Hayden Gillim Clinches the 2024 MotoAmerica Stock 1000 Championship, Marking Honda’s Return to Dominance
- ADV News
- October 29, 2024
In an exciting conclusion to the 2024 MotoAmerica season, Hayden Gillim of Real Steel Motorsports claimed his second consecutive Stock 1000 National Championship, winning both races during the rainy finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park. With significant backing from Tennessee’s Southern Powersports dealership, Gillim showcased his dominance throughout the series, securing seven victories out of ten races.
At 29 years old and hailing from Owensboro, Kentucky, Gillim is a seasoned racer who captured his first Amateur Dirt Track Grand Championship at just six years old. He is a cousin of the famous Hayden racing brothers, after whom he is named, and typically runs the number 69 in honor of the late Nicky Hayden. Hayden rode Hondas to numerous championships, including the 1999 AMA 600 Supersport Championship, the 2002 AMA Superbike Championship, and the 2006 MotoGP World Championship.
This season, however, Gillim sported the number 1 in Stock 1000, having claimed last year’s title with a different brand. He opened the season with victories in Alabama but faced challenges in Minnesota and Washington, where he led the opening races before crashing in the second heats, resulting in a tight points race. He regained momentum at Laguna Seca, winning the first race and finishing on the podium in the second. Gillim capped off the season as he started it—with a decisive sweep at the finale.
“We raced against Geoff May last year and saw what he was able to do on the Honda,” said Gillim, who now holds four professional AMA road racing titles. “Then when Honda’s contingency numbers came out, that was a big factor in us switching, as well as the support we got from Southern Powersports. I raced Hondas when I was younger, first getting on a 600, and [team co-owner] Jerry Nickell has a big Honda collection and was excited about it. The guys gave us a really good bike, and the team did a good job setting it up. It was a great year. We were making 25 horsepower more than last year’s bike, and every track we went to, I was going a second or two faster than my previous best lap times. After I put it on the ground a couple of times in the middle part of the season, I started managing things better and not overriding the bike, and we were able to finish the season out strong.”
This marks the first AMA road racing championship for the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP platform and Honda’s first since Jake Zemke took the 2008 Formula Xtreme crown aboard a CBR600RR.
“On behalf of everyone at American Honda, a huge congratulations and thank-you to Hayden, Real Steel Motorsports, and Southern Powersports,” said Brandon Wilson, Manager of Racing and Advertising at American Honda. “We knew that the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP is a competitive machine, and we hoped that upping our contingency program for 2024 would give some top riders the nudge to show its potential. That said, we couldn’t have expected the dominance it has shown in Stock 1000, with Honda riders taking 80 percent of the wins. It’s great to see Honda back on top in an AMA professional racing series, and hopefully, it’s a sign of more to come.”
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