Posts
35693
Joined
7/10/2006
Location
Aliso Viejo, CA
US
Fantasy
1274th
GuyB
7/25/2014 6:54pm
7/25/2014 6:54pm
Edited Date/Time
7/28/2014 11:32am
Ivan Tedesco Retires From Racing On His Terms
"Hot Sauce" Caps Off His 14-Year Professional Racing Career
San Diego, CA (July 25, 2014) - "It has been a roller coaster since I started racing pro at the end of 1999 at Millville," says veteran racer Ivan "Hot Sauce" Tedesco in announcing his retirement from RCH Soaring Eagle Suzuki this weekend. "I have had a lot of success… and a lot of failure. However, the one thing I can do is to walk away from this deal knowing I gave it my all every time I got on my motorcycle. In the end that's all you can ask of a person — give it your all."
Give it his all he most certainly did. Despite a plague of injuries, he was the 2004 125cc West Coast Supercross Champion (winning seven of eight races that year). He repeated as 2005 125cc West Coast SX champ and was also the 125cc Outdoor National Champion in 2005. However it is his role on the Motocross of Nations winning teams that are perhaps the high water mark of is illustrious career as Team USA beat the best in the world in 2005, 2006 and again in 2009!
After that, it was the move to the 450cc class. "I made the decision to go over to Suzuki to be teammates with Ricky Carmichael. I learned so much from RC. I am thankful for his friendship, the opportunity to train with him and the help his parents have always given me. They treated me like family and did everything they could to help. I had a successful rookie Supercross season finishing fourth behind Carmichael, Stewart, and Reed."
However a lot of heartache came after even years that initial success in the 450 class, primarily due to injury. While Ivan enjoyed proving the pundits wrong, the time has finally come to call it a career almost 14 years to the day.
"It's never easy to quit something you've done for so long, but the time has come where racing just isn't the same as it used to be," says Tedesco. "I always told myself when the day comes that I'm not competitive anymore; I need to walk away; that time is now." However he won't be going too far away from the RCH Soaring Eagle pits as he will continue to test the Suzuki’s and help get the bikes ready for the team's future riders.
"From RCH’s perspective, we are honored that he finished out his illustrious career with RCH Soaring Eagle and on a Suzuki," says co-principal Carey Hart. "We are grateful to have Ivan's testing expertise for RCH moving forward… It just wouldn't be the same not having Hot Sauce to spice things up around here!"
"I have nothing to be bummed about," says Tedesco. "I can say I have never given less than 100% and have enjoyed proving people wrong. I'm grateful for the opportunities I have been given and the friendships I have made. I love dirt bikes and racing and look forward to finding my new career within the sport because this is what I love to do."
"Thank you to my fans, who have always had my back and motivated me to keep going! I hope to see you all at the races soon," concludes Tedesco.
About RCH Racing Soaring Eagle:
RCH Racing is in its second season of the partnership between Ricky Carmichael and Carey Hart to campaign the 2014 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing. Ricky Carmichael merged his Suzuki relationship and technical development with the established five year marketing giant of Hart & Huntington Racing in 2013. The RCH Racing Soaring Eagle Team continues its partnerships with Suzuki, Fox, Dodge, Sycuan Casino, Yoshimura and Bel-Ray. Stay up to date on all RCH Racing Soaring Eagle news; follow us on Instagram and Twitter @RCHRacing and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rchracing.
"Hot Sauce" Caps Off His 14-Year Professional Racing Career
San Diego, CA (July 25, 2014) - "It has been a roller coaster since I started racing pro at the end of 1999 at Millville," says veteran racer Ivan "Hot Sauce" Tedesco in announcing his retirement from RCH Soaring Eagle Suzuki this weekend. "I have had a lot of success… and a lot of failure. However, the one thing I can do is to walk away from this deal knowing I gave it my all every time I got on my motorcycle. In the end that's all you can ask of a person — give it your all."
Give it his all he most certainly did. Despite a plague of injuries, he was the 2004 125cc West Coast Supercross Champion (winning seven of eight races that year). He repeated as 2005 125cc West Coast SX champ and was also the 125cc Outdoor National Champion in 2005. However it is his role on the Motocross of Nations winning teams that are perhaps the high water mark of is illustrious career as Team USA beat the best in the world in 2005, 2006 and again in 2009!
After that, it was the move to the 450cc class. "I made the decision to go over to Suzuki to be teammates with Ricky Carmichael. I learned so much from RC. I am thankful for his friendship, the opportunity to train with him and the help his parents have always given me. They treated me like family and did everything they could to help. I had a successful rookie Supercross season finishing fourth behind Carmichael, Stewart, and Reed."
