Add KTM’s Chris Fillmore to the list of riders* who will return to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course next weekend after the track’s ten-year hiatus from AMA professional road racing. In 2014, the Michigander-turned-Californian finished fifth and fourth, respectively, aboard his KTM 1190 RC8 R in the final two AMA Pro Racing SuperBike races held at Mid-Ohio on July 20, 2014.
Also, add Fillmore to the list of 39 riders who are entered to compete in next weekend’s two MotoAmerica Mission Super Hooligan National Championship races at Mid-Ohio. There are 10 different brands of motorcycles competing in the class, including a dozen KTM DUKE models, but Fillmore is the one and only rider who will be aboard what’s listed as a “KTM DUKE Prototype.”
In cooperation with MotoAmerica and Roland Sands Design, KTM will debut a new DUKE model of unspecified engine displacement in Super Hooligan next weekend—with Chris Fillmore aboard the prototype machine.
Ironically, new KTM motorcycle debuts at Mid-Ohio are nothing new for Fillmore. In 2011, he and his HMC/KTM team introduced the 1190 RC8 R Superbike at Mid-Ohio, and it was Fillmore’s very first Superbike race weekend, too.
“This whole deal is super unique, and I can’t think of a better or more challenging way to shake down a development project like this,” Fillmore commented. “Thank you to Roland Sands and MotoAmerica for being open to this idea. I’m really excited to be back racing again at Mid-Ohio. This is where we first premiered the RC8 R back in 2011 with HMC/KTM in AMA Pro SuperBike, which also doubled as my first-ever Superbike race, too. So, lots of good memories. The goal of this project is to learn through the demands of racing, and deliver a developed offering to our customers, who are racers. I feel we have something special we are moving forward on, but only time will tell.”
Fillmore’s racing career with KTM goes way back to 2003 when he was 16 and raced for the HMC/KTM Supermoto Team. In 2017, he made a record run up Pike’s Peak on a KTM 1290 SUPER DUKE R and won the International Hill Climb Championship. In 2018, aboard a KTM 790 DUKE, he won his second consecutive Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb Championship. And, in 2019, he “threepeated” at Pike’s Peak with an International Hill Climb Championship in the Lightweight category on the KTM 450 SMR.
Returning to his Supermoto roots in 2020, Fillmore won the AMA Supermoto Open Pro Championship aboard a KTM 450 SMR.
In 2021, Fillmore won the inaugural Roland Sands Design’s Super Hooligan National Championship race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca aboard a KTM 790 DUKE.
Next weekend at Mid-Ohio will be his first Super Hooligan race of the 2024 MotoAmerica season.
*Editor’s Note: Here’s the list of MotoAmerica riders entered to race next weekend at Mid-Ohio who also raced at Mid-Ohio ten years ago when AMA professional road racing last held an event at the iconic Buckeye State venue: Corey Alexander, David Anthony, JD Beach, Cameron Beaubier, Chris Fillmore, Max Flinders, Bobby Fong, Jake Gagne, Josh Gallusser, Hayden Gillim, CJ LaRoche, Jake Lewis, Stefano Mesa, Brian Mullins, Tyler O’Hara, Larry Pegram, James Rispoli, Hayden Schultz, Carl Soltisz, Cory West, Cody Wyman, Kyle Wyman, and Travis Wyman.
