While Dustin Nelson and Corry Weller won every 2016 Lucas Oil Off-Road SoCal Regional round in their factory-supported Yamaha YXZ1000Rs, there was a third YXZ pilot who made waves and podiums during the LORORS California season. George Hammel raced his Supercuts YXZ1000R to two seconds and a third during the eight-round season to finish fifth for the series. Hammel chose the manual-transmission, sequential-shift Yamaha despite being told after a career-ending dirt bike racing accident that he’d be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Hammel broke his back in 1998 and was a paraplegic, but he never gave up and proved the doctors and experts wrong. By 2009 he was back on his dirt bike and won a gold medal at the Extremity Games, raced the X-Games live on ESPN and completed the 2012 111-mile El Tour De Tucson bicycle race. In 2013, he did the Ironman 70.3 California and finished sixth, and he now walks with the help of lower leg braces. He again is racing professionally, with his Supercuts YXZ1000R fitted with hand controls. George took third-place points in 2014 LORORS Arizona UTV 900s and sixth in 2015 Production 1000s. For 2017, he’ll be competing in Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series in Walker Evans Racing 1000 UTV Production, the GMZ UTV Winter Nationals, the Mint 400 and BiTD UTV World Championships, when he’s not doing motivational speaking. He’s sponsored by Supercuts, GMZ Racing, Yamaha Racing, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Wolfpack, Ride Now Powersports, UPR Racing Supply, Sparco, Bell, KC Hilites and Shock Therapy.
" White Shadow " Wolverine X2
JBS Performance Extreme Sheave
JBS Performance Suspension Springs
Team Alba Racing ECU
Rigid Side Shooter Led
Yamaha Cab Enclosure
Bazooka Party Bar
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