However a lot of heartache came after even years that initial success in the 450 class, primarily due to injury. While Ivan enjoyed proving the pundits wrong, the time has finally come to call it a career almost 14 years to the day.
"It's never easy to quit something you've done for so long, but the time has come where racing just isn't the same as it used to be," says Tedesco. "I always told myself when the day comes that I'm not competitive anymore; I need to walk away; that time is now." However he won't be going too far away from the RCH Soaring Eagle pits as he will continue to test the Suzuki’s and help get the bikes ready for the team's future riders.
"From RCH’s perspective, we are honored that he finished out his illustrious career with RCH Soaring Eagle and on a Suzuki," says co-principal Carey Hart. "We are grateful to have Ivan's testing expertise for RCH moving forward… It just wouldn't be the same not having Hot Sauce to spice things up around here!"
"I have nothing to be bummed about," says Tedesco. "I can say I have never given less than 100% and have enjoyed proving people wrong. I'm grateful for the opportunities I have been given and the friendships I have made. I love dirt bikes and racing and look forward to finding my new career within the sport because this is what I love to do."
"Thank you to my fans, who have always had my back and motivated me to keep going! I hope to see you all at the races soon," concludes Tedesco.
About RCH Racing Soaring Eagle:
RCH Racing is in its second season of the partnership between Ricky Carmichael and Carey Hart to campaign the 2014 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing. Ricky Carmichael merged his Suzuki relationship and technical development with the established five year marketing giant of Hart & Huntington Racing in 2013. The RCH Racing Soaring Eagle Team continues its partnerships with Suzuki, Fox, Dodge, Sycuan Casino, Yoshimura and Bel-Ray. Stay up to date on all RCH Racing Soaring Eagle news; follow us on Instagram and Twitter @RCHRacing and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rchracing.
His awesome 250 titles aside, I always felt like he was giving it his all on the 450 and you could sense a strong competitive desire from him to prove himself on the 450 though he never had the results he hoped for.
I repeat, VERY respectable career. I'm sure awesome things lie ahead in his post racing life.
The Shop
What else can a racer/fan expect.
Thanks for riding for our entertainment Ivan, I am sure you will still be around the industry.
I have always rooted for IT... He is a bad ass on a motorcycle.
I am happy he has found away to stay riding and contributing to the sport with RCH!
I know the results weren't what he was looking for , but it sure was cool seeing him back out there trying.
Good luck on your next en devour Ivan!
The same PR people who vaguely dance around the subjects they wish to skirt, can do their f'ing jobs for once and release cLear, concise PR,leaving no room for those same people's "misguided" conjecture.
Isn't it ironic that you need to do their jobs for them, Guyb? If the PR was forthcoming and covered all of the bases, you would not need to post that disclaimer. Right?
Pit Row
At some point a day should be set at lorettas where these guys could come in,race 2motos as retired pros just to keep the cobwebs off the boots.
That way they dont have to stay a week,fans would line the fence and it would just be cool.
Thanks for the great memories Ivan!
Happy to see him "walk away" from the sport, happy and healthy
Like Langston, Tedesco was always an opportunist. Career full of clutch performances, sx and national titles, saved the day at the MXDN a few times. Bravo.
Best of luck Hot Sauce!
I remember the #715 at Red Bud in 2000, with an '01 bike!!!
Besides the photos I'm adding, this is a good link for photos... Vital User Tony Blazier - tblazier
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tblazier/sets/72157629862136602/detail/
My youngest daughter was about 15 during this time and was confined to the couch while recovering from the third or fourth of what turned out to ultimately be six knee surgeries (another story altogether). Being a fan of the sport and unable to do much of anything else, she proclaimed to me that she was going to win that jersey from Ivan. Well by golly, sure enough, she won the dang thing and a week or so later an Ivan Tedesco #9 VMS jersey showed up at the house.
Can't remember if it was that same year or the next (I'm thinking the next for some reason), we went to Daytona and took the jersey with us in hopes of getting it autographed. Longer story short, we did get it autographed by Ivan and I told him the story of how my daughter won the jersey and he thought that was cool and was very nice to her. Being an old fart, I'm somewhat technologically challenged and haven't learned how to post photos but I'll see if I can get one of the kids to show me how so I can share a pic of the jersey with the class (lol).
I'll close by saying good luck to Ivan in his future endeavors and congratulations on a career that 99% of former pro racers would be envious of. Thanks for the memories Mr. Hot Sauce!
Post a reply to: PR: Ivan Tedesco Retires From Racing On His Terms