This just in from an inside source: Yamaha currently plans to field Jason DiSalvo and Eric Bostrom in AMA Superstock and AMA Formula Xtreme with Jamie Hacking in AMA Superstock and AMA Supersport. Graves Yamaha will prepare the Superstock machines while the in-house Yamaha Motor Corp. team will prepare the FX and Supersport machines. And now, some reader feedback: FIRST PERSON/OPINION: Via e-mail: AARRGHH! I am dreaming of the best Superbike class in years. It’s the 2006 season and EVERYONE is in it. C’mon Yamaha, step up to Superbikes will ya? DiSalvo’s Superstock times consistently put him on the front row for Superbike. Just think of the racing! Think of the crowds of people that will come to watch! C’mon AMA Pro Racing, make Yamaha step up to Superbike, go out and get a kick ass title sponsor and, Oh yeah, and while you are at it, get rid of all the backmarkers. Three simple things to accomplish and we’ll all have a great season and a lot of fun! Donny Schmidt Suomy USA Berkeley, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Maybe I’m going a bit over board by writing this and it might be a waste of time, but to the average Superbike fan Yamaha not participating in the premier class again for ’06 will probably be overlooked since they are planning to run FX, Supersport, and Superstock. I am not the average AMA Superbike series fan. I follow the whole series, down to the lap times for every race and who is quickest in each section at every track. My wife says that I’m obsessed with racing and anyone that knows me knows that is the understatement of the century. We all know what happens when a single full-factory team enters a class with a grid full of privateers. That is the easiest way to win a Championship after not winning one the previous year. I believe Honda lost a little credibility when they swept the FX class for two consecutive years. Now Yamaha is going to have a crack at beating up on the privateers for a year and make themselves look as bad as Honda did. I don’t understand what satisfaction a program like Yamaha has in entering a class where they know that the only competition they will have will be pitting under the same tent. What is the use in introducing a brand new bike that has all the trick components that anyone would want in a street bike and not enter it in the same class as the other brands and show everyone who has the best motorcycle and the best racers. Mat Mladin said it best when he called out Honda for running the “mini-bike” class and not focusing all there attention on the premier class. It seems as though Yamaha would be taking a step in the right direction by entering the Superbike class, especially when the 6-time Champ is asking for more competition in the superbike class. Is Yamaha scared of having a little competition? Or do they just want to settle for second best and take there FX Championship by beating up on the little guys who are trying to prove themselves and run their commercials for a full year on how they won a Championship, or swept the podium at this track and that one. When people like me know that Yamaha was just chicken sh-t and copped out of the series just to win a title against guys that are on basically supersport machinery because the budget of a privateer is very little compared to the factory teams. Thumbs up to Kawasaki for taking the bull by the horns and entering the Superbike field for 2006 with two riders that will give Mladin all he wants. Kawasaki joins a group of manufactures that have the balls to put their equipment on the line in the best class in the AMA series. Now we need just one more to get the pacifier out of there mouth and join the big boys. Thanks for reading this and hope I didn’ bore anyone to death. Eric J. Douglass Franklin, North Carolina FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Yamaha, you have got to be kidding! E-Boz in Superstock? What a TOTAL waste of Superbike racing talent! E-Boz, why waste a single second of your limited career and risk your health in Supersport or Superstock? I would rather see you in a support Superbike team (Attack Kawasaki) or even World Superbikes than wasting away in AMA Superstock/Supersport! Why can’t the factories leave the SUPPORT CLASSES (FX, Supersport and Superstock) to the privateers and support teams? There is a reason pro ball players cannot play college ball for 20 years or that the Yankees do not play against the local college or farm teams. The same logic should apply to who can/should race in SUPPORT CLASSES. AMA/Yamaha/E-Boz please look at the big picture and remember that racing is entertainment and it is no fun watching cherry-picking and top talent being wasted cherry-picking! George Leavell Gilroy, California