Brian Stokes, the 2003 AMA Road Race Horizon Award winner. (Larry Lawrence photo)

Georgian Brian Stokes was named the 2003 AMA Road Race Horizon Award after earning wins in two premier classes of the AMA Road Race Grand Championships and taking podium finishes in three others. Stokes had been racing AMA professional races sporadically over the previous six years and was campaigning a full season in AMA Superbike and Superstock that year with Team Embry. Stokes entered the Grand Championships with the goal of trying to win the Horizon Award as well as to prepare for that weekend’s AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship event at Mid-Ohio.

“It’s a big honor to win the Horizon Award,” said Stokes, then a 29-year-old from Kingston, Ga. “My goal was to win the award, but this is my first time at Mid-Ohio and there were a lot of tough riders here this year. My friend Opie (Chris Caylor) won the award last year and it was a boost to his career and I wanted to try and do the same thing. It been a dream to race professionally in the AMA and hopefully this will help my career along.”

Stokes opened the two-day Grand Championship in 2003 with a runner-up finish to Texan Mike Sanchez in the Mediumweight Superbike class. He then took another podium in Wednesday’s Superstock race. It was during Thursday’s premier races when Stokes really picked up the pace. He won both the Supersport and Formula Xtreme finals with dramatic last lap, last turn passes.