Two-time MotoAmerica Supersport Champion JD Beach got his first taste of his new Attack Performance Estenson Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike during a three-day test December 4-6 at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway, and Beach says everything went well.
“The Attack Performance Estenson Racing Yamaha was really good. It was a lot of fun to ride,” Beach told Roadracingworld.com. “On the first day, Richard [Stanboli, Crew Chief and owner of Attack Performance] kind of dumbed [the electronics] down a little bit, I guess you could say, and told me to just go out and ride it. And I think that was good. We didn’t try to chase lap times and setup and stuff. I just did laps on it to feel good on it.
“Towards the end of the first day, we started to dial [the electronics] back and stuff so I could kind of tell what did what. We made changes to the electronics a little bit in some places on the track just so I could go out and try it and see how the changes felt to me, but we weren’t getting too crazy with it.”
The test was a reunion of sorts as Beach and Stanboli worked together before. In 2011, then-19-year-old Beach was asked to go from doing a one-off ride on an Attack Performance Kawasaki ZX-6R in the Daytona 200 to doing the remainder of the 2011 AMA Pro Superbike Championship on an Attack Performance Kawasaki ZX-10R Superbike. Beach collected six top-10 finishes but also collected some bumps and bruises along the way.
Since then, Beach has become the winningest rider in MotoAmerica Supersport history, and Stanboli has designed and built a point-scoring MotoGP racebike from scratch and built a Superbike that won a MotoAmerica Superbike race in the hands of a privateer rider, Josh Herrin.
So what was it like working with Stanboli again?
“It was really good,” said Beach. “I think when Richard and I first worked together back then we were at two different stages of our careers. It was good, but it didn’t go great. I wasn’t giving the best feedback, I think. We definitely wrecked a few bikes, but I think for me it was a really good year to learn.
“But this time it’s going to be really good. I feel like as a rider I have a lot more experience. Richard and I have the same goals. He knows what I can do on a bike. I think he trusts me a little bit more than he did before. I think we’re going to work really well together.”
Asked what comes next, Beach said he and Stanboli are still working on their winter testing plans.
“We definitely want to do a lot of testing, but we’re trying to figure out what will be best for the budget,” said Beach. “We’re kind of looking at some track days and going and riding with the RiCKdiculous guys, too. We’re definitely working on that so I can spend as much time on the bike as I can.”
The 2019 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship starts April 5-7 at Road Atlanta.