OrangeCat Racing has signed reigning MotoAmerica Quad Lock Superbike Champion Bobby Fong to a two-year deal covering the 2027 and 2028 seasons, pairing him on the same team with 2026 championship runner-up Sean Dylan Kelly. Fong will carry the No. 1 plate aboard the BMW M 1000 RR; Kelly continues on the No. 40 machine.
The pairing is unusual by any paddock’s standards. Fong clinched the 2026 title ahead of Kelly in the rain-soaked finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park, where Kelly’s championship bid ended with a DNF crash on lap four. The two riders who fought each other deepest into the season will now share a garage, develop the same motorcycle, and split the same factory BMW Motorrad Motorsport support. Whether that dynamic breeds friction or accelerates bike development is the legitimate question going into the off-season.
Fong’s path to the title was not straightforward. A year before his championship run, he led the Superbike standings into the final round only to have a pair of crashes end his season without a title. The 2026 season delivered the comeback: six race victories across the year, including back-to-back wet-weather wins at NJMP when the championship was still live. Those two races in the rain effectively ended the contest.
Kelly’s season was its own achievement. He recorded three wins and 13 podiums aboard the No. 40 OrangeCat BMW, including a stretch through mid-season at VIR where he extended his championship lead to 17 points, only to see Fong reel it back in over the final rounds. Finishing second in a championship while riding for a team in its inaugural Superbike season is not a consolation prize.
Jayson Uribe, who shared the OrangeCat garage with Kelly through 2026 and earned the team’s first Superbike podium at VIR, departs with the full blessing of BMW Motorrad, which noted his contributions to the development of the M 1000 RR customer racing program. His replacement is the series champion, which tells you the program’s ambitions for 2027 are not modest.
The factory credential behind the pairing matters beyond the MotoAmerica paddock. BMW Motorrad Motorsport has won two consecutive WorldSBK championships with Toprak Razgatlioglu in 2024 and 2025, and the company has accumulated 15 World Championships since entering the Superbike category in 2009. OrangeCat is a customer operation, not a factory squad, but the technical pipeline between alpha Racing and the road-racing M 1000 RR is real, and the manufacturer’s current global momentum gives weight to the development partnership Jeff Connors referenced in his signing statement.
The 2027 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship opens April 16–18 at Road Atlanta. Fong arrives carrying the No. 1 plate he won from Kelly. Kelly arrives with the motivation of someone who watched a title slip in the rain. Road Atlanta in April is where both of those storylines start.
Source: BMW. Images courtesy of BMW.
