Two-time MotoAmerica Supersport Champion JD Beach has been
doing double duty throughout 2019, racing full-time in both the MotoAmerica
Superbike Championship and the American Flat Track (AFT) Twins Championship,
but Beach and his Attack Performance/Estenson Racing Yamaha team are taking it
to another level next week.
During the combined FIM Superbike World Championship and
MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship event July 12-14 at
WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Beach will be competing in both the World
Superbike and MotoAmerica Superbike races. That’s a total of five races he will
run during the three-day event, when he normally only races twice during a
MotoAmerica Superbike event. But that’s just the races.
On a normal MotoAmerica Superbike weekend, Beach does two
Qualifying Practice sessions on Friday. At Laguna Seca, he will do four — two
with MotoAmerica and two with World Superbike.
At a typical MotoAmerica Superbike event, Beach rides his
Yamaha YZF-R1 three times on Saturday, including one race. On Saturday at
Laguna Seca, Beach will ride six times, including one practice, one Superpole
session, and one race in both MotoAmerica Superbike and World Superbike.
On a Sunday at a MotoAmerica Superbike event, Beach normally
rides twice – a short warm-up in the morning followed by a final race in the
afternoon. At Laguna Seca, Beach will ride five times on Sunday, including a
total of three races and a 25-lap World Superbike race and a 23-lap MotoAmerica
Superbike race back-to-back, just like on Saturday.
And did we mention this is Beach’s rookie season as a
Superbike rider?
Asked how he was feeling about the task ahead of him, Beach
told Roadracingworld.com, “I feel like I’m a little crazy. It’s going to be
hard, I think, but I’ve already been preparing physically and mentally. I kind
of have an idea what I need to do throughout the day as far as eating and drinking
and stuff like that. I’m really just going to try to focus on doing the races
and in between getting as much rest as I can and be prepared for each one.”
In addition to the tremendous workload, Beach will also have
to deal with getting comfortable on Pirellis, the official control tire of
World Superbike, which are quite different to MotoAmerica’s control tires,
Dunlops.
“I’ve never ran any tires other than Dunlops,” said Beach. “We’re
going to test next week before Laguna to get some time on the Pirellis and
practice going back and forth [between Pirellis and Dunlops].”
Going back and forth is something that not only Beach will
have to deal with.
In 2018, Attack Performance did both the World Superbike and
MotoAmerica races at Laguna Seca with rider Josh Herrin and only one Yamaha
Superbike. Considering the two series used different tires, fuels, and some
electrical components, it meant that the Attack Performance crew had to switch
the wheels, bodywork, fuel tank, shock, and electronics in between every
session.
This time, however, things will be slightly easier. Not only
will the Attack Performance/Estenson Racing Yamaha team have the experienced
gained in 2018, they will also have two Superbikes with one dedicated to each
series.
“There were a few things that were different that made it quite
difficult for us last year,” said Attack Performance/Estenson Racing Owner/Crew
Chief Richard Stanboli, “so we had to find a happy medium on the [chassis] setup.
Josh [Herrin] was kind of more focused on the MotoAmerica stuff, so we didn’t really
put any setup for the Pirellis on there. We kind of just ran the Dunlop setup
on the Pirellis and ended up killing the rear tire in short order in both
races.”
In 2018, Herrin qualified 15th, retired from Race One due to
worn out tires and back pain, and finished 16th in Race Two.
“I’m trying to treat it the same as I did coming into this
year,” said Beach. “I definitely want to go out and do the best I can and try
to learn as much as I can, but I think if I can get a top 10 that would be
great.”