Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

All of the major AMA teams are present and accounted for on a warm and sunny Tuesday morning at Daytona International Speedway.

American Honda appeared the best prepared, casually attending to details on CBR1000RR Superbikes and CBR600RR Formula Xtreme machines, which have new carbon-fiber rear subframes.

Team Manager Chuck Miller reported that the team was not able to hold a shakedown test with the new Superbikes before coming to Daytona, but the new bikes had been broken in on dynamometers and ridden by HRC test riders in Japan before being shipped stateside.

In what has become an annual tradition, Ben Bostrom, Miguel Duhamel and Jake Zemke recently spent time in HRC’s wind tunnel and riding on Honda’s high-speed test track in Japan, working on improving the aerodynamics of their tucked-in riding position and drafting techniques.

Aside from dealing with the possibility that Anthony Gobert may not show up to race at Daytona due to visa problems, Erion Honda looked ready to go and was seen applying the last sponsor stickers on the Superstock and Formula Xtreme CBRs of Alex Gobert and the FX bike of Zemke.

The Honda Canada factory team of Jordan Szoke and Andrew Nelson is also at Daytona, with CBR1000RRs.

Yoshimura Suzuki Team Manager Don Sakakura reported that his team was installing just-arrived suspension parts from Showa, the same parts that they found to be improved while testing at California Speedway in February.

Sakakura’s crew was also, like every team, getting tires mounted for Mat Mladin, Aaron Yates and Ben Spies to use in Wednesday morning’s practice.

Kawasaki looked well-prepared, leisurely attending to details on Tommy and Roger Lee Hayden’s ZX-6RR Supersport and ZX-10R Superstock racebikes Tuesday.

Attack Kawasaki just did arrive Tuesday morning, somewhat later than the other teams. Asked about the late arrival, Team Owner Richard Stanboli said, “It’s (ZX-10R) a new motorcycle, so we’re doing a lot of development. We wanted to stay at the shop as long as possible to work on the bikes. Honda gets their bikes in a crate. We get a stock motorcycle and have to build it ourselves.”

Stanboli said lead rider Josh Hayes’ broken foot was getting better everyday and that his ZX-10R Superbike was ready to go for the Daytona 200. Tony Meiring also rides for the Attack Kawasaki team, which hopes for him to do some Formula Xtreme races, in addition to his primary mission in Supersport, in 2004.

It was all systems go over at the Yamaha garage for Jamie Hacking, Damon Buckmaster, Aaron Gobert and Jason DiSalvo. Their garage was decorated with several life-size cardboard cutouts of 2003 AMA Supersport Champion Hacking doing a wheelie on his YZF-R6.

2003 Canadian Superbike and Supersport Champion Pascal Picotte is at Daytona with his new Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstocker and YZF-R6 Supersport racers. Picotte also reported that he has a new sponsor, DXS Diablo, whose support will allow him to develop and race an AMA Superbike at 6-8 events starting as soon as California Speedway.

Brooklin Cycle Yamaha’s Frank Trombino, another Canadian Superbike regular, is also at Daytona.

Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki was freshening the GSX-Rs of Steve Rapp, Vincent Haskovec and Chris Peris Tuesday morning, after a weekend of successful racing with CCS and Formula USA at Daytona.

Other American Suzuki support teams, like No Limit Suzuki (Jason Pridmore, Jimmy Moore, Jason Curtis) and Empire Racing Suzuki (Lee Acree, Chris “Opie” Caylor), were busy fitting bodywork to their late-arriving GSX-R600s. Both teams’ GSX-R600s will roll onto the racetrack for the first time tomorrow morning.

Due to tire testing for Michelin, Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin has been at Daytona since last Tuesday. The team spent its down time over the CCS/F-USA race weekend installing quick-change wheel hardware on Eric Bostrom’s 999Rs Superbikes. As reported earlier, the team will be without the services of Lead Mechanic Vic Fasola due to personal reasons.

