Fred Merkel (born September 28, 1962, in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

) is an American former professional

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

road racer and two-time Superbike World Champion.

Motorcycle racing career

In 1984 he teamed with Mike Baldwin to win the

Suzuka 8 Hours The is a motorcycle endurance race held at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan each year. The race runs for eight hours consecutively and entrants are composed of two or more riders who alternate during pitstops. History The race began in 1978 as a ...

endurance race. He is a three-time

AMA Superbike AMA Superbike Championship is an American motorcycle racing series that has been run every year beginning in 1976. For most of its existence it has been considered the premier motorcycle road racing series in the United States. It is sanctioned ...

Champion, winning in 1984/5 on the VF750 and 1986 on the

VFR750F The Honda VFR750F is a motorcycle manufactured by Honda, Japanese automobile manufacturer Honda from 1986 to 1997. The model was initially displayed to the press after the 1985 Bol d'Or before it was officially introduced in 1986. The motorcy ...

. He jointly holds the record for the most wins in a season with

Mat Mladin Mathew Mladin (born 10 March 1972, in Camden, New South Wales) is a retired Australian professional motorcycle racer who last raced in 2009, riding a Yoshimura Suzuki in the AMA Superbike series. He won the title seven times (no other rider h ...

. In the

Superbike World Championship Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette-class road racing series based on heavily modified production motorcycles, also known as superbike racing. The championship was founded i ...

began, with Merkel entered on the

RC30 The Honda VFR750R, model code 'RC30', is a Motorcycle fairing, fully faired, solo-seat-only racing motorcycle created for homologation (motorsport), homologation purposes for the Superbike World Championship, World Superbike Championship by Honda ...

. He won the championship from

Fabrizio Pirovano Fabrizio Pirovano (1 February 1960 – 12 June 2016) was an Italian professional motorcycle road racer from Biassono. Motorcycle racing career When the Superbike World Championship began in , he was one of its first entrants, finishing as champ ...

and

Davide Tardozzi Davide Tardozzi (born in Ravenna, January 30, 1959) is a former Italian Superbike racer and current race team manager. After an unsuccessful attempt at competing in the 250cc Grand Prix world championships in 1984 and 1985, Tardozzi turned his at ...

with two wins and three other podiums. He successfully defended the crown in , with 3 wins, 7 other podiums, and 4 poles. He took three more wins en route to sixth overall in , but was less competitive after this. Merkel retired from racing at the end of the 1995 season after being injured in an accident at Firebird International Raceway in

Chandler, Arizona Chandler is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and a suburb in the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). It is bordered to the north and west by Tempe, to the north by Mesa, to the west by Phoenix, to the ...

. Merkel and his family moved to a ranch they owned in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. He lives there with his wife Carla and son Travis, and as of the summer of 2009 welcomed newborn son Jhett. He was inducted into the AMA

Motorcycle Hall of Fame The AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum is an offshoot of the American Motorcyclist Association, recognizing individuals who have contributed to motorcycle sport, motorcycle construction, or motorcycling in general. It also displays motorcycles ...

in 2001.Motorcycle Hall of Fame
/ref> He was inducted into the

Motorsports Hall of Fame of America The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) is hall of fame that honors motorsports competitors and contributors from the United States from all disciplines, with categories for Open Wheel, Stock Cars, Powerboats, Drag Racing, Motorcycles, Sp ...

in 2018.Fred Merkel
at the

Career statistics

Superbike World Championship

Races by year

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Races by year

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

Bubba Shobert's (ex-Merkel) Factory Superbike

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merkel, Fred 1962 births Living people Superbike World Championship riders American people of German descent American motorcycle racers AMA Superbike Championship riders Sportspeople from Stockton, California