Pro Racing Career
During Sands’ professional racing career, from 1994 to 2002, Sands gained 10 wins to his reputation. At the age of 19, Sands’ father sent him to Keith Code’s California Superbike School, and from that day on, road racing became his passion. His first race bike was a Yamaha TZ250, a purpose-built, two stroke racing machine. Winning his first novice 250GP race at Willow Springs Raceway in California, Sands enjoyed a nine-year professional racing career at the top of the AMA 250GP ranks, including a national championship in 1998. In 2000, after winning a few races stateside, Sands did a stint in the British Super Cup series on a factory Honda. Sands still currently holds four track records including Daytona, Sears Point, and Laguna Seca. Although enjoying his racing career, bodily injuries caused by racing accidents were taking the best of his competitive drive. Sands decided to broaden his career in custom motorcycle design and building, to which he had already mechanical and fabrication skills from building race bikes during his racing years.
In 2004, designer Chip Foose awarded Sands with the Award of Design Excellence for his design on the motorcycle 'The Hard Way'. In 2005, he was honored by his peers, who voted him Rookie of the Year on the Discovery Channel Biker Build-Off award show. Since his first television appearance on Biker Build-Off, he’s been featured on ESPN2’s Chopper Nation and Super Bikes, Speed Channel's American Thunder and Build or Bust, and recently crowned champion of Biker Build-Off in 2006 against Jesse Rooke.
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