Cobra Motorcycle Year-in-Review: 2010

Sexton, Robertson,
Turpin, & Linville on bikes - Heath, Hopkins, & Hart on ATVs
pile up the major accolades – while King Cobra & CX65 are
successfully re-engineered

HILLSDALE, Mich., – Call it the “Little motorcycle company that could.” Or, better yet, the “Little American-made motorcycle company that did.”

Despite
a trying economic climate and an overzealous U.S. government approach
to protect kids from ingesting lead, Michigan-based Cobra Motorcycles’
hard-working staff of just over 30 people did everything in their power
in 2010 to keep the dreams of young motocross racers alive throughout
the United States and rest of the free world.

“Two-thousand and
ten will go down as a turning point year for Cobra – and a turning
point for the better,” said Cobra President Sean Hilbert. “We saw great
advances for the Cobra King 50 and, especially, the Cobra CX65,
continued our industry standard successes at national-caliber
competitions here and overseas and continued to expand upon the great
heritage of the Cobra motorcycles.”

Hilbert said quite honestly
that the motivation at Cobra is a direct byproduct of the effort Cobra
kids put in at home and on the competition motocross tracks around the
world. “If anyone around here ever starts feeling sorry for themselves,
that we’re over-worked or whatever, all it takes is a weekend road trip
to an amateur national or even a run down to RedBud for a local amateur race to see how hard a seven-year-old and his dad work together to reach their goals.

“Kind of puts things in perspective when you know Cobra’s got the guys’ backs,” explained Hilbert.

2010 championships for Cobra came at all of the major American
amateur MX nationals, including: Oak Hill and Lake Whitney, Texas,
Nevada’s Mini GPs, Ponca City (Okla.), Loretta Lynn’s AMA Amateur MX
National Championships in Tennessee, Branson (Mo.), Arizona’s Amateur
MX Open and the Mini Os in Gainesville, Fla. Cobra also again enjoyed a
great deal of success north and south of the border – and overseas – as
the iconic junior MX brand continues to expand globally. International
championships for Cobra came in Mexico and Canada, Australia, the UK
and the MX Master Kids in the Belgium, solidifying the fact the Cobras
are – hands down – the finest competition mini bikes on the planet.

A
first in 2010 for Cobra was the effort put forth by Illinois’ Chase
Sexton, who scored the company’s first podium at Loretta Lynn’s on the
revolutionary Cobra CX65. Sexton then backed that up with the CX65s
first-ever major national victory when he won the 65 class at the Mini
Os at Gatorback MX Park in Gainesville, Fla.

And there was
Stilez Robertson - all seven years, 62 pounds and 52 inches of him –
who tore it up this year, winning major amateur MX national titles at
Lake Whitney (Texas), Las Vegas’ World Mini GPs and the Amateur Open of
Motocross in Arizona. His effort brought his overall win total to 20,
tying Cobra’s Adam Cianciarulo for the most wins ever on a Cobra 50cc
bike – and Robertson still has another competition year to go on his
Cobra King 50!

Those great performances where highlighted in
August by the two titles that Jackson Turpin and Gage Linville secured
at the AMA National Championship races at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in
central Tennessee. Both boys turned in flawless performances and put an
exclamation point on both of their 2010 race seasons. Both will be back
in the Cobra Camp for 2011 to contest for more 50cc and 65cc titles.

And
on the ATV side of things, Cobra’s Eli Hopkins, Corey Heath and Hunter
Hart all had bang-up competition seasons on their ECX line of Cobra
quads cycles. Hopkins, who not only beat the competition to win the
2010 50cc AMA-ATV Motocross Championship, did so while also battling
Juvenile Diabetes. Heath (ATVA 90cc Auto Jr.) and Hart (GNCC 90 Mod)
both won major ATV titles as well.

Cobra’s engineers also had a
banner year in 2010. For the first time in recent memory the King 50
received a full chassis and bodywork facelift. By all accounts the new
look and feel were a home run, with the added benefit that both the
King 50 and the CX65 were made ergonomically similar in 2010 to create
a seamless transition between the two bikes for Cobra racers. And
speaking of the CX65, it received an all new engine for 2010 that
helped power Cobra Kids to an unprecedented number of wins and podiums.

“All-in-all
it was a banner year at Cobra and for the kids all over the world
running our bikes,” said Hilbert. “We came in to 2010 with a lot of
questions – like is mini bike racing at the national level on the verge
of extinction? Cobra, along with its great riders and families, is
proud to say that ‘No, mini bike racing’s not extinct.’ And you need
look no further than a dad driving home, kid asleep next to him – with
his trophy – and a Cobra in the back of the truck … ready to do it all
over again in 2011.”

Next up for Cobra racers is the 35th annual GNC International Motocross Final, March 15-20, at Oak Hill, Texas.