Attack Performance Estenson Racing continued its pre-season
preparations with a two-day test March 3-4 at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway, in
Desert Center, California, and Team Owner/Crew Chief Richard Stanboli reports that
more than anything he is just trying to get rider JD Beach as much “seat time”
as possible before the 2019 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship opens April 5-7
at Road Atlanta.

“During our last test at Thunderhill, we picked up some
chatter,” Stanboli told Roadracingworld.com March 4 in the paddock at
Chuckwalla Valley Raceway. “So we came here to work on that a little bit. We
defeated that and got some more seat time. He wants lots of seat time.

“The other thing we’re working on is his application of the
front [brake] lever and learning how to ride a liter bike versus a 600. He’s
ridden a 600 for so many years now. On the 600s you try to carry a lot of
momentum and you try not to brake too hard and slow down too much. Whereas on a
Superbike you’re charging the corner pretty hard. You have to get the bike
stopped, so you have to bring your bars up very high. So we worked on that
quite a bit and made a big improvement. So we’ve been working to get him out of
the 600 mode and into Superbike mode. That’s been really important for us.

“As far as the chassis goes, we’re still on last year’s
bike, trying to get as much as we can out of it. We’re working on electronics.
The software we tried at the end of last year we’re working on that primarily
right now. We’re making some headway. It’s at least as good as what we had last
year and I think there’s a little bit of room for improvement.

“I think where we can gain off it is we can change settings
[more quickly]. During a session, I can change power settings like that (makes
motion of snapping fingers). Whereas before I would have to go back and build
power tables manually. It’s just a time savings. We’re working on that today.”

Asked if he was happy with everything at this point of the
pre-season, Stanboli said, “Yeah. He’s ready to go do combat, and that’s what’s
going to drop the last second. Last time we were here he was 0.5-0.6 second off
[Yoshimura Suzuki factory riders] Toni [Elias] and Josh [Herrin]. That was
pretty good for a first outing. During the test at Thunderhill it was similar,
and he said he was always a second and a half off [Garrett] Gerloff whenever
they went there on the same bike. He never went well at that racetrack. So we’re
kind of happy where he’s at on our bike versus the other guys, and I think it’s
just a matter of getting to the races.

“We’re going to do one more test there [at Thunderhill] with
the good bodywork for pictures, then maybe a shakedown here [Chuckwalla] one
more time before we head off to Atlanta.”

Beach, a two-time MotoAmerica Supersport Champion, raced a
Superbike (with Stanboli) in 2011, but most of his career has been spent racing
600cc machines, mainly Yamahas. So the learning curve for the Kentucky resident
has been steep during testing this winter, especially considering Josh Herrin used
the proven Attack Performance Yamaha YZF-R1 to capture two MotoAmerica
Superbike victories and 10 additional podium finishes in 2018. So getting seat
time and acclimated to his new Superbike has been paramount to Beach during the
pre-season.

Asked how far he has come during winter testing in becoming
a Superbike racer, Beach said, “I don’t think we’ll know that until the first
race, but I’m feeling better on it and I’m learning a lot about the bike and
the way you have to ride it.

“I think we’re struggling a little bit at this test, but I
think it’s something I’m going to learn from. It’s been a lot of fun, though.
It’s definitely a new challenge. I’ve never really been a fast guy at testing,
so I’m really looking forward to getting to the first race weekend and see
where we stack up.”

And if learning to ride a Superbike wasn’t enough of a
challenge, Beach is having to do it while pulling double duty and preparing to compete
on the Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 in the American Flat Track AFT Twins series,
resulting in a lot of time traveling between racetracks.

Beach said he had been away from his home in Kentucky for
seven weeks straight while testing and training for the 2019 season and that
immediately after the test at Chuckwalla he was driving back East to spend just
two days at home before heading out again to prepare for the AFT Twins
season-opener March 14 at Daytona. Afterward, he will fly back to California
for a test on his Attack Performance Estenson Racing Yamaha Superbike, then
travel back East to Round Two of the AFT series in Georgia, which will be
followed soon after by a final Superbike test in California just ahead of the
first two rounds of the 2019 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship in Georgia and
Texas.

So it looks like Beach will be getting plenty of seat time
in 2019, but unfortunately a lot of it will be seat time in airplanes and the
driver’s seat of his van.