Team Cycle World
TEAM CYCLE WORLD
UPDATE:
ATTACK PERFORMANCE YOSHIMURA SUZUKI AMA PRO AMERICAN SUPERBIKE
SIX MONTHS AGO, WE COULDN’T possibly have predicted that the project now known officially as the Team Cycle World Attack Performance Yoshimura Suzuki AMA Pro American SuperBike would have blossomed the way it has.
Initially, our goal was relatively straightforward: test the validity of the AMA Pro Racing American SuperBike rules instituted last season. We would do that through a three-race program using our 2009 Suzuki GSX-R1000 testbike prepared by Attack Performance, fitted with a Yoshimura Racing-built engine, Brembo brakes, a Leo Vince exhaust, Öhlins suspension and OZ wheels. Promising young racer Cameron Beaubier was the designated rider, with guidance from 1993 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz.
In addition, at the conclusion of the project, we promised to auction off the ready-to-race machine, with all proceeds going to the Cycle World Joseph C. Parkhurst Education Fund to benefit the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation’s scholarship program for brain-tumor survivors.
Everyone on this side of the project was extremely disappointed when AMA Pro Racing flip-flopped on its decision to grant the 17-year-old Beaubier an American SuperBike license, leaving the team without a rider (Roundup, August). But the addition of four-time national champion and 15-time AMA
Superbike race-winner Eric Bostrom has created a groundswell of excitement in and around the team, resulting in an outpouring of sponsorship opportunities from both inside and outside the motorcycle industry.
Bostrom’s enthusiasm toward the project and his popularity with American race fans sparked the interest of Scott Tedro, president of Sho-Air International, a “global shipping and assetmanagement company,” located, by chance, just one block from Attack Performance in Huntington Beach,
California. Tedro is also the founder of the successful Team ShoAir/Specialized professional mountain-bike team and the US Cup off-road racing series.
Last year, Tedro backed Bostrom’s older brother, Ben, a former AMA Superbike and Supersport champion, in the La Ruta de los Conquistadores, a grueling five-day mountain-bike race in Costa Rica. First time out, Bostrom won his class and finished fifth overall. Ben introduced Eric to Tedro, and the two became fast friends.
Long story short, Tedro agreed to sponsor both Bostrom and Team Cycle World Attack Performance Yoshimura Suzuki. Crew chief Richard Stanboli was authorized to purchase a second 2009 Suzuki GSX-R1000 from a local dealership. Tedro then kicked in additional funding to cover spare parts and
PHOTOS BY RILES & NELSON
travel costs.
Schwantz suggested that adding a fourth race—the July 16-18 Honda Super Cycle Weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course—would be the quickest way to get Bostrom back up to speed from his selfimposed year-plus hiatus from racing.
Bostrom, Stanboli and Tedro agreed. This was a significant financial commitment for Tedro. Dunlop, for example,
had generously agreed to supply our team with tires for three races, plus one test; we would have to pick up the tab for any additional testing or racing. Putting a semi on the road isn’t cheap, either—just ask Stanboli.
The good news doesn’t stop there: Just before the Mid-Ohio round,
W.L. Gore, makers of Gore-Tex, Windstopper and LockOut, among other innovations, agreed to come on board, further offsetting travel costs. Let’s go racing!
Matthew Miles
