for one of the best, if not the best, Superbike teams in the U.S.,” said Cardenas in a team release. “It’s really a dream come true to become part of the Yoshimura Suzuki team. I will give everything I have to try to obtain the best results for the team and for me. And, hopefully, I will be in the mix for the top spot in the championship.”
The upcoming season marks Clark’s second with the team. In 2012, Clark finished in the top 10 nine times with a best of three seventh-place finishes. Clark missed the last few rounds due to illness, but wound up 12th in the overall championship points.
“I’m really excited to start my second season with Yoshimura Suzuki,” said Clark. “Last year was definitely a learning year for me; not only learning a new bike and team, but learning where I need to improve as a rider. I believe I showed some really good speed toward the end of the season, now I just need to translate that into good results. I’d like to thank everybody at Yoshimura and Suzuki for this opportunity, and I can’t wait for Daytona and the rest of the season on my 2013 Suzuki GSX-R1000.”
