Norfolk supermoto ace Lewis Cornish is used to long-haul trips around the world competing in various international events.

Last year he became the only British rider to complete a season in the ultra-competitive French championships and 2017 will bring more of the same thanks to Normandy based RAW Motorsports.

However, this year Lewis will also be clocking up some transatlantic air miles as he takes up the offer of racing in the AMA Supermoto Championships which kicks off in early April in California.

This offer to compete in the series came about following his recent outing in the final round of the FIM Asia Championships in Malaysia. Simon Rushbrooke the Kiwi owner of Tekmo Racing and American racer Steve Alkyer of DRT Racing spoke at length with Lewis about getting him stateside to see how European riders would match up with the best the USA has to offer.

Luckily for Lewis, Tekmo Racing, DRT Racing and TM-USA came to the rescue with the offer of a ‘Factory’ spec 2017 TM450-SMX that’s being built and air-freighted from the Italian manufacturers to California in time for the season opener.

Lewis will be campaigning the Tekmo Racing TM450-SMX in the five-round AMA Championship which spans the USA and also includes a trip to Canada where the bikes will be taking centre stage alongside the World Rally Cross cars in Quebec.

Lewis explained: “Speaking to Steve in Asia he said I should try to get over to the USA and try a few races there. I have raced in Vegas 10 years ago as a junior and I loved the whole thing but I didn’t really think I’d get the chance to go back to compete. But now thanks to some great support from Tekmo Racing and the efforts of promoter Alex Mock (DRT Racing) I’ve got an amazing opportunity. It’s all happened very quickly and I’m so grateful for those that have given me the chance.

“I’m still looking for additional funding to help pay for flights, tyres etc but thanks to Simon at Tekmo I’ll have a top spec 2017 model TM450-SMX upgraded with special parts from my Italian sponsor PZ5 Cobra so I know I’ll have the bike to let me be competitive.

“I’m really looking forward to the challenge and meeting new people involved in the sport and I’ll certainly be giving it everything to get on the podium.”