All things youth moto…

Cobra’s stellar mini cycles provide a powerful platform for the auto industry spark plug manufacturer’s continued growth in the premium small engine market

HILLSDALE, Mich., (Feb. 16, 2012) – Big news out of Cobra’s headquarters today as well-known automobile spark plug manufacturer – Autolite® – has partnered with the industry-leading mini cycle manufacturer to fire Cobra’s award-winning 50cc and 65cc two-stroke engines for the upcoming 2012 amateur MX competition season and beyond.

Engineering its Xtreme Sport iridium Finewire plug specifically to fit Cobra’s needs, Autolite® will include Cobra’s all-new 2012 electronic power valve CX65 in their booth at Indy this week (Booth # 1735B).

“Cobra is confident the legacy and heritage of Autolite’s involvement in the auto industry will lend itself to improving the spark ignition in both our 50cc and 65cc two-stroke engines,” said Cobra’s Sean Hilbert. “Autolite’s premium small engine spark plug design will no doubt offer the same quality and reliability the company’s been known for in motorsports since 1967.”

Autolite^® Xtreme Sport^™ Iridium Enhanced Small Engine Spark Plugs
Based on the success of the Autolite XP Xtreme Performance^™ spark plug design in the automotive market, the Autolite team is bringing the same high performance design to the growing small engine applications of motorcycles, snowmobiles and ATVs. This new plug design will feature:

• An iridium-enhanced 0.6mm finewire design for improved ignitability and longer life.
• More focused ignition versus standard plugs for faster fuel combustion to help prevent fouling.
• Engineered to last longer.

About Autolite®

Since its inception, the Autolite^® brand has provided the automotive aftermarket and Original Equipment Manufacturers the highest quality ignition products. As a leading supplier of spark plugs, ignition wire sets and Coil-on-Plug boots, the Autolite^® brand has the right ignition products for you, regardless of your vehicle make or model.

Winning is one thing – winning in the face of bureaucratic adversity is another as Cobra Moto podiums whilst weathering the Lead Law storm

Including the 2011 Cobra All-Star Team!

HILLSDALE, Mich., (Dec. 30, 2011) – In the corporate equivalent of clearing a 100-foot triple on 50cc bike, Cobra Moto won maybe its – and mini cycle racing’s in general – most important race of all time … the race to defeat the ominous CPSIA “Lead Law” that cast a shadow over the entire youth motocross industry the past two years.

Battling in suits and ties on one front, Cobra Moto was backed by some incredible young talent on the other – racers who were victorious in the vast majority of 50cc races at the major American amateur MX Nationals – from Oak Hill, Texas, to Mill Creek, Ala., Mesquite, Nev.’s Mini GPs, Ponca City (Okla.), Loretta’s (Tenn.), Branson, Mo., and the Florida Mini Os. Cobra Moto racers also won big at the annual MX Masters Kids in Europe and well as a number of Canadian MX championships.

“2011 will certainly go down in Cobra Moto’s heritage as a turning point year not only for the company, but the sport of mini cycle racing in general,” said Cobra Moto President Sean Hilbert. “Along with the principles at MX Sports, the AMA and the Motorcycle Industry Council, the biggest race Cobra Moto won this year was in Washington D.C.’s halls of Congress. Outside that it was the Cobra Moto kids that stepped up and made us proud, as they have since the company’s inception, at every major amateur MX National-caliber race throughout North America and Europe.” 

A number of factory-backed racers stood out for Cobra Moto in 2011. And most importantly, a number of them return for the 2012 competition season as senior members of their respective classes. Here’s a look at Cobra Moto’s 2011 All-Star Team!

Stilez Robertson (California) – Racing his final Loretta’s on a Cobra, Robertson set a 50cc class wins record that’s going to be tough to beat. Recording his 26th win at the big one – Loretta’s – Robertson broke the record previously held by former Cobra racer Adam Cianciarulo. Robertson went 1st/1st/1st to win out in the 51cc (7-8) AMA 1 Stock Senior class to become the winningest AMA amateur racer ever on 50cc bikes.

