Wayne Rainey Honored By AMA

Multi-time World and AMA Superbike Champion Wayne Rainey was bestowed another honor by American Motorcyclist Association – the 2015 AMA Motorcyclist of the Year. Inducted earlier this October as an AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Legend, Rainey received recognition for his efforts as the president of the MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Series during its debut season. Together with his KRAVE Group (MotoAmerica’s organizing body) partners, Rainey is the face of a team that has revitalized professional road racing in the U.S.

"Wayne Rainey and his partners and employees at MotoAmerica demonstrated in 2015 that they had the knowledge, fortitude and collective wisdom to not only restore professional road racing in America to greatness, but to reinvigorate an industry and fan base that had been languishing for years," said AMA President and CEO Rob Dingman via a release. "That success is built firmly on the foundation of Wayne's character and perseverance to be successful at what so many before him have realized is one of racing's most challenging tasks. Where others failed, Wayne is succeeding, and his efforts transcend the sport itself in many ways.”

Rainey was honored to receive the recognition – an award given to the person or persons who the AMA Board of Directors deem to have had the most impact on the motorcycling community this year. The MotoGP legend wanted to give credit to his team behind him as well.

“I’m honored to be thought of in this way by the AMA,” Rainey said. “When I raced I was able to win championships because I always had strong teams behind me. That’s also the case now with MotoAmerica. Without the partners I have in Richard Varner, Chuck Askland and Terry Karges, what we’ve been able to achieve in our first year would not have been possible. We’ve been able to put together a solid team here at MotoAmerica and this award is as much as theirs as it is mine. I also want to thank the AMA for the help they have provided MotoAmerica this season and I’m looking forward to even bigger and better things in the coming years.”