Among the many privateers at Daytona, former AMA 250cc Grand Prix front-runner Perry Melneciuc has switched to the Formula Xtreme class on a pair of Mach 1 EMA (European Motorcycle Accessories) Yamaha YZF-R6s. After telling Roadracingworld.com about his new team, Melneciuc went to finalize his tire deal, which will be with either Dunlop or Pirelli.

According to Weather.com, the weather forecast for Daytona Beach is very good with high temperatures expected to hover around 80 degrees F each day with only a slight chance of rain over the weekend. But in Florida forecasting weather is tricky business at best, as racers found out when high temperatures failed to exceed 45 degrees F last week.


More, from a press release issued by Ducati North america:

PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN’S ERIC BOSTROM READY FOR DAYTONA

The AMA series swings back into action this weekend at Daytona International Speedway with Eric Bostrom prepared to do battle in the 63rd running of the Daytona 200 aboard the factory-supported Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin 999. Las Vegas resident Bostrom, who has four US National titles to his name, finished seventh overall in the 2003 AMA Superbike championship but would surely have finished higher had a pile-up during the opening lap of the Laguna Seca World Superbike race not cut his season short with an injury.

Having tested at Daytona on the 999 in early December 2003 and again at the start of this year, Bostrom has shown tremendous progress and promise on the Ducati twin. During the January test session, Bostrom set a personal best lap time at Daytona with a 1.47.90 – only a handful of riders have dipped below the 1.48 mark.

The Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin team is the first factory-supported Ducati effort since 1994 to make a run for the AMA title. Michelin has also thrown its weight behind the effort by providing the team with the same tires that were available to World Superbike teams. “I’m really excited about having the chance to run up front at Daytona,” said Bostrom. “The tests we’ve done on Michelins confirmed what we’re capable of and there’s no reason why we can’t be in the hunt.”

Tom Bodenbach, Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin’s team manager, feels ready for the challenge ahead of them. “We gained a lot of experience from running this event the past couple of years. This year, with the factory’s support, we know Eric can be a front-runner. The team’s pretty excited about having a chance to put Ducati into the Daytona history books.”

The Circuit
“Bike Week” is a 10-day motorcycle festival that has been a tradition in Daytona Beach since January 24, 1937 when the inaugural running of the Daytona 200 was held. In the beginning the race was a much shorter and simpler affair: 3.2 miles on a mix of hard-pack sand and pavement. Because of the beach section, starting times for the event were dictated by the local tide tables.

In 1961, the event moved to Daytona International Speedway. There were concerns that the motorcycles would not be able to sustain the speeds needed to deal with the 31-degree banking in the turns of the 2.5 mile trioval, so a two-mile course using the infield and a part of the front stretch became the motorcycle racers’ circuit. Over the years minor changes to the infield were made, with today’s track at 3.56 miles.


More, from a press release issued by Proforma:

HAS/SHOGUN RACING READY FOR DAYTONA

HAS/Shogun Racing heads into the 2004 AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship season with its primary focus on rider Heath Small. After the team’s successful debut in 2003 with two riders, they will concentrate their efforts on the development of the Yamaha R6s that Heath will use in the Pro Honda Oils Supersport and Lockhart Phillips Formula Xtreme classes throughout the year.

With two successful pre-season tests and an opportunity to race at the CCS/Formula event at Daytona, Heath is confident and comfortable that he is ready to start the season. “I’ve been training hard all winter, and getting the bikes sorted out prior to Daytona was a huge deal,” said Heath. “We’ve got a good baseline already with the suspension and the engine on both bikes, so now we just have to fine tune them for here at Daytona.”

Heath won the CCS Middleweight Grand Prix event at the speedway and was running sixth in Sunday’s Formula USA Superbike event when he fell in the fast infield kink. Heath was uninjured, but the bike suffered extensive damage. The team was confident that they would be able to re-build the bike in time for the start of AMA practice on Wednesday, March 3rd.

The team returns in 2004 with continued support from Shogun Motorsports and Motion CycleSports. Steve Upchurch will continue to do the engine development while David Sanders and Lance Small will tune and maintain the machines. Joey Israel with Ohlins USA will provide technical support with chassis development and suspension.


