Aprilia’s USA subsidiary has announced that it will field a team for the inaugural season of MotoAmerica after coming to terms with HSBK Racing to form the “Aprilia HSKB Racing” team.

The newly formed team will compete in the first season of MotoAmerica where it will field two riders and use the 2015 Aprilia RS4 Factory super bike as its entry into the MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 class.

Aprilia’s decision to enter MotoAmerica is a pretty smart move for the Italian bike maker as it comes at a time when the company is beginning to take important steps in becoming more involved in the US market. Having a bike competing in MotoAmerica is a good way for the company to get some mainstream attention and could be the marketing boost it needs to further bolster its sales numbers in the country.

The company has always had a problem gaining traction in the market, and a big part of that problem doesn’t really involve its own products. It’s a marketing and publicity issue and Aprilia has so far struggled to develop the right campaign to ingratiate itself to the American market.

Turns out, somebody thought of the idea of signing up for MotoAmerica as a good way to gain that attention, all while competing in the racing series that effectively takes the reigns from the AMA Superbike Series as the premier motorcycle racing series in the US.

So far, Aprilia hasn’t announced its rider line-up, but with it signing up to compete in the series, we at least know that the company is taking this new endeavor pretty seriously.

Click past the jump to read more about Aprilia's decision to join MotoAmerica.

Why it matters

There's something to be said for a company that's taking this bold and important step of signing up to be part of a racing series like MotoAmerica. It's already been established that Aprilia->ke1934 isn't a household name in the US, even if it does offer one of the most comprehensive model lineups among a lot of motorcycle builders.

Aprilia's struggles isn't tied into the quality of their bikes as much as it is people not even knowing who or what Aprilia is. The company hopes to change that perception with its entry into MotoAmerica. It's a sound move, if you ask me, especially if the newly formed HSBK Aprilia Racing team contends for the inaugural title of the series.

That would immediately put the company and its bikes on the map if that were to happen. That's not to say that it will because HSBK Aprilia is going to be facing stiff competition from other teams, and as a newbie, tradition and logic dictate that neophytes take some time getting used to new environments like MotoAmerica.

Then again, MotoAmerica is new itself so there might be equal amounts of adjustments coming from other teams that will also compete in the series. That should be good news for Aprilia, even if one of its most important reasons for signing up to compete in MotoAmerica was to make US customers aware that it builds some of the most versatile bikes in the world.