United States' presence in MotoGP took another massive hit on Friday as the AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing team announced that it parted ways with American racer Josh Herrin.
Poor results out of Herrin led the team to replace him with Thai rider Ratthapark Wilairot for the remainder of the 2014 season.
"We have decided to replace Josh with Ratthapark," said team manager Johan Stigefelt. "It was not an easy decision but it was necessary in order to try to bring better results on that side of the garage."
In his 10 starts with Caterham, the California native failed to match the podium pace shown by teammate Johan Zarco. While Herrin could do no better than 16th in his rookie campaign, Zarco compiled seven top-10 finishes including a third-place effort in the Catalunya GP.
"We are here to be competitive with two riders and the expectations were made clear from the start of the season," Stigefelt continued. "Unfortunately these goals have not been met, despite our best efforts and support to Josh. We wish Josh all the best for the future and at the same time welcome Ratthapark to our team."
With the retirements of Ben Spies and Colin Edwards in the past two years -- and Herrin's early exit -- 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden remains as the only American on the Grand Prix grid. However, the "Kentucky Kid" finds himself on an uncompetitive open-spec Honda RCV1000R this season where a result at the bottom of the top 10 would be praised.
As hope dwindles for the red, white and blue, focus now shifts to 21-year-old Cameron Beaubier, who is fighting for the 2014 AMA Superbike Championship. Beaubier's ability to jump into the Superbike class and immediately battle for the championship has garnered great attention here in the States, but MotoGP scouts may not be as impressed considering Herrin won the title in 2013 on the same bike.
