From a press release issued by Suzuki Motor USA:
Paige secures Twins Cup Championship runner-up for M4 ECSTAR Suzuki at New Jersey.
Team Hammer closes the 2026 MotoAmerica season with 29 podium finishes despite weather-shortened action at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
Brea, CA – Suzuki Motor USA and Team Hammer closed out the 2026 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship season in wet and wild fashion as the series held its finale amid the nor’easter that slammed the East Coast.
Despite the additional challenges presented by the inclement weather at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, New Jersey, the squad managed to raise Team Hammer’s 2026 total to 29 podiums, including three victories.
Race Highlights:
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M4 ECSTAR Suzuki
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Twins Cup
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Bodie Paige locked down second in the championship with another podium finish
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Matthew Chapin rounded out a strong season in fourth
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Superbike
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Home track hero Brandon Paasch racked up three top-10 finishes on the weekend
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Supersport
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Rossi Moor showcased his Supersport potential despite the difficult conditions
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Mission M4 ECSTAR Suzuki
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Superbike
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Tyler Scott picked up another top-10 as he continued his SBK apprenticeship
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M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s fast-rising Bodie Paige locked down Twins Cup runner-up honors with his eighth podium of the season aboard the squad’s GSX-8R racebike.
The young Australian finished second on Saturday before Sunday’s finale was canceled due to weather. Even with one fewer opportunity to add to his totals, Paige finished the season with two wins, eight podiums, and 10 top-five finishes in 13 starts.
Paige said, “I had a miscue off the start, but I just kept calm, making moves and moving forward. Once I got through, the leader was a couple seconds ahead. There was no reason to throw it down the road, so I stayed comfortable and calm, and brought it home to pick up as many points as possible. The team gave me a great bike that was capable of winning. I really want to thank the entire M4 ECSTAR Suzuki team for all of their efforts and support.”
Matthew Chapin (95) at NJMP. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Twins Cup teammate Matthew Chapin, meanwhile, locked down fourth in the standings with a fourth-place finale. He ended his ‘26 campaign with a victory, five podiums, and nine top fives.
“We had a good weekend,” said Chapin. “We were under the old lap record in qualifying, but that was only good enough for fifth this year. We just had the one race and the conditions were difficult. We were on rain tires on a drying track. Our pace was good, and we were near the front. When it came time down to the end, I didn’t have the front-end feel to push things and go for the win, so we kept our pace and got a good result to close out the year. I think we accomplished a lot this season, and I am looking forward to what comes next.”
Brandon Paasch delivered three top-10 finishes in front of his hometown fans at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch came into his home track with high hopes. Despite torrential downpours and constantly changing track conditions, Paasch managed to string together three premier-class top-10 finishes aboard the GSX-R1000R.
The New Jersey native raced his way forward in all three races. After qualifying 11th, he claimed successive finishes of tenth, sixth, and eighth to round out the 2026 campaign in a positive manner. That left him eighth in the overall standings with a fifth-place finish at Ridge Motorsports Park standing as the season highlight.
Paasch said, “I felt like there was a lot of good in the weekend. In the second race, we were finally able to stick with the leaders. I was in the top-five and feeling strong, but a little mechanical issue from an earlier crash kept me from improving. We still took sixth, so I was pleased with that. On Sunday, there was a lot of confusion with the weather delays and the track conditions were way worse. At one point I ran wide in the first turn but was able to keep going and get a finish. We had been looking for a breakthrough all season and I feel like we found it, but now the season is over.”
Tyler Scott continued his Superbike development with a seventh-place finish aboard the Mission M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R1000R. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Mission M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Tyler Scott continued his Superbike education, once again demonstrating his caliber with a run to seventh in Race 2 on the weekend.
Despite the treacherous conditions, the Pennsylvanian showed the pace for two additional strong results as well, running well inside the top-10 in Race 1 before crashing in the rain, and then again falling in the wet while running seventh on the final lap of Race 3. He was ultimately credited with a DNF and 13th in those outings.