Pierce Brown (Utah) – Brown threw down at the season opener in Oak Hill, racing to victory in all three 50cc classes he entered on his Cobra CX50SR, aka the “King Cobra.” This included the 7-8 Stock, 7-8 Modified and the hotly-contested 4-9 Open class. In all Brown went 6-0 in six motos – the best results of any Cobra racer, setting the stage for excellent 2011 competition year for Brown and Cobra Moto. Brown also put the Cobra CX65 on a number of major amateur MX National podiums.
Ryder Di Francesco (California) – Stepping up big at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tenn., Di Francesco became the first five-year old in the storied history of the event to win the 51cc (4-6) AMA 2 Stock Junior class. He gave up the first moto to his Cobra Moto-backed central Cal riding buddy Jett Reynolds, then went on to win the next two motos. Prior to Loretta’s Reynolds and Di Francesco had gone 1st/2nd, respectively, at Ponca – leading a Cobra Moto charge that would see the King 50 capture nine of the top ten spots in Ponca’s 50cc through 6 Mod class.
Jett Reynolds (California) – Wherever you found Di Francesco on the podium, Reynolds was sure to be there as well. From Ponca to Loretta’s, Cobra Moto’s Bakersfield Boyz – joined by New York’s Reed Cooper – also made up the entire 7-8 50cc class Olympiad podium at the Mini Os, the first time in memory which that’s occurred with one brand – Cobra Moto!
Brock Bennett (California) – The third Cobra Moto kid out of Bakersfield won big against his riding buddies at the World Mini GPs (50cc through 6 Mod class) and was a consistent high podium finisher at Ponca and Oak Hill.
Gage Linville (Georgia) – Although he got off to a bit of a slow start in 2011, Linville closed out the year on a high note, winning the coveted Olympiad title (MX/SX combined) in the 50cc 7-8 class at the Mini Os. Linville, 7, a longtime Cobra Moto-backed racer, will return to contest the 7-8 class again next year at all the major amateur MX Nationals.
Reed Cooper (New York) – Making the overall 50cc 7-8 podium with two Cobra Moto Bakersfield racers, Cooper blasted big at the Mini Os – winning the coveted 4-6 50cc Olympiad title. Reed also opened the season on a sweet note, sweeping top honors in both the 4-6 Stock and 4-6 Multi-Speed classes at Mill Creek.

Cobra Moto would also like to recognize its 2011 “Honorable Mention” racers: Tommy Rios (Florida), Tanner Ward (Canada), Jack Rogers (Maryland), Vance Stiers (Texas), Brayden Bruce (Wyoming), Dylan Woodcock (UK), Jayden Taylor (Michigan), Branden Walther (Texas), Hunter Budd (AX Champ, Texas), Cameron Davis (Pennsylvania), Kruz Sampson (Tennessee), Tanner Kemp (Ohio), Hunter Scott (Canada), Ryan Smith (Oklahoma), Cade Britt (Colorado), Alex Mann (Washington), Ramon Rusche (Oklahoma), Chase Yentzer (Pennsylvania), Seth Milam (Texas), Max Miller (Oregon), Chandler Baker (Oklahoma), Jeremy McKie (Canada), Tyler Archambault (Michigan), Dilan Schwartz (California) and Harry Wichmann (UK), along with a special Honorable Mention to Cobra’s top female racer – New Jersey’s Jordan “JJ” Jarvis!

Photos by Rodney Webb

The August Cover features Jordan Jarvis…the first girl to ever qualify for Loretta Lynn’s in the 65cc 7-9 Stock class. Unfortunately, Jordan went down in her first Girls 9-11 moto and tweaked a collar bone, so she never got to line up at the gate on her Cobra CX65…Bummer! Heal quick Jordan…We’ll see you at the Mini Os…

The 2011 AMA Amateur MX National Championship opens this week; racers can get the first look at the 2012 Cobras

HILLSDALE, Mich., (Aug. 1, 2011) – Hosting some 72 of the nation’s top young amateur motocross racers arriving from all points on the map, American-made Cobra Motorcycles has landed in balmy Hurricane Mills, Tenn. – the proving grounds for the world’s top amateur racers at the 30^th annual Red Bull AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship, presented by AMSOIL.

An illustrious friend to motocross, country singer Loretta Lynn has opened the gates to her sprawling ranch every August since 1981 for the top amateur racers and their families – those that have met all the standards for the strict qualifying process over the past several months to arrive at this great race. And “great” in that just the phrase Qualifying for Loretta’s has become part of the MX industry’s lexicon, relating to excellence not only in racing, but product engineering as well. And this is precisely why, year after year, the Made-in-Michigan Cobra Motorcycles continue to showcase Loretta Lynn’s as title chapters in the company’s amazing heritage, with racing lineage centered at Loretta’s while spanning the globe with its legendary competition mini cycles.

