Late last Friday, Monster Energy Kawasaki announced that Wil Hahn had injured his ribs earlier in the week and would miss the Round 8 of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross this weekend at Millville. Hahn was currently the only rider on the team after the release of Davi Millsaps earlier in the year.
The team announced in a statement that they would explore the possibility of bringing on a fill in rider while Hahn was out with injury. (The team hopes Hahn will return at Round 10 at Unadilla.) Today at Lake Elsinore, we spotted Josh Grant testing with the team. While the team has not released official information about the possibility of Grant riding this weekend, Grant did speak to Vital MX, who were also at the track today, and it sounds pretty clear he's saddling up this weekend.
As you may remember, Grant was part of Chad Reed's team, Discount Tire/TwoTwo Motorsports, which closed late last month. Grant rode a factory-based Kawasaki KX450F for that team, so this makes for a smooth transition.
We will have more information later this week.
[Update]
Monster Energy Kawasaki has released a statement announcing they have signed Grant for the remainder of the 2015 season.
“This is a great opportunity for me and I want to thank everyone at Monster Energy Kawasaki for the chance to race again this year,” said Grant.
Read the entire statement below.
Monster Energy Kawasaki has signed Josh Grant for the rest of the 2015 motocross season. Grant comes to Monster Energy Kawasaki after having most recently ridden for the TwoTwo Motorsports Team, where he had his best-ever Monster Energy Supercross season aboard a Kawasaki KX™450F.
“We feel that Josh is going to fit in very well with our team,” said Monster Energy Kawasaki Team Manager, Dan Fahie. “Josh is very familiar with the KX450F which fits well with the short time frame we have to get him up to speed for Millville on Saturday.”
Grant comes to Monster Energy Kawasaki with one career overall win at Red Bud in 2009 and five overall podium finishes. He will remain with the team for the five remaining AMA nationals.
“This is a great opportunity for me and I want to thank everyone at Monster Energy Kawasaki for the chance to race again this year,” said Grant. “I like the KX450F and I’m looking forward to getting the full support of the factory team behind me.”
The Monster Energy Kawasaki team will head to Millville, Minnesota for the Spring Creek National this weekend where Grant finished fifth overall in 2014.
Photos by Spencer Owens.
