Just over a week ago Yamaha announced its planned re-entry into AMA Superbike racing with the all-new YZF-R1, ridden by Eric Bostrom and Jason DiSalvo. (Yamaha pulled out of Superbike in 2002 when the R1 was still in development and the future of Superbike was uncertain.) “The sun, the moon and the stars have aligned this year,” said Yamaha Corporate Communications Manager Bob Starr, “which is why we’ve now decided to get back in the game.” “We’ve gained a lot of experience in FX from a team standpoint and we’re ready to do this now,” confirmed Team Manager Tom Halverson, who’s been with Yamaha for almost 20 years. “Eric Bostrom and Jason DiSalvo proved to be fast on the FX bike. Our riders are ready and our team is ready.” After testing at Daytona International Speedway yesterday and today, eight-year Superbike veteran Eric Bostrom said, “It’s the best bike I’ve ever ridden. That, I can say straight away. The motor is really linear with the power curve.” The bike features some trickle-down MotoGP technology; in addition to the fly-by-wire throttle system that the 2006 YZF-R6 already has, Halverson said that the new YZF-R1 also has “variable length intake funnels that are longer or shorter depending on rpm. There’s more power with a longer intake at low rpm, and at a high rpm the top ones raise and expose shorter ones. It’s all controlled with the ECU.” Bostrom added that a lot of work went into prepping the bike for the inaugural test at Daytona, but that the team is just in the early stages. “Now we can start throwing changes at it,” Bostrom said. DiSalvo agreed, saying, “It’s very much in the development stages, but we’re ahead of game from last year in developing the Formula Xtreme bike.” Although DiSalvo rode in selected AMA Superbike races in 2002 on a private GSX-R750, he said “For me this is my first time in Superbike really. It’s going to be a real good challenge.” DiSalvo added that, compared to his 2006-season Formula Xtreme Yamaha YZF-R6 fitted with traction control, the new YZF-R1 Superbike is “a new beast altogether.” Asked about the traction control Yamaha is using, Bostrom stated, “In a perfect world there would be no traction control in racing. But the advantages are obviously there.” Overall Bostom and DiSalvo seemed excited about the upcoming Superbike season on the new Yamaha YZF-R1. But there is a lot of work ahead to make the bike competitive. “Right now we’re giving it a shakedown to eliminate problems,” said DiSalvo. “We’re focused mainly on chassis development.” “We have long way to go,” added Halverson. “But after yesterday we have a good base package.” The team continued testing the YZF-R1 Superbike this afternoon at Daytona.