Slaw Dog
MURRIETA, Calif. – With a veteran five-rider roster for 2022, the FMF KTM Factory Racing team is ready to race into the new year with a total of four No. 1 plates – and two runners-up – across the country’s premier national and regional offroad championships. Additionally, the FMF KTM Factory Racing team is pleased to welcome accomplished offroad racer and experienced Team Manager, Tim Weigand, to the team for 2022 and beyond.
Coming to KTM with seven years of experience overseeing Husqvarna Motorcycle’s factory offroad program, in addition to having a successful professional racing career of his own, Weigand is sure to be a positive contribution to the squad.
Tim Weigand – FMF KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “I’m looking forward to kicking off the new season with the FMF KTM Factory Racing team. Stronger than ever, the team will include past and current champions on much of the same program as 2021. With Taylor Robert racing the AMA National Hare & Hound and West Hare Scramble Series, KTM will now be competing in all west coast national series with Dante Oliveira and Taylor splitting the series, which is super exciting. On the east coast, we will continue with Ben Kelley and Josh Toth in GNCC and National Enduro, which was very successful last year. Of course, Trystan Hart will defend his hard enduro titles and try to have an injury-free EnduroCross season and get on top there. There’s no doubt it will be an exciting year of racing and I’m looking forward to it.”
In 2022, three KTM riders will proudly defend their No. 1 plates from coast to coast as three first-time champions emerged in 2021 with Ben Kelley clinching the GNCC title, Dante Oliveira taking the WORCS title – along with his second NGPC title – and Trystan Hart emerging victorious in the AMA Extreme Championship.
For Kelley, his championship-winning season was all-but-easy but the Connecticut native is more than ready to back it up in 2022, once again racing aboard the KTM 350 XC-F in the Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Series and AMA National Enduro Championship. He will be joined by teammate Josh Toth in both east coast series, also racing aboard the KTM 350 XC-F. Toth finished a close runner-up in the 2021 National Enduro Championship and he will set his sights on a championship bid this upcoming season.
Kelley:“I’m really looking forward to the 2022 racing season. We’ll be riding the same bikes as 2021, so I am happy and confident that I will be coming into the new season with even more comfort on the bike. I’m hungry to defend the No. 1 plate at the GNCC Series and just ready to put in the work for a strong, consistent year.”
Toth:“I’m very excited to continue working with the entire KTM team for the 2022 season! My KTM 350 XC-F is working awesome and I’m super comfortable with this proven setup and already looking forward to fighting for the No. 1 plate in both the GNCC and NEPG series!”
On the west coast, it was a break-out year for the young Dante Oliveira, who came out on top in WORCS after an exciting head-to-head battle with teammate and multi-time champion, Taylor Robert. For 2022, Oliveira will return to defend his WORCS title on the KTM 450 XC-F, while also competing in the NGPC Series, where he is the reigning Pro Champion.
Oliveira: “I’m looking forward to an awesome year racing WORCS and NGPC and I’m hoping to follow up with two championships again. My goal is to go out and get as many wins as I can and destroy the west coast offroad. I’m stoked on the bike, it’s pretty much the same as last year and I’m super comfortable on it, so we don’t really have too many changes. We’re going to buckle down and go get after it!”
Robert, a three-time WORCS Champion, is excited to explore new terrain in 2022 as he lines up for the AMA National Hare & Hound Series, as well as AMA West Hare Scramble Series aboard the KTM 450 XC-F. As the team’s most decorated rider ranging from WORCS to ISDE Overall Champion, X-Games gold medalist and more, the 31-year-old Arizona native looks to give himself – and KTM – a new set of goals to conquer on the west coast.
Robert:“I’m excited to go back and do some desert racing and some hare scrambles next year. I really enjoy real offroad races with technical single-track and having to read the terrain, so I’m really looking forward to my two series next year and hopefully we can get KTM a National Hare & Hound title, which they haven’t had for a little while, and have fun doing it. It will be a change of pace for me but all-in-all, it should be fun to change it up. I’ve been racing WORCS for over 20 years now and I’m ready for something different.”
Trystan Hart rounds out the team’s lineup, defending his AMA Extreme Championship aboard the KTM 300 XC-W TPI, in addition to competing in the AMA EnduroCross Championship on the KTM 350 EXC-F. Hart had a standout season in the hard enduro scene, defeating some of the world’s best hard enduro racers and the almost-25-year-old Canadian plans to hit the ground running once again in 2022. Hart’s EnduroCross season was cut short due to injury but he will be fully recovered and ready to contest the title next season.
Hart:“I’m super excited to start my third year with the team. I will just be getting back on the bike in the new year after eight weeks off from my thumb injury, but I will be energized and ready for a great year ahead!”
Furthermore, former FMF KTM Factory Racing Team Manager, Antti Kallonen, will continue to oversee the program in a more senior position as Director of Offroad Racing, KTM Group North America.
Kallonen:“I’m very glad to see the same rider lineup for 2022 that we had last season. The team was very successful and all riders are contributing to our success with the many race-wins and championships we achieved last season. I am extremely glad to see us being able to go back to National Hare & Hound with Taylor Robert, as this will complete the national series participation for the KTM team. We’ve been a few years out of desert racing and I’m glad to see we were able to come to an agreement. Overall, the KTM team is looking very strong and I’m looking forward to what the team can bring now with the new Team Manager as well. It will be a set of fresh air and I believe Tim can bring to the team the needed attention and keep the them winning and bettering what we did in 2021.”
For more information on KTM, please visit www.ktm.com.
