Pro Circuit

Pro Circuit had a phenomenal 2005 season, with Ivan Tedesco winning the 125 West Supercross Championship and Grant Langston bringing home the 125 East Supercross Championship. Tedesco then went on to claim the 125 National Championship and also represented the United States as part of the winning Motocross des Nations team in France. Photo by Kinney Jones
Mitch Payton, the founder and owner of Pro Circuit has worked with many of the most talented riders in the industry over the years and is continually striving to advance and improve Pro Circuit's products through rider feedback and racetrack experience. Photo by Pro Circuit.	he main reason why Pro Circuit’s name is so synonymous with motocross performance is that they have fielded the most successful 125cc racing team in history. And they’ve won, at times, with relatively unknown or less-touted riders. They drafted Jeremy McGrath into the big-time, picking up the young rider in 1991 early in his career. At the time, Jeremy had only won one race. However, in the Pro Circuit team’s first year, not only did Jeremy win the Western SX title going away, his teammate Brian Swink won the title in the East as well. Since then, the Pro Circuit team has added a further 10 regional Supercross titles, and five outdoor National titles–three of them with a young Ricky Carmichael. However, since that first year in 1991, the Pro Circuit team was not able to sweep both coasts in the 125cc Supercross series. That is, until 2005, when they topped themselves by not only winning both Supercross titles under Ivan Tedesco (West) and Grant Langston (East), but the 125cc National Championship as well, with Tedesco taking his first Outdoor National title. Although Tedesco has moved up to the Supercross class for 2006, after adding two 125cc number-one plates and one outdoor plate to the team’s semi’s door, the winning tradition is bound to continue, as the team retained Eastern champ Langston (who also won more 125cc outdoor races than anyone else in 2005), who moved to the Western series in 2006 to fill in for some injured teammates. With Langston comes another former 125cc World Champion in New Zealander Ben Townley. Townley turned heads at the 2005 Motocross des Nations by finishing second overall to Ricky Carmichael. Townley will miss the 2006 Supercross season with an injured knee, but it expected to be ready to fly when the series moves outdoors–his specialty. How about young phenom Ryan Villopoto? Villopoto raced three Nationals for the team in 2005, and by the third one at Glen Helen, he grabbed his first-career podium. At round one of the AMA Supercross Series–his first-ever Supercross race–he finished an astounding second after leading much of the race. Then there is Troy Adams. Adams has shown a lot of speed both indoors and out. Unfortunately, a broken femur in the pre-season has kept him off of the bikes for a while, but Mitch Payton has proven that he has an eye for talent, and just for Adams to be hired by Payton shows that the team sees something in him. Rounding out the team at the last minute, to help fill in, is Chris Gosselaar. Gosselaar had an off year in 2005, but Payton put his faith in him. Gosselaar has been a contender for wins, and has many podiums to his credit, and on Pro Circuit equipment, he should be a threat. Be sure to watch the entire Pro Circuit team this season…they’ll be easy to spot up there on the podium!
Young phenom Ryan Villopoto is already having a great 2006 season, finishing second at Anaheim I (and collecting the Holeshot Award) and fourth in Phoenix! Photo by Kinney Jones Pro Circuit's Grant Langston claimed the third podium position in Phoenix with a last-minute pass on Andrew Short. Photo by Kinney Jones Mitch Payton has a real eye for talent. Back in 1991, he hired this kid to ride under the Pro Circuit banner. His name? Jeremy McGrath. Photo by Pro Circuit.

lthough Pro Circuit is most often associated with getting horsepower out of 125s and 250Fs (by virtue of the 125cc team they have run for more than 15 years now), they are among the elite when it comes to handling the suspension on your motocross machine. And this isn’t true just for the Kawasakis that Pro Circuit races today, but for every brand of motorcycle sold in the U.S. today. This, of course, includes one of the most popular motocross machines sold today – the Honda CRF450R. One of the latest products, specifically designed for the 2005 and 2006 model CRF450Rs, is the Pro Circuit Linkage System. This is not a replacement pull-rod system, as sold for many other motocross bikes. Rather, this unit replaces the entire stock linkage system, providing for a much more different ride than can be achieved with just a standard shock revalve. It’s built to exacting standards out of CNC-machined aluminum and the highest quality bearings, and is designed to create a smoother and more stable feeling through acceleration and deceleration bumps, without sacrificing the shock’s resistance to bottoming. Incredibly, installing the Pro Circuit linkage system will not affect the race sag, static sag, or spring rate of your shock, either. Although having Pro Circuit revalve your suspension would make a considerable improvement, the linkage system along provides a major improvement over the stock setup. The unit has just been released and is currently available with a retail price of $439.95.

For more information see:
www.procircuit.com

Parts Magazine
Volume 13 #2

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