SUPER MOJO
This article is from our archives and has not been updated and integrated with our "new" site yet... Even so, it's still awesome - so keep reading!
Published on Sun, Oct 25, 2009
By: The LACar Editorial Staff
(Miller Motorsports Park/Jeremy Henrie photo)
SUPER MOJO
(Miller Motorsports Park/Jeremy
Henrie photo)
For the first couple of years after taking over as owner, he started out small.
Roger was doing most of the racing at the local supermoto events where he was
doing really well. The team also helped Franky Garcia at the X Games and
fielding a rider or two for the AMA rounds. As we got things started to more
organized, we turned it up a notch.
With sponsorship from CHM Exhaust, Pro Honda Oils, Sunoco race fuel, Works
Connection, Supermoto Engineering, Hammer Head designs and Dunlop, the team was
able to put together a four-rider team for 2009. In addition to Sylvain, he had
Micky Dymond and Jason Conlon riding the 450/Premier Class and Dustin Hoffman
riding the 250/Lites. Each one of these guys brings different experiences and
style to the track.
Bidart, 29, is a French national supermoto champion who came to the team under
recommendation by previous team member Alex Thiebault. Sylvain initially became
interested in riding for CHM a few years back when the team lent him a bike to
ride in a couple of races in the states, but because he rode different brands in
France, it wasn't possible for him to ride a Honda in the U.S. That all changed
in '09 when he started riding a Honda in both countries.
Dymond, 44, holds two 125 motocross championship titles, an AMA Unlimited
Supermoto title, a Baja 1000 win in class 21, and a record breaking time at
Pikes Peak. He called up at the first of the year about riding a bike for CHM.
Micky made arrangements to met out at a local track so he could test ride the
bikes we had. After riding a while, he decided that he wanted to ride for the
team. One of the main reasons, he said, was because the bikes never broke
down - truly a compliment.
Conlon, 35, was introduced to Roger through team friend Les at Dunlop. Jason
rode a couple of races on one of the bikes in '07 and became a full-time rider
in '08. That season he became the top placing privateer in the 450/Premier class
by finishing 6th overall.
Hoffman, 17, started out racing motocross and made a smooth transition over to
supermoto. He was offered a ride after he beat Roger in a race out at Willow
Springs Raceway. That was all before he was 16. Roger told him once he turned 16
(the age at which you can obtain a professional racing license), they would get
him a bike. He pulled off a 3rd place overall finish in his first full season.
A few weeks ago when the XTRM/AMA Supermoto national series was at the final
stop, the top contenders were within only a few points of each other. Bidart
trailed Ward by three points and it was anyone's race. But by the time it was
all over, Sylvain Bidart had ridden to third- and second-place finishes in the
double-header and had pulled off the big upset by relieving Jeff Ward of the
championship title he had won the year before.
Roger and the CHM team couldn't be happier. "It's a lot more meaningful because
I put so much of myself into the entire team and I'm very happy that this is how
it finally turned out. Hopefully, I can keep it all going" Roger Hensley
exclaims.
Sylvain Bidart (Miller
Motorsports Park/Jeremy Henrie photo)