“One of my favorite things is finding something I suck at and then trying to get as good at it as I possibly can,” says OrangeCat BMW’s Jayson Uribe, rather candidly. “Golf is the latest example. Now I’m motivated to spend the time, get coaching, take advice from anyone who’s willing to offer it, and really improve.
“It was the same with flat track. I was terrible at it for such a long time. I must have gone to a hundred American Supercamp schools before it finally started to click.
“That’s pretty much how I’ve approached my whole life. Sticking to something until it clicks.”
Uribe’s life has been one crammed with a huge amount of motorcycle racing across multiple different classes and machine specification.
Raised in California’s Napa Valley, Uribe began riding dirt bikes at age four before transitioning to road racing as a child aboard a Honda RS125. But rather than staying stateside, he headed to Europe as a teenager, competing in the British 125cc Motostar Championship before moving to the French Superbike 600 Cup, where he became the first American to win a race in the series.
Uribe later graduated to the FIM CEV Moto2 European Championship—the last step before a possible Moto2 World Championship berth—however, although some valuable experience was gained against some of the world’s top young talent, Uribe had to return home and start afresh in 2018.
Uribe made select MotoAmerica Superbike appearances before earning a full-time ride in 2021 on the ADR Motorsports Suzuki. That same season he also competed in a chosen amount of WorldSBK races with Team Pedercini Kawasaki, making six race starts.
His breakthrough came with OrangeCat Racing in MotoAmerica’s now defunct Stock 1000 Championship, where in 2025, he finished a close third in the series to champion teammate Andrew Lee. That result saw him promoted to the team’s factory-supported BMW Superbike program for 2026.
A thoughtful but spectacular rider, Uribe is still developing as a Superbike rider, his style needing honing after so many years riding different specifications of machinery.
“I’ve been focusing really hard on how to ride a Superbike properly,” Uribe says. “One of the biggest things for me has been rear brake usage. I’ve always relied heavily on the rear brake, but on these Superbikes, the electronics are so sophisticated that too much rear brake can interfere with the systems. It’s been a complete mental reset—learning to stay off the brake instead of depending on it.
“On a Stock 1000, especially on the BMW, the rear brake is a huge tool. It settles the bike on corner entry and helps everywhere around the lap. On the Superbike, it’s a completely different riding style.
“People think they’re similar because they both have two wheels, brakes and a throttle, but they’re worlds apart. In many ways I’ve had to start over this season. That’s why it’s taken time to adapt, but I finally feel like we’re making a breakthrough with both the bike setup and my riding.”
A look at the result sheets begin to back up Jayson’s claims.
A strong fifth place in the opening race of the season in Road Atlanta was followed by 11th in Race 1, and the preceding three rounds at Barber Motorsports Park, Road America, and Ridge Motorsports Park netted 12th, 16th, a pair of eighths, another eighth, and a DNF, respectively.
However, at Laguna Seca’s halfway point, Uribe made a visible step forward, racing with the front guys for the first half of Race 1 to take his best result since Road Atlanta in sixth, backing that up with an eighth place finish in Race 2.
A ninth place in Race 1 at Mid-Ohio was paired with an eighth in Race 2, ensuring Uribe cemented eighth place in the standings as the series heads to VIR (Virginia International Raceway) on August 14-16.
“What has helped a lot has been the consistency of being with the same team,” Uribe says. “With the OrangeCat Racing team we’ve got Sean (Dylan Kelly), Josh Herrin, Kaleb De Keyrel and myself, and everyone gets along really well. We all want to beat each other, but we still have dinner together and enjoy spending time as teammates.
“I’ve been on teams before where that wasn’t the case. Things can definitely get tense. But this environment is healthy and competitive.
“Having Sean leading the championship is motivating. He’s incredibly talented and has a lot of experience on this bike. Naturally, I want to get to his level. We have the same equipment, so I know it’s possible, but this class is stacked with some of the best riders in the country, so you can’t just jump on one of these bikes and expect immediate results. I’ve had a to be a little patient.”
That’s one of the virtues that come with not just a long racing career but with age. Still only 27, Uribe’s is a wise head on relatively young shoulders, and he knows patience and grit has got him to where he is today.
“When I was 16, 17, even into my early 20s, I was incredibly impatient,” Uribe says. “I kept putting myself in situations where I was crashing, getting hurt and trying to force things.
“If I could go back, I’d tell myself to slow down, take a breath and let opportunities come. But you still have to work incredibly hard for them. Racing is an incredible blessing, but I’m also in a position where I have a successful business outside of racing, so I’m lucky to have balance. I get to race for an incredible team while still building something for my future. Racing was always the dream, and now that I’m living it, I’m trying to make the most of every opportunity while continuing to grow outside of the sport.”
That and trying to better his golf swing.
