From a press release issued by Ducati Austin Racing:
PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN TEAM BRINGS WINNING MOMENTUM TO ROAD AMERICA
Elkhart Lake (Wisconsin) – June 2, 2004: Fresh off the Ducati 999’s first AMA win of the season at Pikes Peak, Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin’s Eric Bostrom brings his winning momentum to Road America as the 6th round (races 9 and 10) held at the Elkhart Lake venue marks the halfway point of the AMA Superbike Championship series. The team tested at the highspeed 4.048 mile (6.51 km), 14-turn track in late April, but the cold temperatures and intermittent rainfall kept the team from fully capitalizing on their two-day Michelin test session.
“Road America is a great track and our bike is very fast, so it should go very good there,” commented the 27-year-old from Las Vegas, Nevada. “We’ve been getting better at our set-up, which has allowed me to become more comfortable with the bike, and that showed at Pikes Peak. I’m curious to see how that will apply at a different place, after having some average performances and then a good one. This weekend should be a pretty good gauge of where we’re at.”
Last year Eric won a wet race 2 at Road America by an incredible 32-second margin. “The track is a lot of fun and the bike will be very fast so that part will be cool. And I think it’ll be a pretty amazing race because all the top guys will be in it to win.”
“Even though our April test was of little benefit, my expectations are pretty high for Road America,” explained Racing Manager Tom Bodenbach. “At Pikes Peak we all saw that Eric has the determination to win and Daytona demonstrated that the Ducati has the speed to run with the others. Road America’s long straights coupled with the Ducati’s speed should allow Eric to be in the hunt, and his grit and determination could make the difference.”
From a press release issued by HMC Ducati Milwaukee:
HMC DUCATI MILWAUKEE – Road America Preview
HMC Ducati Milwaukee Racing – June 2, 2004
HMC Ducati Milwaukee Racing, the factory-backed Ducati Formula Xtreme 749R race team, rolls onto their home track this weekend at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI. The team comes off an incredible podium finish at Pikes Peak Raceway and is looking to move their performance up a notch.
“Since we basically have the same crew from 2002, we know how Doug Chandler likes his motorcycle setup,” explained team owner Mitch Hansen. “With Doug’s phenomenal feedback skills and our notes from when we last raced Superbike, we expect to be quick out-of-the-box at Road America just like Pikes Peak.”
HMC Ducati Milwaukee has sourced all the parts and spares for the program and will be fielding two identically prepared 749R bikes for Chandler. Between racing, building bikes, and sourcing parts, there has not been much time for testing.
Crew chief Gary Medley stated, “We have spent our available time working on the dyno and focused on the fuel mapping. We expect that the bike will run better off the bottom and improve acceleration off the corners. We’ll see where we stack up this weekend.” When asked about the keys to the race Medley said, “Get a good start and stay in front.”
Three-time AMA Superbike Champion Doug Chandler will warm up with HMC Supermoto racer Benny Carlson on the Road America Supermoto track on Wednesday. Both will run the promoter’s option practice on Thursday with Carlson running a HMC Gixxer 600 in the Superstock class. Chandler will then qualify on Friday and race on Saturday.