Fred Merkel
Fred Nels Merkel ( born September 28, 1962 in Stockton, California ) is a former American professional motorcycle racer.
Merkel is regarded as one of the most successful Superbike riders in history, and was known during his active career as a Flying Fred.
Career
Merkel began his career with Dirt track racing, in the years 1981 and 1982 he contested the 250 cc class of the U.S. Championship and graduated from the ranks of three and two, which he drew interest from Honda to be.
In 1983, Merkel launched for Honda in the AMA Superbike Championship and won the series in 1984, 1985 and 1986. He was also the 8- hour race at Suzuka victorious in 1984 and won in the 1991 season with Honda, the Italian Superbike Championship.
In 1988 he moved to the newly created World Superbike Championship, where he went to the start for the Italian team on Rumi Honda RC30. Although Merkel was able to win only two of the 17 discharged runs, but nevertheless secured just before the Italians Fabrizio Pirovano the title. The following season he was even able to repeat this success and won, again extremely scarce, ahead of his fellow Stéphane Mertens. Fred Merkel launched until 1993 in the World Cup, but could not go on his many achievements. Overall, he completed 114 Superbike World Championship races, of which he won eight.
Merkel also took part in the 1989 season on Honda to three races of the 500cc class of the MotoGP World Championship in part. Eleventh place in the Grand Prix of Great Britain at Donington here was his best result.
In 1994, Fred Merkel went back to the U.S. and took two years in part in different classes at the U.S. Championships. At the end of the 1995 season, an accident ended his active career. He was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame of the American Motorcyclist Association in 2001.
After his career end Merkel moved with his family to New Zealand and founded a successful company for building materials.