Next weekend JD Beach will make his debut in the FIM Superbike World Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, in Monterey, California, July 12-14. The 2018 MotoAmerica Supersport Champion will be playing double duty at the U.S. round, racing in both the World and MotoAmerica Superbike championships aboard the Attack Performance/Estenson Racing Yamaha YZF-R1.
“I’m really pumped going into next weekend’s round at Laguna Seca,” Beach said. “It’s going to be a tough weekend racing both MotoAmerica Superbike and World Superbike, but I’m up for the challenge. Josh Herrin kind of paved the way for us to do it last year. I think I have some big shoes to fill because he was really quick. Both myself and the team are really excited about it, really looking forward to it. Laguna’s a track that I like a lot. I’ve had a lot of fun there. I’m really looking forward to riding a Superbike there again, the last time I did it was 2011. I think it’s going to be a great weekend. I feel like if we can be up front or be on the podium for MotoAmerica and run top-10 in World Superbike, that would be a great weekend for me and the team.”
A partnership was made this season between Attack Performance, a team with a history of success in the U.S. National road racing championships, and Estenson Racing, a team with a big presence in dirt track, to field Beach in MotoAmerica’s premier class. The road racer with strong dirt track roots also campaigns American Flat Track’s premier class with Estenson Racing. Beach made history earlier this spring scoring his first victory in the AFT Twins class and the first win on a Yamaha Twin since 1981 at the team’s home race in Chandler, Arizona. The multi-time road race champion went on to add his name to the record books the following weekend at VIRginia International Raceway by taking his first win in MotoAmerica Superbike, making him the first rider to do so in both premier classes in the same season since Nicky Hayden in 2002.