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Flyin' Fred Merkel bends the #27 Yoshimura Factory Suzuki GSX-R750 through a turn at Gateway International Raceway, just east of and over the river from St. Louis, during practice for the AMA Superbike round (and the only AMA event ever held at the track) in August of 1995. Merkel won the '84-'86 AMA Superbike Championship while riding Honda Interceptors tuned by Mike Velasco, one of the Fabulous Burner Brothers of the era (and still is!) Flyin' Fred then went off to Europe in '88 and won the '88 and '89 World Superbike Championships while riding a Honda RC30 for Team Rumi. Those were the first two years of the new series, as well. #27 then returned to the States in the early '90s to run the AMA Superbike and AMA 750 Supersport Series for Muzzy Kawasaki and then Yoshimura Suzuki, winning several races in the 750SS series along the way. He was forced to retire early due to a season and career ending crash at a west coast AMA round at the end of the '95 season. He currently resides in New Zealand, and as a spokesperson and fan favorite for the sport, is sorely missed. Here's to Fred Merkel, one of the original iconic AMA Superbike racers of our once world level racing series.
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A fine piece of AMA and U.S. Road Racing history is currently for sale on eBay. This would make a great addition to anyone's collection. Maybe in glass for an end table or mantle piece for the fireplace? Of course, it would have to be a pretty good size fireplace. I'm just sayin'...................
CycleNews.com reports that Flyin' Fred Merkel's 1995 Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R750 Superbike is for sale by the former 3-Time AMA Superbike and 2-Time World Superbike Champion. Bids start at $35K and you still have time to get on the bandwagon with a racing machine for the ages and ridden by one of the true champions, icons, and spokespersons of the sport.
Here's the story as posted by CycleNews.com I found this morning:
http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/road-racing/2010/07/07/merkel-selling-his-suzuki
And here is the listing for this great find over on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Suzuki-GSX-R-Racebike-Fred-Merkel-Suzuki-1995-GSX-R-Superbike-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem2eae44fdf1QQitemZ200492252657QQptZUSQ5fmotorcycles#v4-37
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