Scott said, “I thought the weekend went fairly well. It was great to get more experience on the Superbike and this time it was in the toughest conditions. In the first race, we had a couple of restarts and I was moving up, but then I highsided under deceleration. In race two, I finished seventh and I thought I could see how we could improve on that as well. On Sunday, I had another deceleration highside but I was able to pick the bike up and finish. In both the crashes, I think our aggressive engine braking strategy caught me out. It’s different than what I was used to on the Supersport bike and things like that are part of the learning process.”
Meanwhile, despite missing the final two weekends, the recovering Richie Escalante still held on for a top-10 championship finish. The Mexican ended the year ranked tenth on the strength of a podium and five top-five finishes.
Rossi Moor impressed with a seventh-place qualifying effort in his MotoAmerica Supersport debut. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
NJMP proved a similarly difficult proving ground for the talented Rossi Moor, who was making his MotoAmerica Supersport debut aboard the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R750, coming in fresh from his Moto2 forays in the FIM MotoJunior World Championship.
Moor proved himself a quick learner, qualifying seventh overall in the highly competitive class. Unfortunately, he was caught out by the conditions, taking 12th in Race 1 and crashing out in Race 2.
“The weekend was pretty tough because of the conditions,” said Moor. “I had to learn a new bike, different tires, and I hadn’t ridden in New Jersey for like four years… and then it started raining. I felt like we made good progress on everything, but we didn’t get the results we were looking for. Saturday was okay, and we had made some improvements for Sunday. But it was so slick out there that I felt like I was going to crash in every corner. Eventually, I fell in Turn 13 and that ended it. I want to thank Team Hammer for the opportunity.”
Sonya Lloyd (28) at NJMP. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Sonya Lloyd ends 2026 Season with her best result yet in New Jersey.
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sonya Lloyd saved her best for last, claiming a season’s best finish of seventh to close out the 2026 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship season at New Jersey Motorsport Park in impressive fashion.
And that seventh was hard-earned. The series was greeted by nor’easter storms, forcing the weekend’s races to be contested under extraordinarily difficult conditions – and in the case of the scheduled Twins Cup Race 2, cancelled altogether.
Lloyd opened her race from Row 6 after qualifying 16th aboard the team’s GSX-8R. Undaunted, she quickly set about picking her way forward in Saturday’s wet Race 1. The former WorldWCR contender battled her way into the top 10 by lap 4 and then gained two spots on the final lap to claim seventh.
Ultimately, the Georgian scored seven points paying finishes on the season, and underlined her continual improvement by claiming her best finish of ‘26 yet in each of her last three outings, stringing together successive finishes of 12th,10th, and seventh.
Lloyd said, “We just had the one race this weekend because Sunday was cancelled, but we had a good race on Saturday. This was the first time I have raced at New Jersey, and the team was super helpful. I didn’t qualify that great in 16th, but I was able to finish 7th and I was happy with that. I love racing in the rain, so I was hopeful we could get our best finish yet. I had a good start and I made it up to around 11th or so by the end of the first lap. From there, I had some good battles and passes throughout the race and was able to get 7th at the line.
“We had a great year. I learned a lot and the team was great. We’ve been improving our results throughout the second half of the season, and I feel we have made a lot of progress.”
About Team Hammer:
The 2026 season marks Team Hammer’s 46th consecutive year of operating as a professional road racing team. Racebikes built and fielded by Team Hammer have won 138 AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National races, have finished on AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National podiums 411 times and have won 11 AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National Championships, as well as two FIM South American Championships (in Superbike and Supersport). The team has also won 137 endurance races overall (including seven 24-hour races) and 13 Overall WERA National Endurance Championships with Suzuki motorcycles, and holds the U.S. record for mileage covered in a 24-hour race. The team also competed in the televised 1990s Formula USA National Championship, famously running “Methanol Monster” GSX-R1100 Superbikes fueled by methanol, and won four F-USA Championships.
About Suzuki:
Suzuki Motor USA, LLC. (SMO) distributes Motorcycles, ATVs, Scooters, Automotive Parts, Accessories, and ECSTAR Oils & Chemicals via an extensive dealer network throughout 49 states. Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC), based in Hamamatsu, Japan, is a diversified worldwide manufacturer of Motorcycles, ATVs, Scooters, Automobiles, Outboard Motors, and related products. Founded in 1909 and incorporated in 1920, SMC has business relations with 201 countries/regions. For more information, visit www.suzuki.com.
