TMW - 1-19-2005 at 07:05 PM
KTM North America officially announced its 2005 Off-Road Team roster. Headlining the squad will be six-time AMA National Enduro Champion Mike Lafferty
who will again go after is seventh title, as well as the Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Championship.
Joining Lafferty in the GNCCs will be 10-time World Enduro Champion Juha Salminen from Finland. Salminen will also compete the entire World Off-Road
Championship Series (WORCS), as will Kurt Caselli, who will also compete in the GNCC Series and the D-37 Big-6 Series in California. David Lykke, who
placed second in the 2004 National Enduro Championship, will again contest the AMA National Enduro Series.
U.S. Red Bull KTM Dakar Team members Andy Grider, Chris Blais and Kellon Walch will also be competing in the AMA National Hare & Hound events and in
the SCORE racing series. They also have plans to compete in the 2006 Dakar Rally. Bobby Bonds, Robbie Jenks and Shane Watts will be supported by KTM.
Bonds will be competing in the WORCS and Big 6 GPs, while Jenks will follow the GNCC and AMA National Hare Scrambles Series. Watts will contest
selected GNCCs, hare scrambles, WORCS and the OMA series.
KTM is also supporting the Tim Tabor Fun Mart Team, which will include support riders Homero Diaz, Nathan Kanney and D.R. Attwood. These three riders
will be competing in the GNCCs, OMA series and selected National Hare Scrambles.
Ron Heben, Motorsports Marketing Manager said, "We have a very talented and dedicated group of off-road riders for 2005. We also have a great band of
team members and mechanics to take care of our riders; Alan Randt, Mike Chavez, Rich Caselli, Anti Kallonen, Mark Adams and Ricky Mosley will be our
technicians working alongside the riders, as will our Off-Road Racing and Promotions Coordinator, Jack Penton. Complimenting our program is a host of
reputable companies with quality proven products that will be used by our team riders. Team Off-Road sponsors are Michelin, Motorex, FMF, TAG Metals,
Moto-Tassinari, WP Suspension, Aussie Grills/Meco, Braking, RK Chains, Excel Rims, Motion Pro, Twin Air Filters, KTM Hard Equipment, Nissan, NGK Spark
Plugs, IMS, SDG, O'gio, VP Fuels, and Enduro Engineering. With the high skill level our riders have and the capabilities of our race technicians, we
look forward to a winning season."
bufeo - 1-19-2005 at 07:15 PM
Thanks TW for posting this.
Some of you know I have a keen 
interest in part of this post.
TMW - 1-20-2005 at 08:38 AM
I think it's great that another factory is fielding a team for the Score Baja races. I like Honda but they need competition. I was very sorry to see
Kawasaki pull out. I would like to see the MC entries come up to 75-100 or more. I know the racers hate to run on the pavement and perhaps the
enforcement of the 60mph limit will help that. Score does need to address the starting time for the cars and trucks so the slower MCs have less of a
chance of getting run over.
Bufeo, I also think Andy will do well and with a little luck knock those red riders off the #1 spot.
tim40 - 1-20-2005 at 09:48 PM
So do we think that KTM will field a support team package like Honda offers for the 500 and 1000 SCORE events?
TMW - 1-21-2005 at 08:46 AM
I doubt, at least for now, they will provide a support package to other riders due to the cost and man power needed. They'll use Mag 7 or Baja or Pro
pits or some combination most likely. But who knows, if enough riders on KTM show enough interest they may hire someone to run such a program. For San
Felipe they can pretty much do there own thing. The 500 and 1000 gets more complicated.