Photography by James Wirth
Eric Bostrom was all smiles this past weekend at Infineon Raceway. Just off a long flight from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Los Angeles, California, the 15-time AMA Superbike race-winner drew a large crowd in Winner’s Circle at the unveiling of the Team Cycle World Attack Performance Yoshimura Suzuki AMA Pro American SuperBike. Following a self-imposed year-long hiatus from motorcycle racing, Bostrom will return to competition on the Drudi Performance-designed, red-white-and-black-liveried GSX-R1000 July 23–25 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca during the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix weekend.
Bostrom, LeoVince USA’s Tim Calhoun and I were joined on stage by Cameron Beaubier. Sunday’s SuperSport race-winner will test our SuperBike following the final round of the series at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. Speaking of BMP, 1993 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz had also planned to attend the launch, but his flight leaving Birmingham, where he’d just completed a two-day Schwantz School, was canceled, and he was unable to get another flight until the following day. Attack Performance’s Richard Stanboli and Dan Schwartz, and Yoshimura Racing’s Don Sakakura were likewise unable to attend the event.
After I briefly explained the premise of the project—to test the validity of American SuperBike rules instituted by AMA Pro Racing last season—fans and media alike were given an opportunity to ask questions. One fan asked if Bostrom rode streetbikes. Yes, he replied, and that his favorite bike is a 1973 Norton Commando. Cue cheers and applause! Bostrom also noted that he will be competing in a six-hour WERA endurance race later this month on a Graves Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R1at Miller Motorsports Park with his brother Ben and the latter’s Pat Clark Motorsports teammate Chris Clark. For his part, Calhoun took the opportunity to praise the industry for its support of our project.
Later that same night, Michael Toschi hosted a roll-out party at the Toschi store at One Embarcadero Center in San Francisco. The event was catered by Thomas Fogarty Winery and Columbus Salame. Bostrom mingled with guests throughout the evening, his broad smile still in full bloom. The 33-year-old Bay Area native is clearly excited to be competing again, and we’re just as excited to see what he can do on our SuperBike.Testing is scheduled to begin later this month. Stay tuned.
