Justin Brayton Signs With Honda

Honda has announced the signing of professional racer Justin Brayton, who will compete for Big Red in the 2012 AMA Supercross Championship and AMA Motocross Championships.

Brayton previously spent several years with Muscle Milk/Toyota/JGR Yamaha. This past season he showed signs of promise, taking seventh in the National MX Championship despite missing four rounds with an injury. He was also injured for two weeks of the AMA Supercross season, but still finished ninth overall.

The team will hope that Brayton shakes that injury bug next year. He will be paired with Trey Canard as the two official riders for the factory team, where they will race on the CRF450R.

Honda team manager Erik Kehoe is excited about his team's prospects for the upcoming season.

"I think 2012 is going to be an exciting year of racing for American Honda," said Kehoe. "Trey has demonstrated time and again he has what it takes to win. He finished on a string of podiums last year, including winning three Supercross' and was well in the championship hunt. Throughout his professional racing career, Justin has shown great speed in the 450 competition and he's always a contender to podium or win. We are really excited to see what he can do on a factory Honda-prepared CRF450R."