The follow article was not written by Speed Trap Magazine Staff
The following is from the Team Hammer, Inc announcement to MotoAmerica
Team Hammer, Inc. has signed with Suzuki Motor, USA LLC to compete in the MotoAmerica Twins Cup series with the newly homologated GSX-8R for the next two seasons, in addition to the team already racing GSX-R1000Rs in MotoAmerica Superbike and GSX-R750s in MotoAmerica Supersport. Following the new agreement, Team Hammer has contracted Rossi Moor, age 16, to race a Suzuki GSX-8R in Twins Cup. The multi-year contract includes opportunities to advance into Supersport and beyond.
Moor has already had notable results and joins a long list of talented competitors who have launched their professional careers with Team Hammer over the last four decades.
“I’m super excited about the whole thing. It’s a great opportunity and an honor for me. I’m ready to do my best,” said Moor. “I have known people from Team Hammer since I was a kid, and I always wanted to race for the team one day. Also, my dad was a huge Suzuki fan when I was growing up, so he had some of those cool bikes. To get to race one myself now is something I always wanted, too.”
After racing and winning in the U.S., Hungarian-American Moor won the 2022 FIM Northern Talent Cup in Europe with five wins and 10 podiums in 14 events. “That series was seen as a gateway to GP racing, so the competition was very tough,” said Moor, who was born in Oregon and has dual American and Hungarian citizenship. Moor also raced in the FIM Moto3 Junior World Championship as a wild card. “There were usually seven guys within a 10th of the leader. If you were a half-second off, you might have been 18th, so not even in the points. Racing hard in Europe is an ‘everyday’ thing. It forced me to learn fast against serious competition.”
A serious wrist injury suffered late in the 2022 season put Moor’s 2023 plans in doubt, but after undergoing reconstructive surgery, the Portland, Oregon resident raced in MotoAmerica Junior Cup last season. He finished second in the championship with two wins and a total of five podium finishes. “Due to my injury, it wasn’t sure what we were going to do last year. We ended up getting our bike the day before we had to leave for Road Atlanta. We raced it out of our van, and I got to learn a lot along the way. I’m ready for this season, and it has always been my dream to race for Team Hammer, a professional team with a long line of success.”
Team Hammer Vice President of Operations Chris Ulrich says Moor is the type of young racer who can benefit from Team Hammer’s racing experience. “He’s a young, hard charger. We’ve been watching him for a long time, over here in the Mini Cup and Junior Cup and also his results in Europe,” said Ulrich. “We’re excited to return to the Twins Cup class with Suzuki and the GSX-8R. It’s been a fun category for us. We had good success with Suzuki SV650s in Twins Cup both seasons we entered, winning the championship in 2019 and 2020–and we’re looking forward to rolling the 8R out at Daytona. With our infrastructure and the new Suzuki GSX-8R, we think we can do great things working with Rossi and Suzuki.”