More, from a press release issued by Proforma:

EMPIRE RACING PUTTING FINAL TOUCHES ON RACEBIKES AT DAYTONA

It’s crunch time at Daytona, with the Empire Racing team working hard to finish preparing their Suzuki GSX-Rs, as the start of the 2004 AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship looms on Wednesday morning. The team escaped the snow and cold weather at their North Carolina base, preferring to work in the warm Daytona paddock. The team chose not to compete in last weekend’s CCS and Formula USA races.

Riders Lee Acree and Chris “Opie” Caylor will both compete in the new 1000cc-based Repsol Superstock class on their Suzuki GSX-R1000s, which the team received at the beginning of February. However, with the late-February delivery of the Suzuki GSX-R600, the team has had to focus on preparing the 600s at Daytona. Lee will compete in the AMA Pro Honda Oils Supersport class throughout the 2004 season.

“We thought we’d add the challenge of preparing our racebikes at the racetrack,” kidded team manager Noel VanVeld. “Actually, our sponsors have really come through for us. We were already planning to be down here, and a lot of our parts were scheduled to be delivered here, so it worked out just fine. We’ll be ready!”

Empire Racing Suzuki is proud to be partnering with American Suzuki, Pirelli Tires, Leo Vince SBK Exhausts, The XFactory Store, Hotbodies Racing Bodywork, 1-888-FASTLAP, EBC Brakes, Silkolene Lubricants, Thermosman Suspension/Ohlins USA, Teknic Leathers, Pitbull Stands, Vortex Racing, Dynojet Tuning and the Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School.

For more information, contact Empire Racing at (336) 343-4059 or visit their website at www.empireracingmx.com.


More, from a press release issued by Proforma:

MILLENNIUM TECHNOLOGIES SUZUKI TESTS NEW BIKES AT DAYTONA

Millennium Technologies Suzuki riders Shawn Higbee and Danny Eslick had a successful shakedown of their Suzuki GSX-Rs during CCS/Formula USA action at Daytona International Speedway February 27-29, in preparation for round one of the 2004 AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship series at the speedway coming up March 3-6.

Higbee finished second in Formula USA Unlimited Grand Prix on Sunday, February 29th and 5th in the 30-minute GTO final on Friday while working on the set-up of his Suzuki GSX-R1000. “This was the first time we turned a wheel on the new bike,” said Higbee, the 2003 Top Privateer in the Superbike class. “We had to come up with a baseline set-up, and get used to working with the stock suspension pieces compared to last year’s Superbike stuff. By Sunday, we figured out a few things that will help us in the AMA Superstock race.”

Danny finished tenth in the 12-lap Formula USA Sportbike class after qualifying 17th on Saturday. Danny dropped another three seconds on his GSX-R600 during the race and got more uninterrupted laps than he had all weekend. “I was finally able to get in a groove and work on a couple of parts of the track where I could really make some time,” said Eslick. “I was getting more confident on the bike, able to brake deeper and carry more corner speed.”

Look for Shawn Higbee on his # 114 Suzuki GSX-R1000 in the Repsol Superstock event, which will be televised live on SPEED Channel at 3:00pm Eastern on Thursday March 4th. Danny will compete on the # 69 GSX-R600 in the Pro Honda Oils Supersport race, which will also be televised live on Saturday, March 6th at 10:30 am Eastern.

KWS Motorsports Suzuki is proud to be sponsored by Millennium Technologies, American Suzuki, KWS Motorsports, Yoshimura R&D, Vortex Racing, Dunlop Tires, EBC Brakes, Hotbodies Racing Bodywork, Nutec Fuel, EK Chain, Shoei Helmets, Teknic Leathers, Pit Bull Stands, Penske Suspensions, Traxxion Dynamics, Web-Cam, Baker Race Gear, Kaufman Trailers, Inc., HSA and BG Lubricants.

For more information, contact KWS Motorsports at (843) 552-7177 or visit their website at www.kwsmotorsports.com.