Sean Hilbert, President of Cobra, is one of the nation’s leading advocates in the AMA’s “Kids just want to ride” campaign to save the sport of mini bike racing as we now know it. Hilbert has both feet planted firmly on the rich, loamy Loretta’s Ranch soil – there for each and every Cobra Kid competing at the Ranch and pleased to talk about the new 2012 Cobra CX 50 Senior and Junior and the revolutionary CX65 flagship models with those whose kids wish to follow in the “Cobra Generation’s” footsteps.

“Loretta’s is our Super Bowl, all rolled into one week of the best amateur racing we’ll see all year,” said Hilbert. “This is the one, with some big time bragging rights on the line. Our kids are pumped. Their dads and families are pumped. And this is what makes all those sleepless nights brainstorming on how to make one of a thousand parts on the Cobra bikes -built here in our Michigan factory – lighter, stronger and better.

“We want the Cobra brand and the great riders – and families behind them – to have every possible advantage out there. And one week in August at Loretta’s Ranch is what it’s all about for us at Cobra.”

2011 Cobra/Loretta’s Preview

51cc (4-6) AMA 1 Stock Junior class … aka “The little guys”

2010 class champ: Gage Linville (Cobra)

Led by Cobra’s “Bakersfield Boyz,” the 4-6 class should see a lot of Jett Reynolds, Brock Bennett and Ryder Di Francesco – both out front and on the overall podium. Champions of the highly competitive NMA U.S. Mini GPs held earlier this year in Mesquite, Nevada, Reynolds, Bennett & Di Francesco come from the same town – Bakersfield, Calif. – that produced Cobra’s top 51cc senior class racer, Stilez Robertson. Also keep an eye on Texas’ Seth Milam, Missouri’s Brock Lassiter, Pennsylvania’s Callin Kauffman, Washington’s Alex Mann and New York’s Reed Cooper.

51cc (7-8) AMA 2 Stock Senior class … “The King Cobras”

2010 class champ: Jackson Turpin (Cobra)

Last year, as a seven-year-old, Robertson won the opening 7-8 AMA 2 moto and was poised to take the overall when he wrecked on the start straight and was only able to make it back to 11^th in the third and deciding moto, settling on 4^th overall. Robertson returns this year on his King Cobra as the odds-on favorite to win the class, having dominated his division both here – sweeping both the 7-8 Stock and Modified classes at the Mini GPs – and winning the MX Masters Kids in France already this summer.

Joining Robertson as a number of other Cobra front-running favorites in the 7-8 AMA 2 class are Utah’s Pierce Brown, Oregon’s Max Miller, Washington’s Ethan Mann – who just converted to Cobra, Pennsylvania’s Chase Yentzer and last year’s 4-6 AMA 1 class champion at Loretta’s, Georgia’s Linville.

Also with solid top ten shots at Loretta’s on their King Cobras are: Riley Allen, Braden Bruce, Cade Britt, Vance Stiers, Branden Walther, Dylan Schwartz, Jace Kessler, Gauge Keith, Jayden Taylor, Cole Harkins, Keith Davis and Lawson Hardwick.

65cc (7-9) Stock, (10-11) Stock & (7-11) Modified … “The 65s”

2010 top Cobra: Chase Sexton (Cobra), 3^rd, (7-11) Modified

Last year Illinois’ Chase Sexton scored Cobra’s first podium in the brief history of the new CX65. In 2011 Cobra 65cc racers will continue to expand upon the American-made competition mini cycle’s race heritage, looking to add an overall class victory at Loretta’s like Sexton did at the first major MX Amateur National last year – the 2010 Mini Os in Gainesville, Fla.

In the 65cc (7-9) Stock class Cobra has more entries in 2011 than ever before. Cobra’s Brown will line up his CX65 in hopes of replicating the success he met at the NMA Mini GPs – a podium 3^rd place finish in the Stock 7-8 class in Mesquite this year. Other top Cobra riders in that class include Jack Rogers, Jordan Jarvis – the only girl to qualify for the 7-9 65cc Stock class since its inception – Tyler Archambault, Bruce, Tres Campbell and Kruz Sampson. And in the Stock (10-11) class Cobra’s best shot at a trophy looks to be with Canada’s Tanner Ward and Missouri’s Michael Hicks.

For more information on the 2011 Red Bull AMA Amateur National Championships – including up-to-date scoring, link to the Loretta’s website at: http://www.mxsports.com

If you are looking for a quick way to make your voice heard, head to the Motoplayground homepage and sign their petition.!